/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

I currently mainly dress in old school btssb but when I no longer like it I'll be considering classic lolita (old school VM style, probably make my own instead of fighting over scraps online) or dip my toe into more mature gothic lolita (Sheglit style), and if I don't like that at that point I'll be considering history bounding edwardian fashion, or consider what we call "otome" in the western comm.
I've got no interest in vintage anymore unless I somehow end up with an easier body shape for 20s fashion (I've got wide straight shoulders and my waist to hip difference is too big for the straight look, beyond the help of corsets/girdles. Sorry Nicole Rudolph). I had a 1940s vintage phase between 2016 and 2019 and I'm no longer interested.
Never been interested in Larme. I might consider trying a dark mori style for comfy bra-less days but I'll probably end up looking like a movie version of a homeless woman.

Trying to plan out what your style might be when you eventually "graduate" from Lolita seems entirely pointless in my opinion, since it seems like what you're into when you actually reach that point in time might differ completely based on your tastes. Giving up something you enjoy because you think you're becoming "too old" for it (not that that's exactly what you said, but I'm kind of getting the feeling it's implied) is very sad. Why not just let yourself enjoy something for as long as you enjoy it, then cross that bridge when you get there?

Outside of lolita I wear Yohji/Rick Owens mode type shit, I'll probably just keep wearing that. I don't really care about "graduating" from lolita because I don't plan out my life in anticipation of giving up things I like.

>>10845401
Don't wear lolita very often these days, but still holding onto some fave pieces to wear when the mood takes me. Mainly transitioned into Pinkhouse.

>>10845430
if you don't mind me asking, where does Pink House fall in terms of categorizing it as a style in Japan? Like, do japanese lolitas or japanese people who wear alternative fashion (which I would consider pink house to be since it's not mainstream) consider it lolita or natural kei or something else?

>>10845432
Closet Child labels it as lolita but it's more adjacent than true lolita.

>>10845451
Thank you. Is it also the status symbol that I think it is?

>>10845455
Why do you feel it's a status symbol? The price?

>>10845459
Not so much about the price, although that does play a part because iirc it's considerably more expensive than the most expensive lolita brands (if not, correct me), but more about the fact that it's such an old established brand that changed the fashion landscape. I also get the impression that MILK is kind of a status symbol for the same reason, and the way that I've (briefly) seen japanese lolitas talk about it as if it's some holy grail.

I dont know because the older I get, the less I give a shit, the more I try over the top styles

>>10845426
>>10845427
completely agree with these. i don't plan to give up anything that i'm enjoying. if the time comes that i decide i don't want to wear lolita anymore for whatever reason, i'm sure that my wants and tastes will have changed from what they are now, so there's no use worrying about it now

>>10845432
It isn't a style at all. People will wear a pink house dress with normie accessories, not coordinate like Misako does. She's a model... Most japanese don't dress all in matching sets, regardless of brand. A lot of lolita dresses are worn around casually with normie stuff. It's weird and ugly looking to me but seems to be how they use the dresses, like one cute dress with everything else normie and ugly. Like a big ugly raincoat and work shoes with a cute dress

>>10845401
I don't plan on leaving lolita ever, but lately I need to tone down my outfits more often and look more "mature" in certain situations.
So instead of just wearing plain normie clothes I try to use my more normal-looking japanese clothes (think of brands like axes femme or fint) and coord them with normie stuff, maybe all black. I take inspiration from "otome", larme, "girly kei", vintage and goth. I've always been into alternative fashion ever since I was allowed to pick my own clothes, and I will never stop. I have developed my own style and it won't disappear. Even when I'm wearing normie clothes, I will always have something with bows on them because that's just my style.
I don't know if that makes sense to you.

I'm turning 35 this year, so I've been asking myself this. I don't think I *have* to stop wearing lolita, but I definitely am starting to feel and look my age and thinking I should dress a little more appropriately.

I'm still working on my strat as this only really started hitting me recently, prior to that I thought I looked cute enough and not very different from my 20s but sadly aging is showing (yes I do antiaging stuff, but you can't stop it forever)

One idea is to wear Pink House, but it's expensive and I don't totally love it. I've really been into longer dresses lately, esp. ones from Physical Drop and Sheglit as I think those brands are really suitable for older girls. VM, too. A few brands Atelier Pierrot carries work for older girls actually.

Classic is always a good option. I'm exploring wearing more high-end stuff like rich Korean girls, and incorporating Western designer brands into my wardrobe more now that I have the income for it (the bright side of getting older!). So much of it just sucks in comparison to lolita, but styling things creatively is all part of it and something that you don't have to age out of. I toy with vintage stuff occasionally too. I'm still figuring things out.

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I'm almost 30 and have been wearing Lolita for 15-ish years, so while I don't see myself ever completely leaving it I definitely feel less comfortable in it than I used to.

I also realized that as I got older I follow trends less and I have more of a grip on my personal style. I also realized I have way too many clothes, so what I've been doing now is sewing all of my own clothes and getting rid of old ones that I don't wear anymore, and it's liberating. It makes you really consider if the garment you're about to spend a lot of time making is something you'd really love and wear, and really helped fine tune my wardrobe. The only new clothes I've purchased lately have been from Physical Drop, which I love because you can style them wear them as Lolita but they're also really easy to style casually.

>>10845491
>It isn't a style at all
It most definitely is - it's in the same vein as Atsuki Onishi, Kaneko Isao, Garland, Rural Poem, Street Organ, Lewis Carroll etc. Like >>10845451 said, it's sort of adjacent to lolita and was often associated with the style in its early days - here's a translated poll on whether Pink House can be considered lolita (TL;DR - no):
http://www.rainedragon.com/is-pink-house-lolita-japanese-lolita-respond-in-2004/
The terms used for this style in the past were Kaneko-kei, country-kei and PinHa, although I'm not sure if they're still in use.

>>10845777
>http://www.rainedragon.com/is-pink-house-lolita-japanese-lolita-respond-in-2004/
nayrt

thank you for this

>>10845777
>>10845784
>shilling rainedragon

>>10845819
>sharing the only resource that has any information on the aforementioned style
how dare they

>>10845426
It strikes me as very odd...it's a fashion style, not a school that you "graduate" from. It's weird to anticipate and plan a change in your personal styles and tastes. I went through a lot of fandoms as a kid and teen, and I never decided "hmmm yes after this cartoon then I will get into this anime." It just happened.

>>10845827
It’s a term used more in ganguro/gyaru fashion. Japanese young adults tend to give up on subculture-type fashions when they “get too old” (ie. over 25) there does seem to be a lot of pressure to grow up and act like an adult over there once you are in your twenties. Pressure which can become toxic and lead some people becoming hikikomori or if they are lucky enough to have a strong personality, just regarded as eccentric (though the latter are usually either famous or other creative self-employed, so have a way of making a decent income without having to give up their personal style no matter how quirky or weird it seems to outside society).

I don't plan on ever leaving sweet lolita again. I left it for some time thinking I was too old for it. I sold the majority of my golden era AP, wore aristocrat and gothic, regreted that decision and dove head first into it all over again. Milky Planet is what made me fall in love with lolita in the first place and as beautiful as gothic is it doesn't spark joy like OTT sweet does. I'm already in my early 40s so fuck it I will wear 2009-2011 Angelic Pretty into my 80s. I will live my pastel-haired kooky granny life to the fullest.

>>10845828
It's not used in gyaru and that's not what it means anyway. it's a nice term that means you're quitting something.

>>10845832
Goals!

>>10845832
Hell yeah, I'm kinda the same way. I actually stopped wearing the fashion for a full ten years, although I'm in my early 30s now. Got back into it a couple years ago, and yes it will be my burial wardrobe, no doubt. Why should we give up the things we love?

I started lolita at an older age and knew I was classic because I've always been well endowed and using a classic style takes my look from sexy to refined. Wearing sweet would no doubt look inappropriate, and I wear a lot of black at work so I don't enjoy wearing goth as often as classic. I wear country when I want to keep it casual and combination long pleated skirt + unique t-shirt + RHS + VW jewelry when I don't feel up to lolita.

>>10845401
Hi anon. I'm turning 26 soon. I used to wear old school lolita around 2016-2019, took a break from jfash (I had body image issues), and now mostly wear vintage and vintage inspired clothing. Not pinup or rockabilly, I dress in real vintage and reproductions (mostly 1940s, sometimes early 1960s), and mix it with modern pieces too sometimes to add a little bit of sweetness. I'd say my style is a lot like fanny rose's but usually with less full skirts (wartime rationing = slimmer skirts in the 40s), and sometimes my style is vaguely otome. I have the ideal body (gamine) by 1920s beauty standards so I've thought a lot about dressing in that style, but it's a lot more difficult to find real 20s pieces in good condition and there aren't as many accurate reproductions as there are for other decades. I don't think getting older should stop you from wearing lolita though if you want to wear it. You don't ever have to "graduate" from it if you don't want to

>>10845461
MILK definitely isn’t status-symbol stuff. All the pieces I have from them I got for less than 500 yen. It’s an important brand but most individual pieces don’t mean much to most people.

>>10848911
they must have been solely talking about that heart bag then I guess.

>>10845401
recently i went to a thrift shop and saw some old lady decked out in punk gear and facial piercings. looked cool as fuck. i'll stick with what i love till i die. if my interests naturally shift, that's fine but i won't let age dictate what i wear

I left lolita a few years back because it felt more like I was hiding my personality behind the frills. The clothing was most definitely wearing me, instead of the other way around. In the beginning it matched my personality well, but as I grew into adulthood it just stopped feeling right. Never felt like it was too childish on other people, just not my style any more. Nowadays I wear more toned down gyaru styles when I feel like putting on makeup, and have more of a general focus on romantic pieces over specific styles. I’ve bought a lot of high waisted pants, vintage pencil skirts, and a few Jesus Diamante pieces. I still love busting out an old school BTSSB floral print from time to time, since I can wear it casually!

Examining why you wear the fashion can be helpful, and if your style changes don’t worry too much about categorization. People get so focused on “kei” and “core”, but wearing what you like is better than trying to fit an entire wardrobe into a single aesthetic. For some people, lolita isn’t forever. That’s ok, and it’s also perfectly fine and respectable to continue wearing lolita until you’re buried in full BTTSB, Momoko style.

I'm in my early 30's and have been putting on a lot of changing-metabolism weight. I have been struggling to try and lose it back but I wear classic and gothic and a lot of my wardrobe doesn't fit or is hard to get into now, plus I've been wearing it less and less in the last few years, so I've been seriously thinking about scaling back my wardrobe to a large degree.

I don't really know how to describe my style outside of lolita but it swings between a lot of things, a bit of nugoth, a bit of vintage-inspired, a bit of sleek normie contemporary. Especially in hot weather I tend to just wear normie dresses with a lot of the jewelry and accessories I already own for lolita but I do miss when I had the body and the willingness to spend a couple hours getting really dressed up in a proper coord.

>>10850289
>I'm in my early 30's and have been putting on a lot of changing-metabolism weight.
Please stop. Metabolism drops less than 1% per year after age 30. You just eat too much.

>>10845832
Based as fuck

Lolita has become so cringe I would leave and sell off all my shit if it wasn't so cute and didn't take so damn long to get.
Lolita is a trap.

>>10845401
classic is ageless IMO, but if you genuinely just feel like you've outgrown lolita, try otona-kawaii. lots of himegyaru go for that as they age. you could also use casual lolita as some kind of transition style, especially since lots of classic pieces work very well in casual.

>>10850695
>otona-kawaii
Never heard of it anon, do you have any nice examples?

>>10845401
No, fuck it, OP. I'll graduate when I'm dead. I'd totally be a frilly granny wearing that Louise OP from AatP sitting on a rocking chair knitting for my embarrassed grandkids and I'd love every second.

If I ever get over wearing Lolita my retirement plan is to buy a fuckton of azone/Blythe dolls, learn how to sew, make them Lolita clothes and live vicariously through them. I’m ready to be a creepy doll lady

>>10851360
you see it a lot from axes femme, sometimes from gyaru brands like ank rouge or liz lisa, and then sometimes even lolita brands like AP or especially casual lolita brands like jane marple and ETC will have longer cut, muted colours and/or understated prints, less poof (maybe an underskirt or thin petti instead of the usual cupcake monster). you'll see models wearing camisole cut JSKs as sundresses or with a sweater or cardigan instead of a full coord. it's kind of an "aged up" style, like not quite normie but mature enough to wear to an office job. silhouette is often a-line or sleek but the fashion is a lot more modest than hard gyaru styles (knee length skirts, only baring shoulders in summer, so on).

it's kind of nice though because plenty of classic lolita pieces could be re-styled this way and you don't have to buy a whole new wardrobe.

>>10852329
ank rouge and liz lisa aren't gyaru brands. they catered to gyaru a decade ago. just because brands catered to gyaru doesn't mean they're gyaru brands.

>>10845401
currently dress in oldschool sweet. the plan is to dabble in fairy kei while i can still pull it off, then switch over to classic. probably go normie but a little eccentric when i'm too old to want to dress in jfashion

>>10848204
is 26 old now ;_;

>>10852331
not only is this so far beside the point it feels like arguing for the sake of arguing but it's the most delusional statement i've ever heard. they're absolutely gyaru-centric brands, what the hell else would you call them?

>>10852329
I wish there were higher quality brands of this style. I bought a bunch of Axes Femme and Fint 2 years ago to try it out as my everyday style and it's the biggest disappointment ever. The fabrics feel like literal plastic, are unwearable in humid weather and everything gets pilling after a few washes. I wish I got into Jane Marple 5-7 years ago before their transition to oversized mumu dresses. Their style is so shit now, I refuse to buy from them.

>>10852379
Nta but she's right. They haven't made gyaru in a decade now. Liz Lisa makes ryousangata now and for years made other girly styles that weren't actually gyaru. Tralala, their defunct sub-brand was the only solely gyaru brand. Think like how yumetenbo used to sell gyaru and had gyaru sub-brands like deary that are now defunct. Same with ma*rs and princess melody which sell ryousangata and jirai kei now. Gyaru isn't like lolita, brands that were gyaru adjacent either died or moved on to other popular fashions, and liz lisa was definitely one of them. Plus gyaru doesn't rely on brands like lolita does, otherwise you could call shein a neogyaru brand. Brands that exist after the gyaru boom can't be gyaru brands because gyaru doesn't exist anymore.

>>10852414
either way i don't feel like that has anything to do with the stated point of "these brands sell otome friendly clothes" though.

>>10852406
i guess my axes femme stuff is pretty old now that i think about it-- i thought maybe it was just lolita brands tanking in quality, but maybe it's jfash in general?

>>10852423
samefag but **otona

too early for this

>>10852423
>>10852425
It does because there's no reason to call it a gyaru brand when recommending it. Some people still don't like the association and may assume that it works for otona or other styles but is still actually gyaru. It just makes it confusing

>>10852329
Thank you for responding anon and what a coincidence, I love to style my classic wardrobe very similar to this and own a lot of fint, Liz Lisa and axes femme

>>10852406
Same, my cardigans are still in great condition but a lot of the blouses I ended up donating. I had some luck in finding cotton blouses from fint and jersey cutsews from axes femme, they're much easier to wear and have held up really well

>>10852414
What is ryousangata?

>>10852433
>What is ryousangata?
Mass production style. Basically it's the term for basic bitch girly fashion. People confuse it for jirai-kei because it's current iteration is mostly that but liz lisa has been considered thasince himekaji was popular in mid 2010s. It's kind of a playful jab rather than an insult.

>>10852379
They were gyaru. They switched to a casual girly look for a few years now they churn out jirai adjacent clothing. Stop trolling.

>>10852427
i just got around to checking the liz lisa website and i'm starting to think you guys just have some bizarre vendetta against the concept of gyaru. this fashion is exactly like it was 5-10 years ago, it's still himekaji, which is still a subset of gyaru, which is a perfectly fine fashion to wear. idk what your problem is, but get over it.

>>10852406
Me too. I remember buying a bunch of axes femme in 2016 or 2017 and being pretty disappointed with it even back then. It was low tier flimsy fast fashion quality, everything pilled, frayed and fell apart quickly. Never bought from them again. Luckily it was all rather cheap compared to lolita but I really wouldn't mind paying more for higher quality everyday pieces. I just don't really know where to get them from so I just wear the more 'boring' items gothic and classic lolita brands put out.

>>10852465
himekaji isn't gyaru, newfag. kaji means normie, not casual. it's wasai eigo.

>>10852465
...it looks absolutely NOTHING like it did back then. i would rather kms than wear ll now. it was better when it was gyaru adjacent but it's not now. as others have said gyaru is a subculture not a fashion. and fashions gyaru wore evolved after gyaru died out. things like himekaji amekaji and hostess style are still around but aren't worn by gyaru at all because gyaru now is neogyaru, and just instahoe fashion for japanese girls. the west caused so many misconceptions about gyaru because they treated it like lolita and categorized it to fuck when it wasn't a fashion like that. no one dislikes gyaru, we're just stating the obvious.

>>10852494
himekaji = casual/toned down himegyaru. and i suppose you think casual lolita isn't lolita, too?

>>10852696
Anon, that's not correct. Kaji is the name of a separate fashion, you're confusing it for kaju, which is the term used for casual lolita, kaju lolita, not lolita kaji. Anon is right, kaji doesn't directly translate into casual or toned down, kaju does. Kaji is a base fashion like gyaru or lolita(which is why it's x-kaji rather than kaji-x). Kaji fashion is minimalist style. Kaji is a wasai-eigo which means it has a unique definition that differs from the original word. The misconception comes from when westerners who weren't fluent conflated the two similar words. Hope this helps. Also hime kei is still around but not considered gyaru anymore.
The link below explains how hime kei isn't gyaru anymore, but still exists as a fashion.
>https://www.rcawaii.com/blog/fashionyougocheck/15115?amp=1
Also providing the classical alice link on casual lolita where you can see kaju(カジュ) which means used instead of kaji (カジ) which is the fashion style.
>https://classical-alice.com/2018/12/12/%E5%AE%89%E3%81%84%E3%82%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA%EF%BC%88%E3%82%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AD%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%83%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7/amp/#i1
I hope we can stop conflating the two words.

>>10852749
>Kaji is the name of a separate fashion, you're confusing it for kaju
fucking thank you! fluent japanese speakers were trying to explain that to western gyaru for YEARS. himekaji is princess THEMED kaji fashion, like how hime lolita is princess THEMED lolita fashion or classic lolita is classic THEMED lolita. hime is the theme, not the fashion. himekaji can't be gyaru because it's kaji, calling it gyaru is the same as calling it lolita. it may have evolved from hime gyaru, but it's a different fashion separate from gyaru. KAJU is the term for casual versions of fashion.

>>10852750
also sorry to you lolitas, i know you call it "substyles". hime kaji is a substyle of kaji, which is it's own fashion, not of gyaru. if himekaji was casual hime gyaru, it would be called kajuhime.

>>10852749
I'm going to add one more thing. Liz Lisa used to be what's known as "romantic gyaru'(or romantic princess) and changed to himekaji fashion in the 2010s when the gyaru boom was dying down. The sudden shift in style is probably part of what attributed to the confusion and conflation of the two fashions since western gyaru just thought it was gyaru. Yumentenbo did something similar when they switched to larme and changed their sub brand deary to dear my love. A lot of former gyaru brands that still exist aren't doing gyaru anymore and other brands are totally defunct. Liz Lisa is transitioning from himekaji to jirai-kei now.

>>10852750
>>10852756
okay well, gyaru or not, they do still sell things that can be styled as otona, which is the original point here. i appreciate the sources but we're getting off track i'm not really sure that OP came here for a weeb history lesson so much as a transitional style. my recommendations stand.

>>10852917
there's no issue with educating the people in the thread, anon. i think many anons appreciate knowing the roots of some fashions as well. you don't have to have such a bad attitude.

>>10852749
That's really interesting, thank you anon!
Now I'm really curious to know more about kaji outside of himekaji. What's this style like? I'm afraid that if I just google it I will find the wrong answers.

>>10852482
I think I've had better luck getting second hand axes femme from closet child, mainly because those items have generally had to at least survive being washed to make it to the second hand shop

>>10852406
I have some Axes items (skirts mainly) bought for super cheap and they are pretty good, maybe they are very old pieces? In the past this brand had cheaper quality and some ugly designs, now it got way better like Dear my love/Dreamv when was in its gyaru phase, also this was terrible quality and I had to sold everything (things from 2011-2012).
I rarely wear lolita because it's unpratical and more flashy for everyday use compared to other jfashion styles, it's not due to my age. I'm in my 30s. I wear otona kawaii, larme kei, girly kei and dark girly (yeah the infamous jirai kei) and normie jfashion that consist of frilly top and long skirt outfit. I'm lucky enough to have a small body for western standards so I can fit most of Ank Rouge or similar items. Sadly Evelyn seems too small (dresses!) in the chest area despite I have a small chest. Liz Lisa seems pretty forgiving even when I had more weight, same for some Lodispotto items.
Also Amavel has good items, I want to get their cat themed skirts or blouses.