fredag 25 februari 2011

Lolita

Since I chose "angelicpretty" to be my blog name, I'm guessing at least some lolitas (lolita is a style, and angelic pretty is one of the most famous lolita clothing brands - I'll get back to this) will find my blog by accident. But most of them will probably not be Swedish - so I figured I'd make an entry in English every now and then, so this will be my first.

I want to talk about different lolita styles this time. But for those who find my blog but don't know about lolita, I'll explain that quickly first.

Lolita is one of the many alternative clothing styles that came to be in Japan. The clothes are usually poofy dresses or skirts, blouses, alice bands, knee socks etc, you basically look like a little doll. There are some 'rules' that come with the style - for example, not showing too much skin - basically, the skirt must be down to your knees, over-knee socks are preffered, showing your shoulders are not okay ... etc. The style can look in many different ways - there used to be less ways, but it has been around since the 80's, I believe, so it has changed a lot. It's difficult to explain in words or one picture, so look at the pictures below.
There are many theories about what inspired people to wear lolita, and make such clothes, but I'd say (like many others with me) that it was inspired by the Rococo era, that is, France in the 18th century. If you google search Rococo fasion, there are even some pictures of lolitas popping up. (can't tell them apart? Most lolitas in those pictures are asian - the rest seem to be from the Rococo era).

I'm going to start with ...

old school sweet lolita
When the lolita fashion was new, this is basically what it was. "sweet lolita" today, is something completely different than it was when I first learned about it.
The main difference I can find, is that there are no prints on the dresses. Nowadays, pretty much every series released from famous brands focus on the print of the dress. The dresses used to be all about frills. You should be careful not to overdo it though. The skirts didn't have as much poof, either.
Something commonly seen in today's sweet lolitas are colorful hair, such as pink, turquoise or purple. Old school sweet lolitas usually have brown or black hair. Head bands (girl to the left) are used more often for this style, too, rather than alice bands (girl to the right). A famous brand that makes clothes fit for this style is Baby the Stars Shine Bright, though they're making lots of clothes that work for regular sweet lolita, too.



sweet lolita
I can hardly tell sweet lolita from OTT sweet lolita, since sweet lolita is getting more and more like OTT, in my opinion. But I think this pic works, even though her outfit is a little bit more old school then usual sweet lolitas. Sweet lolita often has cute prints, colorful / blonde hair, accessories ... colors that often are used are baby blue and cotton candy pink, or lavender.

Bitter sweet lolita
As seen to the right - bitter sweet lolita is usually made by using the black versions of dresses. So it's a black dress, with a cutesty print. So it's not to be confused with gothic lolita.

Angelic Pretty focuses on sweet lolita clothes.


OTT sweet lolita
This is the super-cutesty-version of sweet lolita.
Lots and lots of accessories, colorful makeup, nails, rings ... deco, often pink hair, cute bags ... basically, you take sweet lolita and add that. Or more.
Cotton candy pink, baby blue and lavender is most definitively the most popular colors for OTT.












classic lolita
I always have problems describing this style ...
Let's see. Hats are often used for classic lolita, and not small mini-hats, but hats like the one in the picture. Pink hair? Nope, not this time! They have natural colors for their hair. Showing shoulders seems to work for this style, with the right kind of dress. Also, the skirts doesn't have as much poof, and the shoes are not always as doll-like as usual. It's a more lady-like style. Colors often used would be beige, white, brown, pastel blue, some shades of pink ... No cutesty prints, and not a lot of frills and laces. Some dresses do have prints though, but it's usually of teddy bears or books etc, and not cakes. Second-hand jewellry and pearls etc are often used for this.

If you like classic lolita, take a look at Innocent World.






gothic lolita
I had a really hard time finding a picture for this so I ended up using this one, which is actually basically being used everywhere for describing gothic lolita.
Gothic lolita is not so much about prints (if any at all - there are some nice prints made specifically for it, but really, there's no teddy bears or cakes - maybe castles etc.). Colors often used? It's difficult to say. Black is one, of course. And white. But black with white details are often considered "ita" (- a lolita that is just not doing it right). Red tartan is popular, and dark colors such as dark blue or purple are also used. Be careful not to make it look like a witch's outfit ...

I'm more into sweet & classic - so I really don't know where to buy clothes for this.



shiro and kuro lolita
Shiroi means white and kuroi means black, so I'm guessing you all can figure out what this is. Shiro lolita is all white and kuro is all black. The hair is usually in a colour that contrasts the clothes, such as brown for shiro and blonde for kuro. Dark hair colors are often used for kuro too, but I've never seen a blonde shiro lolita. (I'm sure there are some though).
I don't think anyone has shiro & lolita all the time, probably just sometimes or for some outfits.


I don't think I have time or space to write about all the other styles of lolita - but I will list them with a link to a google search and a small description.

hime lolita - princess lolita. In my opinion this is not to be confused with hime gyaru. They look alike in some aspects, but they're just not the same thing. Since it's "princess" lolita - big poofy hair, crowns, dresses with bustles etc. (I personally stay away from this style because here, it makes people think "psycho" instead of "doll". Maybe it's because we actually have a woman walking around the streets pretending to be a princess all day ... yeah, I don't want people to think that's me.)
country lolita - This is much like classic lolita, but with a country touch. Showing shoulders is accepted, in my opinion it even makes it look better, because it's a very summer-y style, with strawberries, baskets (filled with fruit and berries! ♥) etc. Socks aren't 100% necessary either.
sailor lolita - I'd love a sailor lolita outfit for a boat trip ♥ It's inspired by, well, sailor outfits. Lots of blue and white, sometimes black, and, well, sailorish details.
punk lolita - I can't really describe this style. Red tartan, chains, crazy hair ... and long skirts? It's punk ... and it's lolita. I don't know.
wa lolita is a match between Japan's traditional kimonos and lolita. The outfits are often dark or red etc - that is, colors often used for normal kimonos. Qi lolita is a match between China's ... traditional ... whatever-they-are called. I think those two are starting to get more popular. When I googled them a year ago, I didn't find a lot for wa lolita, and almost nothing for qi.
guro lolita - Please don't click that link if you don't like blood. Guro lolita is like shiro lolita! ... but with lots and lots of blood. Bandages etc are often used. It's perfect for halloween oAo
Taking these three lastly because imo they're kinda different from the rest.
aristocrat - it's pretty much about looking elegant. There is even less skin showing and the skirts are way longer with less poof, too. It's also a very dark and gothic style.
kodona - it's probably what boys would choose to wear if they liked the lolita fasion. Lots of girls do it too, for fun or maybe because they don't like skirts. ... or maybe because they like it. Pants, hats, vests ...
sweet kodona - I don't think this style is very popular. Only the first rows of pictures show what I'm talking about. It's a sweet version of the original kodona. I want more people to wear this! It's adorable ^w^ ~♥

Uhm, yeah, that's it. Honestly I think I've written too much. But I'm gonna leave it all there~

/Mayu

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