I admit, Lolita prints are my weakness. Some of them are so fantastic, that I want them on my dresses, on my wall, and even on my body!
Having said that, there are a lot of themes that keep being done over and over again, which while great in some ways (maybe you could get a Day Dream Carnival if you’ve missed out on the Sugary Carnival?), can get a bit repetitive, especially if what you’re after isn’t any of the popular themes for prints. Oh, another Alice in Wonderland thing? *Great!*
So in the spirit of the upcoming New Year, and with the hope that maybe some of those Lolita wishes of mine will come true, here are three prints that I personally would like to see more of.
Toys
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| Photo from Lolibrary.org |
I know that there were plenty of toy print dresses (even more if we include teddy bears in that category), but not for quite a while, and certainly not as many compared to, for example, chocolate prints. According to some the reason for that is that toy prints supposedly flopped in the West, as they were seen as too childish, but I find that hard to believe. I for one would welcome a toy print (or someone willing to sell me their AP
Toy March JSK, blouse, parka and mini-hat for cheap!) and I think this theme offers quite a lot of possibilities to explore. It doesn’t have to be cutesy plushies dancing around: dolls, rocking horses, building blocks or those blocks with letters, hoops, puzzles (Rubik cubes anyone? Or is that a bit too much?), traditional toys from various cultures – there’s just a handful. Not only that, these can be either sweet prints (pastel dolls having a tea party) or classic ones (Victorian children playing with hoops). Although I do admit that the dancing dressed up plushies and rocking horses appeal to me personally the most.
Animals other than cats, bunnies and deer
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| Photo from Pintrest.com |
Ok, I love cats, and probably will eventually own some kind of a cat-themed/printed Lolita piece (though admittedly I don’t like bunnies and bambis, and find them too cutesy for myself). But I have noticed a distinct lack of variety in animals amongst Lolita prints, which is all the more bewildering considering that those clothes come from Japan, a place with an enormous obsession with cute animals. Even as a vocal cat-lover and dog-disliker I wonder: where are all the puppies? IW sort of stopped that around 2009, Emily Temple Cute has two, and Baby has had one puppy print, albeit released twice. There is some poodle stuff, but there are more cute dogs than poodles (which in my opinion aren’t that cute at all – Bichon Frise puppies, on the other hand, are a real life disregarded inspiration for Lolita). But never mind dogs, where are all the other cute animals? I’d love to have something with an owl print, that would be great for both Classic and Sweet (maybe even for Gothic too). Mice don’t really exist in Lolita prints, despite the big Mickey Mouse craze in Japan. There are plenty of teddy bears, but what about the koala bears, world’s most adorable stoners, or the universally adored pandas? Fish or seahorses don’t really feature, unless it’s an indie brand doing an underwater themed series. There are so many unexplored possibilities that I feel even more strongly about my dislike of all things bunny and bambi within Lolita (though not enough to start disliking cat prints ^^”).
Studio Ghibli collaboration
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| Photo from Pintrest.com |
I have seen collaborations with Disney, I have seen collaborations with manga artists – but where is one of the world’s most famous studios for Japanese animation? Again, there’s plenty of stuff coming out of Studio Ghibli already that is globally considered cute and which is perfectly loliable, and yet I don’t see any announcements of an Angelic Pretty or IW does Totoro print or Baby/AatP featuring the characters from
Kiki’s Delivery Service. And that’s only two that seem to be the most popular in Japan, judging by how much stuff from those two you can get in Studio Ghibli stores. There’s so much that you could do with the little susuwatari from
Spirited Away or with the spirits from
Princess Mononoke – plus countless cameo-style or window prints with more romantic scenes from the films. Undoubtedly Totoros and Jiji (with or without Kiki) offer a lot more, both in terms of popular appeal and versatility (again, you could have any of them features on a Classic/Elegant print just as well as on an OTT Sweet), nonetheless a Lolita and Ghibli collaboration is definitely something that should happen.
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