Frills for Days! – The Top Lolita Fashion Brands and Where to Find Them

Introduction

If you’re like me (before doing the research to write this article), when you hear “Lolita Fashion,” you probably think of black and white maid dresses. While black and white maid dresses are a part of Lolita Fashion for sure, there’s so much more to it than that! 

Lolita came about in the late 1970s, although its exact origins are unknown. Classic Lolita draws inspiration from things like Victorian Rococo Fashion, Marie Antoinette, Alice in Wonderland, and the mid-70s manga series The Rose of Versailles. The frills, puffy dresses, ribbons, lace, it’s all seen as a reaction against the often stifling Japanese society, and a way for those who wear it to escape adulthood back into the fantasy world of childlike innocence and beauty.

In the 40-odd years since its inception, Lolita Fashion has expanded and diversified into a plethora of substyles, including gothic, punk, sailor, steam, cyber, country… the list goes on! Even men have gotten in on the trend, with Ouji-kei (“prince style”) fashion!

But enough background, let’s take a look at some of the top Japanese Lolita Fashion brands and where to find them!

Japan’s Top Lolita Fashion Brands

• Angelic Pretty (アンジェリックプリティ)

You can’t talk about Lolita without talking about Angelic Pretty. Founded in 1979 under its original name “Pretty,” it’s one of the original Lolita brands, becoming its current iteration in 2001. 

Angelic Pretty’s brand concept is:

Angelic Pretty provides adorable clothes covered in lace, frills, and ribbons like that of the fairytale princess you dreamed about as a little girl. We want girls to never lose sight of that dream and this is a brand for girls who want to keep that dream alive.

Angelic Pretty mostly focuses on Sweet Lolita (Lolita with a childlike look), but also produces a variety of other styles. They’re known for their vibrant fabrics and plethora of detailing.

To see more of their looks, check out Angelic Pretty on Twitter and Instagram.

• BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT (ベイビーザスターズシャインブライト)

BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT is another core brand in the Lolita Fashion world. A little younger than Angelic Pretty, BTSSB was founded in 1988, and is one of the few brands that still produces classic Old-School Lolita. They’re also well known for providing the wardrobe for one of the main characters in the 2004 movie Kamikaze Girls.

(Bet you can’t tell which character they provided the wardrobe for.)

BTSSB’s favorite motifs are pink roses, red strawberries, and their albino bear mascot, Usakumya.

To see more of their looks, check out BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT on Twitter and Instagram.

• ALICE and the PIRATES (アリスアンドザパイレーツ)

ALICE and the PIRATES is actually a sub-brand of BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT, created in 2004. They focus almost exclusively on pirate lolita (which they popularized), military lolita, and ouji fashion, featuring a more mature style with lots of black, navy blue, and other calm colors. They also produce clothes in a wider range of sizes than other brands, even including men’s sizes. They’re also well known for offering a wide variety of hair accessories.

To see more of their looks, check out ALICE and the PIRATES on Instagram!

• Innocent World (イノセントワールド)

Innocent World is a relatively recent brand with a single designer, Yumi Fujiwara.

Here’s their brand concept:

Innocent World’s designer, Yumi Fujiwara, has created a new brand of clothing inspired by classical European designs that embodies the ideals of elegance and cuteness but is suitable for young women of the modern era. 

The brand name Innocent World brings to mind a simple world without dirt or blemish. We made this name to reflect the pure and innocent hearts of young women everywhere, at any age.

Innocent World focuses on Classic Lolita with a slight Sweet Lolita twist. Many of their dresses are full length, down to the ankle, versus the knee length dresses of some of the other popular brands. This gives Innocent World a very elegant and refined look and feel.

To see more of their looks, check out Innocent World on Twitter and Instagram, and check out the personal Twitter of the designer, Yumi Fujiwara.

• metamorphose temps de fille (メタモルフォーゼタンドゥフィーユ)

Metamorphose temps de fille was founded in 1993, and is popular among girls in the Harajuku district of Tokyo. Their focus is on Classic Lolita, but they’re one of the few brands that also produces some of the harder to find styles, like Wa Lolita (lolita that pulls inspiration from traditional Japanese clothes), Qi Lolita (lolita that pulls inspiration from traditional Chinese clothes), and Steam Lolita.

They are also known for reprinting their own older designs and extending preorder periods, in order to make their clothes available to as many people as possible.

To see more of their looks, check out metamorphose temps de fille on Twitter and Instagram!

Popular Sites for Buying Lolita Fashion

Of course, you can always buy straight from the brand’s official sites, as linked above, but having more options is always better! Here are a few of the best places to search for lolita fashion.

• Closet Child
  • Brief Summary:
    • Closet Child has items from all of the lolita brands covered here, and more! They also have sections for other fashion styles, like gothic and punk.
  • PROS:
    • They have a standardized rating system for used item quality, so you know exactly what kind of used item you’re getting.
  • CONS:
    • The only con with this site is that newly-arrived items are marked as “NEW”, even if the item itself is actually used, so you have to check the item pages carefully!
  • Domestic Shipping:
    • Flat rate of 660 JPY to Osaka
• Wunderwelt
  • Brief Summary:
    • Wunderwelt deals in both used and new Lolita Fashion items, and has a staggering number of brands available, from every subgenre of Lolita you can think of.
  • PROS:
    • For the frugal-minded among us, they have sale sections for their used items on sale for 999 JPY, 1999 JPY, 2999 JPY, and 3999 JPY!
  • CONS:
    • They don’t have new items from all of the brands listed here, and the ones they DO have seem to sell out super quick.
  • Domestic Shipping:
    • Flat rate of 500 JPY to Osaka
• Belsel
  • Brief Summary:
    • Belsel is a smaller site that deals exclusively in new items, but doesn’t have all of the brands listed here.
  • PROS:
    • Belsel seems to have items in stock that the others may not. Check this site if you can’t quite find the item you want!
  • CONS:
    • Slightly more expensive domestic shipping
  • Domestic Shipping:
    • Flat rate of 770 JPY to Osaka
• Rakuma
  • Brief Summary:
    • Rakuma is a flea market site where anyone can make an account to sell their secondhand items. It’s a HUGELY popular place to sell used Lolita items!
  • PROS:
    • Item prices on Rakuma are generally cheaper than what you’d pay on a company site, and you might find rare or vintage items!
  • CONS:
    • As the sellers are all individual people, you can’t always predict the exact quality of the item you’re getting, or how long it may take for the item to make it to us.
  • Domestic Shipping:
    • Depends on each individual seller
• Yahoo! Auctions
  • Brief Summary:
    • Yahoo! Auctions lets you bid on items against other users. You can find new and used items from a huge variety of sellers. The items on Yahoo! Auctions are always changing, so there’s always something new to see!
  • PROS:
    • You can sometimes get some rare and expensive items for super cheap!
  • CONS:
    • Being an auction site, you may not always be able to get the items you want if you’re outbid.
  • Domestic Shipping:
    • Depends on each individual seller

Conclusion

The world of Lolita Fashion has become wide and diverse in its nearly 50 year history, offering something for almost everyone who’s interested! There are, of course, tons more brands and styles that we didn’t have the space to cover here in this article, so we encourage you to dive in and look around, and see if something catches your eye!

• If you aren’t sure how to bid on Yahoo! Auctions with DEJAPAN, be sure to check out our Tutorial Article!
• Not sure how to use the request form? We’ve got a Tutorial Article for that too!
• Have another question? Feel free to shoot us an email at contact@dejapan.com or leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!