I've been corresponding with Patrick Macias, who has an awesome J-pop culture blog and is co-author of Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno. (I reviewed the book last year; it's a colorful breakdown of the various Harajuku fashion tribes, including Lolita.) Patrick also oversees and contributes to MaruiOne's LiveJ site, home to Kera's street snaps of stylish Tokyo youths.
If you're lucky enough to be in Los Angeles next week, you could soon spot yourself amidst these style mavens! Patrick gave me the head's up: MaruiOne.jp and Kera Magazine are hosting a "Street Snap" event at the 2008 Anime Expo (AX). In addition to selling Gothic/Lolita/Punk clothing, photographers will be shooting stylish attendees. The best photos will appear on MaruiOne's LiveJ and in an upcoming issue of Kera.
The "Marui bunch" (as Patrick puts it) will be manning a booth throughout the entire Anime Expo, but the Kera Snap sessions will only be held on:
† July 3: 3-5 PM
† July 4: 2-3PM, 4-5PM
† July 5: 2-3PM, 4-5PM
So put on your best bonnet, and don't miss your chance to be on the same pages as Kana and Aya! For inspiration, here are some recent Kera Snaps. Goth muse Manamu (left) - who you may remember from the Absolut ads - rocks the Aristocrat look and carries an... intriguing... purse that she made herself. ( Out of roadkill, maybe? )
You may also recall my post about stylish couples who are captured repeatedly. Introducing another duo: Mitru (fashion student at Bunka Women's University) and Asaki (Visual Kei/metal vocalist). They describe their relationship as "Princess and Prince" - and like me, they flutter around in feathered masks, pirate/military coats, and gossamer bell skirts.
I won't be at the LA Expo, but I'll be sure to keep up with the "Marui bunch" and post the best of the Kera snaps. Maybe I'll find you in them!
Is there anything more annoying than couples who dress alike? You see them loping along in the same red striped polo shirt, each with one hand in the rear pocket of the other’s too-tight jeans… it makes you want to hurl a Frappuccino in their direction.
I say there should be a ban on coordinated couples, effective worldwide with the exception of one tiny district: Harajuku. KERA Magazine’s street style snaps prove that at least two dress-alike couples should be spared from a Frapp Attack.
Store clerk Sae (right) and systems engineer Takuma (left) describe their connection as “telepathic waves.” Sometimes, they wander into Bigfoot territory with Rarara hats, tattered scarves, rag bags, and furry leg covers. But this pair truly shines when the neural oscillations whisper “Lolita/Kodona.” Sae wears Angelic Pretty head-to-toe, while Takuma’s natty boystyle is a mix-and-match of brands. (In the left photo, he models a Sexy Dynamite London hat, Alice Auaa shirt, Alice and the Pirates vest, Jane Marple pants, Vivienne Westwood accessories and rocking horse shoes. On the right, he wears a Shirley Temple coat, Alice and the Pirates jacket, Jane Marple shirt, Emily Temple Cute pants, and Vivienne Westwood jewelry/shoes.)
Choco Nyan is a fashion design student at Bunka Women’s University, and she churns out clothing for herself and her boyfriend, Jun Yan. (Their connection? “Both meowing cats.”) Jun balances his neon pink Buffalo platforms with a matching Super Lovers jacket and lightning bolt. Interestingly, Choco’s outfit on the left would not be considered Lolita, but it’s built from brands associated with the style (Stigmata corset, Jane Marple skirt/socks/boots/accessories).
Compare Choco’s Moi-même-Moitié coat (right) to the ones she designed herself (left, middle). I love how she matched the diamond fur trim to her socks, and wrapped both the coat and bag in a light blue bow. Jun complements her with Gothic garments by Stigmata. In the middle photo, he balances the red horizontal stripes of his socks with a red choker.
Visit MaruiOne’s LiveJ for full information about these outfits, and to view other KERA street snaps. Would you dress up in a duo? I’m beginning to be inspired…
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?
"I always wear my own designs. I added a dark element to the cuteness of Lolita."
"I think of them as day-to-day clothes. It's not cosplay... sometimes it is registered as such, especially with the rise in popularity of maid cafes around Akihabara. I'd like people to realize that they're different."
"I love seeing fans cosplay me, it makes me happy."
†From The Tokyo Look Book by Philomena Keet (Kodansha Int'l, 2007) p86-89.
I was contacted on MySpace by author Dakota Lane and we instantly hit it off. Dakota has written several young adult novels, and her latest – coming out this fall – is titled Gothic Lolita. It’s a mystery thriller with photos and artwork, set in Tokyo and Hollywood. Two girls, connected by a mysterious manga. A missing brother, the death of parents, dark surprises… and several closets worth of gosurori clothing!
I’m always curious about what draws people to the fashion. Dakota saw a photo of a veiled Loli clinging to a doll (like the one below), and it triggered intense emotion and longing. “Was it a lifestyle, was it a creative expression? And maybe they were victims, but they also seemed to be simultaneously rising up, finding strength and power through being Lolita?” Her protagonist reacts similarly when she sees a Loli for the first time at age seven:
they looked like children forced to pose in victorian maid's outfits. puffed sleeves, black capes, lacy parasols, some with veils—they were elegant and dignified and darkly innocent. nothing about them seemed fake or costumed; they seemed like the scariest girls in the world. (i didn't know that some day i would want to be like them.)
Dakota’s experience sparked three years of research, spinning into tangents such as extinct spiders and religious practices in remote Japanese villages. The longing for another culture becomes the grounding of her novel. “The girl in Hollywood imagines the girl in Tokyo as a perfect Harajuku, bridge-posing high-end Gothic Lolita. The girl in Japan–who's actually in an orphanage in Kamakura and has only been to Harajuku twice—she imagines the Hollywood girl as being a perfect cosplay Lolita, which she isn't! They know each other only through their blogs and their fantasies.”
As a Gothic Lolita blogger living in the West, I find this theme particularly salient. Many of us have never been to Tokyo and cannot speak Japanese – and yet we wear the same clothes and engage in the same activities as a Harajuku Loli. (Or do we...) The fashion has developed distinct norms, and our knowledge of it is considerable. And yet, it is doubtlessly lacking, as much of it is pieced together from glimmers on the Internet. Strange, isn’t it, to think that someone on the other side of the world is in the same Rocking Horse shoes?
Dakota’s characters treasure their clothing; they strive for authenticity and spend a great deal of time developing their outfits. We can dismiss them as odd dressers – but Dakota explores psychological layers as thin and fine as the clothes themselves: “How fully she was inhabiting the concept of Lolita, even after she took the costume off at night? Would she go to sleep a Lolita and wake a Lolita?” Her biggest challenge was to convey how the garments act as veils (literally and metaphorically), or are even inseparable from a Goth Loli’s being: “A girl could become so closely identified with her costume that she was no longer hiding behind it—she had actually become it, and the clothes were a way of truly expressing who she was.”
Gothic Lolita touches upon a number of thorny questions, which have already raised some eyebrows among American Lolis. But as Dakota says, “You can't please everyone when you're writing a book like this—you can only tell a story and hope the story trumps the premise.” She has been touched by the warm responses to her novel, including interview requests and even a movie offer! I’m sure we’ll hear more exciting news once the book hits stores on November 25th.
PS: Yoshitomo Nara's puppy has a cameo in the novel!
The Japanese pop artist is well known for his adorable, sleepy-eyed figures, such as the dogs above. Here’s Dakota’s story:
“I could go on forever about Nara's puppy—but let's say that I spent a lot of time photographing the puppy when he was visiting in New York and it is really a magical piece and kept appearing in the scenes in my mind, so I finally opened my heart […] and asked if he could be featured in a photograph and as a fictional character in the book. Nara said yes and no matter how many changes were made in this book—(it was revised five times)—I kept the puppy in because I treasure Nara and his work and the crying puppy is a blessing on the book.”
TokyoPop has announced yet another fan-tabulous contest to celebrate the English-language release of the Gothic & Lolita Bible (out tomorrow)! Just submit content - surveys, letters, photos, drawings - and you've got a shot at publication or a dreamy prize from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright!
Got you all worked up, right? Well, my face fell when I read that prizes will be awarded at random; how could I function without the merit system? And these goodies are less than impressive. Sure, you can win something from Alice and the Pirates - but it's either a $3 postcard or a $1 sticker.
But hey, a "cake roll" washcloth (the third place prize) is better than nothing, I suppose. The contest runs from February 1 to March 15, 2008. You can view the instructions on TokyoPop's website. Don't forget to include the Submission Form and follow the Official Rules. Bonne chance.
