What is "Lolita" fashion?

What is Lolita Fashion?

Ah, yes, the obligatory "introduction to the fashion" page. Simply put, Lolita is a Japanese street fashion that places heavy emphasis on girlishness and femininity. Though the inspiration for Lolita fashion is mostly from Western womens' and girls' attire throughout in history (Rococo, Victorian, and 1950's New Look are commonly attributed sources), it is not a fashion only for European women. People of any gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation partake in the fashion.

The silhouette is typically flared at the waist, though it may be higher at the underbust or lower on the hips. This unique flared silhouette is achieved by wearing at least one petticoat, which is a supportive undergarment that provides structure to the skirt. Dresses and skirts are generally expected to reach around the knee, but longer lengths are becoming increasingly popular and shorter hemlines above the knees are still quite common, especially on taller fashion enthusiasts.


Garments specific to the fashion include, but are not limited to, full dresses with sleeves, pinafore-esque dresses with shoulder straps, skirts, blouses, bloomers, and petticoats. Some garments are worn together, such as a blouse with the pinafore style dress. Some garments have more specific names. The full dress with sleeves is often referred to as a one-piece, or OP. The pinafore style dress is referred to as a jumper skirt, or JSK. Casual, stretchy knit tops are called cutsews. Large bows perched atop the head are called headbows, where smaller ones clipped or pinned into the hair are hairbows, and sometimes both are referred to as katyusha or kachūsha. If I've lost you it may be time to visit my Lolita Glossary.

This diagram has been on the internet for a long time. 

Lolita outfits are referred to as coordinates, or coords for short. My understanding for why they are referred to in this way, even outside of the Japanese-speaking community, is as follows. An outfit is something someone wears, which may look good, and may have some semblance of matching and coordinating themes and motifs. A coord definitely has matching and coordination of themes, colours, and motifs. Lolita coords are often thoughtfully crafted works of art in which pieces are painstakingly sought after to perfectly tie in to that one print and colours and shapes are carefully balanced. Its not as though a Lolita coord isn't also an outfit, because it is clothing. Most Lolitas do not consider their fashion to be a costume, instead perceiving it to be an extension and expression of the true-self. Coord simply better captures the essence of creation that is wearing Lolita fashion. 

It is generally accepted that there are three main sub-styles under the umbrella term "Lolita." These sub-styles are sweet, gothic, and classic. I'll go into detail on each main sub-style below.

Sweet Lolita

Sweet Lolita is usually characterised by cute motifs, like candy, food, toys, and cartoon animals, and fantastic motifs like castles, princesses, mythical creatures, and fairy tales. Garments from this substyle tend to be available in pastels like powder pink, lavender, and light blue, but Sweet Lolita can be in almost any colour. Summery berry prints are often found in vivid red, sky themed prints are often in various shades of blue and purple. For many years brown and beige have been very common with chocolate motifs. Navy blue and wine red are common with academic themes. Sweet Lolita usually has features that look more youthful, featuring such things as very round and full skirts, round peter-pan collars on shirts, and ruffles and lace in abundance. Dresses and skirts are often printed with cute patterns in border-prints, but may also be found in all over prints or fabric patterns like gingham, polka-dots, florals, and plaid. Sweet Lolita used to be dominated by dresses made of cotton, but for the past several years light polyester chiffon has been the norm. Dresses tend to have details like big waist bows that are less common in the other styles. Tops tend to have peter-pan collars, or are decked out in lace or ruffles. Sleeves may be short and puffy with a girlish flair. Hair accessories tend to feature a lot of bows, or animal ears, or objects shaped like food or stars or little animal characters, but as you can see in the images below berets are also a popular option. Purses are often decorated with bows or shaped like hearts, fruit, or stuffed animals. Jewelry can be little polymer clay sweets, or acrylic cartoon characters, but pearls and metal charms are also perennially popular. Shoes tend to have bows on them. Socks are often printed or adorned with ruffles and lace, but can be plain for more daily looks. Of course this describes Sweet Lolita as it is right now, but styles change with the times. 


The following images are some examples of Sweet Lolita coordinates I have gotten from Kera's Gothic Lolita Bible street snap series online.

The dress is handmade!

This photo is also an excellent example of "twinning"

While the dress has a very gothic print, it is coordinated with undeniably  sweet accessories

Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita tends to have religious motifs, like crosses, stained glass, and cathedrals, and darker or macabre motifs like creepy dolls, graveyards, and skeletons. Gothic is very commonly found in black, white, and deep jewel colours like burgundy, emerald green, and navy blue. Gothic Lolita can be found in very childlike designs that are reminiscent of porcelain dolls, with round collars, full skirts, puffy sleeves, and lacy trims. It can also be seen with very romantic, mature designs featuring a-lined skirts, high necked collars or square open collars, corset-like details, gloves, and delicate lace. Gothic Lolita prints tend very much to be border prints unless they are a floral pattern, which may be all-over. Rich fabrics like velvet, velveteen, brocades and jacquards are somewhat common, in addition to cotton and fluttery chiffon. Square necklines and high-neck tops are more common in Gothic Lolita. While headbows can still be a standby veils, canotiers, flower headdresses, horns, and madonna crowns also feature heavily in this style. Legwear is sheer and textured more than it is printed, and prints tend to feature glittery metallic inks. Shoes tend to be a little chunkier and feature big heels and bigger platforms a lot, but do not usually feature bows. Jewelry is more often made of metal than plastics, and crosses and jewels are a popular choice. Bags tend to be shaped like bats or coffins. Makeup is more likely to be darker with intense lipstick and smoky eyes. As before this describes Gothic Lolita as it is now, and how it was in the past sometimes looked a lot more sweet.

The following images are some examples of Gothic Lolita coordinates I have gotten from Kera's Gothic Lolita Bible street snap series and Kera online.

Classic Lolita

Classic tends to portray motifs of vintage objects like keys, picture frames, cutlery, candelabras, chandeliers, musical instruments, books, globes, stuffed animals and dolls, and furniture. Other prints may feature motifs such as fairy tales and literary themes, antiquarian astronomy/astrology, the Rococo period, Royal themes, Nautical themes, garden vegetables, and renaissance paintings, just to mention a few more. Longer hemlines are more common in Classic, sometimes reaching as low as the ankle. Predominant colours include ivory and offwhite, beige and tan, dusty pink, french blue, olive green, navy blue, bordeaux red, chocolate brown, and black. All Lolita substyles are influenced by historic clothing, but Classic seems to demonstrate this the most cleanly. Cotton twills and polyester look-alikes are very common in Classic, as well as the use of light chiffons to create massive layered Rococo-esque dresses. Since Classic Lolita draws on themes from many different eras it can vary a lot: there's demure and rather plain dresses with narrow pleated skirts and no lace, and then there are massive tea-length dresses with dozens of tiers of ruffles and big gathered bustles. Some folks think Classic Lolita means "boring" but that isn't fair to the nuances of this style. Blouses can somewhat resemble those from the other two styles, but have slightly different details sometimes: the lace won't feature animal faces, cakes, or crosses as often as it is delicate floral patterns, or just the geometric shapes found in traditional lace. Headwear more commonly features full-sized hats like cloches, boaters, bonnets, and berets, but of course can also be bows or flowers, albeit usually not a big and perky as in sweet. Legwear is often elegant and feminine like lace stockings, or made to look like corsets or garters and other historical garments. Shoes do not usually feature bows and are more commonly low heels than flats or platforms. Jewelry is often pearls, cabochons, or antique-looking metals. Bags don't tend to be shaped like novelties very often, more commonly looking like a satchel handbag or a doctor's bag with small scallops or bow details. As all the others this is just a description of Classic Lolita as it is now, and of course can change.

The following images are some examples of Classic Lolita coordinates I have gotten from Kera's Gothic Lolita Bible  and Kera Street Snaps online.

Even Classic Lolita can be in pastels!

This coord is one of those classic-sweet ones in my eyes

Wait a tick...

Do some of these outfits seem to fit another substyle rather than the one I said it belongs to?
It may. While some may fit firmly into their little boxes, others may toe the line and flirt with other styles. Classic x Sweet, Gothic x Classic, Gothic x Sweet, combinations can and do occur and themes can meld. It isn't important if you're a "Sweet Lolita" or a "Gothic Lolita", or a "Pirate Lolita" or a "Wa Lolita". They are just clothes at the end of the day and my sad attempt to categorise them isn't at all more important than just wearing them. My description of this fashion is by no means exhaustive, and it is simply my perception of a very complex niche fashion.