Lolita fashion, a subculture from Japan, has expanded its influence globally. Five independent brands have contributed to the growth of this fashion style, with each offering a unique blend of Victorian clothing and Rococo-era styles. Lolita fashion originated in Japan’s vibrant streetwear scene in the 1970s and 80s, with ateliers like Milk, Pink House, and Comme des.
Lolita clothing is sold by various design houses, including brands like A Alice and the Pirates, Alice Auaa, Angelic Pretty Atelier Pierrot, Miss Point, Dollbe, AmourparisBoutique, and Night Whisper Lolita. Angelic Pretty, a key label in the style, specializes in Sweet Lolita apparel and is considered one of the style’s key labels. Other popular brands include Alice Girl, Aurora and Ariel, Angelic Imprint, Antaina, Arca et Ovis Avenue, Denfer, Airfreeing, Alicegarden, Arrive on the World, Mfashion, Summer Tales Boutique, Tokyo Rebel, Harajuku Hearts, Chiffon Rose, and Dreamy Bows.
Lollipops, an indie brand focusing on Sweet Lolita clothing, features cute animals, fruits, and pastel designs. Angelic Pretty provides adorable clothes covered in lace, frills, and ribbons, reminiscent of fairytale princesses.
Top 6 Lolita Clothing Brands in Japan include Baby The Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Jane Marple, Alice and the Pirates, and Dreamy Bows. These brands have helped expand Lolita Fashion’s influence and create more fashion pieces, showcasing the diverse range of styles and styles available in the industry.
📹 Black-Owned Lolita Fashion Brands
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What is a Lolita brand?
Lolita is a Japanese fashion movement that originated in the 1980s and has since evolved significantly. It is primarily inspired by the clothing and aesthetics of the Rococo and Victorian periods. The term Lolita is used to describe a specific look created by adhering to strict guidelines and principles. The “rules” of Lolita fashion are not to limit the wearer but to define what makes an outfit Lolita. Within these rules, there are various styles.
Gothic Lolita, often referred to as EGL, is the most associated style outside of Japan. However, this term only applies to the specific Gothic subset of Lolita fashion, not the entire movement. EGL is an abbreviation of the term Elegant Gothic Lolita, coined by Japanese musician Mana to describe his specific Lolita clothing line.
What are the most popular Lolita styles?
Lolita fashion consists of three main styles: sweet, classic, and gothic. Other sub-styles can be mixed or combined to create unique outfits. For beginners, it’s advisable to stick to one of the three main styles, as there are fewer examples of rarely-seen sub-styles. Offbeat sub-styles can be challenging to pull off without experience. Building up your wardrobe within one of the three main themes is easier than limiting yourself to one niche sub-style.
Defining features include youthful, princess-y, and cute, with typical color palettes of pink, mint, saxon, blue, white, lavender, and yellow. Common themes include sweets, hearts, stars, animals, flowers, fruit, and toys. Associated brands include Angelic Pretty, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and Metamorphose Temps de Fille.
Is Lolita fashion feminist?
Lolita fashion has been a significant part of the feminist narrative since its inception in 2006. Many girls wore the frilly garments to protect themselves from sexualization, a common truth linked to the nonconformist fashion movement for young women in Japan. These ideas are still prevalent in the western lolita community, with “Feminism and Lolita” panels at conventions. However, the narrative fails to address other feminist issues within the group, such as bullying and the normalization of eurocentric beauty standards.
The third wave of the narrative is built around the idea that all choices made by a woman, even those perpetuating a misogynist status quo, are ideals to be cherished and applauded. This narrative does not address institutionalized racism, sexism, and LGBTQ+ rights, and it is essential to address these issues.
To create a safe community for people of all races, genders, abilities, and sizes, the narrative should stop pretending that wearing a frilly dress solves personal problems. The community problems are larger than that, such as fear of attending local meetups and posting outfit shots online. The ability to create a welcoming and supportive environment for lolitas of all backgrounds is crucial, but petty bickering, jealousy, and stereotypes should not define the reputation of the community.
Who did Lolita ran away with?
Lolita Haze is the title character of the novel, a young adolescent who initially finds herself attracted to Humbert. However, as Humbert’s demands grow, she becomes disillusioned with his cultured ideas. She runs off with Clare Quilty, a successful playwright and child pornographer, but he abandons her. She marries Dick Schiller and dies in childbirth.
Clare Quilty, Humbert’s shadow and double, follows Lolita throughout the story, eventually kidnapping her away from him. Despite Lolita’s love for him, he eventually tires of her. Quilty is amoral, highly literate, and corrupt.
Charlotte Haze, Lolita’s mother and Humbert’s wife, is a middle-class woman who aspires to be cultured and sophisticated. Her relationship with Lolita is strained throughout the novel, and she worships Humbert and remains blind to his pedophilia until she discovers his diary. She dies soon after in a car accident.
Why does Lolita fashion exist?
A select group of young people have found solace in the hyperbolic imaginary world of Lolita Fashion, amidst the backdrop of rapid commercialization, societal destabilization, rigid social systems, and body-focused fashion norms, rather than confronting the harsh reality.
Who did Lolita run away with?
Lolita Haze is the title character of the novel, a young adolescent who initially finds herself attracted to Humbert. However, as Humbert’s demands grow, she becomes disillusioned with his cultured ideas. She runs off with Clare Quilty, a successful playwr
ight and child pornographer, but he abandons her. She marries Dick Schiller and dies in childbirth.
Clare Quilty, Humbert’s shadow and double, follows Lolita throughout the story, eventually kidnapping her away from him. Despite Lolita’s love for him, he eventually tires of her. Quilty is amoral, highly literate, and corrupt.
Charlotte Haze, Lolita’s mother and Humbert’s wife, is a middle-class woman who aspires to be cultured and sophisticated. Her relationship with Lolita is strained throughout the novel, and she worships Humbert and remains blind to his pedophilia until she discovers his diary. She dies soon after in a car accident.
What is the difference between classic and Sweet Lolita?
Sweet lolita is characterized by playful and fun cuts, such as cupcake skirts and babydoll/high waist dresses, while classic lolita has a more mature look, often mistaken for vintage fashion silhouettes. Sweet lolita often uses multiple trims, while classic pieces are simpler and use only a few. Sweet lolita jumperskirts, on the other hand, exude a youthful look, while classic ones are more mature. The print theme and execution differ between the two styles.
Sweet lolita focuses on sweets, toys, cute animal characters, and childhood dreams, while classic lolita relies more on florals, royal ornaments, and nature scenery. Classic lolita often uses a softer, more subdued color scheme. Overall, sweet and classic lolita styles have distinct styles and influences.
Is Lolita fashion related to Lolita?
Natural Kei was heavily influenced by the rose-tinted view of a simpler “prairie life” and inspired fashions. This trend has no connection to “the other Lolita” and Nabokov, as it is the direct roots of Lolita’s style, evident in modern-day clothes and fabrics. The style came before its name and was already well developed before being given the name “Lolita”. The name “Lolita” was not written on paper in the early 90s, but it was used to describe the style and its elements. The name “Lolita” has remained relevant in the fashion industry, as it reflects the era and the influence of the rose-tinted view of a more innocent and simpler “prairie life”.
Is there a male version of Lolita fashion?
Boystyle, also known as Ouji or Dandy, is a fashion style often associated with Lolita, a traditional Japanese dress. Although not considered a Lolita style, it shares many aesthetics with Lolita, as it is the masculine counterpart. Boystyle can be worn by people of any gender and features elements such as flowers, makeup, and accessories not typically seen as masculine.
The distinctive look of boystyle is characterized by a silhouette, with knee-length pants, shorter “pumpkin pants”, and longer pants. These pants are inspired by Victorian boy pants and are often paired with blouses, vests, and waistcoats. Boystyle comes in various colors and styles, with the gothic or punk substyle being the most popular.
Accessories in boystyle are also significant, with more accessories associated with masculine historical fashion. Examples include hats, pocket watches, ties, jabots, bows, crowns, flower headpieces, and brooches. The amount and nature of accessories depend on the style, with less accessories in gothic, more colorful accessories in sweet, more royal accessories in ouji, and more adult and masculine accessories in dandy.
What is Ero Lolita?
Ero Lolita is a style of Lolita that focuses on outfits with a slight eroticism, often considered controversial due to its lack of modesty. It shares the same silhouette as other Lolita styles but allows for more skin showing and fetish elements like leather or sheer fabrics. Skirts may be slightly shorter than most styles, but not overly provocative. A petticoat is still worn as usual. Makeup and hair can be more mature and less ‘girly’ than other styles. This style is not limited to wearing lingerie or less clothing, but allows for more skin and fetish elements.
Who is the famous Lolita designer?
Lolita fashion has been popularized by various individuals, including Yukari Tamura, Mana, and Novala Takemoto. Takemoto’s light novel Kamikaze Girls, about the relationship between Momoko and Ichigo, was adapted into a movie and manga in 2004. Mana, a musician, is known for popularizing Gothic Lolita fashion, playing in the rock band Malice Mizer and founding the heavy metal band Moi dix Mois. Both bands are part of the visual kei movement and have their own fashion label, Moi-même-Moitié, which specializes in Gothic Lolita.
The Japanese government has also attempted to popularize Lolita fashion by assigning models to spread Japanese pop culture, known as Kawaa Taishi (ambassadors of cuteness). The first three ambassadors were Misako Aoki, Yu Kimura, and Shizuka Fujioka. Japan also organizes international Harajuku walks to promote Japanese street fashion and Lolita.
Possible reasons for the popularity of Lolita fashion outside of Japan include growing interest in Japanese culture and the use of the internet as a place to share information. This has led to an increase in worldwide shopping and the opportunity for enthusiastic foreign Lolitas to purchase fashion items. JK uniforms, hanfu, and Lolita are the three most popular types of clothing among China’s Gen Z consumers.
Japanese cultural influence in the West can be traced back to the late nineties when cultural goods such as Hello Kitty, Pokémon, and translated mangas appeared in the West. Anime and manga have also contributed to the popularity of Japanese culture, with cultural streams flowing both from Japan to the West and from the West to Japan.
📹 My Favorite Lolita Brand
I find myself being asked what my favorite lolita brand is often. Usually, I answer this question based on how I’m feeling that day.
THERE ARE BLACK OWNED LOLITA BRANDS???? IM SOO SHOCKED AND SO HAPPY OMG!!! I always get trapped into thinking im the only black girl into lolita fashion so hearing that there are even BRANDS made by black women makes me soo incredibly happy. As soon as I get a job im definitely going on a shopping spree 😍
Thank you for showcasing these brands! It makes me so happy to see black lolita highlighted here, as well as BLM and ways to combat racism. I also appreciate you openly speaking about your experiences and perspectives with race. As a black lolita, I was always worried about wearing bright colors or wearing the shapes of lolita bc “it doesn’t match the skin color” (as if black ppl only have one skin tone lol), “black girls don’t look good in lolita” or whatever have you bc of what I’ve seen online. Each time black lolita are ever really mentioned is when racism and/or drama is involved—if at all— and it really puts a toll on me. And even with the subtly of pink and pastel accounts ignoring the beauty of darker skin tones bc it “clashes w their aesthetic” adds up over time, too. Tangent but at my first ever tea party, I was worried I would be the only dark skinned girl there, and even with all of our big petticoats, I would stand out like a sore thumb! Thankfully it was a really fun event + I went to my first Pride event with my closest friends after that! But the fact that I even had to worry about my skin at all in lolita bugged me. Otz Whenever I see black people wearing lolita in personal photos or advertisement I get so happy bc…it’s just nice to see that sort of rep. It’s nice to see us existing and having fun. It inspires me to wear my favorite OP and walk around in public and w my friends! I love seeing how pretty we look and feel, esp. when we grow up being told our hair is inappropriate, or skin is dirty, or we have too large features.
This was very wonderful of you to do. I keep seeing comment saying, “I thought I was the only one” That is unfortunately how I feel too. Thank so much for showing me different. You are an amazing person Lor and not just for this article! You’re always trying to help others and you stay positive. I appreciate that💜💜💜
Hey this is pretty important— A lot of people have some concerns about donating to the Black Lives Matter Foundation instead of specific bail funds because they haven’t been transparent with what they’ve doing with all the donations and people have said they don’t really have the infrastructure to deal with the scale of donations they’ve been getting. So people are recommending finding alternatives that are more transparent about where the donations are going! Also, Mossbadger is a friend of mine! Support her! 😄
Totally appreiate that you are trying to help out black communities in these trying times, but maybe you should try to donate to another organisation than blm. The organisation recently did a reddit ama where they were dodging questions about where the money goes and in general it seemed very fishy.. There are plenty of other charities that support black people though that you could donate to! Again really love what you are doing this is not meant to sound accusatory or something but its good to be aware of this
oh man elegy is so gorgeous and they’re somewhat LOCAL to me????? how have i NEVER heard of them oh my god they’re amazing. NEED EVERYTHING. also id love to see you check out their undershirt, they even look like they’d hold up as petticoats for some of their dresses and id love to see a more details review! also their bonnets are gorgeous… i think it would be awesome if you were to do a full coord of all (or, as many pieces as you can find) from black owned brands
Thank you Lor for spreading awareness. This is really great and it honestly brought me to a bit of tears that people still want to spread great awareness. The lovely business owners are going to get my business because they have great products once I get back on my feet again. Can’t wait for your next article Lor ❤️
I’m commenting a million times lol sorry 😂 But gotta say that, yes, Dollbe’s dresses are wildly comfortable! I’m very used to dressing up and then immediately taking everything off the second I get home, but when I’m in her dresses I don’t want to take them off and end up laying around in them for hours 😂😂
Thank you so much lovely, I’m so happy ro hear this and love this idea to promoting black owned lolita businesses. I love your articles in general and have over the years with my other websites EDIT: Asami Moon on YouTube is another black beautiful lolita girl that has good reviews on lolita since i know you mentioned marina’s website
Love that the dollbeshop is plus size friendly. I remember back when I was in middle school a long time ago when I was first getting into lolita, I was a big girl, and literally no big brands catered to us bigger girls (as a former big girl, I was 220 and 5′). And even today it’s still hard finding plus size alternative clothing, so its nice to see :,)
Wow. You explaining your childhood and how you were teached to kinda like “be colorblind” and “ignore the differences” was actually very similiar to mine. I live in Finland where things are better but when I was a kid there really wasn’t many black people in my class or anything like that so i wasn’t familiar with them. When I grew older I kinda teached myself to be more “comfortable” with black people so I could actually treat them the way they deserve to be treated. I don’t mean that I didn’t treat them well before, I was just a kid, I just tried to treat them normally like everyone else but it felt a little uncomfortable to for example hold hands with them in a group game. That feels horrible to say, it really does. But I wasn’t really racist. It was just new to me. My family is white, my neighbors are white, all my friends used to be white. I can’t believe that little seven years old me felt uncomfortable with holding hands with black people just because their skin felt different or something. Now I have black friends (and other races). Or they might not be my best friends because most of the people in Finland are white and for example all my female classmates are white. But I have black and asian friends from a summer camp. I guess it’s just the area we live in that is full of white people. This is kinda same thing that happened to me with gay people, just a little differently. I never disliked them or anything, just wasn’t fully comfortable with them because I’ve never known a gay couple.
For my senior project I actually did a article essay/documentary explaining the racial theory behind racism in the anime community and also the jfashion community. I see people talking about the racism that happens a lot but a lot of the time it’s people who don’t specialize in history and racial theory so I wanted to tackle it more from that perspective.
Thank you so much for this much needed article highlighting some awesome brands! I really like what I see! The thing is I didn’t know if you knew that all donations to Black Lives Matter goes directly to an organization called ActBlue.com and it’s very difficult to find exactly where that money goes. In my opinion, for maximum impact, you should be donating to local black charities and businesses.
Hi Lor! Aria here, one of the designers from Lilith et Adalia (also @dixmacabre on Instagram) I want to take the time to personally thank you for your support and helping to spread awareness of our brand. We really appreciate it truly! Currently we are in process of working on some new things, and this surge in recognition will be more than helpful for us 🖤💕 Again, thank you so much. I’ve loved your content for years and years (haha I’ve been around since your “sh*t lolitas say” days, and even before that!) And your content always brings me joy. I also hope we can meet someday! You are awesome and thanks for the ongoing support! 💘
i’ve really loved ichigo black’s shop for forever! i bought this really cute brown cat print skirt from them and i was so in love with it, and sad to have to part with it when i had to move. i can’t wait til it can open back up again so i can buy more. thank you for using you platform to give visibility to these shops, lor!
Throwing out an extra shout out for Elegy. I used to collab with Miss Chubi and have quite a few pieces by her. I can’t say enough good things and she’s such a sweetheart. I don’t have the newer long bloomers, but I do have a pair of her older black bloomers and while I’m pretty thin, I can fit the leg around my waist comfortably. I’ve had this pair since like 2013? I think? And they still aren’t even remotely stretched out even though I wear them to bed more than I do under a petti. 10/10, please order from her. She makes everything herself so the wait times are longer than some brands but she does such a superb job. Everything is made with love. I’m waiting on a Melanistic Menagerie OP right now and I’m dying to finally see it in person.
I’ve wanted to get into lolita for many, many years and I’m only just now starting to really get into the hobby. I’ve followed everyone in this article and I can”t wait for every closed shop to reopen! You’ve done a great job lifting up these Black brands, and you also did well by talking honestly about Black issues. Lots of people choose to say nothing when they don’t know a whole lot, and are paralyzed by fear of saying the wrong thing. These people don’t realize that simply speaking what’s in your heart is an important first step. Thanks for making this article and pointing me toward so many lovely Black lolitas who are doing awesome things!
Such a great article Lor, I’m so happy to see you use your influence to spread awareness, a lot of people turned their backs and that’s not okay, we can all contribute to a better future. As for the title on insta how about “PoC Kawaii”? I think it would fit and include other PoC owned brands (like hispanic community which is huge too and suffers a lot, even if not in this particular case).
It’s so refreshing to see you make a whole article about blm because it’s been bothering me that many creators don’t, especially when youtube is their biggest platform. I’ve watched you for many years now, even though I’ve never worn lolita fashion myself. I think that has everything to do with your integrity and passion. Thank you ☺️
When I answered this question, I went with my gut (emotionally), but based on your scientific method, the answer is still the same! I own the most pieces from Baby, and have spent the most money on Baby, therefore my favorite brand is Baby. ^_^ However, the pieces I wear/post pictures of the most would make it seem like my favorite is Bodyline simply because since they are cheaper and I can throw them in the washer without worry, I wear them the most lol