[caption id="attachment_458" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fig. 1: Exhibit A, Loligoth"][/caption]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who knows what loligoth (Gothic Lolita and it's sister style: Sweet Lolita) fashion is--I know I'm not, I'm lucky enough to have girlfriends who are hip to my jive, yo. Plus, I randomly came across Dreaming in Red (my new favorite blog), and I felt inspired to finally address this loligoth topic on my own blog.

I would dress this way every day if I could, but, being in the USA, there aren't a lot of loligoth options here (hello eBay!). So whenever I try to whip out a loligoth outfit, it feels more like a costume than a stylistic lifestyle. I have had a couple skirts and tops that are ruffle-y and vintage-y that I have purchased at random places like thrift stores and Express on occasion, but because my closet isn't filled with these kind of outfits, it enhances the costume-esque feel. And I would rather it be my style than a costume.

But is it possible for the Lolita (Gothic or Sweet) to move past a costume/cosplay presence?

The way I gauge clothing is by asking myself this question: would I feel comfortable teaching a classroom of college freshmen in it? The reason why I like this question is because it addresses a multiplicity of criteria in a single question: comfort, wearability and style.

1. Comfort: is the garment comfortable enough to teach a class in? To ride a bike? If not, to ride a bus in or to walk to class in? Will I get hot? Will I get sweaty? If it's white, do I have the ability to keep it crisp?

2. Wearability: how often will this garment be worn? Will I get my money's worth in the number of times I'll wear it? For instance, I have a green BCBG dress I bought for about $110 last August. I have worn it at least once a month (sometimes 2 or 3 times a month). So let's say I've worn it 15 times (a low estimate). That's $7 each time I've worn it, so the more often I wear it, the better the value. (This is also how I think about furniture.) But something like my Chi costume (the one I made) cost approximately $100-$120 to make (not to mention the number of hours I put into designing and sewing it), and I've only worn it twice, so the value of this garment is approximately $55 each time I wore it. Plus, I can only anticipate wearing it at Anime-Expo next year, so the wearability of the costume is much lower than my BCBG dress.

3. Style: because I'm a fiction writer and a comics scholar (remember what my academic fellowship is in this year: gender and animation, and my project is tracing the cyborg myth through monstrous bodies such as zombies and witches and vampires as they appear in literature and comic books), I feel like I have more liberty with my style of dress than maybe other people have (or want to have).

I like to look quirky but professional, so I feel good when I stand out, but I don't want to look costume-y. I went clothes shopping with Laura before I left L.A. and we went to the Camarillo Outlets and I was looking for some suits to teach in (since I'm actually considered faculty this year and the students will be calling me 'professor') and to give presentations at conferences in. So I picked out two suits that I could mix and match together easily--but one jacket definitely has a cyborg/Matrix vibe. Laura said she wouldn't feel comfortable teaching or giving presentations in it, but she'd definitely wear it around just in general. But I feel comfortable doing both. And both she and another friend of mine (Hannah) have noticed aloud that I wear dresses a lot. Laura didn't say it like it was a bad thing, but I couldn't tell what Hannah's comment meant. What these anecdotes relate is that I like to look different. But there's a definite line between quirky and kooky to me.

[caption id="attachment_456" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Fig. 2: Loligoth, toned down"][/caption]

If I wanted to teach in something like this (Fig. 2, directly above), I would feel comfortable doing so. It's a little more toned down than Fig. 1 (the first dress at the top). I know someone at USC who dresses really uniquely (thanks to the wonders of eBay Alexander McQueen is one of her favorite designers), and I really admire the way she puts outfits together. But on one of her evaluations, students (plural) said that the way she dressed was distracting. I think that kind of comment is a cop-out (and she had some problems with a couple misogynistic students commenting on her Tarina Tarantino Hello Kitty jewelry during the semester anyway), so it felt more like a personal jab than a legitimate criticism.

However, Fig. 1, or something like Fig. 3 (below) is what I would love to attend the the Spike TV Scream Awards in. I figure if there's ever an opportunity to dress Loligoth, and not be afraid of looking costume-y, then the Scream Awards are it.

[caption id="attachment_455" align="aligncenter" width="196" caption="Fig. 3: A loligoth dress that I'd like to wear to the Scream Awards"][/caption]

And if you think about it, the Lolita look is not that dissimilar to one of the recent challenge winning Project Runway dresses:

[caption id="attachment_457" align="aligncenter" width="206" caption="Fig. 4: Suede's winning dress in Episode 2"][/caption]

I mean the designer, Suede, is completely obnoxious, but the outfit is really cool. Notice the layering of fabric and the poofy skirt and noticeable petticoat. Natalie Portman, the guest judge for this episode, said she'd wear it in a heartbeat. I can't blame her.

But I do have this dress in my closet:

[caption id="attachment_459" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Fig. 5: My BCBG fancy dress that I've never worn"][/caption]

It's a fancy dress that I've never worn (I bought it in May)--so the wearability factor is low for this one, but it was heavily discounted. I originally saw this dress last August (at the same time I got the green BCBG dress mentioned earlier), and decided to get the green dress instead because it's wearability factor was much higher. But I promised myself that if I ever went back to the BCBG outlet store, and this garment was on the 50% off rack, I would buy it. Like 9 months later, Laura and I went back and there it was, only one in my size, and I couldn't put it down. I just haven't had a place to wear it yet.

Could this be my Scream Awards dress? Knowing my penchant for loligoth, this dress does echo in that general direction, which is what I really like about it.

But yeah, the question motivating this whole post: can loligoth become mainstream? Or, more specifically: is it acceptable for someone like me (a creative professional writer type) to wear it on a daily basis? Maybe not something like Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, but something like this:

[caption id="attachment_460" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Fig. 6: Daily Loli"][/caption]

What are your thoughts on this subject? And, equally important, what should I wear to the Scream Awards? And, to what extent is fashion distracting?

Labels: bcbg, fashion, gothic lolita, loligoth, mainstream fashion, project runway, scream awards, spike tv, sweet lolita

( 8comments )

at August 6, 2008 6:06 PM  Chandra said...

Hi Jilly, I came to respond to the question about loligoth fashion… I don’t think it will go mainstream, just because we don’t have the same worship of cute that Japan does. There’s just something absent in American culture that would have produced the same result as Japan has. Could it transcend a costume? Well, on a person to person basis, maybe. I don’t think as a country/culture we are ready (or able?) to accept loligoth as a fashion style and not a costume. To know that a lot of the Japanese girls travel to Harajuku or Tokyo Dome in their regular clothes and change into their loligoth or cosplay outfits once they’ve arrived… well, to me it says it’s still a “weekend fashion.” It’s not an every day style yet.

 

at August 6, 2008 6:15 PM  natalia said...

Hi Jilly! I say GO FOR IT! I would totally do it if I was smaller! I like how they look Victorian.

When I'm an old lady, I'm totally going to dress in handmade Victorian getup and say, "Fuck it. I like my clothes and I don't care if you think I'm senile!"

 

at August 6, 2008 7:37 PM  jillydreadful said...

So why don't you do it now? Why is age the determining factor? Is it something along the lines of, "I'm old and I've paid my dues, bitches!"?

 

at August 7, 2008 4:03 AM  Lorie said...

My first thought was that it was number of ruffles that made an outfit drift into "costume" territory. But then your last example has quite a few layers of ruffles, and it does seem more subdued. Maybe it's lace and ruffles and overall flounce? I've been scoring too many math tests lately, and it makes me want to come up with some sort of graph or ratio of the attributes to figure out the perfect balance.

I'm not a good judge of anything fashion-related, but your reason for getting a dress like numbers 1 and 3 for the Scream Awards makes sense.

I'm also curious - I've always thought of the style as gothloli. Is loligoth the more correct term for it?

 

at August 7, 2008 9:12 AM  jillydreadful said...

I believe either term is correct. I've seen all three: Gothic Lolita (Bible), gothloli and loligoth. For some reason, I always seem to call it loligoth when shortening the full name. It seems more fun. I might have picked this up from eBay auctions calling the outfits loligoth. I'm not sure.

 

at August 7, 2008 9:31 AM  ish said...

First off, a straight guy giving fashion advice here, so feel free to discount it as such (even if I do watch Runway).

There is some danger of your clothing creating a prejudgment of you, and this definitely flirts with the line between costume and style. But ultimately its *you* that people will judge you by the most.

It reminds me a bit of a certain Math Professor back at the Tech, with a penchant for wearing Confederate Battle Regalia to class (I'm certain you recall him). Being a person who's taken more math than any human every should, I've had class with him and in reality he's a really great guy, a very conscientious teacher with a strong desire to help students learn, and pretty amusing to boot. Before I had class with him my opinion was entirely formed by his clothing, and I thought he was a nut. After having class with him I wasn't any less convinced he was a nut, but I did think he was a pretty good teacher and a good guy.

You may be caught fighting more for respect if you dress more "forward" than most, but I'm sure you're up to it. I'd also offer a more cautious go for it, but say be prepared to set the tone early. Also, comfort and self-confidence are the most important tools for any look. If you feel like you belong in it, you will look like you belong in it. Really the difference between quirky and kooky is far more in behavior than dress. But that's just me.

 

at August 7, 2008 9:37 AM  jillydreadful said...

So is the general consensus that I should dress lolita for the Scream Awards? Remember, I'm supposed to actually be on TV, not just attend. Keeping this in mind, what dress should I have made? Aside from #1 (which I think is my favorite), I'm listing these in no particular order:

1. http://tinyurl.com/595pk6 -- if this one, which color: the antique-y white or black?

2. http://tinyurl.com/63nkqo

3. http://tinyurl.com/6ecjzy

4. http://tinyurl.com/55vplf -- if this one, which color: white or black?

5. http://tinyurl.com/68n7yp

Or I could go as Chi, since I was in my Chi costume when I won the opportunity: http://tinyurl.com/6du3xz -- this costume is so over the top that I love it.

 

at August 7, 2008 1:01 PM  Chandra said...

I was fond of #4, because it looked refined. Like a cocktail dress with a loli touch. Then I zoomed and wondered if it looked too much like a Maid uniform.

Number 3 is also kind of young and a little less matronly, but it's definitely more casual.