Why Japanese "Kawaii" lorita fashion is so popularﾂ？

momochi · 30 Jan 2013

I've been wondering this recently.
Why LORITA fashion became popular among those who like japan?

I watched japanese TV program called "you wa nani shini NIPPON he?(Why did you come to Japan?)"and I saw a western girl who was crazy about lorita fashion, she came to japan because she wanted to make friends with japanese "lorita"girls.

Of course, not all western girls like this kind of Japanese fashion, I know that, but I often meet gaikokujin girls who like LORITA fashin and I wonder why.

Do you think western girls like lorita fashion for the same reason as Japanese?

I don't want answers like "Because it's cute" or "I find it adorable ". It's just a personnel taste.

Maybe it because you can not find those closes outside of japan?
You want be one of anime caracter?
or maybe you just want to be different?

What made Lorita fashion so popular among foreigner?
Tell me your opinion

Cymneorith · 30 Jan 2013

I honestly think that foreigners are attracted to the Lolita style because it's different and many people think it's weird, if I'm correct you can only find it in Nihon and it is a very popular trend. It encompasses many different styles ranges, so I would think it could be used as an outlet for creativity especially among foreigners, as they are confronted with something that would probably either be looked down upon or looked at suspiciously in their own country. My overall opinion of the Lolita style is; foreigners can go to Japan and dress in Lolita style along with the many different cosplay options available, and not worry about being criticized and shunned for it.

Xarashin · 7 Feb 2013

Well for one, it's Lolita.
As for my thoughts, I think its so popular because its a freedom of expression. You will receive nothing but ridicule from a majority of people for dressing in such a fashion in the states.
Now I can tell you the obvious reasons why guys would back up this fashion statement, especially those anime-fan boys. But that wouldn't be appropriate to discuss on here

nahadef · 7 Feb 2013

I've heard it's because it's anti-sexual. So much fashion in Japan is based on showing leg, wearing sexy make-up, and showing your figure off. Lolita is against all that, and is in some ways like a burqa. Women get to desexualize themselves. As much as it doesn't turn me on, and I like seeing more 'traditional' women in Japan, I totally get why a woman would want to do something that makes her a person rather than a 'woman'

Mark of Zorro · 12 Feb 2013

I find it morbidly amusing how Japan gets bashed for re-popularizing a form of fashion that rich Victorian* neo-puritan wankers dressed up their kids in. This stuff originated in the west, now Westerners want to wash their hands of it. Why?

Anti-pedo hysteria is big reason why. Its getting so bad that even you look at a kid you can be suspected of being a witch...excuse me...I mean pedo.

So what if you happen to like updated Victorian kid's garb? Well then, in the hysterical Westerner's eyes, you are either a pedo or immature and promoting pedophilia. And those are big fat (and I dare say STUPID) taboos right now. So if you are a Westerner in the west who likes this fashion (and this relates to anime, manga, and whole lot of kawaii) you are freak with connections to child sex abuse, or at least that is what is their hyper-ventilating paranoid sub-conscious mind is telling them. The instictive reaction is to ATTACK, albeit with words and ostracism these days rather than fists.

Frankly its easier to get up and go to a foreign country and learn their customs and language than deal with that type of stupid $#!T.

And some people do get off on doing the counter-culture thing. I am not especially interested in Lolita fashion, but I do enjoy the "stick it in the hysterical westerner's face" campaign it does seem to represent for some.

Some also enjoy the sense of nostalgia. Like I said, this stuff is Western and Victorian. You see it in old pictures and period movies.

*(Victorian era, named after that prude biatc# queen victoria, who had to have a fig leaf put on the Statue of David just for the sake of her sex-negative cun# eyes).

nahadef · 13 Feb 2013

Mark of Zorro said:
I find it morbidly amusing how Japan gets bashed for re-popularizing a form of fashion that rich Victorian* neo-puritan wankers dressed up their kids in. This stuff originated in the west, now Westerners want to wash their hands of it. Why?
Anti-pedo hysteria is big reason why. Its getting so bad that even you look at a kid you can be suspected of being a witch...excuse me...I mean pedo.

I find all of your post absolutely baffling. I'll simply connect that to the points you wrote in the first two parts here.

1. How is Japan being bashed in this thread?

2. What does Lolita fashion have to do with the term lolita as it is understood in the West? They may come from the same book, but the concepts are pretty separated by culture and language. In Japan, it based on a weird Victorian re-imagining, but in the West, it is about sexy 13-year olds. So what does this thread have to do with pedophilia?
Zorro's Rorschach Test, I worry.

Glenski · 14 Feb 2013

Personally, this foreigner finds the whole thing ridiculous and unattractive.

Mark of Zorro · 14 Feb 2013

nahadef said:
I find all of your post absolutely baffling. I'll simply connect that to the points you wrote in the first two parts here.

1. How is Japan being bashed in this thread?

It was a general observation and not a complaint about the thread. Japan gets bashed for this. People who like Japan for kawaii get bashed for this. People who like and wear this get bashed for this. And the bashing is usually by English speakers as far as I know.

2. What does Lolita fashion have to do with the term lolita as it is understood in the West? They may come from the same book, but the concepts are pretty separated by culture and language. In Japan, it based on a weird Victorian re-imagining, but in the West, it is about sexy 13-year olds. So what does this thread have to do with pedophilia?
Zorro's Rorschach Test, I worry.

I am not the one who named the fashion, nor am I the one who read too much into the name. Again, it is an observation of others. And you know perfectly well its not my imagination.

I made the statements to back up and clarify my belief that some westerners embrace the fashion for its counter-culture slap in the face of the current pedo hysteria, although some may do it not for the sake of the message but more for the joy of shadenfreude and/or annoying others. Its pretty much all in my post.

My answer may not be the most common reason for westerners to like this fashion, but I think its significant. You know they get looked at as freaks by some people and its all told in the stares. Yet they persist. The answer of "they endure it because they just like the fashion" seems a little weak. Many people do dress to elicit an effect in others as one of many reasons for their choice.

nahadef · 14 Feb 2013

Still don't get who your rant was against. I haven't seen people bash Japan over this, or connect it to pedophilia. Must be something in your own personal experience that leads you to it.

Michaela D · 28 Feb 2013

nahadef said:
I've heard it's because it's anti-sexual. So much fashion in Japan is based on showing leg, wearing sexy make-up, and showing your figure off. Lolita is against all that, and is in some ways like a burqa. Women get to desexualize themselves. As much as it doesn't turn me on, and I like seeing more 'traditional' women in Japan, I totally get why a woman would want to do something that makes her a person rather than a 'woman'

Hear hear! This kawaii type really not my cup of tea by the way

LolaEliot · 28 Feb 2013

I don't know. But I love its pronounce. ☝

Mark of Zorro · 28 Feb 2013

nahadef said:
Still don't get who your rant was against. I haven't seen people bash Japan over this, or connect it to pedophilia. Must be something in your own personal experience that leads you to it.

Its a popular past-time on the JT news site to connect anything kawaii with pedophilia, particularly lolita fashion and AKB48.

You must be in a happy place to have avoided JT for so long!

I might be guilty of thinking that JT is somewhat fair representation of foreigners in Japan. I could be seriously mistaken in that idea. Its hard to tell.

nahadef · 28 Feb 2013

But Lolita fashion isn't kawaii! It's elaborate and uncomfortable looking. And doesn't look like children. Japanese porn with girls in school uniforms? Yes, worth a discussion of pedophilia. Girls in Victorian costumes? None whatsoever. Let it go.

caster55 · 1 Mar 2013

why? maybe

Mark of Zorro · 1 Mar 2013

Girls in Victorian costumes? None whatsoever. Let it go.

Victorian costumes??? Victorian CHILDREN'S costumes aka LOLITA fashion.

Some people see the connection and that is why this article exists. The Fashion Culturist: Lolita vs. Lolita - Dismissing Sexual Connotations Associated with Japanese Streetwear

Maid to order ? Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Mikanojo's many posts.

Japan's 'Lolita' style: cutesy and disturbing ? Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

GW's post.

I am sure I can find something by smithinjapan if I search more.

But you know what? I am surprised how much trouble I am having finding such posts.

You may have me def. I may be letting a handful of people taint the many. I will have to do some more searches, but I have no more time now.

Wardie1993 · 26 Mar 2013

Mark of Zorro said:
I find it morbidly amusing how Japan gets bashed for re-popularizing a form of fashion that rich Victorian* neo-puritan wankers dressed up their kids in. This stuff originated in the west, now Westerners want to wash their hands of it. Why?

Anti-pedo hysteria is big reason why. Its getting so bad that even you look at a kid you can be suspected of being a witch...excuse me...I mean pedo.

So what if you happen to like updated Victorian kid's garb? Well then, in the hysterical Westerner's eyes, you are either a pedo or immature and promoting pedophilia. And those are big fat (and I dare say STUPID) taboos right now. So if you are a Westerner in the west who likes this fashion (and this relates to anime, manga, and whole lot of kawaii) you are freak with connections to child sex abuse, or at least that is what is their hyper-ventilating paranoid sub-conscious mind is telling them. The instictive reaction is to ATTACK, albeit with words and ostracism these days rather than fists.

Frankly its easier to get up and go to a foreign country and learn their customs and language than deal with that type of stupid $#!T.

And some people do get off on doing the counter-culture thing. I am not especially interested in Lolita fashion, but I do enjoy the "stick it in the hysterical westerner's face" campaign it does seem to represent for some.

Some also enjoy the sense of nostalgia. Like I said, this stuff is Western and Victorian. You see it in old pictures and period movies.

*(Victorian era, named after that prude biatc# queen victoria, who had to have a fig leaf put on the Statue of David just for the sake of her sex-negative cun# eyes).

you seem to having something against Victorian people, how come?

Im not sure why its popular, could be cos its different from much fashion seen today

Mark of Zorro · 26 Mar 2013

Moumokunojosei said:
you seem to having something against Victorian people, how come?

I am against sex-negative attitudes and concepts, and the Victorians were the embodiment of them. The way they told it, sex was evil and caused nothing but trouble for the human race. In fact, it was the Victorians who caused nothing but trouble for the human race, and we still wrestle with their garbage against anything sexual today. Even the Sexual Revolution did not succeed in erasing the mountain of sex negativity in English speaking countries. For example, its only recently that gays have been accepted into society to a degree that can be considered respectable, but still a long way to go.

Sex education is in a horrible state, where they try to teach about sex without teaching "too much" or be clear, and the result is out of control teen pregnancy in the U.S. and Britain.

The fact that brand of cereal would still call itself "Kelloggs" after John Harvey Kellogg, who used to burn off women's clitorises with carbolic acid, is a testament to just how sex-negative America is, because if it was sex positive, there is no way anyone would market a product with that scumbags name on it.

Wardie1993 · 26 Mar 2013

Mark of Zorro said:
I am against sex-negative attitudes and concepts, and the Victorians were the embodiment of them. The way they told it, sex was evil and caused nothing but trouble for the human race. In fact, it was the Victorians who caused nothing but trouble for the human race, and we still wrestle with their garbage against anything sexual today. Even the Sexual Revolution did not succeed in erasing the mountain of sex negativity in English speaking countries. For example, its only recently that gays have been accepted into society to a degree that can be considered respectable, but still a long way to go.

Sex education is in a horrible state, where they try to teach about sex without teaching "too much" or be clear, and the result is out of control teen pregnancy in the U.S. and Britain.

The fact that brand of cereal would still call itself "Kelloggs" after John Harvey Kellogg, who used to burn off women's clitorises with carbolic acid, is a testament to just how sex-negative America is, because if it was sex positive, there is no way anyone would market a product with that scumbags name on it.

Not all Victorians were against sex you know, many had big families some families had up to 10-15 bairns

They just didnt believe in shouting about how active you were in the bedroom department, i dont think you would shout about it either, cos its personal
oh, and there was still prostitution in the victorian days as well, if they had been so against sex then prostitution wouldnt have remained big business
the upper classes maybe been more like you described, but not the working-classes, more kids working more money you get, so they tried to have a lot, and like working-class men through the ages they wouldve loved starting a big family

Why Japanese "Kawaii" lorita fashion is so popularﾂ？

momochi

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Cymneorith

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