Tokyo, Nov 23: On the streets of Harujuku in downtown Tokyo, a
fringe fashion statement is taking a turn on to the high
streets.
The winding roads behind what is considered the centre
of Japan's youth fashion had been home for some years to a
growing number of Gothic Lolita adherents - often called
"Goth-loli' in Japanese. But with their numbers now
estimated in the tens of thousands and still growing and
getting older and more financially independent from their
parents, shops and fashion brands have popped up all over
dedicated to loosening their velvet purse strings.
These alternative fashionistas who make up the majority
of the Goth-loli crowd stand out with their Victorian
ruffled dresses, lace bonnets, and Mary Jane pumps with
knee length leggings. Most are looking to be seen as cute
and not sexy. Few really understand the meaning of the word
Lolita, which in Japan has more of a sweet child
connotation rather than the taboo sexual one made famous by
the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov.
Dressed mostly in black in its orthodox form, teenagers
-- and more and more adults now -- have subdivided this
trend to include, among others, Sweet Lolitas - often
dressed solely in pink and white, and Classic Lolitas -
dressed in more muted browns and natural shades.
Believed to be an off-shoot of the Gothic look of many
of the punk-bands of the late 1990s, the addition of the
sweet and cutesy elements helped make this statement more
acceptable to many Japanese who were looking for an
alternative fashion statement in the nation's often
conservatively dressed crowd.
At a recent fashion show organised by one of the
largest dedicated Gothic Lolita magazines, Kora (monthly
circulation of 80,000), nearly 1,500 Gothic Lolita fans at
gathered to watch parade the hottest brands of crinoline
and pettycoat - they themselves in their best -- and most
gothic -- outfit.
"By wearing this outfit, I can be myself. I can be who
I really want to be," said 27-year old nurse Kazumi Aoki in
a Classic Lolita look and hugging a giant teddy bear -- a
common Goth-Loli accessory.
Even some of the men appear to be getting in to the
act.
"Gothic Lolita appeals to adult men, too," said Yusuke
Dendo, a 20-year old student said in a more punk-gothic
look reminiscent of the neo-romantic movement of the United
Kingdom in the 1980s.
Indeed, many of the Goth-Loli trend currently sweeping
through Japan has its origins in the punk and new-age wave
of the U.K -- though now it's merged in Japan with the
saccharine subculture of Japanime (or Japan-animation).
"Gothic fashion represents coolness in the darkness,
which some people might find a bit scary and distant
themselves from. That's why these girls mixed Lolita
fashion into it so that they can look cool and pretty at
the same time," explained Naoki Matsumura, editor in chief
of Kora, Japan's Gothic Lolita Bible.
However, while this trend is likely to mature for a
while in Japan - it is also growing in popularity overseas.
US pop stars such as Gwen Stefani have made them
iconic and globally renown with her video clips and songs
about the "Harajuku Girls". Courtney Love and other U.S.
pop stars have also jumped on the band wagon.
However with few Goth-Loli shops and brands available
outside Japan, unlike their Japanese sisters many overseas
are said to be forced to buy their clothes on online
auction sites or sew them up themselves, according to
overseas websites dedicated to Gothic Lolitas.
Bureau Report