One of the first Lolita shops you'll encounter as you walk down Takeshita Doori in Harajuku is the much-maligned Bodyline.
Why the vitriol? Because Bodyline sells cosplay (such as sailor and schoolgirl outfits) in addition to Lolita dresses; because Bodyline uses cheaper materials and less exact detailing; because some of the designs are unabashedly knock-offs of brands such as h.NAOTO and Angelic Pretty.
Personally, I put Bodyline in a separate category from brands such as Moi-meme-Moitie - the clothes retail at a lower price range and target a different clientele. I don't see the brand as a dilution of Lolita fashion. It's made the style accessible to young girls on tight budgets, and I see them looking beautiful in these dresses at indie Visual Kei concerts, club nights such as Alamode, and at the Marui fashion expo.
I don't claim to be an expert on Lolita fashion, nor do I describe my usual mode of dress as Gothic Lolita. However, I have a spent considerable amount of time in Tokyo - in the stores and at the events, with people who have been involved for over a decade. And many of the perspectives about the style so prevalent in the West... simply do not exist here. The Bible and brand advertisements put forth one story; it's up to the dressers to be inspired and mix it up. From my experience, they most certainly are not given the "Bodyline malign" for doing so.
Anyway, that's an alternate perspective that I do not believe is false. Bodyline's skirts and blouses aren't as high quality as Baby's, but that's not what they're aiming for. The brand offers larger sizes and a wide variety of styles for lower prices... how can that be a bad thing?
