The new Japanese fashion trend: Goth-Loli

[sublight]

Lolita goes Victorian, Goth in Japan cosplay trend

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - You can call it Jane Eyre meets the Addams family, but for the hundreds of Japanese girls who dress in Victorian dresses trimmed with lace, eyes rimmed with heavy black makeup, it's "Gothic-Lolita."

Showcasing yet another example of Japan's love for costume and role play, the women carried parasols, wore laced-up bodices and elaborately curly wigs, as wells heavy make up, during a Gothic-Lolita fashion event in Tokyo this week.

Their style has taken Japan by storm in the last few years, even spreading overseas among fans of Japanese "cosplay."

Hard to tell who actually produced this article, since it says "By Hiro Muramoto, Writing by Chika Osaka, editing by Miral Fahmy". Didn't help them not to some things completely wrong, though:

The "Lolita" the women take their name from, however, has nothing to do with Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel.

Yeah, right.

[Charles]

Wasn't this new about 3 or 4 years ago?

[xenomorph42]

Wasn't this new about 3 or 4 years ago?

I heard this style is gaining popularity in France and other European countries. I wonder if it hit the US or other countries other than Europe?

[sublight]

Wasn't this new about 3 or 4 years ago?

More than that. One of my first projects when I started my current job six years ago was writing about goth-loli for a magazine, and it already seemed pretty established back then.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

I heard this style is gaining popularity in France and other European countries. I wonder if it hit the US or other countries other than Europe?

yup, you are correct. it's gone global. i ebay the stuff every now and then and have a 50 strong list of people from america, england, sweden, france, germany, italy, and australia that order clothes from me on a regular basis. the big labels (BTSSB, AP) tried to launch an international mail order site, but they were so overwhelmed with orders in the first month that they had to shut down and go back to japan-only delivery.

[Willotree]

This mix is twenty years old.

[leitmotiv]

the big labels (BTSSB, AP) tried to launch an international mail order site, but they were so overwhelmed with orders in the first month that they had to shut down and go back to japan-only delivery.

LOL...Never ceases to amuse me....Japanese companies who, when confronted with obvious slam-dunk opportunities to grow and prosper, will not do it because its "too difficult".....

[Kuang_Grade]

I managed, in the US, to buy a copy of gothic lolita bible magazine about 5 years ago, so it had been cooking for a while before that.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

The Lolita style began in the 1970's with brands such as Milk and Pink House making outfits that resembled Canada's Anne of Green Gables (which is widely loved in Japan) and, to a lesser extent, Little House on the Prairie. Angelic Pretty opened in 1979, Baby The Stars Shine Bright opened in the 80's, and Moi-meme-Moitie opened in 1999.

Mana, ex-Malice Mizer (co-founded with Kozi, also guitar), is widely credited for having helped popularize Gothic Lolita, though he is not a founder of the style. He coined the terms "Elegant Gothic Lolita" (EGL) and "Elegant Gothic Aristocrat" (EGA) to describe the style of his own fashion label Moi-même-Moitié, which was founded in 1999. Other influential figures in the scene include the singer Kana, who often modeled for Lolita related fashion magazines, and Mitsukazu Mihara, who drew the first eight covers of the Gothic & Lolita Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Lolita

[Yokohammer]

Definitely saw lots of that around in the 70's. Don't think it was called "Gothic Lolita" back then though. It was just ... I dunno ... "weird."

[plaid_knight]

I managed, in the US, to buy a copy of gothic lolita bible magazine about 5 years ago, so it had been cooking for a while before that.

Recently Tokyopop released three translated volumes of the Gothic Lolita Bible in English.

Never ceases to amuse me....Japanese companies who, when confronted with obvious slam-dunk opportunities to grow and prosper, will not do it because its "too difficult".....

I too am surprised that the J. Goth Loli companies didn't try to find ways to make money by selling lots of product internationally. I guess they decided that making money was for sissies.

[Mulboyne]

LOL...Never ceases to amuse me....Japanese companies who, when confronted with obvious slam-dunk opportunities to grow and prosper, will not do it because its "too difficult".....

Roland Kelts made a related observation in his Yomiuri column:

...I often note in talks that the title of my book, "Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the U.S.", is somewhat misleading. With a few notable exceptions, the explosion of interest in Japan's pop cultural exports has been ignited by foreigners' passions and sustained by Internet accessibility. The phenomenon is largely demand-driven, a product of quality content being sought and consumed by overseas fans, academics and artists. Japanese pop culture is being pulled into foreign markets far more than it is being pushed...

[prolly]

i believe this style was in when bram stoker was alive

[pheyton]

When I first went to Japan in 01 there were lolita's. Now, maybe it's becoming more mainstream and that is what this article means, but it has been around for a long time. They are or were just like punks or goths in the western world. Let them have fun, be different, unless they are 30 somethings.

Yes, it has hit America. I was in Mitsuwa a month or two ago and a Japanese and American lolita came in. Of course the American was fat and looked like something out of a costume shop. The Japanese girl was impeccable, petite and cute.

[xenomorph42]

yup, you are correct. it's gone global. i ebay the stuff every now and then and have a 50 strong list of people from america, england, sweden, france, germany, italy, and australia that order clothes from me on a regular basis. the big labels (BTSSB, AP) tried to launch an international mail order site, but they were so overwhelmed with orders in the first month that they had to shut down and go back to japan-only delivery.

So this is a real money making business and this is the latest in fashion?? This is quite interesting for me. When I went to LA earlier this year, I didn't see anything on the infamous Melrose Ave. Usually I was always up to date on fashion, but after marriage, kids (sigh) you tend to lose track of what's going on in the world.
I had always thought, Japan imports a lot of fashion. But I guess they're exporting it too.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

So this is a real money making business and this is the latest in fashion?? This is quite interesting for me. When I went to LA earlier this year, I didn't see anything on the infamous Melrose Ave. Usually I was always up to date on fashion, but after marriage, kids (sigh) you tend to lose track of what's going on in the world.
I had always thought, Japan imports a lot of fashion. But I guess they're exporting it too.

yeah, i've done ok with it. but i also own a lot of EGL pieces in my own closet and am a shopaholic, so i know what to buy. trial and error has taught me what they're looking for abroad.

the only real problem i've encountered is sizing though, as most of the clothes are one size only, and despite my posting all the relevant measurements and a 'a japan size L is equivalent to a european M and an american S, no returns accepted!', i still get people (mostly americans) wanting to try to return things because of the size.

most of my american customers are on the east coast/nyc.

[Kuang_Grade]

So this is a real money making business and this is the latest in fashion?? This is quite interesting for me. When I went to LA earlier this year, I didn't see anything on the infamous Melrose Ave. Usually I was always up to date on fashion, but after marriage, kids (sigh) you tend to lose track of what's going on in the world.
I had always thought, Japan imports a lot of fashion. But I guess they're exporting it too.

I think demand is more a 2 mm wide but a couple inches deep kind of thing in the US...It is of interest to a very small group but they are pretty dedicated. And clothing, due to various issues (such normal things such as tariffs as well as things like average body sizes) can make international sales difficult, so I'm not surprised that alot of J companies are not jumping at international expansion because its a pretty hard business at the best of times, let alone when that new market is far less sophisticated (ie, I'm sure the kids in Japan can notice subtle changes in designs but US kids still have to get over 'whats with all these frills and shit' first). While I've seen some custom clothes makers (ie, cosplayers who have gone semi-pro to support their own habits, as well as as custom corset makers branching out to another subculture) in the US for this, I think their are fair number of community level commerce that isn't all that visible beyond the convention sphere...but I believe alot of this is fed by chinese sources (with possibly some minor custom work added by the local sellers) and often there isn't a huge amount of variety, so some folks are always on the prowl for stuff from Japan, both because of its 'legitimacy' but also its not the exact same stuff that everyone else has.

But that said, there is a character on a reasonably popular show in the US, NCIS, who dresses mostly goth but strays into gothic lolitia every few shows.