Lolita fashion is not a widely known fashion style outside of Japan so it is unknown to many. Lolita fashion is one of the more well known subcultures of Japanese street compare to many others. Many people questions “does this fashion have anything to do with the book Lolita?” The answer is no, the Lolita fashion style does not have any relations to the book Lolita. Lolita fashion originated in the Harajuku district of Tokyo during 1980s and is a style heavily inspired by the French Rococo style and other eras during the 1950s. The overall looks of a Lolita is puffy dresses that are knee length with lace and frills, many girls wear head accessories such as bows, top hats and headdress. The popularity was relatively low until some brands arise in the late 1980s to early 1990s. From there on, this fashion style has given birth to many smaller sub-genres with three main genres: sweet Lolita, gothic Lolita, and classic Lolita. Lolita is one of the more extreme looking fashions, it stands out very much as to compare to any normal styles so many fans wear it during weekend and concerts while some treat it as a lifestyle. This fashion is generally aimed for young women who are in their mid teens to early adult hood.

Expression to this culture is one of the main problems in real life but in the world of web, they feel a lot more comfortable talking about it. In a given scenario, you randomly walked down the street and saw one of your friends who are friends with these Lolita girls and you are introduced to them, your first impression of them will probably be somewhere along the lines of “are these girls crazy?”. In the questionnaire, some girls discussed how their online experiences are different than in real life, here is what one of them said “In real life I feel slightly embarrassed to dress up in lolita clothing because very few people I know in real life are into it and know what it is. I feel much more comfortable with discussing it online in similar interest groups like the EGL community.” (Agnes Lee, 2008). As Gauntlett states “Since participants cannot see each other…there is considerable scope for people to reveal secrets, discuss problems, or even enact while ‘identities’ which they would never do in the real world, not even with their closest friends.” (Gauntlett, 17)