/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

As a lolita, I feel really, really lonely.
A girl I really like asked me the other day-
"So, when you wear lolita... Is it like putting on a character?"
For some reason this really affected how I see myself when I'm wearing these clothes, it made me feel insecure.
It makes me anxious- what are these irl friends of mine thinking when I wear these clothes? Just how little am I understood? What do I say to this?
I know that it is a common experience, but it feels more like a collective trauma we all share- our self expression being highly sexualized, considered comical, weird, anxiety inducing, a costume, etc.