Uplifting Things #5: Lolita

 I'm getting a bit bored assembling links to things and explaining why they're awesome, so I'm introducing a new (hopefully more entertaining) kind of "Uplifting Things" post talking about various fashion styles and/or subcultures.

This Monday I'd like to talk about lolita. It's come up a few times already, so it seems like a good place to start. I very much like the way lolita fashion looks (and have admired it from roughly the first time I found out about it--which would probably have been when I was fifteen or so. Around 2006, then.) Due to the expensive and difficult-to-obtain nature of some of the key garments involved in this look, I've never really been able to try it out properly (although it's had considerable influence over my choice in thrift store clothes, and I'm getting close--just need a proper skirt at this point.) Nonetheless, I have been able to figure out what elements of the style I actually would enjoy incorporating into my own style and what parts I prefer to admire on other people.

Lolita has a few key "rules" that seem to be in constant (though slow-moving) flux. There's a basic silhouette involving a knee-length skirt and a petticoat that roughly defines the look, but the skirt length is not set in stone (as long as it's not "too short") and there are some dresses that will look "lolita" enough without a petticoat. These rules are important to lolitas because the style is a bit extravagant compared to mainstream fashion and it can very easily go from tastefully decadent (lolita) to incredibly tacky or boringly formal (not lolita), and the boundaries of the former can be very blurry due to their subjective nature.

One thing that I really like about lolita and try to incorporate into everything I wear is how fastidious one must be when coordinating outfits. When I apply it to my own style it results in me mostly only wearing black (to avoid worrying about colored garments and accessories matching perfectly), but I like wearing black, so it works out. I also like the sense of eccentricity that gets conveyed by wearing such outstandingly decadent clothing. There's a sense of gender neutrality in the style that also appeals me.

The fashion may be feminine to an extreme, but at the same time the focus on a silhouette created by the clothes means that it can be great for covering up a body type that might otherwise not be read as feminine (or in my case, it manages to hide my actual curves under artificial curves created by the skirt, which I'm much more comfortable with.) There are plenty of cis men who look just as beautiful and feminine in lolita as women. Since the clothes by themselves are so feminine, they can be used to play with and celebrate femininity in itself without necessarily reflecting the gender of the person wearing them. The childlikeness conveyed by the knee-length skirts (and shorts, as used in boystyle/ouji) also have androgynous potential when worn by adults.

The childlike quality of the clothes (especially in sweet lolita) is appealing in itself to many lolitas, but I'm more interested in the eccentricity implied by wearing more subtly childlike versions of the style (especially gothic, but I think that eccentricity also comes through in classic lolita. The Victorian and Edwardian clothes that have such a heavy influence on lolita were not knee-length for adults and teenagers, after all.) I like to think it works as a nice social filter--simultaneously repulsing people with whom I wouldn't have much in common (or at least motivating them to display repulsive behavior before I bothered to get to know them) and attracting people I'd probably like. But mostly I just like the look of it.