† Name/URL: Jude † Age: 37 (far too old really but what the hell) † Location: London, UK.
† How were you introduced to Gothic Lolita fashion? Perhaps about 5 years ago by my good friend Manko, I'm not really sure to be honest. I think of Strawberry Switchblade and Lena Lovitch and that goes back well into the 80s.
† What do you find appealing about GL style and culture?
I love the cute girlish style of it all. † What are your favorite GL clothing brands? I've no idea of brands, I just take the look and re-invent it with the right accessories. My friend Manko made the head band/cloche.
† Any other comments? EGL is a good medium to explore as a male into glam trashy drag. I like the word "punktorian" and use it as a general reference. If anyone likes what I've created and can help or further advise me in this look that would be much appreciated, or if you just want to be friends cool too. xx Thanks!!
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Reader Sinny sent me a marvelous suggestion for a blog post - Rococo shoes! I immediately thought of the shot from Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette, which swoops over the Queen's Imelda Marcos-esque collection of pastel footwear. The movie wasn't much more than eye candy, but the shoes within are as yummy as frosted petit fours.
Who could have concocted these confections except Manolo Blahnik of Sex and the City infamy? The designer says he dropped everything when the producers called. "They said 'make them sexy', but I wanted to do something very academic." Blahnik's research took him to collections of 18th-century shoes in Paris and at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.
We commoners can't get our hands on these delicacies - but Sinny brought my attention to the ultra-feminine, Rococo-inspired designs by Irregular Choice. The UK brand is one of my favorites; it is known for funky, lace-up boots and unusual heels that pair well with Gothic Lolita outfits. The shoes are generally comfortable and retail in the $100-200 range.
Sinny writes: "They have UK and US websites but I think these are exclusives that are only available at certain stockists. Amazon UK and Schuh seem to house them." I've found Irregular Choice in boutique shoe stores in major North American cities. Lavish footwear, Madame de Pompadour dresses... Rococo Week's going swimmingly, wouldn't you say?
Rococo Week continues as I play connect-the-dots between modern Lolita fashion and late 18th century Versailles. If I may be fustian, the appropriate word is "palimpsest". Loli designs draw from the Ancien Regime but without historical comment; a lace-layered, corset-stitched dress is worn simply because it is beautiful.
Compare the Sweet/Hime dresses by Justine and Juliette (left) to the portraits of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (right). Her gauzy, intricate outfits evoke a "vie en rose" - much like the one Momoko (of Kamikaze Girls) yearns for.
Every lace trim and lush bow is brought out by François Boucher's brush. He was appointed first painter to King Louis XV in 1765, and both loved and hated for his extravagantly sensual works. His harshest critic, Denis Diderot, had to admit of his art: "c'est un vice si agréable." (It's such an agreeable vice.)
His success was greatly facilitated by his patron, Madame de Pompadour, the cunning and beautiful mistress of Louis XV. She commissioned Boucher to paint her portrait several times, usually set against an idyllic and pastoral landscape. Her sweet features and charm are in full display here (and I love the cameo bracelet that matches the rosy bow of her capelet.)
Back to our palimpsest layers. We have the decadent court of Versailles dominated by Madame de Pompadour... Boucher's sensual and semi-fantastical depictions of his patroness... Justine et Juliette's Lolita dresses that draw upon the fiction and reality of the Rococo age. What a shame that courtly fashion has been shuffled away into museums - but Lolita designers are re-kindling the flame and crying out (in the words of Adele): "It's high time we had a bit of decadence!"
Rococo – it was what dominated the latter part of 18th century France, a period of extreme prosperity and extravagance, appearing after the ultra-solemn Baroque with the most frivolous of artistic expressions.
Rococo – due to its ostentation and decadence, it is discarded and lost in history, and is hardly even mentioned in world history textbooks. The critics say the art of this period is too coquettish, insolent, gaudy; obscene, pure decadence.
However, life is like diving to be submerged in a world of dreams; to drown – that is the soul and essence of Rococo.
We're taught to turn our noses at Rococo, the artistic equivalent of Cheez Whiz and Heidi Montag. I fell in with the norm, professing my love for De Stijl or Bauhaus or any avantgarde movement with a manifesto. And then I discovered author Novala Takemoto, who claims to have been born in 1745 and opens his novel Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari) with a swoon-worthy snapshot of the era. Oh, to be a lady at the court of Versailles... to wear rib-crunching corsets and five-foot tall powdered wigs... to faint into the arms of a dashing aristocrat who cries "KAWAII"!
I decided to give Rococo another shot, so I visited New York's Frick Museum, an intimate round-up of 18th century European art. I wasn't expecting much from painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard, who is rarely more than a sentence in an art history textbook. But then I walked into a drawing room covered floor-to-ceiling with his Four Ages of Love, commissioned by Madame Du Barry (mistress of King Louis XV). I stared with mouth agape for half an hour, then revisited the room at least three times more! Digital reproductions of the paintings cannot begin to capture the tremendous scale and the lush pastels - but I did my best by putting together a few spotlights. (Click on the titles to see the full painting.)
The first row has scenes from The Pursuit: a young man emerges to offer a rose to a maiden. Fragonard frames the encounter with blooming flowers, ripe fruit, sensual statues of mythological beings... the stuff of 99 cent romance novels, but made beautiful with his brush. In The Meeting, the suitor scales the wall to visit his lady-love (it's literally always springtime for these lovers).
We move to their wedding day in The Lover Crowned; the scene is strewed with musical instruments and enough greenery to cause a deadly histamine reaction. The story ends not on Maury Povich, but with the calm contentment of The Love Letters.
In addition to these paintings, the Fragonard Room contained ornate (yet aesthetically pleasing) furniture from the late 18th century. The Frick collection was full of pleasant surprises and made me eager to explore the interconnections between Rococo and Lolita fashion.
I hereby declare that this shall be Rococo Week! I'll do several posts related to the art, fashion, and culture of the time; let me know if you have suggestions. Here is to a life like candy – of sweet self-indulgence and decadent dreams. Mmm.
The male counterpart to Gothic Lolita fashion goes by many names: dandy, boystyle, ouji, elegant gothic aristocrat, kodona... Volume 6 of Kera Magazine Maniax throws up its hands and puts it as "Little Prince B-592". (I have no clue what the letter and numbers refer to.)
The coy boys/girls are dreamily styled and set against a blistering winter background. The red zips on the A+Lidel pants (left) add punk to a suit that could have belonged in the 19th century. Putumayo's skull-printed overcoat (right) barely reveals a black/white diamond-print tie.
h.NAOTO's boyish Na+H outfit (left) is charming, but I can't tear my eyes away from the dead fox dangling from the model's shoulder! (One of my friends found a similar scarf in his aunt's closet, with head, feet, and tails intact.) Kikirara Shoten displays a trademark waist corset and top hat (right), without the usual carnivalia.
Black Peace Now salutes la drame with ruffled sleeves and a trailing cossack hat (left). Atelier Boz (right) merges a Victorian topcoat with modern Goth. All of the shoes pictured are by Yosuke, except on the Kikirara Shoten model (who wears Dr. Martens).
Which Prince Charming would you want to whisk you away on a white horse?
The number one reading material for Lolitas is, of course, the Gothic & Lolita Bible. (It's an apt title: I picture girls clutching their dog-eared copies, reciting passages about Moi-Même-Moitié in somber tones as if pronouncing the Word...) However, it isn't the only Japanese magazine that covers the fashion. Alternate titles tend to take a more panoptic view of Lolita; some may not consider it rorita at all. But I find these "apocryphal works" to be a welcome respite from the same-old, same-old.
Cosmic Mook's guide for girls, for example, is a celebration of second-hand shopping. The April issue styles several of the models à la Lolita, entirely from vintage pieces.
This interpretation may not conform to the canon, but I must say I'm charmed by the Bonnie and Clyde beret and patterned grey stockings.
The Country Lolita look is too much for me, but I love this simplified look built from light, cotton 1970s dresses. (Sears Catalogue Lolita, anyone? ) Cosmic Mook shows you how to braid and pin up your hair to mimic the Lolita crowns worn to one side of the head. Brilliant! I can't wait to try it out.
Cosmic Mook's "used mix" issue can be ordered through
Kinokuniya. What are your thoughts on the magazine's unconventional "Vintage Lolita" styling?
On March 17, Sweet Lolitas worldwide let out glass-shattering squeals and fell backwards on the couch (one hand lifted to brow) - for it was the day that Angelic Pretty unveiled its English-language website. Now, anyone outside Japan can buy Angelic Pretty products with the click of a mouse. A few caveats: only PayPal is accepted, not all items are available for sale, and you'll be scratching your head at the "Engrish" instructions on the site.
Like La Carmina, designers Maki and Asuka are currently obsessed with huge doll-like bows pinned to the head. How many variations can one make on a theme? Brahms had eight "Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn"; Mozart managed twelve for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" - and Angelic Pretty one-upped both by producing fifteen versions of the giant hair bow.
Six of the bows are attached to headbands and positioned on one side of the head. All of the designs pictured are offered in several colors (usually black, white, red, pink, sky blue). Some have cute patterned fabrics, others are rimmed with lace. The cherry-patterned one with two crocheted cherries in the center is cute overload.
Nine of the mega-bows sit on top of the head. Gingham, polka dot, and tartan fabrics create variety. Love the one on the bottom right, which has a strand of faux pearls and is secured under the neck with satin ribbon.
Each hair decoration is priced around 3000 yen ($30). Only four of the above are available through Angelic Pretty's English-language online shop - but perhaps these photos will urge you to grab some fabric and create fifteen more variations!
