Disclaimer: Before I start, let me just say that I cosplayed once, and am a part time lolita. I said part time, because I only dress up in Lolita fashion attires for anime/cosplay conventions, and personal Lolita/cosplay gatherings or private photoshoot sessions.
And okay, I'm more into ero loli, or as what some Lolita fans would call, ita loli because I prefer my skirt to be short (a few inches above my knees) compared to the more conservative knee-length/below knee length lolita dresses/skirts.
Well, unless I get a proper lolita dress from FanPlusFriend or some other branded Lolita online shops, (which costs over RM300 for a dress wtf) I can't really find a decent knee-length dress here in Malaysia... But still, I try to observe and follow the true Lolita fashion.
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I've been wanting to write on this topic after reading WayeYoung and Kel-v-en's blog post regarding the Lala culture. It's not that I'm pissed off with them condemning this culture, whom many consider as a way of life (unfortunately...). I don't mind people flaming the Lala culture at all. In fact, I myself hate it too.
The mismatch stockings and accessories, "rojak" apparels with neon colours, excessive hair styles, colours and hair extensions, eyes opened as big as possible, the list goes on. You should know how they look like without me posting pictures up. You can see plenty of them in Sg Wang and Time Square. Or if you're lazy, just check out the 2 blogs I posted above!
However, I noticed that there were many misunderstandings in the 2 blog post that I mentioned above and I feel that it is necessary to clarify it.
Firstly, Lala is a culture, not a fashion and is not to be confused with Lolita and Punk. I shall not talk about punk/visual kei, seeing as how I'm not a fan of it and hence my knowledge regarding it is very minimal.
Guys in Punk, girls in Lolita. By the looks of it, they're outside of a convention center = they're dressed up to attend a cosplay/anime convention. Nothing lala-ish about them, if you ask me. Well, unless they're at the mall, then it'll be a different story.
Now, Lolita had always been a classic fashion style. It originated in the Victorian era, but was popularized in Japan. The classical lolita followed the Victorian style closely, with the clothes involving laces, ruffles, frills, with knee-length skirts worn over bloomers or petticoats.
Victorian-style dress
A classic lolita dress. (which is also my dream dress. Sighhhhhh...bo lui!)
There is a fine line between punk and rojak style, which many Chinese Malaysians tend to mix it up. They end up looking like a messed up child, looking lost, emo, and pathetic.
On to my second point, please do not confuse Lala with COSPLAY. =.= If you are not exposed to the world of anime and manga, just take note that cosplay stands for costume play. It simply means people dressing up as a charactor from an anime or series.
Being anime averse is no reason for you to mix up a Vampire Knight group cosplay picture with a group of lala peepz. And in case you're new to this, no, cosplayers DO NOT WEAR THEIR COSTUMES OUT TO PUBLIC JUST FOR THE F*CKING FUN OF IT.
A Vampire Knight group cosplay.
The above picture is taken from Kel-v-an's blog. Well, from the looks of it, it's a group of cosplayers having a private photoshoot session. The picture came out pretty well too, I might say. (no I don't know the people in the picture. I'm just saying it based on my experience) And as if it isn't obvious enough, the bottom right of the picture had already stated "Vampire Knight". *smacks hand to head*
From a normal person's point of view, cosplayers might be nerds who not have a life. From an anime lover and cosplayer/lolita point of view, you taking a cosplay picture and mistaken it as a group of lala people posing in front of a building is just downright sad, stupid and ignorant in many, many levels.
And before anyone of you start flaming me regarding this matter, go study briefly about what the heck is cosplay. It'll save me lots of time explaining the concept and prevent me from giving you any "DUH"/"OMG noob =.=" responses.
As for WayeYoung's blog post, he pretty much PWNED the lala and ahbengs. Also, being somewhat sexist (well, judging from the number of posts degrading women and so on, I just can't help thinking that way), he pretty much proved that men are clueless when it comes to fashion. No misconceptions here, though his descriptions of ahbengs are somewhat on the borderline of punks.
Oh, and Lolita and punks are very particular with their cloth quality. No shiny/silky materials, no cheap laces, etc. After all, a lolita dress usually costs around USD150 and above. Comparing it with the cloths that lala and ahbeng's wear, THAT'S NOT VERY CHEAP NOW, IS IT?
Now you see why Lolita and cosplayers do not like to be mistaken as a lala/ahbeng?
So before you start writing something which you are unfamiliar with, do some research. It prevents you from looking dumb.
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