"Throw away any pre/misconceptions you may have! Gothic Lolita is not necessarily related to what you think of as "Goth". The fashion and the lifestyle do not contain sexual connotations. Followers of the fashion do not consider it to be a sexual style. Instead, adherents present themselves as young Victorian girls and consider it necessary to look "cute," "beautiful," or "elegant" rather than "sexy."
You may want to purchase one of the Gothic & Lolita Bibles from a Japanese bookstore, comic book store or online. These magazines are a great resource for anyone interested in the style. If you don't have the funds to spend 15 to 20 dollars on one of the Bibles, visit one or more of the listed External Links for more information on what exactly "Gothic Lolita" is. It's good to have a strong foundation regarding what the style consists of before you attempt to dress in that way."
Victorians, I should point out, considered a "strong foundation" to include corsets with lots of whalebone, though not for very young girls. I find it revealing that these and a host of additional instructions to Japanese Gothic Lolita wannabes are in English. I believe I have now found a market for what is sure to be a successful line of "How to..." books, starting with "How to Infantalize Yourself and Ensure You Stay Single." Frightfully intolerant of me, I know. Call me hopelessly old fashioned and undeniably square, but where have all the Geisha gone? Someone else's fantasy, I guess. Ah, well: different strokes. I was a neo-hippie in my misspent youth.
As a matter of record, this post was inspired by one of Tigerhawk's which revealed; "A chain of retail stores in Britain has withdrawn the sale of beds named Lolita and designed for six-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active pre-teens." On the presumption that the briefest of Google searches would have avoided this marketing ploy gone horribly awry, leading right off the bat to Joey Buttafuoco if not to Nabokov, I found myself instead at a site called How to be a Gothic Lolita.
Update: Welcome Carnival of the Insanities readers!
The entire Gothic Lolita phenomenon is pretty misunderstood, at least in the U.S. I suppose that most people don't even have a clue that such a thing exists. And the few that do know vaguely of it, probably instantly associate adult themes to it.
While it's not for me, it is an interesting form of Cosplay.
http://worldofcosplay.info
Posted by: Naruto Cosplay | October 05, 2010 at 09:19 AM
Thanks for a well written post, i think the Gothic Lolita lifestyle (like many things) is sometimes misunderstood.
http://www.cosplaytoday.com/forum/
Posted by: Cosplay Talk Forum | March 13, 2008 at 07:26 AM