Lessons in etymology

Summer is just around the corner and for many in the Lolita community this means shelving their Lolita wardrobe and embracing more "normal clothing" for the season. Many of us can't deal with the layers that come with wearing the fashion when it's more than 25 degrees Celsius outside. Trust me, the shade of a parasol isn't enough to protect oneself from the sun's (unpleasant) rays. Hoopskirts and garments made from breathable fabrics like cotton, linen and rayon can definitely help a lot during summer, keeping you from getting heat exhaustion as these fabrics will make sure your sweat gets absorbed. Some Lolitas might make the bold decision to wear their jumper skirts without a blouse underneath. This is heavily frowned upon as jumper skirts are made to be worn with a top, be it a blouse or a T-shirt (also known as a "cutsew" amongst Lolitas). Actually, I'm one of these people who frowns upon this practice. Most jumper skirts have polyester lining making them very unbreathable. Even if I didn't have hypohidrosis, I still wouldn't wear a jumper skirt that way (I'll elaborate further on this later). This got me thinking on how the etymology of some words Lolitas use everyday haven't been documented yet so allow me to take a stab at it.

A Victorian picnic (1860)

Jumper skirt or JSK (Japanese: ジャンパースカート) is a loanword from Japanese that is derived from the Japanese pseudo-anglicism (wasei-eigo, Japanese: 和製英語) for jumper dress. For my readers who live across the North Sea, a jumper dress would be called a pinafore dress in British English. Jumper dresses gained popularity in the USA when they were imported from Paris in the early 1900s (as all new fashions were). They managed to be reinvented time and time again as they are a more versatile garment that allows the wearer to swap out tops at their leisure. In the 1960s the dress was brought back into vogue by British supermodel Twiggy. Together with mod, the jumper dress spread internationally and reached Japan, where it influenced Hitomi Ōkawa (Milk) and Isao Kaneko (Pink House). Through Milk and Pink House the jumper skirt as we know it came into existence. I think the change from "jumper dress" to "jumper skirt" happened because the word is often shortened to "jumper" in American English, so this is how it probably was introduced to the Japanese speaking public. They already used "jumper" (Japanese: ジャンパー) as a word for blouson because they allegedly saw it as a British jumper with a longer zipper. With the garments' purpose always having been a dress you wear over a top, I would feel extremely uncomfortable wearing it without one. It would feel like wearing an overall dress without a top; just unbearable, honestly.

A New Model "Jumper" Dress for Fall by The Fort Wayne Sentinel (September 10th 1906, courtesy of Newspapers by ancestry)

Cutsews (Japanese: カットソー) could definitely help a lot if you want to wear a JSK during summertime. These t-shirts are usually made from cotton and come with long and short sleeves. This Japanese term is derived from English (another pseudo-anglicism) and symbolizes how the fabric is cut and sewn to manufacture the garment. When it comes to Lolita clothing it isn't limited to tops, as dresses could also be referred to as "a cutsew one piece dress" when made from jersey fabric. The fun thing about cutsews is that most high street fashion brands and secondhand clothing shops sell them (in varying quality, of course). If you enjoy sewing you can easily make them more appropriate to wear underneath a jumper skirt or with a skirt. You could use appliqués, lace, ruffles, pearls or ribbons to decorate your plain cutsews. With embroidery anglaise being in vogue currently, you can already find some interesting pieces to use as a base. When purchasing a cutsew, I highly recommend checking what it's made from because one made from polyester will have you sweating through the fabric.

Left: Sumako Matsui as Katyusha (courtesy of the Sumako Matsui Association)
Right: An advertisement from the Imperial Theatre reading "Today the Imperial Theatre, tomorrow Mitsukoshi" (courtesy of NAKACO'S CRAFT)

Coord is a word used by Lolitas to describe their outfits, an abbreviation from the Japanese loanword for coordinate. No coord is complete without some kind of headwear, of which hairbands (or Alice bands) are the most popular one. In Japanese, and the early days of the online community, these are called kachūsha/katyūsha or KC (Japanese: カチューシャ). The name for the hair accessory finds its origin in a 1913 stage adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection (1899) performed at the Imperial Theatre during the Taishō era. The role of Katyusha was played by Sumako Matsui who presumably wore big ribbons in her hair during the performance. She sang a song with the same namesake which (understandably so) became an instant hit propelling her to stardom. The ribbons she wore in her hair became very popular and many merchants wanted to earn a pretty penny off of it. Thus, they sold hair accessories, like hair combs and hairbands, adorned with ribbons, that way Japanese women could steal her look. They advertised it as "(the) Katyusha" and it has stuck with the Japanese public ever since. In the early 2000s it entered the Lolita's vocabulary as it was used in magazines and catalogues. Nowadays Lolitas use the word almost interchangeably with hairbands and Alice bands.

Naturally there are many more pseudo-anglicisms that Lolitas use frequently, like OTKs (over the knee socks) and UTKs (under the knee socks), but I wanted to touch upon those that I find have fascinating stories behind them. It's interesting to see how pseudo-anglicisms end up finding their way back into the English language. The Japanese government's tourism bureau created the "Cool Japan" movement to promote the country's beautiful culture (read: to establish itself as a soft power) years ago. Over the years more and more Japanese words have infiltrated not only the English language, but my native language as well. This has sprouted a lot of humorous misconceptions and misuses of Japanese words in Belgium. It's almost been a decade since the Belgian "sushi boom" and Belgians will still pluralize this noncount noun: "How many sushis should I order?" This always has me scratching my head because we have plenty of noncount nouns in our own language. I hope this little lesson in etymology will help some people out.

Thank you, and take care.