EGL & Experimentation

Experimentation in egl fashion can be somewhat of a touchy subject. To begin with a lot of people become interested in alternative fashion because they want to be different, stand out or just rebel against societal norms. Which makes sense and certainly carries over into jfashion and egl. After all egl fashion from it's inception was always rejection of social conformity in favor of embracing a sense of style that is a bit more frivolous and unapologetically feminine. That being said, even within a subculture that is completely forged as direct rejection of the mainstream's idea of fashion standards there still persists a core set of conforming aspects to the subculture in order for something to remain true to and still be considered a part of that subculture. What is punk style without mohawks, colored hair, piercings and tattoos, studded belts, band patches, safety pins, that dgaf attitude and the loud, angsty music? 

The main issue I see when it comes to experimentation with egl fashion is often times people lose the 'lolita' aspect of it. There isn't enough of the core of what makes an outfit a lolita coordinate to see it still as a lolita coordinate at a glance. There really is a delicate balancing act that must take place in order to properly execute an experimental coord and for it to still be plainly read as an egl coord. Now I'm not going to showcase any poorly executed examples of experimentation because you can always find a plethora of these 'coords' within any ita thread on /cgl/ at any given time. Or even in any fb group or egl subreddit. There really is no shortage and I don't want to fill your impressionable mind with bad ideas.

In a previous blog post I created a simple, yet comprehensive guide to the basics of an egl coord. It's important to have a core understanding of the basics before moving on to a look that is more experimental. Let's just take a look at the anatomy and break down of what makes a lolita coord a lolita coord.

The Basics of a Lolita Coord

This diagram is pretty a straight forward breakdown of the components of an egl coordinate. The only thing not separated out and pictured here is the petticoat. But it is pretty plain to see that I am wearing a modest petti from the poofed out silhouette of the dress. In regards to egl fashion in general it is without argument to state that the petticoat is indeed the most important aspect of a coord in order for the outfit to maintain it's integrity as being a lolita coordinate. The petti is crucial. Even with experimentation if your attempts do not include a petticoat it will most definitely fall flat from even being considered as lolita fashion. The proper silhouette IS ABSOLUTELY what differentiates an outfit from being lolita or not lolita. There pretty much is no compromise on this. 

But lets move on to areas where there is room for compromise. In addition to the necessity of a petticoat it is typically a good idea to wear an actual lolita dress from a tried and true lolita brand. Sometimes you can wear a dress or skirt that isn't lolita, but accommodates a petti and fits the silhouette. But in order for this type of experimental coord to work it's best to make sure the silhouette actually looks right and every other component of the coord is cookie cutter egl and reads completely egl. An example of this would be wearing a salopette. Egl brands do often release salopettes and the good thing about a salopette from an actual lolita brand is that it certainly will fit the lolita aesthetic and often times can fit a smaller, low poof petti as well. 

Here is an example of experimental coords with main pieces from Alice Girl (left) and Angelic Pretty (right). Both salos are a bit shorter than the typical lolita dress but still have the poof. And the overall aesthetic reads very kawaii, pastel, sweet lolita. And when looking at each component of the coords individually you can see all are very clearly lolita pieces. The AP coord being a bit more experimental with the visor hat as that is not a typical hat worn in the fashion. However, AP did design it with a sweet aesthetic so it can be worn with sweet coords. Some people will not classify these coords as lolita due to the salopette, but if you want to consider it lolita inspired or adjacent these would pass into the territory as experimental egl and some people would even say these are actual lolita coords. 

The easiest way to experiment while staying true to the fashion is definitely by wearing an actual recognizably lolita dress. Keeping most aspects of the coord as actual lolita pieces will also stay true to it being egl. An example would be wearing a full coord but swapping out the headpiece into something not typical to the fashion. When starting out with experimenting incorporating one single piece that is not a traditional lolita piece is best. Once figuring out the delicate balance of lolita pieces mixed with nonlolita pieces it's best to stick with swapping out no more than 2 or 3 aspects AT MOST for a more experimental coord. After going beyond 3 the ratio starts to become off kilter, not to say it can't be done, but it will require a lot more finesse. When the balance of lolita vs nonlolita pieces is off the outfit will lose it's integrity as a lolita coord and it will venture into a 'lolita inspired' other version of fashion. 

This is an excellent example of incorporating one nonlolita piece into a full lolita coord. The leather jacket is clearly not lolita. Now even when wearing a nonlolita piece it is very important for the piece to make sense with the coord and match. If it doesn't fit cohesively with the coord the piece will stand out and look very shoehorned into the coord. And that is a classic ita mistake. With this coord you can plainly see the leather of the jacket matches the leather purse and the leather shoes. A leather jacket also being a staple of punk fashion fits the 'Vivienne Westwood' (rip) motif. VW was one of the first punk fashion designers. The VW necklace and rocking horse shoes, which were originally designed by her, are very much the embodiment of the spirit of punk.

These coords are pretty typical of my sweet experimentation. The general look is fairly over the top, but overall the coords from the feet up are pretty cookie cutter AP sweet. Just about every piece is from Angelic Pretty. The shoes are mainly what makes these coords more experimental, as gigantic honkin platforms are absolutely not traditional lolita shoes. Whether the shoes 'look good' is highly debatable, but it's fairly safe to say they are cohesive enough with these coords. The colors are correct and they aren't clashing with the motifs. The lavender shoes on the left are a bit 'off' as far as color (too warm of a lavender) and style is concerned and are more apt to fall under the category of being shoehorned into the coord. But they are far from being the most offensive thing that has been shoved into a coord where it doesn't belong. However, I do find that shoes are typically an area of coord where there is more room for experimentation. The main thing to consider is the color and the style of the shoes.

The next experimental aspect would be the berets. Both berets are from Angelic Pretty and they are the matching set pieces that were released with the dresses. Berets are quite run of the mill and very standard in lolita coords, however the cat ears incorporated into the design of these berets are more experimental. This is an example of a lolita brand taking a nontraditional element and designing it in a way that fits lolita fashion. It's not to say that animal ears aren't commonly seen in coords, but if the style of the ears doesn't fit the style of the fashion and the coord itself they will look very out of place and absolutely ita.

And the 3rd experimental thing in these coords is the makeup. It is a bit more heavy or dramatic compared to the standard sweet coord. Now the colors of the makeup aren't clashing with the color scheme of the coords and the amount of makeup hasn't completely crossed the line into drag makeup. It's more or less as heavy  as can be gotten away with before it starts to look bad. And let's face it drag queen make up with the sharp angular contours, massively overdrawn lips, thick black geometrical shaped eyeliner and obnoxiously large fake eyelashes just does not look good with lolita fashion. Now I am wearing fake lashes here and heavier makeup, but if I had worn anymore the line into drag would have been crossed.  

With all of that being said makeup is another area where there is more room for experimentation, like shoes makeup doesn't change the overall look of the coord and completely remove it from looking like an egl coord at a glance. Makeup that can be experimented on without throwing off the look completely may include: colored eyeshadow, fake eyelashes (that are reasonable in length and style), nontypical lipstick color as long as it is a color that pulls from one of the colors that is being noticeably represented in the coord. You can see this with the coord on the left wearing gray lipstick. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is still cohesive to the color scheme.  

For me personally I find shoes, headwear and makeup to be the easiest places to experiment without completely destroying the integrity of what the fashion is and how it should look. And of course this can and will be debated on because it may not 'look good' or 'look right'. But the main components of the fashion have remained steadfast. The silhouette and use of petti coat, the dress and most pieces being designed by lolita brands, all of the individual components are present; blouse, socks, headwear etc and the overall aesthetic is still in tact.

Another very easy place to experiment is with jewelry. Again, this is an aspect that won't change the overall look of the coord. Wearing something like vintage jewelry will absolutely match something like a classic coord even though it isn't made by a lolita brand. The main thing with experimentation and having it 'look good' is making sure the experimental piece/pieces don't look out of place. When it comes to jewelry that you handmade it's important to make sure there is a certain level of quality to it. Even if it was inexpensive to make it should at least not look 'handmade'.  Here I am wearing Moi Meme Moitie keychain that I converted into a necklace. The fact that it is Moitie makes it very easy fit in with other Moitie pieces.  

Let's analyze a couple more coords with experimental elements.

This coord is pretty standard wa lolita. However, the sunglasses she is wearing are not wa lolita, nor lolita at all. That being said they do work very nicely incorporated into this coord. The color of the sunglasses are pulled from the oranges/yellows of the print of the dress. The style of the sunglasses aren't normie and regular, they are very, very stylized. The design of the glasses are that of a cloud style often seen in Japanese artwork which lends to the 'wafuku' aesthetic of this coord. Had these sunglasses been a normie style they would look absolutely shoehorned and out of place.  

The beauty of punk coords is there is tons of room for experimentation. With punk lolita many aspects and elements of punk fashion can be incorporated. For instance a graphic t-shirt, though it is always better to convert it into a cutsew so it fits the lolita aesthetic better. Adding puffed sleeves, lace trim and altering it to be more fitted really helped it to look more cohesive. I made a tutorial on converting this t-shirt into a cutsew here: Cutsew Tutorial. In all 3 coords the cutsew is worn overtop of a tartan JSK which gives the look of a skirt. Generally a top is worn under the JSK but in this instance since it is a graphic shirt it is appropriate to wear it in the more experimental way over top. Fishnet stockings are not typical of lolita fashion and are general advised against and hardly work in a coord. But in a punk coord (and even some goth coords) it can look good. It does help that we are wearing typical lolita socks over top. The Doc Marten boots are NOT lolita, but they are very much a staple of punk fashion. Neither are the studded chokers and bracelets lolita, but again they are punk.

These coords work because the punk elements have been balanced and offset by the lolita elements and do not over take the essence of lolita. The punk elements add to the lolita essence and just make it more edge. The coords are still very lolita the only changes are graphic cutsew tshirt in place of a blouse, nontypical footwear, nontypical jewelry and punk buttons, add fishnets while still wearing lolita socks. In these coords 3 or 4 elements have been replaced by nonlolita items. This is about the most that should be changed before a coord stops looking like a lolita coord. 

Another place to experiment is with hair. I wouldn't call this coord experimental at all, but the pink hair color is not really typical of a gothic coord. The color works because there are no other bold colors for the pink hair to clash with. Also this hairstyle is very typical of gothic coord and lolita in general. Hair style is also a good place to add an experimental element. I personally am no good at doing hair, but wearing a full coord with an a-typical hairstyle can look really neat, however using discernment of whether it looks good or not is important. You find poor examples of 'experimental hair' littered throughout any online lolita space. You know the ones I'm talking about; faded neon dyed hair that clashes with the colors in the coord, short unstyled hair in a typical men's haircut, messy unkempt styles that don't match with the 'put togetherness' of a coord.    

An example of a full sweet coord with experimental shoes from Angelic Pretty. These shoes are kind of atrocious even by my standards, which are known to be questionable when it comes to footwear. But again brand like AP will makes some items that aren't typical lolita and make it easier to experiment because they still adhere to the AP aesthetic. 

 

And of course, headpieces. This is probably the easiest place to experiment and there's room to wear all sorts of outlandish and a-typical things on your head. Anything from vintage hats, crowns or veils, usakumya plush headbands, beaded halo things, one of a kind handmade concoctions etc. You just have to use your judgement as to what actually matches your coord as far as theme, motifs, colors, fabrics, style, quality and overall aesthetic of the coord.