I recently received something saying my site was "not true lolita."
My answer is: "...so?"
Now moving on....

It seems people are still unhappy with the site, so I wrote out some answers to the criticisms here.

But I do wish you would tell me directly. If you don't, I can't address the problems...and if you don't read my responses, then don't complain please...O_o you know?

Features: (check the updates link in the upper left hand corner from now on though, as I don't always write the updates out here)

12.11.06 - NEW! READ THIS FIRST!
05.03.06 - THIS TOO!!
For reasoning behind the style and this site's existance.

Now, were you wondering what kind of Lolita you are? Then click the link below...

Gothic/Lolita Style Identification Guide

FAQ

So what is EGL, exactly, and Lolita, more broadly?

Mana is, for the most part, a gothic lolita. A large section of his clothing line, Moi Même Moitié, is devoted to the gothic lolita style, while the other bit is "elegant gothic aristocrat" (i think). A perfect example of the style would be his costume with the floofy little skirt from the live concert DVD "Bara ni Idorareta Akui to Higeki no Makuake". It's been around for quite some time according to my advisor, but I don't believe it's gotten much attention until recently. There are more lolitas than ever now, and I can't help but think it had something to do with Mana. In fact there is now a randomly published four-volume magazine called the Gothic & Lolita Bible (I'll be calling it "The Glub") devoted entirely to gothic lolita-ism, that always has a large section dedicated to him and his clothing brand. It also features drawings by Mihara Mitsukazu* and has recently begun to use other Jrock celebrities to promote the different brands of clothing. Some of the most notable are Kana, Dada, Miyavi, and the Pink Psycho. If you're interested, it's about $16.00 or so at www.fujisan.com.

I guess it's a little hard to define a lolita, since there is such a wide variety of styles and extremes in the clothing. They range from punk to dolly dresses and everything in between, including punky dolly dresses. Originally, Lolita was the name of a young girl in a book by Vladimir Nabokov. The book is about an older man who falls in love with her, and this is where the term "lolita complex" came from (Rorikon in Japanese). A lolita complex is used to refer to and older person who has an interest in children. The Japanese took the concept and, as they do with seemingly everything, related it to anime and manga. The lolita, a cute, innocent, very well endowed little shojou that usually wears skimpy clothes or schoolgirl salior suits, was named for this. In gothic lolita terms it means frills, lace, ribbons, knee undershoes, and poofy skirts in pastel and flowered cloth. Rather than "lolita" in the original sense, its definition is closer to a western princess/french doll look. It really does look a lot like something you might find a porcelain doll wearing. Being such, it doesn't mean that anyone who likes the lolita style is a pervert. Mana is very careful to inform people that he doesn't have a rorikon. Recently, according to a Hanumaru Cafe special, it's become popular to be either an angel or a demon gothic lolita. As far as I can tell, it just depends on whether the lolita wants to wear black or white. For more information, see the guid up top.

The gothic part of the lolita goth is, well, gothic. Vampires, black, heavy make-up, middle age European clothes, whatever else a goth is. The two styles combine in different ways. You can get complete doll dresses and then find something gothic at a different store, or something with punkish shredded cloth and bondage undertones. Sometimes they're blatantly bondage, I suppose. They also seem to like silly hats and parasols, and were probably into humongous platform shoes until the government banned them because people couldn't drive well in them and were getting into car accidents. Or something like that. Now some of the more bold loli's may carry a doll around. But, as you can see, each brand has its own unique style. Or use to. It is my opinion that they've all been meshing together and there really isn't much variation in any of it; they've been conforming. The prices are outrageous by american standards, and still slightly high by Japanese standards. Maybe $150-$450 for a dress, $125 for a skirt..

Anyhow, back to the glub. I suppose I would consider it a sort of bible, although I've only been to Japan twice so I don't know much about what else is out there. The interesting thing about it is that it not only provides clothing guides and celebrity interviews, but also a long list of "gothic" products. They like puppets, angels, and vampires a lot. They're also really into Tim Burton and Edward Gorey*, who they call Edward Golly in the typical Japanese fashion*. I'll add a section on him later since I firmly believe that everyone should at least read "The Dwindling Party" before they expire ^^. That aside, there is always a poem or article of some sort somewhere in the magazine to introduce the whole ideology behind the magazine and clothes. Yup, there's an actual ideology behind it. Surprised, ne? I don't know if everyone really follows it though. Last time they had a street shot of a lolita who probably had no idea what Jrock was; she liked Ayumi for goodness sake. She was probably wearing the dress because it was "kawaii" (cute), a word that the silly shojou pop-culture followers seem to idolize, but which is only fine when used in moderation. Truthfully, they are cute ^^ but you have to be prepared when you first see one or it's a little creepy.

They refer to the style as "youfuku", or western clothes. But they're really not, since very few westerners ever wear anything like that, and if they do they've gotten it from Japan. The Japanese tend to blame wierd things on the west, even if they're almost completely unrelated. The words they've borrowed from English are interesting because they show the same thing.

If you'd like to know more let me know in the guest book or something and I might put up my senior thesis in the random section. It's a bit long but I think it does a pretty decent job and it's relatively reliable. It's about popular and cross culture with a big section on Malice and lolitas ^^ My college prof (a Japanese teen expert) gave me high honors so it probably has some merit. *I guess you can tell I'm really absolutely dying for someone to actually care about it.* It's not necessarily flattering though so if you're a militant lolita from Japan you shouldn't be offended, just take it with a grain of salt. To give you taste of it, I'm currently researching gothic lolitas for my master's dissertation, in respect to social problems and international communication barriers.