Walking the streets of Tokyo for a day of shopping it wouldn't be unusual to see a young lady in a fitted, high collard dress complete with petticoats, wearing hat and gloves and carrying a parasol. She isn't in costume and she isn't playing a prank. She's wearing lolita fashion.
A Japanese street fashion born in Harajuku, Tokyo in the 1980s, lolita combines Victorian and French Rococo style with a modern touch to create a look that requires bloomers and petticoats and welcomes the long ago discarded accessories such as hat and gloves that at one time no woman would have left the house without.
This widely popular trend has found it's way to many parts of the world including the US. Here the fringe fashion, often confused as cosplay is sure to raise some eyebrows and if for no other reason, certainly for the title itself.
Named from the dark and controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov, lolita often brings to mind sexual connotations. Though many lolita followers are not even aware of the name's source and serious devotes of the trend protest it has anything to do with the image the fashion intends to display, some online shops selling lolita fashion seem to confirm rather than debunk the name's accuracy.
Outlandish high-heeled platform shoes and outfits reminiscent of a burlesque dancer seem well in line with the loose-girl image the name lolita conjures in so many people's mind. Here in the US where lolita fashion is often seen as a costume, girls dress in outfits often attuned to maids or nurses uniform, tailored for a sexy look and cheap, too-short dresses, overly high heels and bunny ears.
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