Lolita vs. Lolita - Dismissing Sexual Connotations Associated with Japanese Streetwear

Angelic Pretty look, from Tokyo Fashion Festa

Recently, I was offered the opportunity to model Japanese street fashion in a show called Tokyo Fashion Festa, held at the Museum at FIT. This show capped off New York Fashion Week but was also a promotional tool for MFIT's exhibit on contemporary Japanese fashion, to be staged in the fall. Japan has always been a place of interest to me, but in the back of my mind because a) it's too expensive to visit on a student budget and b) it's so developed and freakishly beyond my technological comprehension, I think I'd have to spend a lot of time there (not just a week or two) in order to really grasp how their culture relates to their environment.

Mixed opinions on the fashions presented raised some questions for me. Some people were fascinated by the layers of clothing, accessories, sparkles and pink displayed (my press on nails were a big hit); others were put off by the seemingly "infantilized" message Lolita clothing sends. "Doesn't it seem odd that a forty-year old woman is dressing like a little girl?" "Don't you think it gives men the idea that it's all right to fantasize about women in such a juvenile way?" "How many pedophiles were in the audience?"

Look at them crazy nails! Like someone glued Lucky Charms onto acrylic tips.

Ethnocentrism stems from the idea that another culture's practices are wrong in comparison to the practices of your own country. Naturally, people from America would think this style of dress is a bit disturbing, because we don't walk around looking like babies and sexualizing youth.

Oh wait, that's not true. Miley Cyrus' 9-year old sister wants to start a lingerie line for children. My 5 year old cousin just bought her first "bra" because everyone else in her kindergarten class has one. I see children dressed better than I do, in mini-skirts and low-cut shirts, tights and Ugg boots, everyday. Tell me that's not disturbing, and I'll let you say whatever you want about the Japanese.

So it's important to understand the concept of Lolita fashion, because the claims made above do not fit with its overall philosophy. For starters, Lolita fashion has nothing to do with the novel by Vladimir Nabokov.¹ It is easy to assume the connection because at first glance, the fashion is almost like Westernized role-playing; people get off sexually by dressing up as scantily-clad maids, nurses, businessmen, even full-blown monkey suits. Who's to say that Lolitas don't dress up for the same reason?

Yet Lolita followers do quite the opposite, actually - modesty is key, and the aim is not to look "sexy" or "desirable", but to look "cute" "elegant" or "youthful." The Western association with the novel's concept can be explained through the Japanese concept of wasei-eigo or "Japanese-style English" by which there are some words in Japanese do not translate.² This is true for many languages, and is key evidence against any associated sexual connotations...(click to expand post)

Lolita fashion actually began as any subcultural trend is conceived - as a reaction. In this case, Lolitas react against the contemporary need to reveal the body as much as possible in order to be considered attractive; in an age where "less is more", Lolitas maintain a Victorian ethos regarding clothing.³ When analyzed carefully, Lolita fashion is not meant to be seductive - most if not all outfits consist of a fully buttoned blouse, pantelets, petticoats, stockings or knee highs and dresses that never traverse above the knee.⁴ It can be argued that there is a subversive side to Lolita style in that "what lies beneath" is alluring and stimulating, but Lolitas in particular disregard those sentiments in favor of what their clothing truly represents.

Gothic Lolitas in Japan. Wikipedia Commons.

I'd gone with a friend to the initial model call for the fashion show, where we were given outfits to try on in lieu of runway walking or posing. I seemed to fit the bill - 5'1", the chubbiness of my youth still visible in my face, chest flat as a pancake - whereas my friend was not cast, despite the fact that she looked amazing in the outfit the designers chose for her (she rocks the Gothic look).

"I saw them whisper something," she told me later on. "I think they said that I was 'too busty.' I mean yeah, the dress looked awesome, but there was no way my 'girls' [breasts] were staying put in that thing."

If Lolita fashion's ultimate goal is to seduce through dress, Jessica would have been the first model on the runway. I, on the other hand, am not a desirable object (and I am by no means offended by that) and therefore, I was able to strut the stuff appropriately.

More importantly however, the Japanese do not always associate clothing and sexuality as Westerners do. Japan is known for its androgynous dress practices, as evidenced in their Kabuki theater, history of uniforms , even to the basic design of the kimono. This often confuses Western tourists into thinking that Japanese males are metrosexuals or drag queens.⁵ Accordingly, Lolita fashion is not limited to women. Ōji is known as the male version of Lolita dress, compromising of fashions emulating Victorian boys. Interestingly enough, this style is worn by both men and women, downplaying any associated sexual contexts as well.⁶ Many young men adopt Steampunk styles of clothing also, spending as much time perfecting their hair, makeup and accessories as their female counterparts.

Example of Ōji fashion, Spooky Couture.com.

This quotation from a practicing "Gothic" Lolita has been cited many times, but I think it is a succinct representation that separates this unique fashion culture from associated sexual notions:

"We certainly do not do this for the attention of men. In fact, the fashion frequently alienates them. Frequently, female sexuality is portrayed in a way that is palatable and accessible to men, and anything outside of that is intimidating. Something so unabashedly female is ultimately kind of scary—in fact, I consider it to be pretty confrontational. Dressing this way takes a certain kind of ownership of one’s own sexuality that wearing expected or regular things just does not...It’s not, as some commentators have suggested, some sort of appeal to men’s expectation that women should be childlike, or an attempt to pander to pedophiles. Pedophiles like little girls. They don’t like grown women who happen to like dresses with cakes on them. I’ve never been hit on by a pedophile while in Lolita. We don’t get into it because it is some sort of misplaced pedo complex or anything..."⁷

Many "looks" lie beneath the umbrella of Lolita fashion, as were portrayed at Tokyo Fashion Festa. There are some sub-fashions that do base clothing choices around promiscuity, but these are definitely the minority. Compared to the Gothic, Punk and Classic Lolitas, as well as the Lolitas who combine their outfits with traditional elements of Asian dress (such as the Waloli or Qi), it is easy to see that Lolita fashion is an expression of deeply inert feelings representing personal identity in several forms.

I'm surprised that Lolita fashion has not been analyzed by social scientists or fashion theorists in-depthly. There is a lot going on here - gender, power, identification, traditional costume usage, reactionary clothing, etc.- that is worthy of more research in order to be fully understood as well as debunk the myths involved. I scoured the internet for articles or literature but could only find self-published prose by Lolitas or Wikipedia information. Even the newspaper articles I found associated the fashions more with sexuality and less with the actual cultural meanings and reactions originally intended.

If you have any further information regarding the role Lolita fashion plays in society and within the wearer, send them my way. I'd love to develop further research and definitely need more reliable sources.

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CITATIONS

1) Jimenez, Dabrali. "A New Generation of Lolitas Makes a Fashion Statement". The New York Times. (26 September 2008).

2) Y-N, Ken. "English words, but Japanese meanings". What Japan Thinks. September 24, 2007.

3) "Lolita fashion." Wikipedia.org. Link to page here.

4) "Anatomy of a Lolita Outfit." Lolitafashion.org. Link to page here.

5) Robertson, Jennifer. "The Politics of Androgyny in Japan: Sexuality and Subversion in the Theater and Beyond," American Ethnologist, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Aug., 1992), pp. 419-442 and same author, Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan. (University of California Press) 1998.

6) Seagrave, Amber, "Style: Kodona," La Vie en rose, vol.2, p.18

7) MacDonald, Heidi (1 October 2008). "A Gothic Lolita Speaks". Publishers Weekly.
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Further Reading

Evers, Izumi, and Patrick Macias. Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook. New York: Chronicle, 2007.

Godoy, Tiffany, and Ivan Vartanian. Japanese Goth: Art and Design. Universe, 2009.

_________. Style Deficit Disorder Harajuku Street Fashion--Tokyo. New York: Chronicle, 2007.

Lane, Dakota. Gothic Lolita. New York: Atheneum for Young Readers, 2008.

McVeigh, Brian J. Wearing Ideology State, Schooling and Self-Presentation in Japan (Dress, Body, Culture). New York: Berg, 2000.