As trends go people tend to lump "Gothic" and "Lolita" together as "GothLoli". Poor trendies, such a cold reception. Yet recently, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright made something of breakthrough in the Shimotsuma Story (Kamikaze Girls) in which the musician Pudding appears as a dedicated fashion victim. Active in music for ten years now, this one-time teen idol wannabe decided "It wasn't the thing for me" and left her production agency. Now deep into the indies scene, she keeps busy working four or five days a week at Baby in Aoyama. Pudding lives in this two-bedroom apartment with her hamster Poco, portraits of herself, a Beardsley poster, dolls, roses and angel knickknacks, all the necessities of the consummate Lolita lifestyle (the Kraftwerk records and song composing gear are nice musician touches, too). In her queen-size bedchamber, along with the many dolls she just can't part with, this impossibly huge yet tidily arranged inventory of Baby clothes. Lolita styles are frilly, which means lots of troublesome upkeep. Plenty of mending and button stitching, so her vexed sewing box bulged, while days off are given to ironing. That and "the dry cleaning bills are horrendous." We can imagine. So she scrapes and saves by cooking her own meals, sometimes foregoing lunch, just to pay the cleaners (sniff). And why does she like Baby so much? "The use of lace is tasteful, and the pieces are well-made. Orthodox, yet more honestly priced than Lolita brands." She's been a Baby-phile for six years now. She's worked at the boutique for three years, but hasn't tired of her 24/7 Baby immersion (nightwear included, naturally). Maybe once a month she wears "normal" clothes, but confesses "I really don't know what to buy or how to wear it." Dolling up in Lolita fashions all the time isn't so difficult, you just have to take care to wear black for rainy days and housecleaning. As Pudding tells it, "Lolita-ism isn't cosplay (costume play)"; Sunday-outing Lolitas are an inferior breed.
jacobvanloon
amandla
gummygunk
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