lundi 3 août 2015

Being a beginner in Lolita Fashion in 2015

  It is no secret that Lolita Fashion has evolved a lot in those past years and now is quite different from what it was on its first years of existence - And not only clothing evolved, but also the people wearing it ! Each Lolita is unique, each one of us has different origins, beliefs, interests... And we are reunited around this one passion : Lolita.
I discovered Lolita and started loving it in 2009/2010, and started wearing it in 2010 : however, LOTS have changed since then. This is 5 years back, when Livejournal and Lolita forums were fully alive. Nowadays those platforms are not much in use - Livejournal is just kept for the weekly Secrets and Valentines.
Being a beginner too is quite different from what it used to be before.



  First of all, I think being a beginner in 2015 is easier - not in ALL aspects of course, but still ; the fashion and community are much more easy to enter in/understand. Just by strolling on Facebook, you can find help groups such as Big Sisters of Lolita Fashion, or Lolita Fashion Mentoring ; Daily_Lolita has been "replaced" with Closet of Frills, there are new coords posted anytime, from anywhere. This way, you can spy on Lolita fashion with ease. Even Internet is a lot more resourceful than before with the new edition of the Lolita Guide on Tumblr and accounts such as Lolita-Tips. There is a lot more visibility and also, Lolita has been featured on the social medias quite a few times, contributing to a better knowledge about this fashion. It also helped some people discover it and getting an interest. You just have to type "Lolita fashion" in your Google search bar, and boom, there you are ! Tons of blogs, websites, articles, videos and vlogs, about Lolita fashion, so you can just sneak in, and get hundreds of infos about where to shop, how to shop, how to put a coord together ; and, if in doubt, log in your Facebook account, post a message on any help group and you'll get answers soon. A decade ago, I bet you wouldn't get the "Lolita" you wanted on Internet.

  Elder Lolitas also opened the path for a lot of things, starting by, as previously said, all the web resources and Lolita related blogs/articles, but also for buying clothes. Without them, we wouldn't have access to shopping services (for auction websites or japanese shops), nor would some websites ship overseas or get a shop outside of Japan. Lolita has just gained so much success that there are now shops in Europe and in the U.S.A !
Younger Lolitas are now also warned very quickly about some shady websites (not to quote the very infamous Milanoo...) and scammers.
  Most of the community shifted to Facebook too, abandoning other platforms. Lolita community has changed, links are made easier. To find your local community, once more, just type it on Facebook's search bar and you'll come across your local group; and for discussions and debates, you just have to join Rufflechat. There are huge meetings and Tea Parties organized everywhere, even brand TPs (BTSSB, AP or IW for instance).

  In short, discovering Lolita and entering it is made easier in 2015 - thanks to all the resources made by and for Lolitas on the Internet, and also thanks to how easy it now is to shop for Lolita.

  And you, what are your opinions on nowadays' beginners ? What do you think has changed since you begun the fashion, especially for the one entering/discovering it ?

LoliPocket