The Anime Blog - We Go Beyond Anime!

Lolita is just a broad term encompassing many categories and subcategories for this style. I was blown away by all the different types of lolis present at Anime Central 2006:

Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita is the most familiar variety of Lolita, made popular by Mana of the band Malice Mizer in Japan. The style incorporates mostly black clothing with white lace or vice versa. Dark colors may accompany the black and white, but only if suitably somber. Crosses and skulls are a must for accessories as is anything else morbid.

The attitude is darker than for other Lolis and not as carefree but still maintains some innocence which is essential for a Lolita. The complexion is pale and the make up should be dark with either red or black lipstick, or no make up at all.

Sweet Lolita

Sweet Lolita is the soft babyish Lolita as characterized by Momoko in the film Kamikaze Girls (written by Novala Takemoto BTW). Colors are soft pastels (pinks, baby blues, lavenders), and white with floral prints, plaids, frilly headbands, ribbons, fancy finger nails, and lace, lace, lace, lace! Stuffed animals and BJD (ball jointed dolls) are common accompaniments of the Sweet style.

Classic Lolita

Classic Lolita keeps the color palette of the Sweet but without the excessive cuteness and frills. Classic Lolita is more adult and brings to mind Alice in Wonderland with the apron and princess-waist style dresses.

Kodona

Kodona is not really a Lolita but it’s still a style that runs in the vein of the Lolita, keeping with the Victorian era. I have no idea what the word Kodona means, but it’s a masculine style of Victorian dress that compliments Lolita. Girls and guys who wear it are reminiscent of mischievous school boys like the ones in Oliver Twist.

Wa Lolita and Qi Lolita

Wa Lolita and Qi Lolita are Lolis that draw inspiration for their dresses from the traditional kimono and qipao respectively.

Aristocrat Lolita

Aristocrat Lolitas tend to wear longer, straighter skirts and cut waaay back on the frills. Blacks, burgundies, darker colors, and velvets abound. The look screams school teacher or librarian and the style is much, much, more mature than Sweet, Classic, or even Gothic. It is a modest style and is not seen as much as Sweet, Classic, or Gothic.

Casual Lolita

Casual Lolita will probably be the gateway Lolita for most Americans as anyone can do it without really looking like your “dressing” like a Loli. Casual Loli is the simplest version of Lolita, giving a person ample opportunity to play with Lolita stylings without going all out and spending a fortune. The style is like Gothic but not so stern. T-shirts, chains and combat boots are all acceptable for Casual. Just think American Goth with a petticoat and some lace and there you have it.

Ero Lolita

Ero Lolita is a very mature version of Lolita that’s kinda like Gothic but showing more skin and bringing fetishes and leather to the mix. It’s still considered Lolita even though it’s not as demure as its counterparts; older women tend to gravitate towards the Ero Lolita style. The moderator was adamant that you’re no longer considered a Lolita once you start acting indecently and immodestly even though you’re dressed for just that.

Ojisama

Ojisama is the male counterpart to the Lolita style. Ojisama is the Japanese word for prince, and just as Lolitas are lil’ princesses so are Ojisama princes. Ojisama dress as any well mannered gentleman would have dressed back in Victorian times. They are NOT like the Kodona. The Kodona are rakish scoundrel looking folk whereas Ojisama are men of society.

Gory Lolita

Gory Lolita is a style I have never heard, seen, or dreamed before, but the panel mentioned it as a form of Lolita. Gory Loli is a version of Loli where the girl or guy dresses as a usual Lolita, then pours buckets of red paint or dye on their outfits. WTF?! Really? Do these people actually have that much money lying around that they can take an uber-expensive outfit and turn it into a bloody ruin? One possible reason for this style is that these Lolis have a thing for Jack the Ripper, the macabre, and/or are probably “touched” for all I know. Whatever buddy, to each their own.

I’ve only listed those varieties of Lolita that I’m most familiar with and feel comfortable writing about. I know that there are many more sub categories out there, with more and more popping up every day as the style progressively gets more popular. I’m aware of the Punk Lolita and the Nurse Lolita (maybe a sub category to Gory) but since I don’t have enough info on those I won’t be writing about them till I do.

The standards for makeup differ in some varieties of Lolis but the look for most Lolita styles remains constant; little or no makeup, and keep the face fresh and young. Of course for Gothic and Eros I’ve seen people smear on the black eye shadow and whiten their face with Ben Nye theatre makeup and then slap on a generous amount of black, red, purple, whatever, but DARK lipstick a la Mana. I imagine with Punk and Casual you can go any way you want to with the make up as well, but for Classic and Sweet the makeup must be at a minimum.

Lolita Hair

Lolita hair always eluded me as to how to get those perfect ringlets until I asked someone at the Loli panel how they did it. They said they used wigs and hair pieces which sounds simple but expensive. A good wig will probably run you $50 then add on the pieces, and whoa, pricey, but no one ever said going Loli was cheap.

Lolita Nails

Have you seen the other accessory that’s a must with most Lolitas? What’s with having those outrageous nails? How is that Lolita? You obviously can’t do much with nails that are manicured 10 ways to Sunday without fear of chipping something that cost a quarter of someone’s paycheck; I guess that’s the point. I just have never seen a little Victorian girl with long-ass acrylic nails with plastic roses glued on the tips, sorry. Must be a modern day Victorian affectation…

Lolita Poll

Early Lolitas hand sewed and designed their clothing themselves and many still do. A poll I took at Anime Central this year revealed that:

• 33% of the Lolitas that attended completely handmade their outfits
• 33% bought theirs online or from someone else that made them for them
• 33% were a composite of the two

So where can a stateside wanna be who can’t sew get hooked up? Some sites I found are:

• Apple Sugar
• Candy Violet
• Cosmates
• In the Starlight
• Milk Pearl
• Moi-Meme-Moitie (Mana’s clothing line)
• Noir Desir
• Supert3ch

Hot Topic has even jumped on the wagon and started selling Gothic Lolita style garb so that helps to a degree, but not if you want something truly unique, individualized, Sweet or Classic.

Ladies, a word to all those out there that are broke like me yet want something you can’t find anywhere else: thrift, thrift, thrift!! Get well acquainted with all the Goodwill’s and Salvation Armies in St. Louis cause believe it or not you can totally find a super cool loli outfit for under $40 not including the shoes if you really try.

Note: All images of Lolitas were taken at Anime Central 2006 unless otherwise noted.