"Is wearing lolita cultural appropriation?" The question has been brought up several times in discussions about lolita fashion, especially in the Western community. It's a concern that can be taken from multiple angles: Are non-Japanese people wearing lolita appropriating the fashion because it originated in Japan, and largely designed by and for Japanese women? Did Japanese women appropriate the fashions and cultures of Europe in the construction of lolita fashion and its subcultures? Is it alright for non-Japan or non-East Asian people to continue wearing the fashion?
In my opinion, these anxieties stem from the complicated nature of lolita's historical inspirations. While we commonly associate the fashion with the Rococo and Victorian eras, we seldom connect this to the fact that international trade, colonialism, and imperialism were a part of these histories. Many of the artistic and cultural touchstones that we now consider quintessentially "European", such as English gardens, afternoon tea, fine porcelain, floral wallpapers, and printed dresses - all of which are part of the inspiration behind lolita fashion and culture - were actually the products of both international trade and cultual appropriation between European powers and other nations. Without the rise in global trade, exploitation, and colonization, they wouldn't even exist.
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| Robe a la Francaise, sewn in England with Chinese silk, ca. 1735-1760, V&A Museum, London / Old Rose JSK, released 2014, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright |
Thinking about lolita fashion with this in mind complicates its historical and cultural inspiration, as well as the narratives of lolita simply being a "Japanese take on European fashions". It begs the question of what is "European", and, by extension, what is "Japanese"? As we start to piece together all of these different socio-historical contexts, using them to look beyond the surface of the fashion and the way that it has constructed its current sense of self, what is "lolita"?
This blog post will examine these questions through one of the most common motifs in lolita fashion: floral prints, often jokingly compared to "grandma's wallpaper" because of their strong associations with old-fashioned houses and interiors. It aims to explore the concepts of hybridity, mimicry, and cultural appropriation in the context of the fashion, looking beyond the essentialist categories of "East" and the "West". And while I don't think one post is going to be able to answer all of the questions posed in the introduction, I hope that it might inspire readers to reconsider how we view lolita's identity within the world of fashion -- and, by extension, how modern social and cultural identities have been constructed more generally.
