ON Sept 23, the JCB Hall in Suidobashi, Tokyo, was packed, mostly with women wearing clothes that were clearly out of the ordinary. Some were wearing skirts that flared wide from their hips, seemingly inflated by hidden devices called panniers. There were also those in frilly blouses and maid-like head accessories held in place by ribbons tied under their chins. Many wore platform shoes and dramatic hair arrangements to complete their look.
They gathered in the hall because of Individual Fashion Expo.IV, an event showcasing the latest autumn and winter collections of 23 designers and brands known for their Gothic, Lolita, punk or Gosu-rori (Gothic Lolita) fashion.
The show started with the designs of Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. Sitting in a swing that hung from the ceiling, the models showed fluffy Lolita dresses in snowy white and candy pink.
Then, with the sound of thumping music in the background, Alice and the Pirates’ outfits made a sharp contrast to that girlish collection; it had an edgier look in black, white and gold.
Next was the dreamy, even toy-like, Lolita collection of Angelic Pretty. Clad entirely in pink, each model appeared onstage holding a bouquet, a flower basket, a stuffed animal or an umbrella to enhance her girlish image.
The event went on to present the works of 20 more brand names along with live performances by three visual-kei rock artistes or groups (they are known for their flamboyant looks), Kanon Wakeshima, Jealkb and Plastic Tree. Although punk and visual-kei rock fashion was also featured in the three-hour event, it was the Lolita flavour that seemed particularly strong throughout.
Women in the audience, dressed in similar Lolita looks, either waved at the models or stared at them.
“We launched the annual event in 2005 as a way to provide a place for fashion-minded people to get together in their favourite style and enjoy a show,” said Hiroshi Moriyama, an official of Marui Group Co, which organised the event. “We have been expanding the scale of the event with the rising popularity in Lolita items, in particular.”
Moriyama said he feels Lolita and Gosu-rori fashion now ranks alongside anime as one of Japan’s important cultural exports.
“I feel that way because of the strong foreign reaction to our English mail-order service and increasing foreign visitors, especially from Europe and the US west coast, to our store that deals with such brands,” he said.
According to Yusuke Tajima, editor-in-chief of Kera fashion magazine, which has a readership of about 120,000 among Lolita and Gosu-rori lovers, Gothic fashion, which enjoyed a worldwide boom about 10 years ago, was blended with Lolita tastes in Japan, bringing about Gosu-rori fashion.
Meanwhile, he said, the Gothic look was getting mixed with cyber fashion in Europe and punk fashion in North America.
“Lolita itself started to grow in Japan back in the 1980s. With the birth of the Gosu-rori category, Lolita attracted further attention, not only as a genre of fashion but also as a lifestyle,” Tajima said, citing Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty as representative of Lolita brands.
“Gosu-rori fashion with a taste of kawaii (cuteness) must have shocked people in the West as it is clearly different from (earlier) Gothic fashion with its dark flavour,” Tajima said.
Moriyama added that Lolita fashion’s popularity is due to its pursuit of a narrowly focused taste, complete with great attention to detail, which goes against the grain of a time when fashion is generally becoming more and more casual.
“What we design is not moderately kawaii or sweet but extremely kawaii or sweet Lolita fashion with the brand’s colour - pink,” Angelic Pretty designer Asuka told The Daily Yomiuri. “Many of our customers like to co-ordinate with Angelic Pretty items from head to toe.”
Angelic Pretty opened its store last month at the Marui department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, that is dedicated to Gothic, Lolita and other related fashion brands.
On the opening day alone, the brand rang up sales of 3.5mil yen (about RM119,000). The average for such an occasion is less than 1mil yen (about RM34,000), according to Moriyama.
Asuka, an avid Lolita fashionista herself, said she feels that showing their clothes at the Japan Expo in Paris for two consecutive years has made Lolita fashion more popular in France, too. “We had a lot of Lolita women visitors. We have also been getting great support from US fans,” she said.
To cater to foreign customers, Angelic Pretty launched an English-language mail-order service earlier this year. In November, the brand will also hold a two-day event in San Francisco to entertain customers there with a tea party and fashion show.
Asuka stressed that Lolita fashion originated in Japan. “It is something you cannot find in other countries. I think that is why Lolita is increasing its fan base not only in Japan but also abroad,” she said.
“People in Japan used to look at foreign fashion magazines in the 1980s to learn from them even though they could not read them,” Tajima said. “But now European and American Lolita fans buy clothes after checking our magazine despite being unable to understand Japanese.” - The Daily Yomiuri / Asia News Network
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