Part One: The Rules of Lolita
♔ Rules are more important to lolita than they are to casual "normie" fashion, and even other jfashions like fairy kei or larme, which are more focused on evoking a feeling than sticking to a silhouette. You wouldn't call an all-pink, frilly ensemble "goth," so you wouldn't call an outfit that ( )eaks the lolita rules "lolita." When a lolita is able to build beautiful, rule-following coords, she may want to experiment with ( )eaking the rules. But beginners should never attempt rule( )eaking coords, because of their lack of experience.
1. Wear a good petticoat! This is, undoubtedly, the single most important rule of lolita. Lolita has an incredibly specific set of silhouettes, , , and the lovingly-nicknamed silhouette. They can be long or short, full or a toned down, but they're all without petticoats to fluff them up. Taobao resellers like have plenty of petticoats to choose from. If you want an a-line skirt, get an a-line petti. Bell shaped? Get a bell shaped petti! To my knowledge, the potato sack cut works with both kinds, although now there's petticoats made for that shape as well. And here's a hint: ( )and petticoats are never your best bet! You'd have to layer a ton of those bad boys to get a decent amount of poof.
2. Wear a blouse with skirts and JSKs! Lolita's ideals of modesty come from the Victorian era, so the showing of shoulders is (mostly) prohibited. In very certain instances, such as within Ero or Punk lolita, the more gyaru side of Hime, or , going blouseless is seen as ok (and even then, some lolitas will still turn up their noses). These certain instances aren't recommended for beginners at all, though, since they require exemplery coordinating skills. Some alternatives to wearing blouses are shrugs, capelets, and cardigans (with shrugs, wear something on your wrists to balance out your bare arms).
3. Stay modest! Yes, the fashion (unfortunately) shares the name of the novel and movie Lolita, but lolita fashion isn't supposed to be sexy! A little cleavage with a lower cut one piece is sometimes unavoidable for those of us with a little more of a bust, but you should try to stay covered up. Yes, even Ero lolita is modest. (Since the name is misleading, you'll see a lot of sexualized Ero still claiming to be lolita. It's not.) Skirts should only come a little above the knee, but if you happen to be taller, you can purchase underskirts to lengthen your dress, or just wear the darn dress anyway because you can't change your height. Be careful, though, if the dress is too short, you could end up looking like an adult version of a Toddlers and Tiaras star!
4. Invest in quality over quantity! An unspoken rule, but a rule nonetheless. Better to have three pieces of ( )and name or good Taobao clothing than 50 Bodyline, Fanplusfriend, or Milanoo lacemonsters (more on those later). If a dress looks like something you could buy at Party City, it's not worth buying or trying to coordinate.
5. NO. REPLICAS. This goes hand in hand with number four, but also addresses art theft. No matter how much you may want Angelic Pretty's Milky Planet, no one will take you seriously as a lolita if you show up in instead of Replicas are art theft, don't support them. They also look terrible, pretty much no matter what. They've made some lolitas hate the original prints, for goodness' sake! There's a debate on whether this extends to accessories, blouses, purses, and shoes, but it's a popular opinion that design theft (which is a part of how fashion thrives) isn't nearly as bad as straight up print-snatching. So yeah, stay far, far away from Dream of Lolita and other replica makers.
♔ Those are the major rules, but there are a few smaller, just as important ones to remember as well. Here they are!
6. White face paint and black or blue lipstick with Gothic (or any other style) is usually tacky. It's a look rarely pulled off well, even though He's in a visual kei band, though, so crazy makeup is part of the deal. The people who can pull this look off are usually goth as well as a gothic lolita. Again, beginners should stay away from the combo.
7. Random animal ears/tails in coords should be avoided. Petplay fetishwear such as always looks cheap and tacky, not to mention that it's FETISHwear (seriously, fetishy things should stay a million miles away from lolita). Sturdy, built-for-lolita ears like the ones used in Misako's cat-themed coord are much more tasteful. If the print has a cute animal in it, feel free to wear cat/rabbit/bear ears. If not, stay FAR, FAR away from the ears!! As far as tails go, they pretty much always look tacky as well, even when ( )and does them. And fursuiting and lolita should be kept far apart, unless the fursuit is specifically made for lolita ().
