My introduction to lolita fashion came directly from Mana-sama himself. So naturally I was drawn to gothic lolita. Though being in high school and the internet first gaining attention in the consumer realm I figured there wasn't really any way for me to 1. afford the fashion and 2. obtain it from Japan. So in the meantime I just wore typical goth style for the era which was a lot of black, heavy makeup and cut up and altered clothes, as even goth fashion wasn't really readily available during this time. At some point I'll have to do a segment on my gothic style evolution, but for now I'm just going to adhere to EGL.
We'll fast forward a few years to the early/mid 2000s where a lot of my style was heavily influenced by Mana. Now this was absolutely NOT lolita fashion, but it was a point where my goth style had become a bit more refined and the distinct influence of Mana was quite apparent.
Soon thereafter around 2016 did I finally feel the urge to dabble in actual lolita fashion... or at least what I thought was lolita. My first attempts were very clearly without research and soley based of my memories of Tokyo street fashion from the late 90s and early 00s, as well as VK and Malice Mizer. My first attempt was basically just throwing together what I had laying around that was 'close enough'.
Shall we verbally rip this to shreds for fun? Well for starters none of this is even lolita fashion. It still looked cool and aesthetic. My ita phase still had that drip XD Being as I was well acquainted with goth fashion already I was quite set in my style as far as gothic was concerned and I could throw some goth threads together and it was never anything to scoff at.... BUT this was a Hot Topic skirt with a Leg Avenue corset. NOT EVEN WEARING A BLOUSE... SHAMEEEEEE. The shrug or bolero was just a normie/goth piece that I would often wear to work at my normie office day job. At least I had enough sense to cover my scandalous shoulders. And I did wear a petti too, so points for that I guess. The accessories would work fine in a gothic lolita coord. Got that part right at least. The wig is a bit 'cosplay'. But whatever, I was trying to work with what I had. 1st attempt was a failure, but at least a good looking failure LULZ.
I wouldn't say my second attempt was all that more fruitful... though it still was another cool fit. And clearly had those Mana vibes. This attempt was actually handmade. I dissected a bunch of white eyelet lace 'prairie girl' skirts and dresses to make this. Not sure what to actually call them, but I'm sure 'prairie girl' gives an adequate visualization. Right away you can tell the shape of the skirt is all sorts of messed up... I had layered a bunch of Leg Avenue pettis and it formed into rather a monstrosity. Again no blouse. That LOW, LOW neck line... Absolute harlot filth. And the strappy harness thing, a goth trademark, but not lolita fashion.... eh lets just go with this coord is ero and everything was intentional XD ....except definitely not because I had no idea what I was doing.
A friend of mine made this hilarious recreation of the 'Virgin Walk vs Chad Stride' meme based off my first coords. Which was hecking ridiculous, so I had to include it. "The Ita Walk vs The Chad First Lolita" by **Artist Redacted**. It's a little dig at a well known veteran lolita and her... 'fashion decline' I guess we will call it. But gosh, if I didn't get a hard laugh out of this!
And I'll share one more. I'm on the left. Getting a little closer... but obviously missing the key element of what makes an outfit lolita; the silhouette. WHERE DA F IS DA PETTI??? The dress is off brand, possibly taobao? There's no tag in it so I can't be certain. It was given to me by my friend as she wasn't really into the fashion anymore. ...and the terrible heart choker :') I wish those things didn't have such a bad rep from being worn in... er... inappropriate situations. At this point I wasn't even aware of the negative connotations of the 'heart choker', I just thought they were cute goth accessories... but later on did I find out that boy was I wrong. Turns out they are a staple in a fashion called 'nymphette' which I'm not well versed on, but it's a style worn often by ethot internet wh*res who sell explicit photos and videos... and even worse also worn by fetishists into DDLG.... Needless to say I was very saddened discover this because I do think those chokers are cute. RIP.
And I will conclude with this more of an in depth video I created on my discovery of the fashion and start in it. This was my first YouTube video, so expect cringe... not that I've become any less cringe XD It's mostly over dramatic humor, don't take me too seriously :P
How I Discovered Lolita Fashion