Scary Post: Am I a Perma-Ita?

Ita, for lolitas, is a word laden with fear, making it perfect for the spooky season! As most lolitas know, ita comes from both the second half of the word lolita and the Japanese exclamation "itai", meaning "ouch"! Accordingly, lolitas use the term ita to describe coordinates so ugly that they find them painful; it's generally expected that a new lolita will have a brief ita phase before they grow into their coordination skills. The idea of being bad at a fashion is a complex topic, so I will probably expand on the idea of ita-ness through more posts.

Several mutations of this term have developed in the English-speaking community, including perma-ita, or permanent ita. As the name implies, a perma-ita begins with an ita phase but never grows out of it. I don't claim to be perfect, despite my comedic self-aggrandizement. But, horror of horrors, am I stuck being an ita? I can't really judge my own bad taste, but I will definitely try.

'Adult Creepy Doll Costume' from Spirit Halloween, or a perfect ita

There are three main components to every outfit: the items themselves, the coordination between them, and the person wearing them. It takes a really repulsive person to consider a person, rather than their styling and makeup, ugly enough to be ita, so I'll focus on the outfits for my self-examination. 

My lolita wardrobe, unlike the Spirit Halloween piece above, consists mostly of high-quality lolita-specific pieces from well-known brands like Innocent World and Metamorphose Temps de Fille, as well as items from lesser-known labels like Black Peace Now and Putumayo, and just a couple pieces from Bodyline and other affordable. Putumayo may be a point of contention for some-- as a punk lolita brand, they generally had shorter skirts and smaller silhouettes than brands oriented around other substyles. Still, the consistent high quality of materials in the pieces I own means that, if fault exists, it is in me, not in them. 

As for coordination, I've been coordinating much the same way, with the same items, as I did when I began wearing lolita regularly back in 2015. A typical coordinate for me would be a black or white cutsew, black , headbow, striped socks, bracelets and rings, and plain Mary Janes. Is this coordinate ita? Perhaps to lolitas unfamiliar with punk styling, it might be, but this is normal, if not a little uninspired for a punk coordinate. However, perma-ita status, should such a thing be real, is dependent on lack of growth: although I still have these coordinates, they're not the only things I wear. In my coordinates over the past year, I've played with color (even including a shiro coord), texture, silhouette, and theme in a way that the past me who only owned black never could have imagined. 

With regards to the wearer, I'm no model for sure, but I'm never so visually objectionable as to cause pain, and I always wear eyeliner when I leave the house. Anyone who regards me (or others) as ita for inbuilt looks needs to log off.

I'm fallible for sure. Sometimes I fail to label my experimental coordinates as such, or I have an idea that doesn't hit, or I just have an off day. But am I a stagnant, constant bastion of ita-ness? I don't think so. I am not so much scared of being stuck in ita-ness half as much as I am of being mired in mundane boredom.

These arguments, of course, assume that the idea of ita-ness and stagnancy is valid to begin with. Obviously, there are some parts of ita coordinates that basically all lolitas can agree on: plasticky polyester fabrics, too-short skirts, blatantly clashing colors, ill-suited sandals, and visible dirt and stains don't really suit the lolita image. But the mere existence of arguments over what, exactly, might be ita reveals a central truth: beauty (and its corollary ugliness) is in the eye of the beholder. If one isn't hurt by seeing the outfit, is it really ita?

The outfit is only one part of ita-ness: that is, for a person themself to be ita, they must have a repeated pattern of ita outfits. The ita identity is one imposed only by others: itas consider themselves to be lolitas, and other lolitas declare certain lolitas who fail to meet certain criteria to be itas. As ita is a negative thing, it is rare that someone would actually identify as ita, though lolitas may (as I often have) wonder whether they look ita. Perma-ita, as a subset of ita, is also imposed by people, usually on the internet.

The idea of stagnancy is flawed as well. As living creatures, we are in a dynamic equilibrium with our environment, appearing stable but always changing. Morbid people might even say we die a little more every minute. On a basic level, then, a human cannot be stagnant. Stylistically, this is true as well-- even the same clothes worn in the same way will show signs of wear. Moreover, lolitas often change their wardrobe over time, even if their style stays the same. The ita lace-bedecked Bodyline separates of yesteryear have lost their beginner terrain to fast fashion mass-produced mini-length creations. Trends come in and out, with some contentious items like striped socks garnering alternate praise and criticism. How, then, can a perma-ita become permanent, when the world of lolita is not?

Not only am I a perma-ita, but nobody is truly a perma-ita. We all have capacity for growth and change; life is too short to be mired in labels assigned by online unknowns. As a whole, nobody should take a fake internet insult word seriously, much less with enough concern to write a blog post: just get out there, be frilly, and have fun!