The peculiar prince

When I met my husband, I noticed that he had quite the predilection for suits and he luckily still does (is it obvious that I like that about him?). However, last year he decided to dabble in Ouji fashion and purchased his first pieces: Piping Cape Jacket, Piping Wide Pants and Green Jewel Cross Pendant from Moi-même-Moitié. He chose to wear this out for the first time during our community's Halloween event last year. I might be biased, but he looked amazing in this set. Soon after he decided to wear more Ouji fashion, and now he has quite the beautiful wardrobe. Yet, there was one thing he and I were both confused on: What is the actual name of the fashion he's wearing? For me there's only one name for it: Ouji or Ōji (Japanese: 王子) from the Japanese word for "prince." Online we would find words like "boystyle", "kodona", "dandy" and "EGA." All of these words are very confusing for people who want to start wearing Ouji fashion and might lead people into a rabbit hole of misinformation (I'm mainly looking at you, "kodona"). I think it has started to become very clear that I can't accept misleading information being spread around and I will try to put an end to all of that concerning Lolita and Ouji fashion.

Coord rundown:

• Glasses: Matsuda
• Necklace: Moi-même-Moitié
• Shirt: Belize Made-to-measure
• Jacket: Alice and the Pirates
• Belt: Dolce & Gabbana
• Pants: Dolce & Gabbana
• Shoes: Dolce & Gabbana

My husband in Brussels (2024)

Japan's most famous Ouji model is AKIRA (full name: Akira Shiraishi) without a doubt. She has been modeling Alice and the Pirates for more than a decade. Besides that, she also is the lead and vocalist of her own rock band named DISACODE and an actress for stage and studio productions. In 2010, she explained why she prefers men's clothing over women's clothing in an interview with Gothic & Lolita Bible. This interview was a collaboration between the magazine and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright to showcase their 2010 Winter collection, AKIRA, Misako Aoki and Midori Fukasawa's private lives, how they do the styling for photo shoots and some behind the scenes moments. The Japanese term used for men's clothing here is "boys' style" (Japanese: ボーイズスタイル) because that refers to a more cool and youthful kind of fashion. While men's fashion (Japanese: メンズファッション) might give more of clean and smart look. In the 2010 interview AKIRA explains that she doesn't like wearing dresses or skirts. She continues on how she had to learn how to walk like a woman for a certain acting role because she has gotten so used to acting manly. Since the DVDs release, boys' style really has become her signature look and it has become associated with her specifically (occasionally she'll wear dresses and skirts). If I look anything up considering boys' style in Japanese I will only find pictures of cool and youthful men's fashion and pictures of AKIRA.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright in Gothic & Lolita Bible (2010) DVD cover

Midori Fukasawa and AKIRA modeling for Alice and the Pirates in 2016

The situation with the word "kodona" for Ouji is kind of similar in its origin. Kodona is a Japanese portmanteau of the words kodomo (English: child) and otona (English: adult). The word is mainly used to refer to an adult who is still child at heart. This might refer to them being naive or enjoying childish stuff even though they work a fulltime job. In the very first issue of Gothic & Lolita Bible, Ryutarou Arimura, from the alternative rock band Plastic Tree, used it to describe himself. He explains how he sees himself as pretty childish. According to him fashion is like a business card and he feels that the clothes he's currently wearing reflect his childish personality perfectly. Unfortunately, this got lost in translation years ago with people thinking he was describing what he was wearing for the shoot. I do hope we can all banish this term being used for Ouji.

Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 1 page 12 (courtesy of Internet Archive)

"Elegant Gothic Aristocrat", commonly abbreviated to EGA, is a term coined by Mana-sama and is part of his brand's slogan: "Elegant Gothic Lolita Aristocrat Vampire Romance." In Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 35, Mana-sama had written two poems about the aura of EGLs and EGAs. This poem has been translated by Faith Shinri (I can't find a high definition scan and I don't own the volume). She also explains that Japanese Lolitas will only name someone EGL or EGA when they wear a full coord from Moi-même-Moitié, or when that coord has the brand's same vibe. It's definitely not supposed to be used in the same way Western Lolitas have been doing. Even though I had already shared this in About Lolita, I don't think people will stop referring to the overall style as either EGL or EGA. This truly saddens me as I think it makes the schism between the Western and Japanese community even bigger.

Background image from Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 14 page 16

Background image from Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 14 page 14

Finally, we have my least favorite term: "dandy." In English, a dandy is a man who pays a lot of to how he portrays himself by looking good, taking care of his language and making sure he spends his free time in class (in an effort to climb the social ladder). I feel the word does not do Ouji the least amount of justice. I'm almost one hundred percent certain that its origin lies within the historical costuming community influencing the Lolita community when over the top Classic Lolita became extremely popular. In the early 2010s, LARPing, cosplay and historical costuming slightly increased in prominence because the internet made it easier to find. Many people interested in historical costuming try to "history bound", meaning they try to incorporate historical costuming elements in their day-to-day life. Some of those figured that Classic Lolita was perfect to buy something to history bound their favorite era instead of having to make it themselves. My speculation is that there might have been some who thought Ouji would be able to serve the same purpose for a masculine look as one could supposedly see it as a Regency era dandy. Unfortunately for them, what they think of as dandy was actually a fop.

During my research I did come across one new term I hadn't seen used before: shōnensō (Japanese: 少年装), meaning boys' clothing in English. Shōnensō mainly refers to historical formal wear for boys, which would include a lace collar or a bow, a pair of stockings, garters and a pair of breeches. Dilettante Genet explains in her YouTube video that it's considered a more casual way of wearing Ouji fashion. Besides that, she also notes that it is very accesible because for a basic shōnensō coord you would only need four pieces: a blouse or shirt, a vest, a pair of shorts and socks. This is wear the difference between Ouji en shōnensō becomes noticeable. With its sources of inspiration, Ouji fashion isn't limited to a pair of shorts as bottoms for a coord. This could also be a pair of long pants, just like my husband does. He is still a bit traditional that way, and shorts were, and sometimes still are, considered to only be worn by young boys in Belgium too.

Thank you, and take care.