The Intricacies of a Fashion
I have been obsessed with Lolita for a very long time. The person who introduced me to it inadvertently was Fiona, who was in my junior og in RJ. I remember there was one day I was waiting for fencing after school, and met her quite by accident at a table, and stopped to talk to her. Then she, being the fangirl she is, started showing me Malice Mizer videos.
Take a look at this to see what I mean. This is still my favourite song from them! :)
I didn't like the music much. But I loved their visual-kei costumes. I used to dress up in weird costumes at home when I was young, you know. :/ I had lots of scarves and things. My father liked to talk about it to his friends as though I was creative.
So I have always loved dressing up in ways I think are nice. Even though there was of course that awkward age when I started to buy clothes for myself and had to find my own style around and before that, when I couldn't choose my own clothes (my mother bought everything) and I was subject to her strange whims.
Anyway, Malice Mizer led me to the group member Mana, which led me to his lolita brand Moi-même-Moitié, which led me to Lolita.
Why Being a Lolita is Tough
1. Negative associations.
People get this from the name itself. I was so miffed when someone in my criminal law class raised an example of a lolita doing weird stuff in a question. I don't know why he had to say lolita as a noun so many times when he could have easily substituted 'young girl'. Of course he wasn't referring to the fashion, but Really!
And there are always people who think you are a cosplayer, which is okay if you happen to be one. But in the fashion, to say an outfit looks like cosplay is an insult. It means the outfit isn't lolita - isn't good quality or doesn't have the right shape and generally fails at life! I am always feeling offended when I shouldn't.
Oh, and people are going to think you are AA or living off the edge of this world when they see you walking around, especially in sweet lolita.
2. Expensive prices.
Face it. A lot of people are going to think you are crazy for spending that much on a dress. Including your mother and any random passerby who hears about the price.
Simple lolita brand dresses cost at least 250 sgd. The pretty ones with prints? 300 sgd. The more expensive are 500 sgd, and there are rare ones that even secondhand, can cost 1000 sgd. I think people are less able to accept it if it's not even a dress, just shoes or a doll released by a brand. Read this post for illustrations.
Yes, you can buy non-brand. But often non-brand can't always satisfy the lolita tastebuds, especially when other lolitas gush about specific brand prints. And non-brand can be low quality if you're not careful.
Secondhand buying also occurs a lot in the lolita fashion. Clothes can generally be bought cheaper than retail price unless they are rare ones (that's when price increases astronomically from the retail price). I don't really like secondhand though, because you don't know about the person who wore it before, and sometimes it may come from a home with a smoker. AND there are the ever-omnipresent internet scammers.
3. Having to Research
Lolita is not easily accessible if you want to do it right, or know all you should. It took me three years of googling, checking communities and brand sites to amass the knowledge I have about Lolita now.
As the fashion is from Japan, and information or brand websites are in Japanese, Lolita news has to be passed down indirectly after translation. Unless of course, you know Japanese. :) For those who are interested in the basics of lolita, this is useful for a start.
4. The Culture
I find that a lot of girls who wear it tend to be vain. I am too, of course, but hopefully not excessively. :P Anyway I feel this vanity could be expressed in some of them in a way that will make them people I'd not want to be friends with.
And there is an insane amount of jealousy on the egl livejournal community. I remember watching the drama unfold when baby, the stars shine bright sold lucky packs on their internet website. (For the uneducated, lucky packs are an assortment of clothes that are sold at about one third of the usual retail price by shops. However you can't choose what you get inside, it's really buying blind. They are highly coveted because even if you don't like the stuff you get inside, you can usually resell it to earn back a bit more than what you paid for the lucky pack.)
What happened was that btssb had said they would start orders for the lucky packs at a certain time. Many people around the world stayed up to this time just so they could try for a lucky pack. However, unbeknowst to most, btssb actually opened the order system early. Thus when the official time came, lucky packs were sold out/close to being sold out because some buyers had tried clicking the link early and thus ordered.
There was a lot of heat over whether it was ethical for those people who had discovered the order system worked early to order it at that time. Fierce jealousy!
5. Wearing It
It is hard to find an appropriate occasion to wear lolita. Not everyone gets to attend balls all the time. So lolitas end up having to wear it out on normal occasions, and have to be resigned to be overdressed.
The fact that you have to wear a pannier (petticoat) for most dresses is also super inconvenient. When you walk between tables you may knock things off. When you sit on public transport, your pannier ends up swallowing most of the seat, unless you sit on it, which may squash it and give it a weird shape. When you go to the toilet you have to make sure it doesn't touch anything weird. :?
And the lolita aesthetic incorporates blouses under dresses and knee-length socks or stockings! Given the temperature in Singapore, people will ask you if you're hot (of course you are ^_^). Luckily for me, I don't feel hot as easily as most people. I often have to bring sweaters or layer my clothes when I go to air-conditioned places.
6. Obtaining the Dress
Okay, so you've found your dream dress. (Btw, the reason why I keep talking about dresses is that I love the way dresses look compared to skirt and blouse combinations.) Now you have to obtain it!
The awful thing about buying brand is that most of them only produce a dress/skirt in one size. If the size doesn't fit you, you either have to buy the dress and alter it, or settle for nothing, or commission a replica by a seamstress in your size. If you alter, many people will scream at you cause it's brand. Much less if you alter a rare dress. Even I cringe when I hear about altered brand! Altering also lowers the resale value of the dress. The other alternative of commissioning a replica may not turn out well, especially when the experienced lolita tailor is overseas and you have to take your own amateur measurements.
But say that you can fit the desired dress. Japanese brand is from, well, Japan. :) You have to order it through a shopping service or through the online store, if that brand happens to cater to overseas. Shipping and shopping service fees can kill.
Moreover, brand stores only stock prints for a season, at the most two if the print is unpopular. After that they get rid of it through lucky packs or something. Plus, if your dream dress happens to be an extremely popular Angelic Pretty print it can sell out in a few days. And if it's a limited edition you've fallen in love with, that is only sold in stores for one day, you're pretty much dead. :(
***
Ok, so why continue with it? Why hope to acquire more clothes and get into the fashion properly?
1. The Entertainment Value
There are tons of lolita inside jokes. Like the cult of AP! If there was an over-the-top sweet lolita heaven, AP would definitely be involved. It's the most rabidly loved brand now. :/ And it produces things like little bows growing on big bows and cake hats!
Then there's the cult of Mana-sama. (Mana is one of the band members of Malice Mizer.) He isn't seen to talk in public; he only sings in public. During interviews he sits there mute and has a girl beside him to speak for him. He spends the whole interview concentrating on posing pensively. And he has tons of fangirls who buy only Moi-même-Moitié (his brand) and nothing less, who do photoshoots emulating his makeup style exactly (tons of white foundation, blue lipstick with lips lined so they don't look so thin).
Also, the famed drama on EGL (the livejournal community). I kinda like reading about scammers and how people resolve it.
2. The Photoshoots
Following lolita means that you will see some of the most beautiful pictures of girls in the world. :) Well, maybe some people won't think them beautiful, but they suit my aesthetic sense perfectly.
Let me upload random photos I've liked. At first I wanted to upload 10, but I couldn't resist!
(Sorry, but I love my pajamas ^_^).
*
3. Wearing It
Why do I love lolita? As you may have noticed from the photos above, there's the constant contrast between fragile and strong. I think it's fragile and pretty and cute and feminine. But at the same time, because it stands out so much from the other fashions there are nowadays, you can't help but feel you are portraying lolita to the world when you wear it. And you have to be strong - stand up to people who think you aren't supposed to dress like that, or that you're weird. The feeling just makes me happy. :)
To the end of my long and imperfect post,
Alaris
Take a look at this to see what I mean. This is still my favourite song from them! :)
I didn't like the music much. But I loved their visual-kei costumes. I used to dress up in weird costumes at home when I was young, you know. :/ I had lots of scarves and things. My father liked to talk about it to his friends as though I was creative.
So I have always loved dressing up in ways I think are nice. Even though there was of course that awkward age when I started to buy clothes for myself and had to find my own style around and before that, when I couldn't choose my own clothes (my mother bought everything) and I was subject to her strange whims.
Anyway, Malice Mizer led me to the group member Mana, which led me to his lolita brand Moi-même-Moitié, which led me to Lolita.
Why Being a Lolita is Tough
1. Negative associations.
People get this from the name itself. I was so miffed when someone in my criminal law class raised an example of a lolita doing weird stuff in a question. I don't know why he had to say lolita as a noun so many times when he could have easily substituted 'young girl'. Of course he wasn't referring to the fashion, but Really!
And there are always people who think you are a cosplayer, which is okay if you happen to be one. But in the fashion, to say an outfit looks like cosplay is an insult. It means the outfit isn't lolita - isn't good quality or doesn't have the right shape and generally fails at life! I am always feeling offended when I shouldn't.
Oh, and people are going to think you are AA or living off the edge of this world when they see you walking around, especially in sweet lolita.
2. Expensive prices.
Face it. A lot of people are going to think you are crazy for spending that much on a dress. Including your mother and any random passerby who hears about the price.
Simple lolita brand dresses cost at least 250 sgd. The pretty ones with prints? 300 sgd. The more expensive are 500 sgd, and there are rare ones that even secondhand, can cost 1000 sgd. I think people are less able to accept it if it's not even a dress, just shoes or a doll released by a brand. Read this post for illustrations.
Yes, you can buy non-brand. But often non-brand can't always satisfy the lolita tastebuds, especially when other lolitas gush about specific brand prints. And non-brand can be low quality if you're not careful.
Secondhand buying also occurs a lot in the lolita fashion. Clothes can generally be bought cheaper than retail price unless they are rare ones (that's when price increases astronomically from the retail price). I don't really like secondhand though, because you don't know about the person who wore it before, and sometimes it may come from a home with a smoker. AND there are the ever-omnipresent internet scammers.
3. Having to Research
Lolita is not easily accessible if you want to do it right, or know all you should. It took me three years of googling, checking communities and brand sites to amass the knowledge I have about Lolita now.
As the fashion is from Japan, and information or brand websites are in Japanese, Lolita news has to be passed down indirectly after translation. Unless of course, you know Japanese. :) For those who are interested in the basics of lolita, this is useful for a start.
4. The Culture
I find that a lot of girls who wear it tend to be vain. I am too, of course, but hopefully not excessively. :P Anyway I feel this vanity could be expressed in some of them in a way that will make them people I'd not want to be friends with.
And there is an insane amount of jealousy on the egl livejournal community. I remember watching the drama unfold when baby, the stars shine bright sold lucky packs on their internet website. (For the uneducated, lucky packs are an assortment of clothes that are sold at about one third of the usual retail price by shops. However you can't choose what you get inside, it's really buying blind. They are highly coveted because even if you don't like the stuff you get inside, you can usually resell it to earn back a bit more than what you paid for the lucky pack.)
What happened was that btssb had said they would start orders for the lucky packs at a certain time. Many people around the world stayed up to this time just so they could try for a lucky pack. However, unbeknowst to most, btssb actually opened the order system early. Thus when the official time came, lucky packs were sold out/close to being sold out because some buyers had tried clicking the link early and thus ordered.
There was a lot of heat over whether it was ethical for those people who had discovered the order system worked early to order it at that time. Fierce jealousy!
5. Wearing It
It is hard to find an appropriate occasion to wear lolita. Not everyone gets to attend balls all the time. So lolitas end up having to wear it out on normal occasions, and have to be resigned to be overdressed.
The fact that you have to wear a pannier (petticoat) for most dresses is also super inconvenient. When you walk between tables you may knock things off. When you sit on public transport, your pannier ends up swallowing most of the seat, unless you sit on it, which may squash it and give it a weird shape. When you go to the toilet you have to make sure it doesn't touch anything weird. :?
And the lolita aesthetic incorporates blouses under dresses and knee-length socks or stockings! Given the temperature in Singapore, people will ask you if you're hot (of course you are ^_^). Luckily for me, I don't feel hot as easily as most people. I often have to bring sweaters or layer my clothes when I go to air-conditioned places.
6. Obtaining the Dress
Okay, so you've found your dream dress. (Btw, the reason why I keep talking about dresses is that I love the way dresses look compared to skirt and blouse combinations.) Now you have to obtain it!
The awful thing about buying brand is that most of them only produce a dress/skirt in one size. If the size doesn't fit you, you either have to buy the dress and alter it, or settle for nothing, or commission a replica by a seamstress in your size. If you alter, many people will scream at you cause it's brand. Much less if you alter a rare dress. Even I cringe when I hear about altered brand! Altering also lowers the resale value of the dress. The other alternative of commissioning a replica may not turn out well, especially when the experienced lolita tailor is overseas and you have to take your own amateur measurements.
But say that you can fit the desired dress. Japanese brand is from, well, Japan. :) You have to order it through a shopping service or through the online store, if that brand happens to cater to overseas. Shipping and shopping service fees can kill.
Moreover, brand stores only stock prints for a season, at the most two if the print is unpopular. After that they get rid of it through lucky packs or something. Plus, if your dream dress happens to be an extremely popular Angelic Pretty print it can sell out in a few days. And if it's a limited edition you've fallen in love with, that is only sold in stores for one day, you're pretty much dead. :(
***
Ok, so why continue with it? Why hope to acquire more clothes and get into the fashion properly?
1. The Entertainment Value
There are tons of lolita inside jokes. Like the cult of AP! If there was an over-the-top sweet lolita heaven, AP would definitely be involved. It's the most rabidly loved brand now. :/ And it produces things like little bows growing on big bows and cake hats!
Then there's the cult of Mana-sama. (Mana is one of the band members of Malice Mizer.) He isn't seen to talk in public; he only sings in public. During interviews he sits there mute and has a girl beside him to speak for him. He spends the whole interview concentrating on posing pensively. And he has tons of fangirls who buy only Moi-même-Moitié (his brand) and nothing less, who do photoshoots emulating his makeup style exactly (tons of white foundation, blue lipstick with lips lined so they don't look so thin).
Also, the famed drama on EGL (the livejournal community). I kinda like reading about scammers and how people resolve it.
2. The Photoshoots
Following lolita means that you will see some of the most beautiful pictures of girls in the world. :) Well, maybe some people won't think them beautiful, but they suit my aesthetic sense perfectly.
Let me upload random photos I've liked. At first I wanted to upload 10, but I couldn't resist!
(Sorry, but I love my pajamas ^_^).
*
3. Wearing It
Why do I love lolita? As you may have noticed from the photos above, there's the constant contrast between fragile and strong. I think it's fragile and pretty and cute and feminine. But at the same time, because it stands out so much from the other fashions there are nowadays, you can't help but feel you are portraying lolita to the world when you wear it. And you have to be strong - stand up to people who think you aren't supposed to dress like that, or that you're weird. The feeling just makes me happy. :)
To the end of my long and imperfect post,
Alaris
Labels: fashion, lolita, malice mizer
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