What Does Lolita Fashion Mean to You? A Collection of Quotes from Around the Web.

For Myself

For me the meaning behind lolita fashion is the ability to express myself however I want and participate in a community of like minded people who love the same things that I do. It’s a great way to experience life and adds a touch of whimsy and escapism that a lot of people seem to lack in their adult lives. I have finally settled in with a 9-5 job in my early 20s and I love everything about the stability it brings. However it can sometimes be hard to romanticize such a mundane life. For me lolita fashion allows me to continue to live out my dreams of being a long lost princess I had as a little girl all grown up. It also allows me to connect with other members of the community in a really fun way.

For Others

I collected some statements from around the web and got a direct quote answering the above question

“♥What is Lolita?♥
Lolita is a very hard style to define, but in my opinion what really defines it is it’s childlike innocence and old-fashioned elegance. It’s distinctive style is most obviously from the Victorian and Rococo eras, but you will see a lot of influence from the Edwardian period and even some 40s and 50s American clothing styles – any time period in which fashion was elegant and beautiful. The bell-shaped skirt provides the typical silhouette, but it is neither what makes something lolita nor is it required of all lolitas. There is no one item of clothing or a color or trim that embodies all that is lolita – it is a unique aesthetic that’s hard to perfect. To some there’s a lifestyle attached – not only wearing the clothes as often as possible but also taking part in lolita activities and following a certain code of etiquette – but to others it is merely a clothing style. Lolita can be an escape from the mundane, or an attempt to return to a more innocent time in life. It’s something a little bit different to everyone, but what lolitas have in common is a shared desire to wear really awesome clothes.” – Lolita Fashion Handbook, 2006

https://lolita-handbook.livejournal.com/3431.html

« Lolita fashion for me is the ability to be the real me. When I am wearing full OTT sweet I feel like this is my true form. I am 39 now and I hope I keep this feel for many more years. » FluffyKawaiiJo – 2021 Email Correspondence

“I am quite a colorful person. I have a wide range of interests and various ways that I express myself. Lolita Fashion has been a part of my identity for quite some time, but I have not thought about how integral lolita fashion is in my life until now! To say lolita fashion is just an aspect of my life would be a bit of an understatement. Lolita fashion is a huge part of my life. Much of my spare time involves lolita fashion in some capacity. In addition to this blog and my YouTube channel, many of my other activities center around lolita. I draw it, dress my dolls in it, and create my own jewelry and charm pieces to compliment my wardrobe. When I have a few free minutes, I often check on the latest items being sold on ClosetChild, LaceMarket and brand name online Lolita shops. My most used smartphone application in addition to Twitter and YouTube is Amino, as I am very involved with multiple lolita groups there!” MagicalGirlMe – 2017

http://www.magicalgirlme.com/lolita-fashion-blog/lolita-fashion-as-part-of-my-identity

Being a lolita or wearing ouji, is it part of your identity?
“Yeah, it really can be. I found that there are some people in my community who are genderfluid as well… They are dressing how they identify, and some people even may identify as male, but they dress in the feminine style of lolita. We all accept them no matter what. We’re all a family, we’re all here to help each other out. We’re not here to bitch at each other and brag to each other, we’re here as friends.

I lived in Burlington, Ontario from when I was like one to when I was 18. When I moved out of my parents’ place, I said like, “Screw it, you guys aren’t respecting who I am and how I want to present myself.” So I went over to Toronto, and I’ve been here for like a year and a bit… It’s been the most thrilling experience to be here. You get to be a part of different communities, and you find your family in Toronto. That’s the best part.” – Alex, Vice Interview 2017

https://www.vice.com/en/article/kbjxnv/what-its-like-to-find-belonging-in-the-lolita-community

Cassie Dai: “I first got into Lolita fashion around eighth and ninth grade. Although I’ve been exposed to the culture when I was in China, I didn’t look into it. What made it my passion now is because two large Lolita fashion companies, Angelic Pretty and BABY, the Stars Shine Bright all have stores in San Francisco. There are other Angelic Pretty stores in America, but the San Francisco BABY is the only one that is still open. So every time I went to Japantown in San Francisco, I had more contact with the culture and eventually fell in love with it.

Lolita culture is a subculture that originated in Japan around the 70s. I really enjoy getting to know other cultures, mainly the subcultures because I’m not a huge fan of mainstream pop culture. It is also a way for me to cope with Bipolar Disorder. If I’m depressed, I can dress myself up and treat myself well. It makes me feel better about myself.” Cassie Dai. 2020 The Wildcat Tribune

https://hsnews.org/lolita-fashion-is-a-way-for-me-to-celebrate-my-uniqueness-and-cope-with-my-emotions/

“For me, lolita is about the culture. The friends you can make who you would never have met. This fashion acts as an ice-breaker, a common interest to tie together complete strangers. I will cherish forever the relationships I’ve made because of lolita” – Vanilla Bear, 2016

http://itsvanillabear.blogspot.com/2016/08/lolita-blog-carnival-what-keeps-you-in.html

“Lolita fashion is a youth street style originating from Japan that draws on Victorian-era children’s clothing, Rococo aesthetics, and Western Punk and Gothic subculture. It is worn by teenage girls and women of a wide range of ages, and through the flow of related media and clothing aided by the Internet, Lolita style has become a global phenomenon. Wearers of the style are known as Lolitas, and local, national, and global communities can be found around the world outside Japan from North American to Europe. This study is a cross-cultural comparison of Lolita fashion wearers in Japan and North America, examining how differences in constructions of place and space; conceptualizations about girlhood and womanhood; perceptions of beauty and aesthetics; and formation of social groups and actor-networks have bearing on how an individual experiences the fashion. This work deconstructs Lolita style by using Japanese cultural concepts like shōjo (‘girl’ as a genderless being), otome (maiden), kawaii (cuteness) to explore the underlying framework that informs Japanese Lolita’s use of the fashion as a form of subversive rebellion, creating personal spaces to celebrate their individuality and revive the affects and memories of girlhood that are distanced from gendered social expectations. English-speakers, not having the same social and cultural knowledge, attempt to recontexualize Lolita fashion along the lines of feminism, sisterhood, personal style, and escape from the ‘modern’ to give meaning and purpose to their involvement with the fashion. Lolita fashion allows wearers to travel in between the lines of becoming-girl and becoming-women by offering a way to access girl-feeling and its associated happiness object” – The abstract of a study by An Nguyen.

Nguyen, An, “Maiden’s Fashion As Eternal Becomings: Victorian Maidens and Sugar Sweet Cuties Donning Japanese Street Fashion in Japan and North America” (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1042.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1042