“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” -1984, George Orwell
In George Orwell's novel 1984 there is a concept known as 'New Speak' which is the rewriting or 'simplification' of language into the most basic of terms "designed to diminish the range of thought". A sort of 'dumbing down', if you will. The intention was to eliminate one's own original ideas or the ability to critically think in order for citizens to accept and propagate only the approved narratives. Albeit the approved narratives wholly exist in deceit and for the purpose of maximum control over all individual freedom. And every approved idea is purely propaganda to extinguish personal thought or actions that may be contrary to the expected societal compliance and to avoid the questioning of authority.Uhhhhhh....k...??? What IS your point?
With the diminishment of thought range due to the rewriting of language comes the subsequent retelling of history. At this point the false history becomes so simple to implement and accept since there is no capability of even questioning the narratives...
But... where did these ideas come from? It's interesting when reading through and looking at much older content from the west in regards to the fashion such as from around 2005 you can see the feminist narratives starting to take root. At this point in the west the women involved in anything considered counter culture; goth, punk, lolita etc were also starting to take on feminist identities. Reading through blogs from this time you can see many women self identifying as feminists and talking about all sorts of 3rd wave feminist issues. Subsequently, you can start to see the cross section of feminism and western lolita fashion taking place. In many blogs the questions of "Is lolita feminist?" start popping up. Women are saying, well I am a feminist and these are my clothes and naturally the two become intertwined.
And by the time 2012 rolls around the age old question of "Is lolita feminist?" has been answered as undoubtedly "YES". And now in 2023 in the west it is accepted that lolita fashion is a hard feminist statement founded on deeply feminist principles. But is it really though? I will say... in the west lolita fashion has BECOME a feminist statement. It has absolutely evolved into a feminist statement for many women. And I can see the case for many feminists in the west to adopt the fashion to fit into their feminist worldview. The rejection of dressing for men and the male gaze. Dressing to the aversion of sexualization; wearing something that is not form fitting, revealing or what would be considered sexually attractive to men. It is a fashion that is self indulgent, expensive, luxurious and fully for the gratification of ones own desires. A woman dressing how she wants without regard to the thoughts of others and societies expectations of how a woman should dress. Women dressing for other women in a women dominated subculture. So I would say there are definitely attributes that fall in line with the values of feminism in the west.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth." -1984, George Orwell
And here is where I get to the actual point. This is kind of where we are in the western community of lolita fashion. There are specific narratives in regards to the fashion's history that have been put out there, pushed and repeated so often that in the minds of westerners it has now become truth. Propagated, accepted and regurgitated over and over again to the point where no one even questions it. Westerners have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the history of another countries subculture to fit into the lens of their own current western ideologies. Now with the [fake] issue of cultural appropriation that we are constantly hearing about from the left wing of the west, why do we not hear anyone crying appropriation over the interjection of western values and narratives and the hijacking and rewriting of a history that is not ours? I mean... if that isn't ACTUAL appropriation then I don't even know what is?? **crickets**
I write this to those who have been immersed in the western lolita fashion community. And having that immersion means you've watched videos, read blogs or participated in online conversations where I'm sure you must have come across the narratives of lolita fashion taking it's roots in Japan while having deeply feminist origins and for the purpose of making extremely feminist statements and as a result of very feminist movement. We've all come across stuff online like this:
And here is where I get to the actual point. This is kind of where we are in the western community of lolita fashion. There are specific narratives in regards to the fashion's history that have been put out there, pushed and repeated so often that in the minds of westerners it has now become truth. Propagated, accepted and regurgitated over and over again to the point where no one even questions it. Westerners have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the history of another countries subculture to fit into the lens of their own current western ideologies. Now with the [fake] issue of cultural appropriation that we are constantly hearing about from the left wing of the west, why do we not hear anyone crying appropriation over the interjection of western values and narratives and the hijacking and rewriting of a history that is not ours? I mean... if that isn't ACTUAL appropriation then I don't even know what is?? **crickets**
I write this to those who have been immersed in the western lolita fashion community. And having that immersion means you've watched videos, read blogs or participated in online conversations where I'm sure you must have come across the narratives of lolita fashion taking it's roots in Japan while having deeply feminist origins and for the purpose of making extremely feminist statements and as a result of very feminist movement. We've all come across stuff online like this:
But... where did these ideas come from? It's interesting when reading through and looking at much older content from the west in regards to the fashion such as from around 2005 you can see the feminist narratives starting to take root. At this point in the west the women involved in anything considered counter culture; goth, punk, lolita etc were also starting to take on feminist identities. Reading through blogs from this time you can see many women self identifying as feminists and talking about all sorts of 3rd wave feminist issues. Subsequently, you can start to see the cross section of feminism and western lolita fashion taking place. In many blogs the questions of "Is lolita feminist?" start popping up. Women are saying, well I am a feminist and these are my clothes and naturally the two become intertwined.
But has the fashion always has been feminist and does it take roots from feminist Japan? Well, to the dismay of the western feminists this simply just isn't the case. We have to remember that lolita fashion became it's own subculture in Japan in the 1990s and during this time there wasn't wide spread use of the internet and the interconnectedness of everyone via tools like social media just didn't exist. The global movements that we see online today just weren't happening at that time like they happen today. The feminist movements of America were not a thing in Japan. And dare I say feminist movements in the west weren't really all that vocal or in full swing either among the teenage women in the west. The western feminists of today pushing their worldviews on Japanese lolitas from the 1990s is frankly deceitful. There is this idea in western feminism that "Everything is a feminist issue" and this coupled with other western ideologies like 'intersectionality' has made a opportunity to interject a western social justice take into literally anything.
Soooooo... have we just witnessed over the last 30 years the rewriting of history in real time? As someone who initially took interest in the fashion in the late 90s/early 00s I can say with all certainty; absolutely. My fascination started during the early years of the internet when dial up was the hot new technology and I happened upon jrock and visual kei genres of music via obscure internet searches. I would use Napster to download 1 song at a time and it would take ALL DAY lol. The good ol' days of the internet XD At that point in time feminism wasn't talked about among the youth like it is today. Things were quite a bit more care free and social movements weren't really on the tongues of the teens. I would spend my time looking up photos of my vk idols and by proxy Tokyo street fashion. Now I loved the music from Japan during this time, but the thing that got me hooked was the fashion. I always wanted to see the vk looks that the teens were wearing in Harajuku during this golden era.
Of course, through all of my leisurely immersion in the jrock and vk scenes with a deep interest in street fashion in general I undoubtedly stumbled upon lolita fashion. My first exposure to the fashion being from Mana during his days with Malice Mizer. During all of my years as a teenager on the early internet never once did I come across feminist narratives of lolita fashion from a Japanese source. The roots of the fashion itself came from the artistic and rebellious spirit of visual kei as a street fashion and the of clash 'kawaii culture' which was also having it's rise in popularity during this time. It was a perfect blend of teenage rebellion with a more 'cute' take. And it was simply that.
It wasn't a feminist statement or some deep sociopolitical movement.... It was teenagers just wanting to dress cool and be different as a counter to a rigidly conformist society. It was teenagers replicating the trends in clothes that they saw the bands they liked wearing. And I will say it was a massive trend to go to the VK concerts dressed in cosplay of the band members, so naturally these looks leaked out into the street fashion scene. The band members were dressing in such ways because of the delight they found in looking theatrical, grandiose and over the top. It was a celebration of the freedom to look, dress and express themselves in their own way through fashion and music. In all honesty, it was more of an artistic movement than a social/political movement. For some reason there is a complete neglect to mention that the early enjoyers of lolita fashion were also enjoyers of visual kei music and fans of Mana; the original creator of gothic loita fashion. There was a huge overlap between visual kei and lolita fashion in the early years. And these are the roots of lolita fashion. And by the time the mid 2000s rolled around lolita fashion seemed to separate completely from vk and become it's own subculture.
Soooooo... have we just witnessed over the last 30 years the rewriting of history in real time? As someone who initially took interest in the fashion in the late 90s/early 00s I can say with all certainty; absolutely. My fascination started during the early years of the internet when dial up was the hot new technology and I happened upon jrock and visual kei genres of music via obscure internet searches. I would use Napster to download 1 song at a time and it would take ALL DAY lol. The good ol' days of the internet XD At that point in time feminism wasn't talked about among the youth like it is today. Things were quite a bit more care free and social movements weren't really on the tongues of the teens. I would spend my time looking up photos of my vk idols and by proxy Tokyo street fashion. Now I loved the music from Japan during this time, but the thing that got me hooked was the fashion. I always wanted to see the vk looks that the teens were wearing in Harajuku during this golden era.
Of course, through all of my leisurely immersion in the jrock and vk scenes with a deep interest in street fashion in general I undoubtedly stumbled upon lolita fashion. My first exposure to the fashion being from Mana during his days with Malice Mizer. During all of my years as a teenager on the early internet never once did I come across feminist narratives of lolita fashion from a Japanese source. The roots of the fashion itself came from the artistic and rebellious spirit of visual kei as a street fashion and the of clash 'kawaii culture' which was also having it's rise in popularity during this time. It was a perfect blend of teenage rebellion with a more 'cute' take. And it was simply that.
It wasn't a feminist statement or some deep sociopolitical movement.... It was teenagers just wanting to dress cool and be different as a counter to a rigidly conformist society. It was teenagers replicating the trends in clothes that they saw the bands they liked wearing. And I will say it was a massive trend to go to the VK concerts dressed in cosplay of the band members, so naturally these looks leaked out into the street fashion scene. The band members were dressing in such ways because of the delight they found in looking theatrical, grandiose and over the top. It was a celebration of the freedom to look, dress and express themselves in their own way through fashion and music. In all honesty, it was more of an artistic movement than a social/political movement. For some reason there is a complete neglect to mention that the early enjoyers of lolita fashion were also enjoyers of visual kei music and fans of Mana; the original creator of gothic loita fashion. There was a huge overlap between visual kei and lolita fashion in the early years. And these are the roots of lolita fashion. And by the time the mid 2000s rolled around lolita fashion seemed to separate completely from vk and become it's own subculture.
Some things just aren't so complicated and there really is no need for us as westerners to try and over complicate things by injecting our own ideologies and views on everything else. We don't need to look at another cultures history through a western feminist lens. They did not share our western values or feminism. The Japanese teens just wanted to rebel by dressing cool. Simple as that. We don't need to be such ideologues that we take it to the point of rewriting the history of other cultures. We can have our beliefs and views and they are valid on their own. We don't have to push our ideas on other cultures to further prove the validity of our own ideas. Western feminism and other social causes have their own deep and rich history right here in our own culture.
I think it's a good time to stop the 1984 New Speak history of Japanese lolitas from the 1990s before they lose their own culturally rich fashion history to a western bastardized ideologue version.