Lolita Charm: The Ugly Duckling?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Ugly Duckling?

Spring is the in the air: I can tell from the fact I have to keep licking yellow sugar off my fingers as I inhale marshmallow chicks. Yellow little birds that vaguely resemble Metamorphose's new print: March of the Ducks.

Sounds epic, doesn't it? But so far it doesn't seem to have garnered high ratings from the international lolita crowd. A lot of girls are saying it's too young and too babyish, even for lolita. Nursery wallpaper, is one of the terms used to describe the little waterfowl - decorated by balloons, neckerchiefs, and inner tubes.

But I see a different taste to this piece - it just screams 50s retro to me.

Maybe it's because my mother has a deep attachment to her childhood decade, the 50s, or maybe it's because I sent vintage Valentines this year - but I am completely attracted to the new vintage idea of cute. Today's kawaii style is like Hello Kitty or Rilakuma - eyes set close to the mouth, generally with simple lines. If you look at old vintage cute, like from 50s lunchboxes, the idea was all about giant eyes, giant eyelashes, and round little bodies. Bright colors like red were popular, or even sunshine (should I say duckling?) yellow! I've gone through old antique shops and collected vintage Valentines and notecards, and that's the style - hugely caricatured. Sort of like Mickey Mouse, a little bit. The style of the Showa era in Japan is rather similar, as well.

The 50s is not a time period generally associated with lolita. When asked about lolita, most girls reply with an answer including the Victorian era or the Rococo period. But some of the lesser discussed influences are the Edwardian era, the Regency era, and yes, the 50s and 60s. When I first started dressing lolita, my aunts would ask if I was trying to look like the 50s. They remembered wearing petticoats - I think then they called them crinolines - to school, along with stockings and garters and the whole set. Berets, babydoll cut dresses, eyelet lace, polka dots, and poodles all take a bow to the 50s. And don't get me started on Mary Janes or saddle shoes! Sometimes lolita looks more like a sock hop than a night at Versailles. The reason I chose the below jumperskirt for the example is that it looks very retro!

Now I know that at first, there is a bit of an aversion to the 50s era - I didn't like the idea at first either, because of the '50s housewife' idea. I've read Betty Friedan, you know! ;) But those women did dress. Slouching around in sweats is not something they did. They put work into carefully waved pincurls every day. In a way, it was a kind of idealism. The 'American dream' is probably a leftover from the 50s, when everyone envisioned a car, supper on the table, and a new refrigerator. And lolita has hung onto some of that same idealism - perhaps you could say they are idealism, the way a woman is envisioned, just like a doll is an idealism of a human.

So I know that the ducks are not very popular - you may be shaking your head in wonder at my poor taste, at this very moment - but I think they are a style of an important facet of lolita life. I can just see this outfit with a white bonnet, little braids, and perhaps a picnic basket and red roller skates, from a time when the concept of 'Honey, I'm home!' was possible.

You can see different examples of historical eras of lolita influence here.

Labels: culture, discussion

7 Comments:

At April 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM , Caitlin said...: I think the ducks are really cute, I especially liked the print in all black, it really made the black/yellow combo pop, which is something you obviously rarely see in lolita.

I think that people need to realize that every era has an influence on everything. The whole momentum from the Marie Antoinette times to the present has influenced fashion and consequently lolita in some way. One could argue that the 80's was influential or the 1900's. I definitely see the similarities between the idealized way that the women of the 50's dressed and lolita, and mainly because I just watched Pleasantville. Good movie.

Cute post, really something to ponder.
At April 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM , Anonymous said...: I love these ducks ! It is so cute. I have lots of old fashion magazine from the 50's, with paterns, and a lot of dress makes me think of lolita, with all this poof :D !!
At April 12, 2009 at 7:47 PM , Violet LeBeaux said...: I love 50's style so much. I have always found it to have inspired Lolita fashion quite a bit. Meta in particular has so many retro inspired prints, the marching ducks are just the latest in a long line! I loved their poodle series so much :D
At April 13, 2009 at 3:32 AM , Anonymous said...: well, the duck print reminds me a lot of IW poodle!!! I also love vintage and retro stuff, met amakes a lot of dresses in this style
At April 13, 2009 at 1:25 PM , Yajaira said...: Don't snub the ducklings they are one of the cutest animal out there and definitely cute on this dress.
At April 20, 2009 at 2:06 PM , Anonymous said...: I'm so late to this post. =____=;; Forgive me for that.

Retrololi is one of my favourite loli themes, actually. I'm sad that it isn't more popular, because it is really adorable (and more accessible, both in terms of acceptance and in finding pieces/patterns/fabrics to use). I personally love the Duck print, but I also love all of Meta's retro outfits. In fact, they seem to put out the most of my two favourite themes - retro and sailor (which are also inseperable, really, because anything sailor is bound to look retro to some extent), and I think that people look too often at some of their more wtf pieces than the really creative, interesting things they put out. Ah well, that just makes it cheaper on the sale comm, right? (I still haven't broken down and bought my dream dress yet, which is their Apple Print...)

Then again, when I'm not wearing loli, I'm always in something somehow retro inspired. I can be seen in anything from a '50s housewife skirt and heels to a '60s box-cut dress and GoGo boots, so I'm rather biased toward that era to begin with. xD;;

I'm glad that there is more love for Meta's retro clothes out there!
At May 11, 2009 at 5:10 PM , Anonymous said...: I like the ducks too and so do others since this collection's reserves sold out.

(Sorry I hadn't said before; I usually don't say much since I can be a bit nervous.)

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Ugly Duckling?

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