Believe it or not, being a lolita isn’t easy. Finding the perfect ensemble for a picnic or a tea party for two can be damn difficult if you don’t know what’s What and who’s Who. Not knowing where to get that perfect dress or even what’s being offered in a season’s line up can be a pain in the petticoat.
In Japan, there are many brands or “houses†that cater to lolita needs, just as the West has famous fashion houses for contemporary style. For every Gucci, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana, Japan offers up Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Innocent World, and Angelic Pretty. To all lolitas just starting the loli lifestyle and to all seasoned lolitas, here’s some fashion info for winter from The Anime Blog’s Lolita Fashion Editor, Codi:
Lolita Winter Fashion Line-Up
by Codi
As Winter approaches, so does the line for Autumn and Winter goods from the various brands!
This year, however…your faithful loli is completely saddened by the lack of beautiful things to adore. Many brands this year started on pre-orders of their various winter goods much earlier than usual, with the standard coats and velveteen versions of already existing dresses. (I am staring at you icily, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.)
The problem was there was nothing to fawn over! No brand this year is offering any stand-out series or coats; they are all dreadful re-hashings of things they’ve already done. Although there are certain things we come to expect with certain brands (Poodle series with Angelic Pretty, Sailor Series with Metamorphose, for example.), the lack of creativity still stands.
That being said, it was hard to find a common connecting theme or what is hot this year. Series (where brands take a print fabric and design a one-piece, jumper-skirt, skirt, bag, and matching headpiece with the fabric), are the only real trend for Winter. This is a surprising shock as prints are mostly left for the Summer lines. Angelic Pretty wins (and not necessarily in a good way) with not only one series, but four in total. Punk fashion house Putumayo comes in second for their tried and true Alice/drug-induced-themed prints. Metamorphose temps de fille completely loses for bringing out their kimono print, normally reserved for their summer kimono and summer pieces.
Another thing that’s always in style in Winter are plaids. Each brand offers their own plaids, and this year’s offerings were more like the plaids you’d find on the $1.00 a yard rack at the fabric store than in classy boutiques. Offering such gaudy plaids as orange and blue, and pink and black, Baby the Stars Shine Bright stray from their usual fare, but in the process lose all that is cute. A real winner here is Victorian Maiden, for using standard plaids with clean lines, and not using overkill with bells and whistles to distract from the plaid.
There is not all negativity in this! Many of the coats this year, while lacking any common theme, are simply divine. Ankle-length coats are in vogue this year, replacing the cutesy knee-length overdone ones. Simplicity and clean lines seem to be a common theme from everyone to Atelier Boz to Victorian Maiden. Innocent World shines with this, as their coats are exquisite without being gaudy. From a small choice in button design to one of the only brands offering gobelin print, Innocent World brings coats back to their humble beginnings in the lolita world. It is truly a Renaissance in a Victorian World.
This is a section of fandom I don’t know anything about, but it was interesting to read about. I look forward to more posts about the fashion scene, not that I could wear any of it (being male), but I just like pretty things. The Victorian Maiden piece is nice.
These don’t look very good. Especially the misses. But this is an interesting topic, considering most anime people are fashion retards.
What an interesting article! The examples of your misses are gorgeously… awful. Especially the Btssb example is well because it is such a widely used type of dress (that normally looks great, especially in unicolor).
I actually don’t like the Innocent World coat ^^;;; When it comes to Gothic Lolita stuff, I noticed that I am very faithful to my favourite brands (which are Victorian Maiden and Mary Magdalene, therefore this coat is my no.1 – it seems I’m not the only one: it’s apparently so timeless that it’s been selling for years now)
And well yeah, like tj mentioned, I can imagine we both are the only anime bloggers actively interested in fashion out there… *haha* (It also works the other way round: fashion people seem to be anime ‘retards’.)
You know, it’s really interesting that you mention lolita fashion as a section of anime fandom, -super rats. I’ve encountered quite a few lolis who insist anime and loli fashion have NOTHING to do with each other. There are those lolitas who’s interest in Japan ends with gothic lolita. Weird.
I personally only really discovered the fashion in depth through ACen, which is an anime con. Tons of lolis there. Go figure.
The only dresses that don’t look to good me, -tj han are the misses, but that’s me. I’m kinda coming outta the closet with my love of lolitas (in other words actually making dresses that AREN’T Halloween costumes.) and am totally loving those coats.
I’m all for loli individuality and perhaps some loli can rock those “misses” out, but I sure the hell can’t. So I agree with Codi on the misses.
As for anime fans being fashion retards..I’m still unsure on that one as the only time I’ve ever seen masses of fans is at cons. And, well everyone looks fashion stunted there to the uninitiated ^^;.
Ohhh, those coats are super cute -Sasa! Even if one wasn’t interested in loli style they could totally wear these coats!
super rats – Being a guy doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t wear various brands ^^; A *lot* of brands are/do putting out tons of clothing for guys, and not in the frilly-sense either. It’s mostly punk or gothic style ^o^ I’m glad you enjoy it!
tj_han (and Rachel too), I chose them as misses mostly because they’re gaudy and inappropiate for Winter style. XD Even though orange and blue are complimentary colours, *not* a good idea for plaid. At all. >.>
As for anime fandom and their fashion sense, it leaves much to be desired. XD
Thank you for your interest ^o^
Sasa – the jumperskirt design that Baby-san used is a standard design for them XP It’s their “any pattern/colour will do with this” design. I agree, it looks really good in just the solid colours. (but if they didn’t have ugly as sin plaids, it wouldn’t be such a problem
)
Many people love and adore the VM (and MM) coat, and since Mary is a branch off of VM, they took a lot of designs with them, so it is also well loved
It’s one of the few things VM and MM, as a brand does right, bringing things back they know will sell.
Anime was the first Japan culture for me, so seeing lolita factor into it now makes me still be an anime fan and lolita fan at the same time
Everyone wins!
I don’t know if any of you at the anime blog remember me, but I was the lone lolita at the Japanese fest (the one wearing the black sweet check Baby dress). I’m so glad to see you all covering lolita, but I have to disagree with you on this piece. I think Meta, Baby, and Angelic Pretty have produced gorgeous pieces this year, but each of them is moving a seperate direction. Angelic Pretty in particular is becoming more detailed and theatrical with their Carousel series, Circus Doll series and upcoming Sweets series. Baby the Stars Shine bright have ventured toward a style best described as sweet punk, for combining unusual plaids with their traditional styles, In particular, their new alice print, stained glass window print, and Red Ridding Hood series trully show that they can still be appropriately gorgeous and sweet lolita.
Classic is what it has always been: utterly classic and beautiful. I can’t argue with you on the seamless presentation of VM and Innocent World.
The real downer this season hasn’t been the clothes so much as the lack of attention US customers have been getting. With the great press of Kamikaze Girls, a lot more girls are interested in BTSSB. Unfortunately, even as the store begins to house more Western sized clothes, it takes two weeks to place an order. Most lolita companies continue to be Japanese only, so ordering already expensive lolita clothes becomes even more expensive when coupled with shopping service fees! I know…a gorgeous Mary Magdalene dress I bought this year from yahoo Japan cost 12500 yen….but I’ve had to pay about $60 in fees and shipping alone!
As a southern cali lolita, I never had to worry much about winter fashions, until I was invited by a friend to do a fashion photoshoot in the snow! In a mad rush I was googling articles and found this. Very nice, and very informative and uselful. For an anime centered blog, I didn’t expect so much correct information on the houses [and my favorite, Pretty] and so I really had to post and give you kudos! Keep up the great work.
Valerie,
Of course I remember you! So sorry for the late reply, but the holidays can really cause a rift in the space time continuum.
Codi is our fashion editor for lolita so I only know a lil’ bit in regards to loli fashion. I’m a newbie, but I learn quick!
I did see the stained glass print and liked it. It’s an interesting concept to make stained glass into a motif. Would such a thing be considered gothic lolita because of the sober nature of the subject matter even though the material isn’t black? I wouldn’t know, just throwing it out there for discussion!
Are you one of the lone lolis in Louis? I saw one at Rag O’ Rama one day in August of this year and that was it. Is there like a club for lolitas here or support group? Something where all the girls hang out for tea at a nice Italian bakery on the Hill or get together to discuss photo shoots and sewing?
-Petticoat Panda, thanks for the kudos! Codi’ll be keeping us up to date on loli as the seasons change so stay tuned!
i love the clothes. i wish there was a store in the United States to buy clothes like that. awesome website!
hey I love the sweet and gothic lolita style and i wanted a good winter coat in either of those styles. i wanted to know any good sites that have good quality winter coats or a site where they can customize my design for a coat. I live the USA by the way just in case that makes a difference lol my email is aphrodysis@hotmail.com.