lolita media library: Yuko Ueda's "A Lesson in Lolita" (from Lolita Fashion Fancier)

detail image of the first Lolita Fashion Fancier book cover | image source: Lolita History Gallery

Overview

This set of essays by Yuko Ueda was posted in 2009 on the English language website of Marui One, an online shopping marketplace for Japanese fashion.

About the author

Yuko Ueda (植田裕子) is a writer and editor born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1976. She is perhaps best known to the lolita community for her two books on the fashion, Lolita Fashion Fancier (ロリータ衣装道楽, 2005) and Lolita Fashion Fancier II: For Relax (ロリータ衣装道楽II For Relax, 2006). She also writes about music and women's lifestyle topics, and has translated the works of other authors into Japanese. She currently writes for a number of magazines, primarily Cure (self described as "a Japanesque rock and visual styling magazine") and Karada ni ii koto (a women's health magazine).

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Table of contents

Note that all links will open in a new tab or window.

• Lesson 01: Choosing your very first item 
• Lesson 02: How to choose colors 
• Lesson 03: On blouses
• Lesson 04: Accessories
• Lesson 05: On panniers
• Lesson 06: Summer Lolita style
• Lesson 07: A Lolita's day off
• Lesson 08: On skirts
• Lesson 09: Fashion ideas for fall
• Lesson 10: Fashion ideas for fall, part 2
• Lesson 11: Fall Outerwear
• Lesson 12: About drawers
• Lesson 13: About coats
• Lesson 14: About winter accessories
• Lesson 15: Special occasions and Lolita fashion
• Lesson 16: About motifs
• Lesson 17: Elegant Lolita fashion

Comments

The first thing that really struck me about these essays is their tone. This feels more approachable and less cringey than a lot of information about lolita fashion that was available in English in the mid-late 2000s, and I wish I had known of it back then. Rather than a prescriptive set of rigid rules to follow (or break at your own peril), right away it offers multiple routes to get started. I personally feel that a lot of the advice Ueda gives still holds up 10+ years later and is still applicable to people starting today, especially for those who want to wear sweet and classic styles. There are also good descriptions of some more advanced coordination techniques too, like examples of how a certain combination of items projects a certain overall feel or image in your coordinate.

Another thing I really enjoyed about it is describing how to carefully choose your items and build your wardrobe in a mindful way. I personally did not take the careful approach for two reasons: I just wanted to try everything I was attracted to and see if I liked it, and I get a lot of my items secondhand. If you see something you like secondhand, you have to make decisions quickly about whether to buy it because it might not be there in a few days or even hours.

However, I think there is merit in both routes. On one hand, after nearly 8 years in the fashion I'm finding what I feel most comfortable in is stuff I probably would have picked out early on if I'd sat down and thought carefully about what I like and think looks good on me. I've spent a lot more money and time than I might have if I thought more carefully about my purchases. But on the other hand, I am glad I tried all those other things I wasn't 100% sure about because now I know for absolutely sure that they are not for me. There are also some things that I unexpectedly liked (bonnets, for example) so I do think it's important to experiment. After all, isn't that a big part of the fun of wearing alternative clothing -- trying a new look?

I wondered how the information presented in these articles compares to the content of Ueda's two books. I have not read the entire book in Japanese, but it appears that the English articles linked above are shortened, less detailed versions of the text in the first book. The book additionally has lots of images to illustrate the different details the text describes, as well as additional sections that are not in the English articles like an explanation of lace and ribbon types, and sewing/decoration techniques used on lolita clothing. You can check out scans of the first book on the Lolita History gallery (link opens in new tab).

Favorite quotes

I've pulled a couple of my favorite quotes below on building a solid base to learn from, and a tip for coordinating that I found really helpful.

#1: If you understand the basics well, then you will better understand good ways to be creative with the fashion in ways that are still recognizable as lolita.

"For some of you, all of this may seem a bit trivial. You might even be saying, "This is fashion, there are no basics or rules, you just arrange the clothes however you like them!" And that is indeed a fair point. However, just as you cannot build a castle without a solid foundation underneath, truly imaginative arrangements cannot come about without considering some fundamental principles. The most wonderful fashions are those that are universal; styles that are seen time and time again and remain everlasting. These are the "basics" or "classics" of fashion. And knowing the basics can never be a disadvantage." 

#2: The importance of trying things out in person. Combinations of items that you think might look nice or layer nicely together in your head may end up looking really different in person (and may not actually go well together):

"When coordinating colors and fabrics, it is best to actually try the combinations out for yourself, rather than simply thinking about them. If you have a tailors bust that you can dress up with your coordinated outfit, that would be ideal, but simply laying out the outfit on your floor or bed can help you make sure that it all works together."

I will add that I've found sometimes the inverse is true too -- things you might not think would look good together may actually complement each other nicely once you see them next to one another.