What Is Lolita
Tara Walbridge
English 131
Ms. Hiers
10/29/12
What is Lolita?
Imagine you’ve taken a trip to exotic Japan. You are excited to learn about their culture: the food, the music, the literature, and the fashion. All of a sudden you catch a glimpse of someone that looks like she just stepped of a movie set about the French Rococo Era. Who is she? An actress just stepping off a movie set? Or maybe a model? A life-sized doll? Actually, a life sized porcelain doll is really the look she was going for. Pail skin framed by a mountain of curls and matched with delicate lace, bundles of ruffles and petticoats. Though the fashion did descend from Europe, the young girls of modern day Japan have raised the hemline off the floor and to the knee. Other alterations have been made as well, the basic Mary Jane shoe has graduated into a platform heel. The lace and frills survived though. This trend became popular 1980 Harajuku Japan. On the weekends the streets were cleared for music festivals, shopping, and to socialize. The street performers began to appear in wildly extravagant outfits. These styles developed in several different directions, including lolita. Several street photographers gathered to take pictures of these unusual events. Not long after these affairs became popular, the photos were published in local news papers and magazines. These styles shocked the public eye- being that they were such an extreme departure from the traditional kimono and yukata of Japan the lolita phase swept through like a virus. As the styles blew up, stores such as ‘Baby, The Stars Shine Bright’, ‘Angelic Pretty’, ‘Alice and The Pirates’ as well as others emerged as the clothes became marketable. The boutiques started off as far and few between, but soon a multitude of them turned up in every Japanese city. In the 90’s the trend carried to Russia, and stretched to England and France. Finally in the 2000’s Lolita landed in America. This style shocked western culture far more
English 131
Ms. Hiers
10/29/12
What is Lolita?
Imagine you’ve taken a trip to exotic Japan. You are excited to learn about their culture: the food, the music, the literature, and the fashion. All of a sudden you catch a glimpse of someone that looks like she just stepped of a movie set about the French Rococo Era. Who is she? An actress just stepping off a movie set? Or maybe a model? A life-sized doll? Actually, a life sized porcelain doll is really the look she was going for. Pail skin framed by a mountain of curls and matched with delicate lace, bundles of ruffles and petticoats. Though the fashion did descend from Europe, the young girls of modern day Japan have raised the hemline off the floor and to the knee. Other alterations have been made as well, the basic Mary Jane shoe has graduated into a platform heel. The lace and frills survived though. This trend became popular 1980 Harajuku Japan. On the weekends the streets were cleared for music festivals, shopping, and to socialize. The street performers began to appear in wildly extravagant outfits. These styles developed in several different directions, including lolita. Several street photographers gathered to take pictures of these unusual events. Not long after these affairs became popular, the photos were published in local news papers and magazines. These styles shocked the public eye- being that they were such an extreme departure from the traditional kimono and yukata of Japan the lolita phase swept through like a virus. As the styles blew up, stores such as ‘Baby, The Stars Shine Bright’, ‘Angelic Pretty’, ‘Alice and The Pirates’ as well as others emerged as the clothes became marketable. The boutiques started off as far and few between, but soon a multitude of them turned up in every Japanese city. In the 90’s the trend carried to Russia, and stretched to England and France. Finally in the 2000’s Lolita landed in America. This style shocked western culture far more