Don't confuse Cosplay with Lolita

As I mentioned from my first post that many people confuse Lolita fashion as cosplay or they can even confuse goth fashion as cosplay. However in my previous post on Types of Cosplayers I mentioned they are a such thing as cosplay crossovers but that is only when you would call it cosplay.

Here is an example of a girl in Lolita fashion. Feel free to read this wiki article on what is Lolita fashion if you want to know more about it.



From the wiki article Lolita fashion is described as;

is a fashion subculture originating in Japan that is based on Victorian clothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period.[1] The Lolita look is primarily one of modesty with a focus on quality in both material and manufacture of garments.

Lolita fashion is gradually getting popular in Ireland thanks to the group EireEGL which I am a member of and they are trying to create awareness of lolita fashion in Ireland. I am not going to go more into detail on Lolita fashion as this is a cosplay blog but the point of this entry is basically Lolita is a FASHION and cosplay is a COSTUME, that is the main difference.

Now I can understand why people who are new to cosplay and new to the convention scene confuse lolita with cosplay because they are many anime characters that dress in lolita examples;

Chi from the Clamp manga Chobits. if you look at this image of her you will see that her dress really resembles lolita fashion being pretty, elegant and somewhat Victorian looking. I remember when I first got into reading mangas back in 2005, Chobits was my first. It was Chi's pretty dresses that got me into Lolita because after reading this manga, I wanted to look up more of this fashion and that was how I got into Lolita.



Also in the anime Rozen Maiden, the characters tend to dress in Lolita fashion.



These characters dress in Lolita because the artist likes the fashion style but it doesn't necessary make everyone you see who dresses the same as these characters be cosplaying. People may also get confused because especially here in Ireland the fashion style is very different, out of place and the outfits do look very similar to what you see in anime so people think they are costumes when they are not, these outfits are actually dresses.

People who dress lolita everyday and see lolita as a big part of their life can get offended when at a convention or on the street when someone approaches them and asked them who are their cosplaying as. In fact a good few people who are into lolita fashion aren't even into anime and don't attend anime conventions. Sure think how annoying it would be if you dressed in a specific style everyday and you always had people approach you asking is your outfit a costume, are you part of a play?

So the next time when at a convention and if you see a girl in a pretty, elegant dress think twice before you go up to them asking who are they cosplaying as or unless you do recognise them cosplaying as a character. I also wanted to add, I hope this entry didn't come across as preacher or elitist, if anything I despise elitism and the whole thing of being superior. This entry was in respect to the Lolita community and hoping to educate people so there will be no misunderstandings. I hope you found this a helpful read. :)