I have a teeny tiny question of my own..I hope you’ll be able to answer sometime.
My question is: Are you still a lolita? The thing is, since a long time ago your sense of style changed…you stopped wearing your lolita clothes. - Rosebud
I’ve chosen this question to answer from Rosebud, partially because its fashion week and partially because I’m surprised more people haven’t questioned my gradual shift away from Lolita Fashion! If you’re new to this blog, or unsure of what ‘Lolita’ is you can read a brief explanation here.
To answer Rosebud’s question simply, yes I am still a Lolita. However it has a different place in my life these days. I first discovered lolita fashion about four years ago. I was working at a trendy little cafe and a girl walked in wearing the most amazing costume I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but ask her about it, and she told me it was from Japan, by a brand called Putumayo and that the style was known as ‘Lolita.’ I went home that night, did some research and fell in love with the look. Things were a lot different back then, the online community was smaller and more DIY inclined because it was still hard to access brand clothing outside of Japan. Most of the people interested in the fashion were also keen on Japanese rock and Visual Kei, Mana being a hugely popular icon and the gothic substyle was by far the most popular in the west.
It wasn’t long before I found myself wearing my first lolita outfit, a black one piece dress by Metamorphose. I also had a parasol which I still own and handmade headdress. I wore this ensemble with carefully curled hair to the first Perth lolita meet up and tea party, which I helped organize with a friend. From there I taught myself to sew, started getting interested in classic and sweet styles, ran panels on japanese fashion at the local convention, made friends both local and international who shared by interests, started to write about the fashion and lifestyle, ran an online PbP RPG with a lolita theme (It was called Spilt Milk) joined a lolita photo posting group called Himitsu no Niwa and eventually created this blog! As you can see Lolita has had a huge impact on my life.
Four years is a very long time to be devoted to anything however, and as I see fashion as a form of self expression I think its natural that our style should change as we grow and develop as Princesses. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your look has to become more mature, for some people its quite the opposite, but having fun and experimenting and trying different styles is a great way to discover parts of you that you were previously unfamiliar with. For example when I put on a full length vintage dress, feel the soft folds of cotton sweep around my feet as I walk it puts me in touch with a romantic, naturalistic side. When I try something darker, or edgier it makes me feel more intense, or a little cheeky. Casual clothes allow you more freedom of movement and can be cute and playful.
So where am I headed right now? I’m developing my own style with a mixture of influences, from fairytales to the 50’s, romantic, unusual, natural, unique. I love trying new things and dressing up to suit a theme or character. Thats part of what attracted me to lolita in the first place, the novelty, its a fashion with a very distinctive personality and you feel different the moment you put it on!
Lolita still has a very special place in my heart. My wardrobe is full of Baby the stars shine bright, Angelic pretty, Mary Magdalene and I have no intention of selling them any time soon. I’m still organizing lolita meet ups and running panels and wearing it now and then to events, just for fun! I no longer wear it on a daily basis, or have it as an exclusive style though and I haven’t been keeping up with the new season’s lines or adding to my wardrobe. Who knows though, the wind may change again and I might find a resurge of interest in the style! Right now I’m just happy being me and dressing in whatever makes me feel like a Princess.
Related posts:
Speaking of Lolita meetups, we should go to Scitech (Y)
That sounds like a fun idea!
I’m glad you told us! I have also been wondering, I miss your lolita style. (accually i would like to buy half of your wardrobe, haha ^^’)
Princess Skye, is it possible for you to _not_ send me an auto reply email every time i post a comment here?
You should not be receiving emails with every comment, I am so sorry Zelda! It was only meant to email new commenters. I have turned this feature off, thank you so much for making me aware of the issue!
That’s exactly what I thought, actually; that your style was evolving out of the ‘lolita mold’, into something more broad, and truly personal, while still remaining lolita (after all, it’s really not just a ‘clothing style’, so much as an outlook on life).
Agreed, which is why I never bothered to question–the answer felt obvious to me, maybe because I am going through the same style redefinition.
I’m still happy to know just how much it affected your life, Skye. I never knew you were that involved at one point.
I agree as well!
Lolita shapes one’s perspective on life as well as their fashion choices.
And my favorite part of The Princess Portal is seeing how it’s changed you! Your perspective is like a little spot of sunshine in a bleak world.
Thank you all, you don’t know how much it means to me to hear this. I have often worried that people who came to my blog through lolita would be losing interest now that I don’t post about it as often, I’m glad to see that there’s more to it than that.
<3 <3 <3 - a heart for each of you lovelies!
Thats kind of what I thought. And like Claudia and Katarina mentioned, it felt so obvious that I didn’t bother to ask.
Plus, from the beginning, I was more interested in reading everything princess related than looking at the lolita part of your website.(Even though your outfits were always amazingly cute!)
I was and still am fascinated by your view on the world, your creativity and thoughts.
That’s what attracted me to your website in the first place.
Therefore, on this note, thanks a lot for always brightening my days with your posts
I really enjoy them!
Thank you Payette for your beautifully sweet comment, I am really grateful for the support I have from you girls for the writings I post here, I hope to create even better posts in the future!
<3
teeheehee *blushes*
Thank you very much for answering ^_^
I agree with you, noone needs ti have just one style, we can evolve a bit, include more styles we love.
Again, thank you tons!
My pleasure Rosebud! There are so many exciting styles out there that I want to explore, thank you for understanding and for the excellent question <3
I for one didn’t ask because I’ve really enjoyed seeing the longer vintage styles you’ve been trying, and judging from the comments you’ve been getting, I’m not the only one. I guess I’ve never thought of the Portal as “just” a lolita blog. Not that I don’t like the lolita pictures and articles, but you’ve always had your own unique philosophy to share with us through this site, and that’s what I read for.
Thank you so much Rosie, I’m really glad you like the vintage dresses because I love wearing them! It has really brightened my day to read these comments, thank you for being a part of Princess Portal <3
I think you “fit in” a lot better now that you don’t exclusively wear lolita. Before it was so hard to drag you outside because you wanted to wear lolita allll the time
Now you have outfits to suit all occasions and you’re not hampered by your warddrobe (though I’m determined to get you to play laser tag with me!)
I have to say, those shoes in the picture are gorgeous. <3
Your style is beautiful. I look up to it (:
I think the first time I ever saw you was on PAniC, there were pictures of you at the Wai-Con and your outfit was stunning ;D Keep up the beautiful lolita-ness ^-^