Lolita Fashion

For you to know Lolita more

Some words in the Lolita culture are not common and may make you confused without clarification. Here is a small dictionary of Lolita fashion for those who want to know Lolita more.

glb/Gothic Lolita Bible: It’s a Japanese magazine dedicated to the darkly cute Gothic Lolita. It contains everything you need such as photos, sewing patterns and lots of tips to perfect your look.

Mook: A hybrid word derived from both “book” and “magazine”. Mooks are the size of magazines and contain similar content but the binding is much sturdier and the pages are much thicker, like a book’s.

Shimotsuma Monogatari / Kamizake Girls: A popular book about a Lolita and a biker-chick written by Novala Takemoto. This book has also been made into a movie and a manga.

Rococo: A style of 18th Century art and design, also referred to as “Late Baroque”, it’s one of the important inspiration source of Lolita.

Ita Lolita: Basically, an Ita Lolita is a Lolita who is painful to look at. For example cheap lace, poorly made clothes with cheap looking fabric, a lack of coordination skills, etc.

Bonnet: A hat with a large brim and made of fabric or straw, it will be tied under the chin by ribbons.

Half-bonnet: A backless bonnet, it is more similar to a headdress with a brim.

Shirring:  Two or more rows of gathers used to decorate parts of garments, usually the sleeves, bodice and yoke.

Sock Toppers: A decoration made from ribbon and lace usually, sitting at the top of one’s socks.

Wrist Cuffs: A wrist accessory like a bracelet made of lace.

Jabot: A clothing accessory down the front of a shirt, blouse, or dress. It’s an ornamental cascade of ruffles or frills worn around the neck.

Kachuusha: A headband, most often with a big alice bow on top

Bloomers: Loose shorts gathered at the bottom and worn under a skirt to protect modesty.

Pannier / Petticoat: It’s a type of underskirt to extend the width of the skirt. It made of Organza usually.

Cutsew: A Lolita blouse with a little bit casual element and made of jersey or knit fabric normally.
jsk / Jumper Skirt: A Lolita dress without sleeves usually worn with a blouse.

op / One Piece: A Lolita dress with sleeves, consisting of or fashioned in a single whole piece.

Rockinghorse Shoes: Pair of shoes have very thick soles. Their heels made from wood or cork with a notch taken out of the back.

Lucky Pack: A secret pack of Lolita costumes which sold for a very favorable price by Lolita brands at different times during a year.

The disputed Movie <<Lolita>>

The Author

As the fashions and lifestyles associated with manga and anime fandom become more and more popular in the world. One of the most complex is the Lolita look. Lolita was influenced and popularized by the imagery of more feminine Visual Kei bands. Visual Kei is a Japanese form of rock music defined by bands featuring performers in elaborate costumes but whose musical style varies. But it is generally accepted that “Lolita” does not refer to the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov’s famous novel.

Lolita style is widely misunderstood. Most press focuses on the name, saying that Lolitas are adult women taking on the role of sexualized children. Adherents present themselves more as Victorian children or porcelain dolls and prefer to look “cute” or “beautiful” rather than “sexy”. Most Lolitas agree that the term ‘Lolita’ does not necessarily have anything to do with sex at all.  Lolita fashion can be even considered a movement where girls ranging from pre-teens to late 20’s fight the current fashion with modesty. It allows a girl to feel young, cute, beautiful or off-limits, depending on which type of Lolita a girl chooses to be.Lolita presents the confusing sight of young women dressing like frilly Victorian dolls.

The popular Japanese Manga Rozen Maiden

<<Kamikaze Girls>> poster

Interest in the style travels globally through manga titles featuring young girls in slightly gothic, neo-Victorian situations. Some popular titles are The Embalmer, Bizenghast, Dolls and Rozen Maiden. There’s also a novel, Kamikaze Girls, which was made into a movie in Japan, and Lolita is also linked to the popularity of the Japanese ball-jointed dolls made by Volk. But the images of other Lolitas, which captivate certain women, do as much as anything to spread the style.

Lolita has a lot to do with craftsmanship and loving clothes that are girlish and pretty. One time I saw a girl at a Anime Convention, she wore a lacy skirt she had made herself from a pink Alice in Wonderland print fabric. Her matching headpiece, which she also made, was exquisite. As she showed it to me, she pinched a nearly invisible loose thread. “Lolita is about perfection,” she explained.

Victorian Clothing 1874

Gothic Lolita, a darker style, favors black and dark colors. Superficially, it resembles goth and punk, but Lolita isn’t really linked to these movements. Lolita lacks the vintage element found among punks, who like a few real Victorian or Depression-era items in their clothes. Furthermore, Lolita emphasizes neatness. They also have strong opinions about lace. Softer lace is preferred, and mixing different colors of lace is simply not done among proper Lolitas. The Lolita follower chat online and get together for meetups and tea parties.