Miss Lumpy and I have shared much of our lolita journey together. We started dressing about the same time; we met soon after. But my favorite memory of us? Watching Kamikaze Girls, frozen under a down comforter borrowed from our hotel, trying not to repeat all the words together as we sat in the Peace Plaze, SF, with a cup of green tea and a shared Japanese crepe between us.




For one, we identify with her lolita journey. We watch her blossom from an ordinary high schooler into a gorgeous sweet lifestyle lolita, swathed in her beaded bedroom and dreams of embroidery for Baby the Stars Shine Bright (she describes the process being similiar to being shot and then being reborn as a lolita). But more importantly, everyone can identify with her 'dark' side - the side that wants to be alone, the side that prefers to be a social misfit. The side that is selfish and gives herself her own happiness no matter what. As in the previous LC article 'Is Lolita Selfish?' we often cope with the fact that our frivolous hobby inconveniences the people we love either by money, our appearance, or our social constructs. Momoko embodies these things. And the viewer finds her to be endearing, perhaps not in spite of but because of these personality flaws. If we can see these flaws inside of us - the desire for only pretty things at any cost, to indulge in whatever we can to make ourselves happy and screw the rest, then perhaps we, like Momoko, can also find some modicum of redemption. I know there is disagreement on this topic, but I honestly believe that a desire to dress in lolita fashion is some innate, pyschological desire that we have yet to determine - not just 'clothes look pretty'. Many girls find the style cute, but don't want to dress in lolita - and still others aren't drawn to the style at all. Does our desire to dress in lolita clothes come from some kind of imaginary ideals about princess or ladylike purity, like Momoko's ideas of submerging herself in the fairytale-like world of Rococo and away from her broken home? Do we admire Momoko for her carefully built escape or for the fact that she had the courage to leave it?