I initially had worked on a longer post about how to incorporate all of my favorite styles into my wardrobe, but one, that was boring and two, I felt like it was more important to talk about how I got into J-fashion, what I learned about myself in doing so, and why I feel like moving on, or more accurately, evolving.
Obviously, I got into lolita as a Japanese street fashion back in ye olden days, at the height of visual kei and Malice Mizer's influence on the scene, when anime was just starting to get shown in America. With my friends, I fell in love with visual kei music as a natural consequence of liking anime and the music in anime openings/endings (L'Arc-en-ciel, X-Japan, etc). I got into gothic lolita as a wearable form of my love for visual kei, since it was officially recognized by Mana in his Moi Meme Moitie clothing line, and I also preferred that mysterious and brooding aura over the other street styles seen in Fruits magazines.
Since then, I've moved onto classical and sweet lolita and other substyles. But to me, Japanese street fashion has always been about the culture of rebelling against Japanese (or mainstream) society; getting a 9 to 5 job, marrying and having kids, living in society looking like how everyone expects you to. Of course, the clothes are the main draw since they just look cool, but more than that, I love the punk nature of wearing street fashion made popular by youths to visually express themselves, what they like, what they don't like. What never fully appealed to me about Western punk and gothic fashion and culture, I felt that Japanese fashions somehow nailed that attitude, by making it cute and historically influenced and a little more relaxed on the "rules." With Japanese fashion, I could express what American punks and goths wanted to express, but more wearable and attuned to what I already like (anime, history, cute stuff) and way less judgement because at the time, it was new and unique and unlike any Western subcultures already out there.
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Nowadays, with lolita so much more accessible to the west, the original vibe or flavor of lolita is less clear. I'm not a purist; as I've said, clothes are just pieces of petroleum and plants covering your naked body, you can wear whatever you want (within reason). Also, for the makers of the fashion to continue their business, it's better more people get into the style than less as the years go by. There should be no judgement on how you got into lolita, whether it was from cosplay or anime or an influencer, just be educated because lolita is the one style you should not get the details mixed up and give the public the wrong idea and cause trouble for other lolitas (due to the unfortunate connotation of the name, other styles don't have the same problem). But because people are getting into the fashion due to wanting to look cute just like that influencer or model, there is less of that rebelliousness that drew me in. I imagine people will discover that rebel attitude once they learn more about the fashion's origins, but it's no longer as essential or defining to lolita as it used to be.
That's a perfectly acceptable change, and honestly really good news for the brands and indie designers, don't get me wrong. But I want to keep pushing the edge for myself and my own personal style. Life is short and if something doesn't quite vibe with you like it used to, you should feel free to change to something that does connect to you.
Now for why I love gyaru and himekaji... I learned of gyaru because of anime (kogals, Gals!) and Fruits magazine back in the beginning of my J-fashion journey, but I never really explored it due to lolita taking up all my time and money. Then several years ago, my friend gave me a Liz Lisa magazine with the My Melody tote bag which reignited my admiration for the style. I don't think I am fully gyaru in that I'm not extroverted or really sexy (but I wish I were, I am an Aries after all lol). But I absolutely love that flashy mentality that reflects American confidence and emphasis on uniqueness, and of course the fact that I can be my tan-skinned Southeast Asian self without looking out of place as I would as a gothic or lolita. Also because of my background and where I live, I adore the big curly bleached hair and learning how to apply the makeup and just having the option to wear short skirts/shorts and jeans and sneakers and sandals if I want. All of that appeals to me so much and if I weren't so introverted and sedentary and old, I would fully immerse myself into the gyaru life and go out every weekend and dance and picnic at the beach and do purikura or karaoke, all that gyaru stuff, except now no one can do any of that because of the pandemic.
Hence my swift transition into himekaji, which I learned about from Emii-chan's blog. Himekaji more fully combined my love of the gyaru flashiness into something more understated and less intense, cuter but still eye-catching and princessy. I was all about old-school Liz Lisa clothing and shoes and purses and built up a secondary summer wardrobe for when I didn't want to suffocate in layers of lolita. I felt it was just the right combination of lolita extravagance and gyaru freedom while being its own Sanrio-endorsed adorableness. Then, as one might already know, Liz Lisa, the former himekaji brand for gyarus, gradually turned into its own substyle, which I feel falls more under the umbrella of Larme-kei, or girlish style, or Shibuya style. It looks way more normcore and trendy; less of the versatile uniqueness that I liked, more of the seasonal fast fashion constant buying that I dislike. (To be fair, lolita and gyaru are also seasonal, but they make way less of each piece, so it's slightly higher quality and holds together longer and certainly not as much of a waste of resources or polluting the environment compared to Forever 21).
This is my current state in Japanese street fashion. Of course, I want to keep wearing the dresses and stuff I've already bought. Not just because of nostalgia or wanting to be a rebel against whatever women have to wear nowadays in our not-fun society, but because I genuinely think it looks good on my body shape and I enjoy wearing it with my friends and having fun (at least before the pandemic struck.) But I feel trying to keep up with trends and seasons is a killer on my bank account and closet space. I want to buy second-hand or DIY and support independent artists more. I want to expand my style and aesthetic to include historic/vintage or fantasy costuming for the ultimate self-indulgence, while avoiding getting/sewing stuff that just takes up space. I want to edit my wardrobe into 100% of things I want to wear more than once and will fit me well and make me look amazing. In the end, isn't that what we all want?
My goals for now is to cut back on lolita and gyaru expenditures until I wear all of my dresses out at least once. I have about 7 lolita dresses I've never even worn indoors and one I need to fix a broken zipper, and a few himekaji items that also need to be worn more. Once I've worn the non-worn items to my satisfaction, then I can buy more. At the same time, I need to sell/donate stuff that doesn't fit or which I won't wear again. Until I get rid of 4 more items from my house (already sold a pair of pants, which was the 5th item), I will ban myself from buying new stuff unless I know I can't get it secondhand. Giving myself until the end of summer to accomplish this!
Anyway, that's the story of my evolution into Japanese fashion. I won't completely leave it, but I won't keep an eye on it as much as I used to. I want to edit my style to be completely and uniquely mine, and so I will be incorporating other non-lolita elements into it, like historic costuming and couture art pieces and well, Jojo.
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