. ✿ . Tomoyo's Secret Garden . ✿ .: Lolita Blog Carnival! ~ Key Differences From When You First Started Lolita To Now!

Hello my pink sugar cubes! ~

I'm joining another Lolita Blog Carnival today! ^w^ I thought it would be a subject that is quite interesting to talk about since I've been a Lolita for quite a long time. ~

As stated into my intro, I started the fashion in late 2009, which means that I've been wearing it since around 8 years already! (Time goes by so fast!) I also want to say that my opinions about this subject are from my own perception from my local community and may not represent the Lolita community as a whole. ~

Key Differences From When You First Started Lolita To Now

The online community was mostly on Livejournal and on forums.

That is the biggest difference that really stand out to me! When I first discovered about the fashion, the worldwide Lolita community was mostly on the EGL Livejournal. People would reference it all the time for questions, reviews, new releases from brands, requests, etc... I used to take a look at it multiple times daily! :3 I also remember how the community from my province had their own Harajuku forum and we used mostly that to exchange about our love for Lolita fashion and other Harajuku fashions. Nowadays the worldwide community is mostly on facebook groups and my province community too, though my province is not nearly active anymore on the internet. ;w;

Lolita fashion was more of a daily style rather than "special occasion" clothes.

This is one of the main point I felt that changed a lot when I saw the fashion evolve through the years. I remember when I first started the fashion that I saw a lot of Lolitas wearing the fashion mostly everyday and it was just their usual daily style. I feel like back in the days it was seen more as a daily alternative fashion that it is now. ;w; Nowadays I feel like less people wear it as daily clothes as the outfits aren't as toned down and practical anymore, or it is very hard to do so with pieces that were released in the past years since they are less casual... People wear the fashion more for special occasions like meetups and conventions and it is sometimes seen as weird to wear it just to run errands on the daily. ^w^'' (Sadly for me!)

Lifestyle Lolita was an actual thing.

I know that when I first discovered about the fashion, it was the lifestyle that hooked me up! ^w^ It was very common to associate the fashion and the lifestyle and it wasn't seen as weird or special to be a lifestyle Lolita. Most of the Lolitas I knew would relate to the lifestyle aspects of the fashion at some point and would try their best to "Lolify" some aspects of their lives! I feel like nowadays it is harder to find ressources about the Lolita lifestyle and how it relates to the fashion. I knew I had a hard time to find ressources about when I did the research for my panel on Lolita fashion! XD; It seems like it is an aspect of the Lolita subculture that is slowly putted aside or is kind of ~mystical~ and forgotten now. ^w^''

OTT Sweet was the biggest trend.

OTT Sweet started about just as I started the fashion myself! ~ I must say that it is also one of the aspects that strongly hooked me up on the fashion! I would have dreams about the colourful, dreamy, sugary prints that was released at the time and it was making my heart pound so much! ^w^ Nowadays the fashion have moved more towards OTT Classic and more elegant pieces and darker colours. It is also harder for me to find new cute pastel pieces that I love since it isn't really the trend anymore. ;w;

Almost everyone had their own blog (or multiple ones).

This is a thing that I feel apply mostly to my local community maybe. XD; But back the days, everyone had a blog of their own and they would use it mostly as a daily journal to let their thoughts out and post their new outfits, what they bought, etc... I feel like it is something that also moved up to facebook or instagram nowadays as almost no one have a "daily blog" like this anymore. Most of the bloggers (like me!) have moved to a more professional and organized approach of their blogs and the posts are not as personal anymore.

Old-school Lolita wasn't called "old-school" yet.

What we call old-school Lolita nowadays was pretty much what wasn't very trendy anymore in the fashion back in the days. I joined the fashion in the era where rectangle headdresses and simple and plain non-print pieces were just getting out of trend (for OTT Sweet, apparently! XD). People would start to avoid these things like the plague and trade them for their love of busy prints. I remember that my first headpiece that I bought was a rectangle headdress and I was getting mixed vibes from people towards it. ^w^'' But now I know that it's the perfect accessory for my old-school coordinates. ~

Lolita meetups were more casual and less of an event.

This is something I felt evolved though the years, in my community at least. I remember that the few members from our province would just decided to hang out on a Saturday afternoon dressed in their frills at a café or downtown. The very first meetup I attended was planned literally only hours in advance and there was no event or activity that would happen per se, we would just hang out and take pictures. XD; I feel like nowadays the meetups are more formal, are planned quite a bit in advance and we would do an actual activity, not just hang out and chill. XD;

I hope you enjoyed this little return in time with me! ~ It surely brought back memories as I was writing it, I feel a little nostalgic now. ^w^''