America's Magazine

December 2022

The Evolution of Lolita Fashion

The Evolution of Lolita Fashion

Well known lolita brands such as Angelic Pretty and Baby The Stars Shine Bright were created in the early 80’s and did not make cloth ing that would be defined as ‘lolita’ fashion by today’s standards. Although images from the earlier years of these brands are not avail able, images dating back from the late 90’s and early 2000’s are.

Late 90’s: The fashion ‘began’ to show some of its earliest traits in the streets of Harajuku, with accents of frills and lace. Plaids were particularly popular. People did not always wear petticoats underneath their skirts.

Early 2000’s: The release of the film, Kamikaze Girls. Lolita fashion grows in popularity.

Kamikaze Girls seemed to coincide with lolita’s growing popularity. The fashion also started to become a bit more recognizable to lolita fashion today. Rectangular headdresses were popular, in addition to clunky rocking horse shoes. This style of lolita is now known as old school. Similar to the 90’s the fashion was also not as strict on petticoats, but they were more a little more frequently.

The fashion also developed its two main styles: sweet, with its lighter colors, and gothic, which features a darker palette.

Mid-2000’s to Early 2010’s: The Boom of Headbows, Over The Top Outfits, and Prints

Lolita fashion began to become more accessible to people in the west. Anime seemed to inspire a few of the coordinates that were made. Colorful wigs became popular, in addition to accessories with motifs to anime series. Lolitas began to experiment more with their coordinates.

A livejournal community, EGL, (Elegant and Gothic Lolita) was founded in the year 2000. Livejournal helped build a bigger communi ty for lolitas outside of Japan.

Closet of Frills is a group where lolitas post their outfits on a daily basis.

In the recent years, lolitas have been using social media to keep in touch and share the outfits they put together. It is now easier than ever for lolitas to meet others with the same interests. Between fashion conventions, Facebook groups, and forums, lolitas can get inspiration for their own style. Communities have become close knit, courtesy of social media.

Facebook groups have been made, such as Closet of Frills. About 6,000 people are members of the group alone outfits are posted on a daily basis. People ask for critiques on their outfits and receive it (almost) immediately. The advice from fellow people in the fashion, mainly small tips, have helped people develop their own sense of style. Victorian motifs also seem to be much more prominent.

Baby the Stars Bright opened a store in 2014 in New York City.

Now, lolitas can easily purchase their clothing regardless of the country they are in, and also can stay in touch with people with the same interests. The style has refined itself over the years, with more elegance and emphasis on its Victorian roots. The fashion went from Japan to around the globe in less than a decade and now, there are even conventions catered towards lolita fashion.

Interview with Die Milch

Lolita singer Coco talks music, international exchange and the afterlife of Harajuku fashion

If Lolita fashion is dead, then milch is the drink of choice in the afterlife.

With the German word for ‘milk’ as their name, Die Milch are a Gothic and Lolita unit who represent a complete fusion of mu sic and fashion. “I think it sounds cute. And I like dairy products,” says enigmatic singer and keyboardist Coco. “Milk can become various sweets.” Coco performs flanked by two expert violinists, immaculately dressed head-to-toe in Gothic and Lolita fashion. Musically, Die Milch blend classical music with elements of rock, electronic and the catchy melodies of J-Pop. Think 17th century French court music with dark industrial edges and the danceable frivolity of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. These days, adding classical instruments to pop isn’t exactly groundbreaking but these ‘fusions’ rarely involve genuinely high-qual ity classical playing. It’s refreshing to hear true stylistic synthesis that is actually done well, with highly technical yet expressive playing from the string players incorporated seamlessly into Coco’s articulate, slightly fastidious composing. Musical excellence notwithstanding, Die Milch’s fashion element is equally important to the unit’s artistry. “For me, it’s natural to combine music and fashion to make the aesthetic vision even more compelling,” Coco tells Metropolis. Baroque backdrops and black-clad backing dancers alongside the stylish unit make their shows a visual treat.

Western journalists do enjoy beating the “Harajuku fashion is dead” drum, but bands like Die Milch provide physical and artistic spaces where alternative fashion can be enjoyed. “I feel Harajuku fashion is changing little by little, but I don’t think it’s ever been dead,” Coco says. “It’s connected to Japan’s current economic climate. Young people in Japan today don’t have as much money as before, so they’re spending less on not just fashion but material goods in general. There is less material desire nowadays.” For Coco, Lolita’s survival is tied up with the fashion’s enduring popularity overseas. “Lolita brands in Japan are currently struggling, but the fact that there are many customers abroad means that Japan’s Lolita fashion is now composed of followers across the globe.”

Japan’s stagnant economy aside, the internet has been both life-giver and executioner to subcultures because it reduces the need for phys ical subcultural spaces. You don’t need to head to Takeshita-dori to get your fill of the Lolita aesthetic if you can reblog images on Tumblr or dress up and take pictures in your bedroom. It’s undeniable that less Lolitas stroll the streets of Harajuku compared to 15 years ago. And yet, the internet has allowed alternative fashions to be discovered and enjoyed by people worldwide. It is in international cyberspace where Die Milch have found their audience and are able to propagate their artistic vision. Although they have a respectable following of dedicat ed fans in Japan, it is on their European and Asian tours where the unit draw the biggest crowds, often with audiences decked out in Lolita fashion. “Both Lolita fashion and classical music have roots in Europe,” Coco explains. “In this way, I think this fashion suits the European cityscape so I love touring Europe…It makes me really happy to see our fans come to see us wearing Lolita!”

It’s interesting how fringe elements of a culture become unlikely ambassadors abroad. Londoner Paul Browne is one individual who was instrumental in bringing Die Milch to Europe. The founder of J-Pop Go, a UK website about Japan which also organizes events, it’s clear he thinks Die Milch’s image is integral to their European popularity “The Die Milch show that we staged was one of the most popular live events that J-Pop Go have run, and demonstrated that there’s an audience for a combination of J-pop/Gothic Lolita elements,” Browne commented. “Their sense of style gave striking visual elements to the shows.” Indeed, Die Milch’s aesthetic evokes a kind of dream Europe that is somehow quintessentially Japanese—and this is compelling to European audiences. In a delicious exchange of ironies, you could say Die Milch are “big in Europe.” The Gothic and Lolita Bible published its final “mook” in 2017, undeniably an end of an era. But Coco is optimistic about the future of Lolita. “Whatever form Lolita takes, it will continue to exist as an eternal ‘Princess’ ideal that girls will be drawn to.” Today, creativity can transcend the pages of a magazine and fandoms live in their own international microcosms. Die Milch stress that their music is not just for Lolitas, but it’s undeniable that the unit’s aesthetic is crucial to its appeal, both in Japan and abroad. The so-called “death of Harajuku” has not deterred Die Milch from continuing their creative vision, and Coco remains hopeful. “I would like to continue writing songs, doing performances and having people come to enjoy them…in addition, I would be honored if Die Milch was able to be used as an object of international exchange.”

How to Do Lolita/Harajuku Makeup?

For Prep: Primer & Moisturizer

For Base: Foundation at least a shade lighter than your skin tone; Cream highlighters (but if you only have a powdered one, it’s fine); Concealer to brighten your under eyes; Another concealer to cover your blemishes (one that almost matches your skin tone); Powder to set your face

For Eyes: Eyebrow pencil; A bunch of unnatural fake eyelashes and eyelash glue; Eyeliner (black or brown, whichever you like); Eye shadows; Eyelid Primer

For Cheeks: Preferred Pink Blush

For Lips: Any Dark Lipstick Base

Start with putting on the necessary pre-makeup routine to ensure that you will have a perfect base for your heavy makeup. The pre-makeup basically just starts off with your daily moisturizer to make sure that your face is having enough mois ture when you are layering your makeup later. Next, apply some primer that makes your makeup stick together and last longer especially when you’re in tropical places where the sun hits like there’s no tomorrow, making you sweat a lot that may cause your face to oil up a lot, bothering your makeup.

After you have made sure that you have prepared your skin for your makeup, start by applying concealer on your under eyes to lessen the dark under eye circles that are present there. We are starting with an under eye concealer to make sure that your canvas (which is your face) is matte and flat. Flat here doesn’t really mean a bad thing as the goal here is to make sure that your face is likened to that of a Gothic doll, the inspiration for this makeup look (since we are going all out with this look). Once you have brightened up your under eyes with your concealer, start with patching up your blemishes with your concealer again. Using a concealer brush for this method is the most efficient way to make sure that no con cealer is wasted while still optimizing, making sure that the application of the concealer is still clean on your face. After taking care of the blemishes on your skin, take your highlighter products and apply it on the apples of your cheeks. It is nice if you have a cream highlighter for this one as we are going to layer on top of this foundation. It is fine however, if you only have a powder highlighter. To continue, take your foundation of choice. This foundation should at least be a shade lighter than your complexion but not as light to the point where it doesn’t match your skin tone anymore. The purpose of having a shade lighter than your skin tone for your foundation is key to creating a porcelain-like skin that is on par with that of a doll. After all, the Gothic Lolita aesthetic is not only reminiscent of the spooky and grotesque style of fashion, but it is also reminiscent of the Victorian clothing style, only mixed with dark elements that make up the Gothic fashion.

Once you have chosen the right shade of foundation that you will be applying on your face, have a beauty sponge ready and damp it. Slowly apply your foundation by placing it on your face through dotting them and then start blending it by tapping motions while using your already damp beauty sponge. We are using a beauty sponge to blend the foundation since we want to create a non-cake base foundation to again achieve that porcelain-like skin. It is alright to use a foundation brush when applying foundation when you don’t have a beauty sponge, but it is optimal that you use a beauty sponge just so we are not leaving unnecessary streaks on our face.

Once you have achieved flawless coverage for your foundation, apply a light dust of powder on your face. The powder has to be uncolored in order to avoid the possibility of dusting your face with unnecessary tints. Strategically apply the pow der on your T-zone where you get oily the most, and then under your under eyes, and then cover the rest of your face with just a very slight amount that you just need enough to make your foundation stick on its place.

Brows

Just like the trends of the kawaii, Japanese makeup, the way you’re supposed to draw your brows for this makeup style is of no difference. In fact, all you need to do to achieve the eyebrow look befitting of this style is simply to fetch a good eyebrow pencil that you are used to using, and the one that you are comfortable with. But before doing your brows, just make sure that both brows are trimmed so that we are not dealing with messy brows as that would ruin the look for this specific aesthetic. Using a spoolie, you clean your brows, combing it in one direction then you can start drawing on them.

When drawing your brows, it is important that you draw straight brows and not your usual everyday brows. This is to still retain the kawaii element in makeup and having straight brows is one. Just continue to fill in your brows until you are satisfied, just make sure that your brows do not leave a strong impression as we want to keep it subtle to place the attention on the other colors of your case, specifically the blushes and the eye makeup.

Eyes

And now to the fun part of the makeup, and that is applying colors on your eyes. Always remember that the goal is to make your eyes look bigger, like that of a doll, so the techniques that you do when applying your eyeshadow makeup should make sure that it satisfies that goal.

Let’s play around the eyes in two ways: first, we apply a monochrome-like color for the lids with the color black, browns, and some white, and; second, we use dark colors.

For the first eye makeup, making use of monochrome dark colors which centers on the color black. We apply an eyelid primer first just so we can have a clean base for our colors, especially when dealing with dark colors. If you don’t have an eyelid primer, a thin layer of concealer on your eyelids is sufficient as an alternative. Start with applying a dark brown eye shadow color and top it on the white eye shadow just not going over the crease line. This will be the base for the black later. Then, apply a little amount of black eye shadow on your crease spreading out of the eyelid. Don’t make it so that it flatters around your eye. The reason for this is just so we are not concentrating too much black on our eyes to the point that you almost got your face punched, that’s not flattering!

Next, go under the lower lash line and brush some black eye shadow there, just don’t go throughout the lower lash line - from the middle to the outer lash line is enough. And then, get some white, shimmer eye shadow and place it on the inner corner of your outer lash line to the middle lash line extending a little below the eye. You can also define the effect to this by applying a light brown eye shadow using an angled brush, outlining the edges of the white shadow that makes an illusion of eye bags. Add a simple black eyeliner on top of your lids. You can add some other designs on your face if you like after this step. The second eye makeup is on how to make use of other colors to your makeup.

You can actually just go for the usual colors that you use for your eye makeup sans the pastel or bright ones. First, go with a nice white, shimmer eye shadow all around your lid. Then, apply a soft brown color on your inner crease just so it creates a depth effect for your eyes, making it seem hollow. And then, darken the outer part of the crease by applying a darker brown shadow. Be sure to blend these shadows well. On the outer lid of your top lid, apply a soft red eye shadow that spreads out to the outer crease. Then, bring the red eyeliner to the outer lower lash line up until the middle lash line, blending it. And apply the same white shimmer that we applied on the first eye makeup on this eye makeup. Apply your desired eyeliner.

Now, the eye makeup wouldn’t be complete if we’re not placing eyelashes on. And, I am not only talking about the simple fake lashes, I am talking about layers of eyelashes until you achieve that doll-like look for the aesthetic. It is recom mended that you use the most unnatural eyelashes when choosing for the right lashes. Apply these lashes on both the top and bottom lash line and then your eye make up is done!

You can add additional glitters and shimmers on your eyes just as long it looks doable for the aesthetic.

Cheeks

Now you don’t really need to do anything for your cheeks since the eyes and lips of the makeup look would set the mood for the aesthetic, but it wouldn’t hurt to place a very light pink blush on the apples of your cheeks, or in any place of your cheeks that you think the blush would sit best that will still flatter your face while still subtle. Or, you can go all out by making use of the red eye shadow from your eyes and connecting a blush makeup that suits its style, Lips

And last but not the least, probably the appropriate makeup for the lips would be to stick to the darker colors, I’m talking about black, grays, dark greens, dark red, as this is still Gothic makeup that we are dealing with. But, if you are not comfortable with these shades, then doing a gradient lip is sufficient to complete the makeup look.

How to do Harajuku/Lolita hair look?

One of my favorite Lolita hairstyles is the spiral curl, or ringlet. It’s used to be one of Lolita’s must have looks, but now it’s nearly never seen.

The most classic spiral curl for Lolitas is the tight, highly styled spiral curl. These are typically perfect looking. Shiny strips of perfectly flattened hair curled into an impeccable spiral and held that way with lots and lots of hair spray. Or, probably more often than not, a very well cared for wig. This is the most “doll like” of the spiral curl, for it’s perfect and near artificial look. Often seen down, but also in a pair of pig tails, this style is more suited for Classic Lolita, Gothic Lolita, or any kind of old school style.

Another variation on these curls is the “form all the curls into big curls”. In which, you guessed it, you carefully form all the curls into a couple big curls. You most often see this with 2 big curls, either in ponytails or worn down with one across each shoulder, but you can have more if you feel like it. This kind of spiral curl can easily go with any of the Lolita sub-styles and makes a good, toned down alternative, for the big huge pigtails that are so prevalent in Sweet Lolita. It’s much lighter on maintenance too. So long as your hair can hold a curl you need not worry too much about this getting stuck on long fingernails, buttons, headbands, or anything else that might get too close to your head as you can easily reform the curl so long as it still has some spring back in it.

One other variation is to soften up the curls a bit by going easy on the hair spray and fluffing them with your fingers. It creates a much soft er and fluffier curl that is also relatively light on maintenance, since you can easily hide any accidental unravelings in the volume of the hair. This is another variation that can easily go with any of the sub-styles. As seen in the pictures below, it’s perfect for hair that’s too short for the other versions of the spiral curl.

How do you get these perfect curls you ask? There are a number of ways, the easiest is definitely to get a wig or a pair of clip-in extensions. You don’t have to spend a couple hours carefully balancing a hot curling iron over your head to get those hard-to-reach spots, all you have to do is tuck your real hair up and pop on a wig. These curls are also pretty much never going to go flat, they’ll always remain springy and perky.

Bodyline sells a rather nice looking spiral curl wig in a variety of colors. I’m seriously considering getting the reddish brown one!

You can also style your own hair by using a very thin curling iron and a whole lot of hairspray. I can’t tell you the best thing to do for your type of hair, but typically what you want to do is start off with a very thin curling iron, work with small sections of hair, hold the iron verti cally and gently shake the curls off of it once they are set, then spray it with hair spray. There are tons of tutorials and videos about this online for lots of different kinds of hair, so look around and experiment to find the best one for you and your hair!

Where to Buy Lolita Fashion?

A great big list of where to buy this, that, and the other thing for all price ranges and size ranges! (Please note that not all of these shops are Lolita brands and not all of them sell exclusively Lolita. This is a collection of Lolita shops as well as shops that just happen to sell a lot of things that can be used in Lolita.) This list will be updated over time to include new shops as they open.

Price guide:

$$$- Dress prices are generally over $200 USD $$- Dress prices are generally between $100 and $200 USD $- Dress prices are generally under $100 USD

Price ranges are based on prices before shipping. Shops that do not sell dresses (or may have some clothing but focus mainly on accessories) will be based on the prices of their items in comparison to similar items of other shops. Multiple sets of price indicators means the shop tends to offer a lot of price variation.

The “Big Brands”:

Angelic Pretty $$$

Angelic Pretty US Shop $$$

Baby the Stars Shine Bright/Alice and the Pirates $$$

Baby the Stars Shine Bright San Francisco $$$

Innocent World $$$

Juliette et Justine $$$

Mary Magdalene $$$

Metamorphose Temps de Fille $$$

Victorian Maiden (requires shopping service) $$$

Moi-meme-Moitie $$$

Other Japanese Brands/Indie Brands/Shops

Maxicimam $$-$$$

Antique Beast $$$

Enchantlic Enchantilly $$$

Bodyline $

Schwarz Schmetterling $$$

Atelier Boz (requires shopping service) $$$

Chocochip Cookie (requires shopping service) $$-$$$

Atelier Pierrot $$$

Kikirara Shoten (requires shopping service) $$$

Pina Sweetcollection (requires shopping service) $$-$$$

Triple Fortune (requires shopping service) $$-$$$

Millefleurs $$$

And Romeo $

Alice Auaa $$$

Milky Ange $$$

Seraphim (requires shopping service) $$$

Sheglit $$$

Abilletage $$$

Royal Princess Alice $$$

KOMACHI2266531DarkLolita $$

Carriers of Various Brands:

Harajuku Hearts (US based) $$-$$$

Lolita Collective (US based) $-$$$

Dreamy Bows (UK based) $-$$

Madame Chocolat (Spain based) $-$$$

Glitzy Wonderland (China based, carries Taobao brands) $-$$$

Clobba (China based, carries Taobao brands) $-$$$

Second Hand Lolita

Lolita Sales in English $-$$$

Closet Child $-$$$

Alice + fururun $-$$$

Maiden Clothing $-$$$

Kitty Carousel $-$$$

Tokyo Alice $-$$$

Lace Market $-$$$

Wunderwelt $-$$$

Mbok (auction site, shopping service required) $-$$$

Y!Japan (auction site, shopping service required) $-$$$

Second Hand Lolita:

Lolita Sales in English $-$$$

Closet Child $-$$$

Alice + fururun $-$$$

Maiden Clothing $-$$$

Kitty Carousel $-$$$ Tokyo Alice $-$$$

Lace Market $-$$$

Wunderwelt $-$$$

Mbok (auction site, shopping service required) $-$$$

Y!Japan (auction site, shopping service required) $-$$$

General Shopping Services:

Japonica Market Noppin Rinkya

TaoBao Shopping Services:

TaoBaoNow Spree Now

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