The year is 2002 and you've picked up a new jumper skirt from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright: Gobelin Print JSK in pink. A white blouse, a pair of white boots and white accessories - definitely your white Handbag with Rose Motif - are sure to make this JSK shine. A shade of lipstick that perfectly matches the pink ribbons of your new showpiece would certainly be the cherry on top. You've decided to wear it next Sunday to hang out with your friends on Jingūbashi (Harajuku Bridge). The day before the gathering you've laid out your coord so you can put it on the next day - let's hope you don't forget about your parasol! And then you wake up from this dream: Harajuku Bridge was never a place where real Lolita's used to hang out. This was a place where Visual kei fans used to get together. Sure, you could definitely see some of them wear Lolita clothes but these were rather worn as cosplay since some Visual kei bands adopted the style starting the mid 1990s.
Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 2 (courtesy of Lolita History)
"Gothic & Lolita Charisma Snaps" from Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 1 (courtesy of Lolita History)
While doing research for my About Lolita page, there was one name, besides brand names, that kept popping up: Novala Takemoto. He was actually a key person that aided me in making my case that Lolita is not just a fashion style but a full-fledgded subculture. With my previous sentence I made it sound like he personally helped me out, but, of course, he didn't. For this I'm going to have to thank the lovely people who took their time and uploaded scans of his work and the lovely people who took even more time to translate them to English: The Osaka Koneko, Lolita History and Faith Shinri. Novala (or Nobara, meaning wild rose) Takemoto is the alias of Toshiaki Takemoto, a Japanese author with a love for Lolita fashion and the manga Candy Candy. Next month he's even releasing a collection of his essays as a book named Lolita Fashion, wherein he hopes to share the history of Lolita with the (Japanese-speaking) world.
Cover of Lolita Fashion by Novala Takemoto (2024)
Novala Takemoto wrote several pieces for Gothic & Lolita Bible and these were often discussed on LiveJournal by Lolita's. I've noticed that most people don't seem to like his writing style. He might come off as condescending and preachy when reading his essays and columns without understanding the zeitgeist and, of course, the Japanese culture overall plays a big role as well. Novala Takemoto claims he's one of the people that has seen the subculture come to a full bloom because he's been part of it since the eighties. It can be debated whether he did this actively or by watching from the sidelines. However, I can confirm that he was watching from the sidelines as he explains in Let's talk about Milk -Things about Milk that you don't know about in Trivia For Maidens, which originally appeared as an article for the magazine Zipper. In this article he shares a bit of Milk's history: how it started out in a building named "Central Apartments" in Omotesandō, how barely five people could be in that room at the same time and how the construction is the reason for the high price. He then continues on how many Japanese idols used to wear the brand like Saori Minami, girl group Candies and Mako Ishino.
Superhit (Japanese: スーパーヒット) by Saori Minami with her wearing MILK
Saori Minami expressing her love for MILK in Petit Seven Magazine (September 1973)
In the 1990s Visual kei bands inspired by the British New Romantic movement came to life, with MALICE MIZER and LAREINE (or LALIENE until 1996) being the most popular of them all. Both bands had a goth rock sound inspired by classical music which they also channeled in their stage costumes. Around the same time as the release of their second studio album "Voyage ~sans retour~" MALICE MIZER started wearing historically themed ensembles for their music videos and stage shows. This really emphasized the New Romantic movement influences. Before this album the entire group already dressed androgynously but this is when Mana, one of their guitarists, started wearing more feminine garments. After the release of merveilles in 1998 Mana began wearing dresses that leaned a lot more towards Lolita fashion. The differences could be found in the length of the hem (disputable since I think a long hemmed skirts and dresses can still qualify as Lolita fashion) and the quality of the fabric.
Mana in a promotional image for "Gekka no yasoukyoku (Japanese: 月下の夜想曲)" from merveilles (1998)
The garments worn by these bands also inspired their fans, known as "bangya" from "bando gyaru" (English: lit. band girl), to wear these clothes during their live performances. Because one couldn't buy these outfits ready-to-wear, fans were forced to pick up some sewing skills to reproduce the costumes their favorite bandmembers wore on stage or in music videos. Most of MALICE MIZER's clothes were designed by Yukari Ohba and Mana. Yukari Ohba is a household name when it comes to Visual kei costume designs as she was the one responsible for MALICE MIZER, Gackt, LAREINE, Kamijo and D'espairsRay. It seems that she managed to peak Mana's interest in fashion as he started his own label in 1999: Moi-même-Moitié (by the public this was branded "Pink House, but in black"). In French the words have no real meaning together, but Mana said that it stands for "one's alter ego as well as one's self." With the launch of Mana's brand fans could cosplay Mana more easily. Visual kei fans enjoyed hanging out and finding each other on Jingūbashi where they could enjoy street performances and live music whilst flaunting their selfmade replica's which were actually quite impressive. A year later Mana appeared on stage during the stage show Société de Parenté ～新たなる血族との響宴～ (English: a feast with new family (blood relatives)) wearing a look that one could undisputably call Lolita. Fans in the West also tried their hand at cosplaying Mana and some of them you can find on Mana-sama-Fanclub.
Costume design for Gackt by Yukari Ohba
Costume design for Mana by Yukari Ohba
Fans cosplay certain characters or people out of love: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Novala Takemoto, however, took the liberty to add the second part of this quote from Oscar Wilde that is always omitted: "that mediocrity can pay to greatness." He thinks that wearing certain clothes, especially Lolita, should always be a part of expressing one's self. Besides that, I think, he also didn't like cosplayers taking over a part of Harajuku as subcultures in Tokyo used to be bound to its wards: Shibuya had Gyaru, Akihabara and Ikebukuro had (professional) cosplayersand Harajuku had Lolita's and Decora. I understand why Visual kei fans picked Harajuku to hang out in their cosplays since the fashion worn by these bands is adjacent to Gothic and Lolita, but the issue is that these fans enjoyed the attention people gave them as they would hang out on the bridge amongst street performers acting like they were the bandmembers they were dressed as (they definitely didn't forget the "play" part of the word which I laud them for) and enjoyed the attention they'd attract.
"I've been there only a few times. The Lolita girls you see on that bridge are simply cosplaying and are not real Lolita. We, the real ones, never go there. Those who used to hang out there were fans of the Visual kei musicians with heavy makeup and flashy outfits, and they are not real Lolita. The real ones are well and alive, and we are here to stay."
Fashioning Japanese Subcultures (page 66) by Yuniya Kawamura (2012)
After having read this quote and doing some more research I could definitely understand why Novala Takemoto and this anonymous girl felt so hostile towards Visual kei enthusiasts. It can't be ignored that Visual kei fans were the reason for the stereotypical representation of Lolita's in the media. Supposedly we all love carrying around a doll-version of ourselves who wears the same exact outfit, like Mana did for the album merveilles. In the West most people who found out about Lolita were goths who also listened to Visual kei because apparently Hot Topic used to sell CURE, a magazine focused on J-rock and fashion with macabre-looking covers, and CDs from Visual kei bands. We also have to admit that goth and gothic - unfortunately - became interchangeable terms. In 2007 Chicago Reader interviewed a student from DePaul's on her love for gothic Lolita: "I was very gothic, very Western gothic. One of the things that appealed about Lolita is the minimum of makeup, unlike Western gothic, which is makeup heavy. I can look goth without having to look so... brazen." This goes to show that most people who started wearing gothic Lolita because they were already goths. In 2020 Rose Nocturnalia (or Chelsea Lovelace) was interviewed by Vogue. In this interview she explains how she was a goth first and discovered Lolita via LiveJournal. Furthermore, Stephano states that Visual kei bands were pretty cheap to book since they were quite niche in comparison to J-pop acts.
Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook by Patrick Macias and Izumi Evers (2007) (courtesy of Japonismo)
In 2006 Novala Takemoto wrote "Rules on the Lolita" for Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 23. At first I thought it was pretty demeaning as he seems to take authority over who does and does not get to wear Lolita. After exploring the climate of the era I do understand his demeanor a bit more as in the 2000s goths branded "mall goths" as posers as they listened to nu and industrial metal instead of goth music. Novala Takemoto tried to act as a gatekeeper but he does so in a supercilious way which wasn't appreciated by many. I think this happened because of the online discord that happened caused by people who actually translated what was written in Lolita-centered magazines. The magazine's fourth volume covered manners for "Gothic & Lolita's" describing how to speak, greet people, give presents and even dance. I can see how this could cause a schism between people who treat Lolita as "just clothes" and for those who see it as more than that (I'm clearly on this side). To keep the peace they've put a label on these people: Lifestyle Lolita. When talking about this people often refer to Momoko from Novala Takemoto's Kamikaze Girls (book 2002; film 2004) who tries to wear the fashion everyday and dreams about 18th-century France. Another thing people immediately bring up is how "lifestylers" are LARPers and exclude people from the subculture as they come across as snobby, arrogant and stuck-up which only added more to the idea of us versus them.
"Rules on the Lolita" by Novala Takemoto in Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 23
I'm not a fan of subdivisions in subcultures so you will never hear me say that something looks more gothic or sweet Lolita: Lolita is Lolita. What people call(ed) "lifestylers" I would actually call gatekeepers which aren't always that bad. However, I cannot ignore the fact that over the years we've seen style being democratized as now people can wear whatever they want wherever they want. This is definitely something that has happened in many subcultures as they have been trending more towards something one can buy their way into. A person nowadays can subscribe to more subcultures than they could twenty years ago. They could engage in Academia with their clothing and hobbies whilst also participating in Cottagecore by curating an Instagram account dedicated to the romanticization of pastoral life. And I think many people who enjoy Lolita would like to do the same since they might feel like participating in this subculture might lock them out of enjoying another one. To them I would like to confirm that people can subscribe to multiple subcultures as we are all multifaceted people; don't we all enjoy multiple flavors of ice cream? Although DIR EN GREY (original video has been deleted) and Shoichi Aoki from FRUiTShave admitted they aren't a fan of Lolita fashion.
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