Ask me a question! InCryptid knowledge party.

How did Istas get into the Lolita scene, and why did she decide to move to a big city?

Not Seanan, but you don't actually have to be part of the lolita scene to wear lolita, you just have to know about, like, and buy or make the clothes. Being part of a lolita community can be helpful (they can point good places to shop out to you, and warn you away from Milanoo, shitty replicas and costumes one step up from sex shop outfits) but all you have to really do to be a lolita is wear lolita clothes at least some of the time.

(I rarely wear lolita clothes to work because work, and I don't wear them to clean house in either, but they are my go-to dress up and look pretty/convention/party outfits.)

The biggest bar to doing lolita well isn't finding the community or tolerating human interaction. Unless you're a talented seamstress, the biggest bar to doing lolita well is MONEY. I own at least one $500 dress from Angelic Pretty (collab with manga artist Imai Kira). It is one of the stupidest financial decisions I've ever made given the time at which I bought it, and I don't regret it a bit.

It has bitchy cats gossiping at a Rococo tea party on it. And it's pink.

Most lolita dresses are around half that and you can get them secondhand or on sale if you're lucky, but by and large it's as bad a hobby as BJDs for your pocketbook if you want to buy brand.

Ah! See, I did not know any of that. I admit, though, that my line of work (animal science - starting my MS/PhD this fall) is not very conducive to wearing pretty clothes. I do like to get steampunked up when I have the chance, though (that is more DIY and fitting with my sewing/metalwork hobbies). I was just curious how Istas got into it, when she's the member of a very reclusive community and one wouldn't think that she'd've had much opportunity to see Lolita fashion if she lived a fairly isolated life.

There are a number of common ways people fall into lolita that you can do 100% on the internet if you choose:

1) anime fandom -- a lot of anime character designs are lolita inspired;
2) Japanese music fandom -- there's quite a bit of crossover between Japanese visual-kei music and punk/gothic lolita styles--the person who coined the term "elegant gothic lolita" and the main designer of Moi-Meme-Moitie was also a member of a band, Malice Mizer
3) fashion doll/BJD fandom -- even if you start with Barbies, there's Jenny and Licca from Japan and then BJDs and other more esoteric dolls and you're seeing lolita clothes, also Angelic Pretty (a lolita brand) collaborates with Pullip all the time.
4) the goth and steampunk scenes; there's quite a bit of overlap.
5) cosplay, especially anime cosplay--again, a lot of costume designs are inspired by lolita brands.

BTW, you needn't capitalise "lolita" when you're referring to the clothing style. When it's that book by Nabokov it's capitalised because it's a character's proper name; small-l lolita is normally used for clothes.

Lolita communities often argue against the association with anime because after a while, lolitas just hate to be asked "who they're dressed up as" and we want people to understand we're not cosplaying. But I think most people who get into lolita do have some fandom interest, usually a Japanese fandom interest, in their past, even if they have moved away from that.

So basically it's entirely possible that she was into lolita before she ever came to New York--she could've been hanging out on the internet and shopping online. A lot of lolita brand shops in Japan ship overseas and there are also forwarding services like Tenso.com. Of course now that she's in New York she can shop at Tokyo Rebel, which carries clothing by Angelic Pretty, Innocent World, Baby the Stars Shine Bright and other brands. (The only official brand shops in the USA are in San Francisco: Baby the Stars Shine Bright, h.Naoto, Alice and the Pirates, Angelic Pretty and Black Peace Now all have stores here. But Tokyo Rebel is an authorised reseller like Harajuku Hearts and MaruQ, two stores in SF that are not officially brand chains but sell Japanese brand name clothing.)

If you're ever in SF at any of the parties at Borderlands Books for Seanan's new releases and you see a lolita, it's almost certainly me. :) I am eventually supposed to do a full-on Istas cosplay but I'm not sure when that will happen.

H-uh! Neat! I did not know a lot about that. Do they make lolita outfits for erm....chestier women? I remember trying on a few outfits at A-Kon, where there were several booths (and lots of lolita panels, though I did not go to any), and they fit fine on the bottom but I could not get them to work with my 34F frame. Pity, as I saw a neat design for a lolita Starfleet outfit, and I would love to do something like that. Or my Trans Poly U cheerleader idea, which is sort of a mad science/steampunk lolita thing.

Re: parties, I won't be in SF for the next one, but I'm moving to Davis this fall, so I do plan on coming to SF when I have time, especially given that Seanan will have release parties within driving distance of where I'll be living! (and I'll be there for the next 5 years getting my doctorate). And an Istas cosplay would be neat! I would love to see pictures of that! None of the InCryptid characters particularly look like me. I could do a decent Dr. Abbey, though! (it'd be closer to my career, anyway) Or I could just franken together some beanie babies and be a random cryptozoologist (a fricken in my pocket, an Aeslin mouse on my hat....it would be cute. Maybe even a Garinna perched atop my shoulder! (I LOVE) Garinnas)

I'm an E cup (and a size 16) but sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I alter/remake things. :) Lolita clothes are usually made in just one size and occasionally go up to four sizes, but because they're made to fit a large variety of sizes, some of them are just stretchy enough. I do wear a minimiser bra with a lot of my stuff and I do need a very supportive bra to wear lolita (the girls are an issue, but less so when they're in the right place) but you can make it work.

And if you're making it yourself (as in lolita Starfleet, lolitastuck and other cosplay-lolita fusions) you can make it to fit you of course.

*nods* I might. OTOH, the idea of cosplaying as Dr. Abbey is really appealing now. She is one of my favorite mad scientists :3 Supportive bras for me usually aren't minimizing (I have dense breasts, so minimizer bras tend to hurt/make me feel like I can't breathe), but yeah, once the girls are in the right place, all is good. Thanks for all the information and advice! I've really learned a lot!