Hello, what do you think of the concept of substyles in Lolita? Where do they come from, and when does a "theme" become a "substyle"? I remember a time there being circus lolita, if I'm not wrong. How would this be more a theme than say, "religious lolita" (I'm thinking of many coords with J&J dresses for example), or even "OTT classical"? Shouldn't there also be such things as "mori lolita", "fairy lolita" or even "cult party lolita"?
So there really arenât any set in stone rules about this, a lot of it has to do with just how the fashion developed over time, but I have my own personal logic about it which you are free to take or leave as you choose.The way I see it, a substyle is something that can stand on itâs own without necessarily being a part of a bigger style and it takes itâs name from things other than a print. For example, Sailor Lolita has an obvious sailor themed look which usually has a sailor collar, Wa Lolita has obvious traditional Japanese elements in its styling, Hime Lolita is usually quite extravagant and almost always has accessories like a tiara or crown that tell you itâs a princess theme. These are substyles that are quite regularly seen, for one reason or another they stuck. Something like âcircus Lolitaâ is a bit less common but often times when you see this theme it revolves around a circus themed print. The same goes for religious themes that come from prints, they arenât really a substyle of the fashion, theyâre often just Classic Lolita dresses that just happen to incorporate that theme. (Although many people will say that âNun Lolitaâ is a thing but in that case it comes from the overall design of the dress.) OTT Styles arenât really their own sub-styles because you have OTT Sweet, OTT Classic, and OTT Gothic which are just off-shoots of the main categories. As for things that combine Lolita with another completely separate fashion I think it works better to refer to them as a theme because at the end of the day your goal is to make a Lolita coordinate, youâre just adding elements of this other fashion. Of course you can call them sub-styles if you want (I often use Steampunk Lolita for tagging purposes but in my mind itâs Lolita first but with a steampunk theme) but that sort of thing just ends up making sub-style lists and explanations long and messy.In my opinion, when all is said and done, it doesnât really matter what style or sub-style something is as long as it looks good. Theyâre just labels and as far as Iâm concerned their only important use is for tagging posts. If you want to tag your circus themed coord as circus Lolita by all means go ahead. Just because it isnât widely recognized as a sub-style doesnât mean itâs not a thing.
