My Guide to Surviving WINTER in Lolita Fashion 

I’d say the term lolita is specific to those who wear it or are at least attempting to wear it. (And chopping up an old bed sheet & thrifting a lolitable blouse to me counts, the bar isn’t as high as some might think) If you just take inspiration or haven’t made a jump yet due to price or courage, I’d say the “proper” term would be j-fashion enthusiast (or something to that effect) or lolita fan. If you’re really planning on becoming a lolita I could see you referring to yourself something like prelolita or prelita. You can also totally wear lolita inspired outfits and refer to it as lolita inspired or maybe even as kawaii fashion. If you have some pieces but not enough for a whole coord, I believe back in the Live Journal days they called mixing lolita items in nonlolita outfits “a la mode,” so you can use that too. For what it’s worth, I just want to say I 100% understand where you are coming from. It’s weird to be in a liminal space where you engage so much in a community but you haven’t technically made the leap to be in it. I myself personally struggle on whether or not I count as a Lolita even though I have both indie and big name brand items because of my unusual styling and not wearing it a majority of the time. (Not to mention a big use of non brand items that a classic and sweet would probobly argue on whether or not it actually is lolitable, as different sub styles have different standards) Because of this, I totally get self conscious when all my (nonlolita) friends refer to my outfits as Lolita because I’m worried the Lolita police arrest me for high treason for giving people the “wrong” idea of what Lolita is. My advice is honestly don’t worry about marking yourself with labels so much. It’s not the most important thing in the world, and if you really need something to describe your inner self to others- just describe what you love about lolita. It explains a lot more about you than any other terms could. -Sincerely, your local classic(?) Lolita(?) 💜✨⚰️✨☂️ (P.S. -If at some point some people think you fit the criteria of lolita, then that’s great. But don’t forget where lolita comes from. There’s a lot of old school that modern Lolita look at as “”nonlolita”” today, so really, really, don’t worry too much about it.)

Blagh RU-vid isn’t letting me edit my comment I just wanted to add that it’s also very weird because the price of a lot of lolita leads to people being “into” lolita for longer than “being” lolita, so you definitely aren’t alone💜 Okay I’m done with my essay/soapbox now haha