How did you discover lolita fashion? How did you get into lolita fashion?
The fucking G-LOL set on Gaia made me look into it. I didn't get into lolita for years though. I got exposed to it more after picking up cosplaying and being in that scene.
I used to do pixel art way back when, and there was a girl (liveloveburndie) who did a lot of lolita pixels. I admired her work and had no idea what lolita was and looked into it from there.
>>8729667
I discovered it in middle school online and I spent hours on Milanoo's site. But my parents were divorcing, so I put it on the back burner.
Once I moved cross country, I went to a convention and saw that there was a lolita panel, and I attended. A year after attending that panel, I purchased my first coord. And I'm apart of that comm now.
First exposed through Mana cosplay during highschool and browsing cosmates, but didn't get into it until I met some lolitas at college several years later.
I was an angsty goth teenager and lolita was getting some early coverage in goth media.
I stumbled upon Princess Peachies channel. Funny thing is I now hate OTT sweet (Peachie is still a doll tho)
>>8729667
I was in to goth fashion (specifically Victorian and romatic goth), searching for clothes on eBay lead to the GLB and it was off from there.
T b h it was through 4chan. I was exploring different boards and found cgl.
Browsing the manga section at Borders I found the first English Gothic and Lolita Bible. I was hooked and carried it everywhere until it started falling apart. Luckily I had a job and bought my first dress from Meta a few months later.
Sadly, I have to admit - Tumblr. Someone I followed reblogged something lolita related, I thought it was adorable and a good way to meet people, and here I am now.
Yugi-Oh yaoi fanart.
>>8729691
holy fuck anon
Misa from Death Note, way back before there was even talk of an anime. I loved her style, found that people were calling it "gothic lolita", and googled that term. I ended up liking what I found even more. Now I mostly wear classic and sweet. Funny how things can go.
>>8729691
Story time!
I came across some cute little drawings of the different substyles while randomly browsing DeviantArt and there was a link to the lolita handbook on LJ in the description. I clicked through out of curiosity, read the entire thing in one sitting and fell in love immediately.
>>8729706
Misa got me into lolita too. Though it seems I got into it much later than you did.
i dont even remember what sites i crawled around back in the day...
but i guess i probably ended up googling 'japanese fashion' at some point.
i was really into decora at first. then found lolita which was more striking and beautiful to me.
A friend introduced me into lolita around 2006. She showed me sites like fanplusfriend, bodyline and Btssb and I thought the fashion looked costumey and weird and wasn't interested in giving it anymore research.
A few years later around 2008 I discovered zemotion on deviantart and I fell in love with the Mary Magdalene and Moitie outfit shots. The mature classic and gothic lolita style were more to my taste and that's were I actually gained interest and bought my first pieces shortly afterwards.
>>8729729
I guess I'm kind of an oldfag. I never really watched the anime but do remember seeing some caps of that scene where she's wearing a pink Milanoo disaster and freaking the fuck out.
In 2006 there was a manga I was very much interested in a nd read called Bizenghast (if anyone remembers it) and the main charater was wearing Gothic Lolita (though I had no idea what it was, i just called it Victorian-esque fashion). Then I looked it up on Wiki and it said like Lolita fashion and it was hyperlinked so I did series of clicking and reading upon it).
So then around September of this year I want to do something for Halloween, and I thought to do some sort of badass feminine look like Military Lolita. So I made my shitty dress/vest set held at the last minute by hot glue. It worked and gave me a lot of confidence.
Sadly due to school and being an adult i didn't get my first dress until about February of this year. And I've been building and improving my coords since
Vampire Knight. I liked the ending song by Kanon Wakeshima and looked her up. I saw people talkimg about her wearing lolita fashion so I googled it and that was it.
>>8729667
the year was 2002.
i was introduced to visual kei by my girlfriend, who was introduced to it via fanfic communities on LiveJournal.
i attempted my first EGA coord in 2003, then took a break till 2015. being on 4chan and /cgl/ inspired me to return.
>>8729691
I thought I was alone, with me was Beyblade yaoi fanart
Honestly, BJDs was what got me into it. I started to buy BTSSB dresses for my Volks, and it sold me on the quality a BJD friend had been telling me out. It wasn't until I pulled back from the dolls did I start looking into Lolita for myself. In the end, Lolita still feels more affordable than the BJD.
![f38[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Sl0Veee.jpg "f38[1].jpg")
>>8729875
>>8729667
I was a young weeb so my exposure was mostly by ita-tastic shoujo manga. Then I moved to Belgium and saw an asian lolita, and thought fuck it and bought my first dress. It was sweet, borderline fairy-kei pastel puke. Now I only wear IW.
The Americas Next Top Model episode where they go to Japan and have to get together a "babydoll" outfit. I saw it in what must have been my elementary or middle school years. I've always kind of remembered it, and once I got into my weeb highschool years, I started searching trying to find out more about it, and that's how I found it again, and started.
Shojo Beat, probably when Btssb had ads for their San Fran store opening. I still have the entire run of that magazine and I love to look back at the old Baby ads. Took me several years to actually start wearing the fashion, but Shojo Beat was what started the interest.
I went to high school with a daily lolita. Never spoke to her and never knew her name, I just admired her from afar. That was when old school wasn't old school so I can't judge now if her coords were good or not from my memory, but I remember wanting to be like her.
>>8729923
Shojo Beat here too. There was an ad for Candy Violet and I visited the site, saw the prices and noped out of there for the rest of my high school years. Came back to lolita after making a friend in college who was into it.
>>8729677
I know her! I made KiSS dolls (kisekae set system-it was like computer paper dolls) back when she did. Jennifer was one of my good friends back then. We used to still talk on Poupeegirl up until it closed (I poupee sat for her a few times-she had a godtier wardrobe on there!). Anyway, she introduced me to lolita and I developed a huge love for Meta's velveteen from her.
That's cool that we got into it from the same girl. I think a lot of people into pixel art learned about lolita from her. I know all of us KiSS artists did.
Found out about lolita in 2003. I used to follow a lot of j-fashion scan communities to look through FRUITS scans etc. Saw some girls wearing it there and fell in love. Then I'd just look for catalogue scans and fawn over them. I bought a lolita skirt from a Western seamtress in 2006 and that was it for then.
I returned to lolita again in 2010 when I decided to browse through EGL to see where things were at and just decided to really go for it because I finally had the means to do it.
It's been an enduring love for me.
>>8729937
I was so happy when Cute Salad had a sale on their kimono hoodies for half off a few years ago. It's so weeby and ridiculous and nothing I could ever coord but I love mine.
I was fascinated by the frilly clothes Sakura (CCS) and the characters from God Child wore, then in 2004 I discovered Malice Mizer and lolita became an obsession.
I've been ita gulls, so ita. I've worn unwearable crap and called it lolita, genuinely thinking I looked like an autenthic "gosurori"
Now, more than ten years after, I'm finally starting to build my real lolita wardrobe. About damn time!
Stumbled on the Beast of Blood by Malice Mizer PV that was on someone's Gaia Online profile. Thought Mana was beautiful, saw his lolita outfits and Moitie and have been obsessed since 2006.
>>8729942
Wow! That takes me back, I also made kiss dolls, was somewhat friends with Jennifer, and got into lolita through pixel dolls.
It's always such a delight to find someone who has heard of kiss dolls let alone made them way back when! Thank you annon. I'm kinda said that they don't really exist anymore as a thing.
It is fucking stupid, but one of my weeb friends told me and I quote
>YOU WOULD BE SUCH A CUTE GOTHIC LOLITA MODEL!!! YOU ARE SO KAWAII
So I looked it up, sometime around 2009, fell in love with sugary carnival and sweet lolita. I read some form from the UK religiously until I found livejurnal. I don't even know what form it was anymore, but it was my jam. I would read livejurnal every single day for hours, until I reached the beginning.
started wearing lolita myself in 2010.
My dream dress was from fan plus friend, until I saw midsummer nights dream and my heart was stolen again. I cried when it came out because I was un-employed at the time and could not justify dipping into my savings.
I went to my first meetup in a dress my mom bought me from macys, those pay less flats everyone had, a bodyline underskirt, and a homemade blouse. I thought that pin-tucks were separate pieces of fabric, and made it out of a thick table cloth like fabric. because thickness was quality!!! yeah.
I got sugary carnival on the re-release and still wear the hell out of it. I got midsummers when it was re-released too, the 2nd time, but in navy. I don't think I will ever find the ivory when I happen to have the funds.
My third dream dress was Silent Moon. I saw it at a meetup in 2013. All of the pictures of me from that meetup I am staring at that jsk. I finally won a Silent Moon OP from yjapan this year. I have run out of dream dresses, it feels a bit empty.
And Amber, if by some spring of luck you see this, thank you girl. Lolita has brought me more friends and experiences then I have ever hoped for. I hope you are doing well.
When I was a young weeb I think I took a vague interest in it. Didn't really know there was a community in the west outside of people who dressed up at cons, thought shit like Misa from death note was gothic lolita, admired black and white lace monsters and thought they were supa supa kawaii. Didn't really do much beyond admire it though it wasn't until maybe 2010 or 2011 I discovered cgl from being into cosplay. On here is where I got really exposed to lolita as opposed to just seeing it in passing and admiring it. At first I again mostly just admired from afar but I ended up spending a lot of time lurking lolita threads trying to learn stuff and absorb information, sometime in 2012 is when I started buying pieces but I didn't start wearing coordinates out until earlier this year.
I used to spend hours playing around on the internet in elementary school, and I discovered the dress up games on roiworld in 3rd grade. One of my favorites was the lolita dress up and I printed out screenshots of the dolls I made to save them forever, lol. I didn't actually start wearing lolita until tenth grade after one of my friends ordered a bunch of lolita things from ebay. It was out of my price range at the time, and my parents wouldn't let me order off the internet. So I learned to make my own dresses, but classic instead of gothic lolita.
Here's a link to the game, hosted on a different website now:
http://www.sheeparcade.com/dress-up-doll-3/
I discovered lolita during my livejournal days. Some stupid drama that I don't even remember ended up on stupid_free. I was already into western goth and historical costuming, when I found EGA and gothic lolita there was no turning back.
>>8730387
Yesss it was Beast of Blood that made me fall for lolita especially. I still want a dress like his BoB one but it seems oddly difficult to find.
It's something I've always been aware of, but never took part in myself until recently
>Friends want to wear Lolita to Sakura Matsuri, want me to as well
>The dresses they were showing interest in were almost Milanoo tier
>Try to steer them in a better direction because at the time I didn't think I could wear lolita (too fat and not enough time to put together a decent coord)
>Get complaints that the stuff I'm showing them is too expensive (it wasn't even brand)
>Give up and let them do whatever
>Continue lurking /cgl/ after the fact and get inspired to lose weight so shit that fits is more accessible
Since then I'm down almost 50lbs and wore my first coord out on my birthday recently.
I'm not even sure how I found out, but it was back in 2004/2005 through magazines and anime like Le portrait de petit Cossette, and being obsessed with VKei.
I never thought I'd actually wear it until 2011, when I found Milanoo while looking up references for a drawing, thankfully someone told me it was a scam before I could order anything. I started browsing egl and seriously trying to find out where to get the clothes in early to mid 2012, and bought my first piece in 2013. It's been a long ride.
>me, 15
>mum watching film on tv
>"anon you should watch this, it's really funny!"
>Kamikaze Girls on Film4
>See Momoko wearing Lolita
>Only seen "Lolita" in anime before that
>See Elizabeth OP
>decide in my head right then that if this is a real thing that I want to wear it
>find Baby's website
>real as shit.jpg
>still wearing 6 years later
If she hadn't brought my attention to the film I probably would never have looked for it, I used to think it was just a thing in anime.
>>8730955
>BoB
>mfw Malice Mizer was a fan of Twin Peaks and the entire music video is a tribute to the Red Room
>mfw Killer BOB may even be alluded to in the title of the song
>mfw Mana will probably be watching the grand return of Twin Peaks come spring
>mfw imagining a Moitie line inspired by TP
>2011
>searching in vain for pics of my cosplay after Anime North
>google directs me to the relevant cgl thread
>immediately hooked, stick around for cosplay stuff
>gradually infected by the lolita side of the board, make giant wishlist, buy my first piece around mid-2013
>never looked back
I legitimately can't remember. I just remember obsessively browsing In the Starlight in 2005-2006 and going from there.
Can't remember when I learned about lolita. It's all kind of a blur to me. All I just know I learned it through old school anime most likely. It's weird knowing it just entered my mind and I can't even recollect it.
I knew quite a bit about it too, far more than the standard weeb. I actually recall looking at ancient English Meta back in the day. I nearly bought something then too, despite not being super into that brand. Kind of wish I did so I could brag about having oldschool Meta before even knowing what I was trying to do.
>How did you discover lolita fashion?
Back in 2007-2008 my boyfriend at the time linked me to some old snaps from the GLB to ask what I thought. I was very much on the mallgoth rather than Victorian goth side of things at the time due to budget and lolita was way out of my price range. I was way more into looking sexy than cute, and the awkward doll aesthetic wasn't really my thing. I started looking at Kera and GLB for the gothic and punk stuff and then had more and more exposure to the OTT sweet trend and the more modern looking lolita stuff.
>How did you get into lolita fashion?
My style changed to being more girly, I started sewing and one of my friends was kinda getting into it through anime. So I made myself a skirt and then got a proper lolita outfit back when bodyline had one of their free shipping over $100 promos. I actually didn't get stuff that was too bad, but my coord skills were pretty horrific for the first 2, probably 3 years
I believe I first discovered lolita fashion in mid to late 2007. I was very much into decora at the time and visual/oshare kei, so I was wearing that kind of thing first. Gaiaonline fashion boards and guilds were more active at the time, especially with jfashion. By chance I stumbled across pictures and basic info about lolita fashion. I started looking at more pictures of dresses from baby and AP and decided that I loved it. However, with no job and no money, I wasn't able to start buying and wearing it until late 2013/early 2014 when I finally got a steady job. As you guessed it, my first coord was all bodyline. I still have that same bodyline jsk too.
Animerica's mini mag had featured Kamikaze Girls. I wish I could remember the year I discovered it and still had the magazine (I still have the hard cover copy from Waldenbooks, thankfully).
>>8729687
Woah, that reminds me. I remember going to Borders when it was on its last few weeks of its closing sale and I was reluctant to get an English GLB (the wedding issue) because they weren't in the best condition, but by the time I decided to get it, someone had already bought it, and I still wonder to this day who bought the copy and if they live in my area.
When I was in middle school around 2003 or so, a friend of mine was really into Visual Kei and J-Rock and I started getting into it too. She had a bunch of magazines and stuff. I remember discovering Malice Mizer and loving Mana's clothes. I was also on Gaia Online and there were lolita-like outfits for your avatar on there. I don't remember the exact moment I put two and two together though. In 2007, I went to Japan and really wanted to buy lolita, but as a bustier gal, I never thought it'd fit me. Didn't know about shirring til later. Finally started wearing it in 2009 though.
I found out about lolita searching about japanese fashion, thanks to anime. I was a big tomboy and i never dared to buy a dress or skirt, i hated them when i was younger and i never thought i could fit them. Later in 2008-2010 i discovered visual kei (i knew about Gackt since 2006 but never got into until few years later) with Gackt, later Kaya and Schwarz Stein, Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois, i loved more the jgoth style rather the western goth fashion style, at that time i only dressed mallgoth with Hell Bunny, Emily the Strange, rarely a miniskirt, finally i was getting a bit more feminine and loving to wear lolita, but due to no job and money, i still delayed getting into lolita. In 2010 i met an amazing friend that was like my sister, she loved visual kei, Gackt and i took her into Malice Mizer and M10M, also into knowledge of lolita fashion. We were really into some gothic/lolita lifestyle, but she was in high school (almost 18) and me in college, her mom never allowed her any disposable money even for a t-shirt and due to her mom's controlling behaviour and her being like a puppet in her hands, we split and we never realized our dream of being into gothic lolita together with Moi-Meme-Moitie dresses. I still have amazing memories despite the issues. In 2011-2012 i got into "lolita" , i bought my first items from taobao (Dear Celine black coat and a ita skirt from Boguta, i have both but the skirt is cute in non lolita outfits), later other items one was a replica of a putumayo jsk, another offbrand lolita skirt and a bodyline one. I coordinated everything pretty ita with random tees and converse, kek.
Later in 2013 i bought my first burando items: AP 2010 lucky pack salopette (Lyrical Party) with the bag and cutsew, socks were missing, from a yahoo auction. I still have everything, they are so cute and confy even if not lolita, more otome. Later in 2014 i started to be into true lolita instead to otome or ita.
Around 1998 or 1999 from a TV show called Wild On! that came on the E! channel. They had a episode in Japan, and one of the segments was about Harajuku. There were girls standing around in the background wearing lolita and I thought they were just the cutest dresses. Did a search on doll dresses at the time, but only pictures from a Calvin Klein doll dress fashion show came up, and the show didn't say what those dresses were.
Cue around a year later I was looking up photos of sailor fuku, and stumbled on scans on Gothic and Lolita Bible and was happily surprised to see those dresses from years before again. And finally I had found out what the name of those dresses were.
But I didn't finally have money to buy my first lolita piece until 2007.
>>8729672
Same anon. I feel kinda embarrassed about finding out about it via the G-LOL set. I was obsessed with it when i first saw it.
>>8729667
My friend bought an alice border print skirt and some black platform bow style shoes from bodyline when we were about 14 or 15. Always admired the style from then on but too scared to try. Fast forward to 21 and my friend is hosting a lolita meet, see my chance. Not stopped buying or wearing since. I just needed an excuse to start .
>>8729851
Yo, anon me too!
>>8729667
I got addicted thanks to the English GLB that Tokyo Pop had running at the time.
I acutally won a AaTP postcard from them
While browsing /s/ for research material
Mari from Shaman King, and then I actually found the brands and community and stuff when I found a copy of Kamikaze Girls at a book store. That was in middle school, and I bought GLBs in high school when they came out in English, but didn't start lolita until college and now I have the dream wardrobe of my 13 year old self.
>>8731762
Is there a link of that episode on YT?
My emo phase started in 2003, which lead me to all that wonderfully neo-victorian goth stuff in 2005, an obsession with cute lingerie and victoriany burlesque costumes. I kept buying frilly panties until I was 20 and boyfriendless just because I liked pretty lace (especially ladder lace) even if no one was that interested in who was in them. There was this girl at school (goth at the time) who always bowled me over on own-clothes days. Then it seemed the lines between western victorigoth and EGA were pretty blurry, same with emo/scene and vkei/oshare kei. I've still not quite left that phase because my heart aches for tartan punk lolita and tacky armwarmers. I feel really conflicted tight now because the style is so far removed from what I remember and the emphasis expensive looking elegance or the most stuff on your head rather than ruffled baddassey. Meido-looking lolita isn't in style anymore but I like to pull out my shitty first dresses in between chiffon and attempting to look vaguely ladylike.
>>8733282
Not any that I can find. Most episodes of this show are MIA I guess because it's an older show. I've been trying off and on for a few years to find it and haven't been able to.
Back in 2002 there was this Japanese pop culture exhibit at a local art museum. I went with my anime club. There was a room full of manga and other books. Flip through a FRUiTs book.
>Keep seeing lolitas at conventions.
>Old school never really interested me.
>Be fat. Be poor. Spend all extra spending money on cosplay.
>Screen Prints become a thing. Interest a little more piqued. See Pastel ala Mode.
>Don't want to be the token fat girl in a cake dress.
>Move out of parent's house finally. Move in with boyfriend into small apartment.
>Lose weight, get better job.
>All my old costumes are too big. No room or time to make new ones.
>Feel out of place wearing normie clothes at cons.
There was a flea market / swap meet sort of event at one con I went to. Overheard someone selling a lavender cat dress in my size with shoes for $70. Go over there, and she sells it to me for $50. It's a replica... but I didn't care at the time.
>be Bodyline and replicachan.
>Start buying brand.
>Evil filthy print hoarder.
>Likes old school now. Wants more of it.
Sometime around 2008 I was on Gaia and clicked on a thread about Poupeegirl. From there I found a Mary Magdalene dress that someone had uploaded, and eventually I found the egl comm on LJ.
I went to Japan the following summer and bought a bunch of dresses at Closet Child.
oh goodness I am going to go with Mana back in 2003-ish like late 2003 early 2004. Goodness it was so long ago. But I didn't get interested in possibly wearing it until the English translation of Kamikaze Girls came out so 2005ish. Didn't do my first coord until 2009 or 2010.
>>8729680
This is me too. I used to frequent this gothic head shop, and some of the clothing was oddly frilly, like a cuter Wednesday Addams. I bought a couple (that have since trashed), and then spiraled. But it definitely started with goth.
>>8733374
I suppose yes, usually older shows are hard to find before the streaming/video sharing sites era. Unless someone has VHS of that show recorded and they upload it somewhere...
I'm a sucker for 90s lolita material, i always love to see how the fashion was different compared to the 2000s and forth.
>>8729680
I remember when i was 17-18 i believed the ita crap from western goth shops was the "western" lolita while the stuff i saw on Bodyline or burando was the "japanese original" lolita, kek. I was so naive.
I have been into dolls for many years. When I got really serious into them, I found the better looking things belonged to the lolita fashion. When going to burando's site to see more special releases for BJDs, I discivered that it was a thing that actual people can wear, and I wanted to wear it too. It took years for me to actually start wearing it, though.
I just play that damm game and I discover Fairy kei and Lolita world.
>mfw I'm going to buy the new game
When I was in high school there was a girl a couple years older than me that would dress in gothic, I didn't think she'd want to talk to me but it turned out she was a friend of a friend so eventually our paths crossed. We had a couple classes together during her senior year and she got me into vkei music. She was seriously one of the coolest people I've met and everyone at the school liked her.
On the other hand, there was another chick in the same grade as her that basically fit every stereotype of fat, furry, 2005-era gothic weeaboo. She had some milanoo-looking dresses, never saw her wear them at school but saw photos online. It was pretty frightening stuff.
I can't really remember exactly how i found out about it. I remember in middle school drooling over "lolita" pictures with my sister and us thinking that some hot topic dresses were lolita. We also always wanted to cosplay characters like Chi or Misa that we thought were lolita. I also remember my sister telling me about having a friend who wore a lolita dress to school but got told to change out of it because her petticoat was showing and they counted it as underwear. I really wonder what kind of outfit that girl was really wearing. I wonder if she's still into lolita now and has improved. I just kind of admired lolita from afar and didn't really try buying or wearing it until 2 years ago when i was 16 and actually had some money from a job and I bought some lolita dress from a Milanoo reseller or whatever. I remember i wanted to wear it to prom. Thankfully my boyfriend suggested that I go on cgl and ask about finding accessories and i quickly learned that i was going to look like an ita mess and opted for a real prom dress instead. I've been browsing cgl ever since and almost a year ago i bought my first real lolita dress and now i have a good start for a lolita wardrobe!
Crossboarding ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
>>8735574
I'm super butthurt about it not being released in the united states...
There's nothing they need to do other than convert the pound sign to a dollar sign AND IT WOULD BE JUST FINE
>>8729687
I think I picked up the wedding issue from Borders, and it was all downhill from there.
>>8736091
I don't know if you meant to reply to that post, anon, but do don't happen to live in Illinois do you?
>>8736212
No, I live in Texas. Why?
I had a boyfriend who was into jrock and Malice Mizer. My idea of "lolita" was fucked for years before I found out that the style had changed drastically from where it started in the late 90s.
Thankfully, most of the photos were lost in a harddrive crash in 2004.
I was a romantic goth teen who went to Japan on an orchestra school trip and stumbled onto an issue of Kera.
>>8738762
>most of
way to pique our curiosity anon.
>>8738792
The only ones I have left aren't of me, but of him. I found them on an old photobucket account last year and couldn't bring myself to delete them.
That said, I'm not so cruel as to share photos of someone else.
>>8738799
you are ethical and compassionate, anon. never change.
>>8738760
Darn. It would have been nice to find that person.
