Ero and Old School: Forsaken Lolita Taxonomy

Last taxonomy post, I talked about themes, substyles, and lolita taxonomy, specifically with regards to nonsense-term 'bittersweet' and my beloved punk lolita. This post is about ero lolita and old school lolita, what categories they fall into, and how that might effect coordination of each. Like 'bittersweet',old school seems to be a term used primarily by anglophone lolitas. 

 

Ero Lolita

Ero lolita is highly contested due to its somewhat sexually-associated imagery and perceived ita potential. But what is it: a theme, a substyle, or just plain ita?  Personally, I believe that ero lolita may have started out as a group term for certain tendencies in punk and gothic, but has since grown into a theme that can apply to any substyle, with care. These gothic tendencies are reflected in early GLBs and Moi-même-Moitié collections. It is newbie unfriendly due to the difficulty of balancing lolita modesty with a slightly mature theme, but ero is not inherently ita, just difficult. When done well, ero lolita can be a stunning theme to incorporate into other styles.

Ero gothic coord (left) from street snap from GLB 02, July 2001

I think that part of ero's confusion and bad rap as a theme comes from the (reasonable) resistance against sexualization in lolita. Careful integration of ero elements like slightly exposed skin, fishnets, certain corsets, harnesses, and translucent fabrics can look excellent, but this integration requires a firm grasp of coordinate balance and an inherent sense of how much skin is too much for lolita. This isn't really something that can be easily taught via rules like standard color blocking or petticoat shapes: it has to develop from a person's own sensibilities. With that in mind, it's all too easy to accidentally oversexualize lolita, and with our constant battle against weird non-lolita perverts who want to sexualize lolita, ero as a theme becomes a battle few wish to fight. I'm probably never going to try ero unless someone else dresses me in it or the weather is unbearably hot; I just don't have the attitude for it. But if you do coordinate ero and balance the sensibilities of it with lolita, I support you!

Old School

This may be my hottest take yet in these posts, but old school lolita is neither a theme nor a substyle, just an era. 

Old school isn't a substyle because it's just what the other substyles looked like before about 2006. The black and white lacy coordinates that are usually just called old school are often just sweet in black. I honestly think that the lineage of gothic lolita is primarily gothic, only growing into lolita later, whereas sweet/classic styles seem to have been separate from the get go, growing more out of Olive Girl and Pink House styles: in other words, the substyles are were baked in before the idea of 'old school' was ever hatched. Occasionally, you may see sweet or classic referred to as gosurori or EGL, but I think that's more of an umbrella term than an assertion that brands like MILK are actually gothic. 

A sweet coord in Fruits Issue 36 (2000) 

Some lolitas use the term 'traditional lolita' to mean certain interpretations of old school styles, rather than old school, which means adhering to the exact same stylings as pre-2005 lolita. Here's Angel Bruises' excellently written post on that http://cynicalneoprincessism.blogspot.com/2018/04/traditional-lolita-vs-old-school-lolita.html. From what I can find, the idea of 'traditional lolita' in anglophone communities seems to stem primarily from this Kawaii Pateen video, in which Misako advertises the diversity of BTSSB/AATP designs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0izDSIrrus. I don't really see a point in creating a separate label for traditional lolita when old school-resembling lolita isn't a very common style anyway; nobody I know bothers to call things traditional lolita. 

Old school lolita also isn't a theme. For every thematic 'rule' that can be thought up (no printed chiffon, torchon or eyelet lace, no border prints, no sack cuts, less poof) there's at least one shining counterexample. 

AP Fancy Ribbon Chiffon Skirt (2004) is printed chiffon

MMM's Original Lace OP (2003) featuring custom net lace

Meta's Window Print JSK (2003), a border print

Meta's 2001 Sailor OP with a sack cut

AP's Wave Frill JSK (2003) with lots of poof

Prescribing rules for old school is pointless for an experimental fashion, anyway. Creating these guidelines after the fact paves over the creativity that made lolita.

Finally, 'old schoolers' who identify as such are a little much for me. I wear old school lolita, but I don't see myself as an old schooler because I don't see wearing slightly older clothes as worthy of an identitfier. In fact, the zealous mimicry of people in street snaps (who are probably alive and online) feels a little weird: it's almost like adopting their youthful experiences as one's own. From what I hear, the old schooler phenomenon can also be little uncomfortable for older comm members, because it feels like their recent past is being enshrined into a historical narrative for reenactment's sake. I don't mean to demonize people who self-identify as old schoolers, but I do think these points are worth bringing up. Besides, there's more to someone's taste in coordinates than just the age of the pieces; maybe within old school someone likes the gothic cross motifs, or all the strawberry all-over prints, or the rich jewel-tone classic florals, or even the screenprinted punk camisoles. Limiting oneself to a time period alone via creating an identity label, rather than exploring the actual styles, just seems like a way for people to sell themselves and their unique taste short.

So, next time you tie your bonnet under your chin, wear a fully-shirred torchon lace OP, or drool over those haunted-looking original Usakumyas, enjoy yourself. Bask in the nostalgia! Even so, don't limit yourself to liking things only because of their age: like things only because you like them, not because they look like they fit with a time period.