Gothic Lolita

What is Gothic Lolita?

Lolita fashion is a fashion that influenced by Victorian children's clothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period.Lolita has made this into a unique fashion by adding gothic and original design elements to the look.The Lolita look consists primarily of a knee length skirt or dress, headdress, blouse, petticoat, knee high socks or stockings and rocking horse or high heel/platform shoes.

Gothic Lolita was a fairly new term for me at that time, though the style itself I'm familiar with. It was one of my favorite style for going out. Basically it is combining gothic with poofy little girly lacy frilly skirts, victorian, alice in wonderland, fairy tale themes. It comes from Japan, though it's not based around goth music but rather pop and metal music... though I don't think it's really based around them either, it just happens that musicians in those genres started wearing these clothes. Read the Morbid Outlook article below in the links because I could be a bit wrong.

My Gothic & Lolita Bibles and translating

One magazine in particular, the seasonally published Gothic & Lolita Bible, has played an instrumental role in promoting and standardizing the style.This magazine was full of eye candy, beautiful colors, spooky treats, hair, makeup, shopping, decorating tips, clothing ideas, and there are clothing catalogs in it.

Gothic Lolita Bible Vols 2 & 3 online - This nice girl (site down now) had scanned and put up the entire magazines of these 2 issues but her whole site is gone now. I saved them all and maybe I will put them up on my server one day. I tested them out and these print nicely. They are minus the patterns, but I really think from the instruction pages in the magazines if you really wanted to make it you could either have it blown up at kinkos, or use the shapes and guess on the measurements to make your own patterns.

Fashion Tips

* The Gothic & Lolita Bibles as well as the Gosu Rori magazine have excellent sewing patterns for seamstresses of any skill level, so if you can sew, you should pick a few of them up.
* The Gothic & Lolita Bible has been released in English and can be found in your local book or comic store. It's an excellent source of information for beginners and comes with sewing patterns like its Japanese counterpart.
* Knowing a little bit of Japanese is useful in understanding parts of the magazines, websites and patterns you may encounter.
* It is always a good idea, but not necessary, to have a Lolita lifestyle. Decorate your room/house in that way, bake/cook, have tea parties and cherish everything that is beautiful.
* Males in the fashion should take steps to fit the feminine style; removing hair on the legs, (tasteful) makeup, lipstick, and mascara will promote a more girlish appearance.
* See the movie "Kamikaze Girls," an entertaining comedy from writer-director Tetsuya Nakashima based on Novala Takemoto's book that serves as a veritable documentary on the (Sweet) Lolita look.
* Remember- It's just a fashion. While some choose to be "lifestyle lolitas", others simply dress in lolita. There is no code on how one should act in lolita, a common misconception by newbies. You are still you, in or out of the fashion. Some people don't seem to understand this, but not everyone is nice and not everyone is mean, but it won't hurt to be polite when people ask questions or stare.