Saturday, June 11, 2011

Not a Good Fit? Excuse Me?

Some time ago, I was told that Lolita was "not a good fit" for me. My reaction? Excuse me? What do you mean "not a good fit?" They proceeded to tell me in the most carefully chosen words that my breasts were too large to fit properly into the fashion and that this was throwing off the proportions. Needless to say, this is absurd. I believe that anyone should be able to wear Lolita fashion, regardless of their size. There is always an option. I wanted to write a blog post about this awhile ago, but I had forgotten to. A friend asked me about options for people who are taller than the average female that want to get into Lolita, and that prompted me to write this article.

Plus Sized Princess
I kind of hate that term for Lolitas who are curvier. Lolita is a Japanese street fashion, and as a result, Japanese brands are made to fit Japanese girls in standard Japanese sizes. Unfortunately, some of us are not this size. In the last few years, Japanese brands have met the demand for different sizes by offering actual sizing options, not one size only. Still, some of us can't fit into the most forgiving of brand pieces. Does that mean you have to give up? Absolutely not. There are plenty of options! Bodyline offers many of their dresses and blouses in sizes up to 4L. Fan+Friend can make a piece to order, you send them your measurements and they make it to that size. However, I have never ordered from Fan+Friend and so I can't say for sure about how accurately they size things. There are also plenty of amateur and professional seamstresses willing to make pieces to order, as well as make pieces of your own design. But that's for another day. There is also an increasing number of replica items that are made to look like popular brand pieces. I'm not saying that I support them or anything, I'm just saying that that is also an option. Finally there's also the option of altering brand pieces to fit. Unless you are an experienced alterations person, I don't recommend doing this by yourself. There's a great community for all this information and so much more, EGL_Plus.

Too Tall?
I don't have this issue in the slightest, so I have far fewer suggestions. Many of the above apply for extra tall people too. Many brands and off-brands have started offering T (for Tall) sizes. This means that the skirt portion is extra long, as far as I understand it. You can also use solid colored underskirts to give you another inch or two at the hem line. These can either be handmade or from a regular shop. Since they're under the regular dress, it doesn't matter much about the design. The peeking bloomers look is also alright, though rarely done right. Other than that, I don't have much advice for tall people.

Remember to be yourself and never to let someone else tell you what you can and cannot be. My own family has told me that lolita makes me look fat before, but I just can't let that get to me. The style is too important to me to allow for other people to influence my choices. As long as you wear things that are comfortable and you like them, that's all that really matters in my book. On a more general note, someone at a con came up to my friend Jen and I after our panel and told us "I really liked the panel! I know I'm not wearing the best of dresses, but I really like it. Now I won't look stupid calling it lolita when it isn't." This is kind of what I'm talking about in a broad sense. Thank you for reading, I hope to be announcing a new giveaway soon!

2 comments:

  1. The sad thing for me is, i've got extra tummy for the lovin' AND i'm super tall D:

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  2. Thank you for such a wonderful post! It's really inspiring for me, and I won't give up Lolita either just because of my bra size. :=

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