What are the rules?
While this is a question that hundreds of people have blogged about over the years, one of my most searched blog posts is a philosophical exploration of what the rules of lolita fashion mean to me. I guess that means that people are looking for more information about the rules, so who am I to deny them?
A few notes before we get started:
The rules are typically meant to give people new to the fashion a foundation to start building coordinates. They are not meant to be a monolithic set of commandments that must be followed at all times. They are also not meant to be used to exclude or bully people. These are guidelines to help you stay in conversation with lolita fashion, both past and present. Until you are proficient at coordinating, it’s best to follow these rules as closely as possible, perhaps only breaking one rule at a time. With practice, you’ll understand how far a coordinate can be pushed before it is no longer lolita. Bending or breaking these rules is fine, as long as you know that others might view your coordinate as experimental, or even not lolita.
Rule 1: Lolita fashion has a distinct silhouette achieved with a petticoat or hoop skirt.
The lolita silhouette often emphasizes the difference between a wearer’s waist and the hem of their skirt. Piece often flare out at the hips, creating a bell shape. This is also called a “cupcake style” skirt. Other pieces may fit the wearer’s waist then flare out near the knees. This is called an “A line” skirt. Lolita mainpieces have various waists, including a “baby doll” or empire waist, a high waist, a “just” or natural waist, or a drop waist. Still other dresses may fit the wearer’s chest, then flare out near the knees without any definition at the waist. This is called a “sack dress”.
Typically a lolita main piece will have a skirt with a hem circumference of approximately 2.5-3 times the wearer’s waist. Older pieces may be smaller than this rough measurement. A petticoat should fill a dress without “stuffing” it. Heavy dresses may require more “poof” to achieve the desired silhouette (hoop skirts may be useful for these pieces).
Rule 2: Lolita fashion covers the shoulders, chest, abdomen and upper thighs with a dress, blouse, or outerwear.
Sleeveless dresses, also called jumperskirts or JSKs, are typically worn with blouses or shirts underneath. Dresses with sleeves, also sometimes called one pieces or OPs, can be worn with or without blouses under them. Boleros, blazers, jackets, or sweaters are also worn over dresses. It is unusual to have an exposed stomach, or mesh that exposes the torso, or exposed shoulders or cleavage in lolita fashion. However, there are exceptions. Some brands, in particular indie Chinese brands, have been experimenting with exposed shoulders and detached sleeves. Certain substyles, including ero or gothic lolita, may incorporate cleavage or exposed shoulders.
Rule 3: Lolita skirts lengths are typically just above the knee to mid way between the knees and ankles.
Outside of these lengths, it becomes difficult to use a petticoat to achieve one of the desired silhouettes. It is unusual to have excessively short or floor length dresses. Lolita brands put out mini skirts or salopettes from time to time, but it is difficult to achieve the lolita silhouette with these pieces. Some individual brands are known for their unusual lengths of skirts. For example, Angelic Pretty’s skirts are exceptionally short, and Juliette Et Justine‘s pieces are exceptionally long. Shorter dresses tend to come from sweet brands, where longer dresses come from classic or gothic brands.
Rule 4: Petticoats are a foundation garment.
Most petticoats for lolita fashion are meant to go under a skirt or dress. They are not meant to be worn alone. Petticoats should be approximately 2-3 cm shorter than the length of the skirt and shouldn’t be visible when worn. There are some petticoats that may include decorative hems or details that are meant to be visible when worn, but these are somewhat unusual.
Rule 5: Lolita coordinates use socks or tights with shoes.
Typical lolita coordinates use close toed shoes with socks or tights to add interest to the lower half of the body. Ankle socks, under the knee socks, over the knee socks, or tights are all common. Sandals are unusual but they are present they are typically worn with socks.
Rule 6: Lolita coordinates incorporate a head or hair accessory.
Collectively called “headwear”, these accessories typically match the color, style, and motifs of the mainpiece and other accessories. This rule is frequently invoked in order to bring “balance” to a coordinate. Since the volume of lolita skirts is more dramatic than something like jeans and t-shirt, a headpiece is useful to create visual interest at the top of the coordinate. You can combine one or more headpiece to create a variety of looks. Common headpieces include large head bows, hats, small hair clips, crowns, combs, ribbons, headdresses, headbands, and more.
Rule 7: Hair and make-up should reflect the style of the coordinate.
While there is no particular make-up or hairstyle associated with lolita fashion, it is important to make sure that your choices reflect your coordinate as a whole. Corpse paint would look odd with a sweet lolita coordinate, but fine with a traditional gothic inspired coordinate. Common hairstyles include braids, buns, pigtails, ringlet curls, teased hair styles, up-dos, and hair down. Wigs are also common, but not required. Make-up often reflects Japanese make-up trends, but this is not required.
Rule 8: All items in a lolita coordinate must reflect a particular, unified style aesthetic of lolita fashion.
Keeping in mind that lolita fashion draws from a wide variety of styles (including historical fashion, kawaii culture, gothic fashion, punk fashion, and visual kei), a coordinate should reflect one or more of these sources of inspiration. A coordinate should form a cohesive, stylistic whole. For example, a highly tailored main piece from Victorian Maiden should incorporate elements that reflect that style. This might include a historical hairstyle or hat, vintage jewelry, and printed tights with historical elements. Similarly, a distressed main piece from h.NAOTO should have pieces with unfinished edges, ripped or torn tights, and punk or gothic accessories.
This also means that a mainpiece or coordinate will often dictate how many or how few accessories are needed. There is no magic number of accessories that will transform an “outfit” into a “coordinate”. Instead try to think of places that will require more visual interest beyond a mainpiece, blouse, headwear or legwear. A blouse with a plain collar would probably benefit from a necklace or brooch, where a skirt with a simple waistband might look better with a belt or corset.
For this same reason, certain styles of shoes, blouses, or accessories may be inappropriate for specific coordinates. An all black gothic coordinate would look strange with a pair of white sneakers. However, those same shoes with lace ankle socks would look cute in a sweet coordinate. Similarly, a hime style JSK with layers of ruffles and lace would look strange with a t-shirt or cutsew under it. However, the same cutsew would look cute with a casual skirt coordinate.
It is possible to mix and match substyles and sources of inspiration! Creating a “gothic sailor” lolita coordinate means taking elements of those two substyles in order to create a particular look. However, it’s important to be deliberate in this process. A “gothic sailor” coordinate with pastel blue, decoden anchor accessories wouldn’t produce a unified style aesthetic.
Rule 9: A lolita coordinate should reflect a series of conscious choices that create a particular look.
Creating a coordinate is different than simply “getting dressed.” Even if an experienced lolita doesn’t take a long time to compose an outfit, they are still making choices that lead to a “coordinate”. These choices range from “These two colors would look well together” to “This blouse is purposefully breaking one of the established rules.” This is one of the most difficult parts of the fashion to communicate in a concise way.
The best way to understand it is to look at coordinates from magazines, social media, and brand ads. Practicing putting coordinates together, either in real life or via a digital vision board will also help. This is what makes this fashion fun and different.
FAQ
I have a dress from a lolita brand that breaks one of these rules!
That’s totally possible. Lolita fashion brands put out items that we don’t think of as being lolita. In addition to things like swimsuits ,”brands” make rule breaking items. Wear the piece if you like it, but be conscious of how it fits into the rest of your coordinate. Wearing a sleeveless JSK with sandals sounds like a cute summer outfit, but perhaps it’s not a lolita coordinate.
Can I wear an item that isn’t from a lolita fashion brand in a lolita coordinate?
Of course! That piece should reflect common elements of lolita fashion, including but not limited to cute details (rounded collars, decorative shaped buttons, bows, lace), decorative sewing techniques or elements (pintucks, ruffles, embroidery, inset lace), and the appropriate silhouette. It is unusual but not impossible to find pieces like this in main stream, big box stores. Accessories, blouses, and outwear may occasionally be found in western stores. You may have more luck with brands from Japan, Korea, or China, or vintage or antique stores.
I’m not following one of these rules! Is what I’m wearing lolita?
Honestly, it’s very hard to say! While taking one single item out of a coordinate probably isn’t enough to make something “not lolita”, that will depend on the rest of your coordinate. If you’re new and having trouble with this, ask a fellow frilly friend or look at current or old coordinate snapshots.
For comfort or health reasons, I can’t follow X rule.
Your health is far more important than making sure you follow all the rules. If using a mobility aid makes wearing a petticoat difficult, then by all means skip it!
You didn’t include X rule.
You’re welcome to follow other rule sets that include something I missed, but these are the things I think are most important to the fashion. I spent some time reflecting on what things make a lolita coordinate for me specifically as well as the community at large. These are the rules that I came up with. I look forward to seeing how your rules differ from mine.