Gothic Lolita...

    What images come to mind when you see/hear those words?  Wikipedia’s translation is “LoliGoth”, a youth fashion statement among the Japanese teenage girls and young women.  It has classic styling of Victorian clothing, and to often look like dressed up Victorian Porcelain Dolls.  The basic clothing consists of black & white dresses, lots of lace, ribbons, skirts, petticoats, crinoline, fishnet stockings, socks with lace, stiletto heels, Victorian blouses, and the most beautiful Victorian overcoats I’ve ever seen.  Along with parasols, gloves, headgear, bonnets, and top hats.

 

I first found out about this style about two years ago myself when I was starting to find out about the Ball Jointed dolls, which you can dress alike to you also.  I have always had a love for Victorian, romance and the gothic lifestyle of the 1800’s/1900’s.  I would love it if it came full blown here to the United States, but we are so uptight and worry about what others think to walk around in frilly dresses, and carry parasols for that to ever happen.  I truly love this type of clothing and if it were to come here in the states, I’d dress like this everyday, or at least every time I’d go out.

 

Gothic Lolita is a uniquely Japanese type of dress, inspired by the drag costumes of Visual Kei heroes.  It’s a rapidly growing culture around the world, at least in the East.  It is a combination of 18th and 19th century designs with Victorian and gothic themes.  Think of ruffles, petticoats, MaryJanes, top hats, ribbon hats, and crosses.

 

You could say that the Gothic Lolita style came from Visual Kei, the Japanese rock genre that features an almost punk style of the 80’s music here in the states.  Bands like X Japan, and Luna Sea took clichés of the American metal bands and re-did them into the elaborate costumes, similar to Elton John in the 70’s.  These bands had huge followers of female fans that would “cosplay” when at the concerts.  Cosplay, meaning, they would dress up like the starts they idolized.  One to help along with this style was Malice Mizer, who replaced their original vocalist with a 450-year-old Norwegian Vampire look-alike, as the lead singer.  They shot from cavernous crypts to the mainstream.  Mizer combined classical organ and harpsichord riffs with romantic French melodies.   Watch some of Mizer’s DVD’s to see what he accomplished.  Choreographed prancing, constant costume changes, elaborate sets, and choirs.  Mizer’s costumes are what landed in the streets of the Gothic subculture of Lolita.  Sadly to say, Malice Mizer has passed away, but the culture that was started is still alive and well.

 

The Gothic Lolita Bible is one of the best examples of the style.  All and everything can be found in this magazine, and can be ordered here in the states.  They are full of photos of the ladies in their amazing outfits, patterns, lots of data, decorating ideas, and even some recipes.  Although the entire magazine is in Japanese.  The clothing and material is very expensive, but if you are even able to get one outfit it’s worth it.  Most of the time the young ladies, go about there daily routine working at regular jobs, but on the weekends is when the attire comes out.  They can be seen hanging out everywhere in the city, and that’s okay.  Here if you dress like that just on the weekends, people will think you are a poser or wannabe.  Our sisters to the east, can go about there daily lives, and still have fun on the weekends, without having a “title” stuck on them to make them feel bad.  From looking at the outfits and seeing the magazines, one thing is true; the clothing isn’t revealing, hardly any cleavage or bare midriffs.  Brittney Spears couldn’t pull this look off to save her life.

 

There are two types of styles in this culture also: “Cute” and “Spooky”.  Most girls go out in pairs, and one will wear the dark, spooky all black outfits, while her friend will wear the sugary plum, pinks, white or red fabrics with lots of lace. She may also carry around a teddy bear; I would carry my dolls myself.  The categories of these are “Classic Lolita”, “Elegant Gothic Lolita”, (my personal favorite), “Elegant Gothic Aristocrat” and “Industrial Lolita”.

 

There aren’t a lot of American sites at all that carry these types of dresses and accessories, and fewer of the overseas ones that will ship here to the US.  But hopefully with time that will change.  Most of the sites aren’t in English either.  I’ll try and post all of the links that I can find to the best sites that you can actually get the clothing, books, and accessories.

 

So if you are going out and having pictures taken with your dolls, or you are going to have a tea party with your dearest friends, or you just want to make a fashion statement for the weekend, the fashion of Gothic Lolita is the best for it. Go to an old abandoned building/ruins, or cemetery and take tons of black and white pictures. I think I'll have to find a little black pant suite, vest and tiny top hat for baby Chase to get him into some pictures also.