Timetable of Lolita Classes

When I was putting together the Lolita Lifelong Learning collab for the Lolita Fashion YouTubers group on Facebook (which I have embedded at the bottom of you haven’t seen it and would like to), I got a little bit excited at one point imagining the possibility of having lolita fashion classes. Because hey, finishing schools for proper ladies were a thing once, so why not imagine something like that for lolita too for a bit of fun?

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Anyone who has ever been involved in actual curriculum planning will know that timetabling in real life is a bit of a chore. But since this is a completely made up school and scenario, I can go as realistic or not as I want. And whilst I absolutely can imagine Lolita Studies being a degree programme, I think for this one I do want to keep it more like a compulsory education timetable. Not necessarily all for newbies, just more school-like rather than university-like, you know - for the Aesthetic. For the sake of not splitting the hairs too much, this is mixing things at different levels or assuming that the timetable would stay the same and merely keep advancing as one progresses through the years. Otherwise I’d need to make an entire curriculum for all years in this hypothetical school and that stops being fun extremely quickly.

The Humanities

Lolita fashion lends itself beautifully to humanities. Many of us already engage with it without necessarily knowing this. Hence we could have history classes focusing on both the evolution of the fashion and on major events within the community, as well as broader coordinating classes. I would also like to include some etiquette classes because despite what real life lolita meetups are like, it could be fun to know some theory of that. Whilst the name would likely have to change, I simply don’t have a better one now, a lolita equivalent of a citizenship class could be a great one to add. On the one hand it would teach pupils how to interact properly in lolita spaces (both online and IRL), e.g. how to give/respond to concrit or how to engage with discussions. On the other hand, it would focus on the issues the lolita community faces, raising awareness of them and helping to build an inclusive community by instilling good habits. And it wouldn’t be a well-rounded lolita humanities curriculum without a media studies class to focus on the wide variety of both lolita-specific and lolita-adjacent media that we have, from films to printed media (books, manga and magazines), and finishing on community-created media.

The Sciences

Hard sciences may not be what one associates with lolita fashion, but this is a much nicer umbrella term for those more mathematically-inclined pursuits. Budgeting and practical mathematics is something that every lolita needs to maintain responsible spending habits. Event planning and hosting could also go under this, since despite encompassing a wide range of skills from the other subject areas it feels like something that can be distilled into formulas. Something around beauty and grooming, i.e. a hair and makeup class, also feels like a useful one given how often we see lolitas say they wish they were better at those. Pupils could practice on their own hair or on wigs, though since makeup isn’t compulsory for lolita those who choose not to wear any could instead focus on mastering their accessorising skills to make their various looks work well with their natural bare faces. Lastly, for hardcore lifestylers or simply as optional classes, we could have elements of biology through botany classes and maybe even a tea blending class. But those would definitely not be compulsory.

The Physical Activities

Because a well rounded lolita should engage her body as well as her mind and breaking up the academic pursuits with something physical can be good for both physical and mental health. Having said this, we are still talking about a lolita school with a lolita school uniform - no-one wants to be sweating in that, so we’re keeping things light. Hence PE would be about practicing posture (those exercises in balancing books on your head will come in useful for practicing keeping your hair accessories from falling) and maybe a bit of ballroom or old court dancing. And for those who prefer to not engage with the dancing - picturesque countryside walks. And maybe the occasional posing masterclass for everyone, but that would be best as small group workshops separated by substyle.

The Arts & Crafts

I believe that pupils should have a choice in that matter. Some might prefer cooking and baking tea party delights, whilst others would rather engage with jewellery making or embroidery. There could also be room for a photography class, to help with one’s coord shots, or a broader art class allowing those inclined towards drawing to hone their craft. The only one that I would keep compulsory is basic needlework and sewing, so that every lolita is able to do minor repairs on their clothing and keep them in good shape. Knowing how to sew on a button plus a couple of basic stitches really goes a long way.

The Final Timetable

It wouldn’t be much of a post about a timetable without the actual timetable, wouldn’t it? So here it is, as fancy as I could make it, all based on what I’d say is a fairly standard secondary school timetable (or at least what I remember of mine).

Click to enlarge.

My main points behind this are that coordinating, budgeting, lolita history and citizenship would be far more important as those are things that everyone needs in this fashion. Event organising, as good as it is to know, isn’t something that everyone will need equally, same with beauty and grooming, so those feature less. And I took physical education, arts & crafts, and media studies to be the “easy” subjects, the ones that won’t be so taxing and can help break up those more intensive subjects and offer a breather space. Also, based on my own preferences, the most intensive classes absolutely have to be either first thing in the morning or straight after lunch, when energy levels are at their highest post-meals, with an easier start to Monday and an easier finish to Friday. Oh, and P.E. absolutely cannot be in the middle of the day because no-one wants the hassle of having to change twice in between classes. Lastly, since optional modules aren’t required of everyone, they have to be at the end of the day, so that only those taking them need to stay behind. Which I would like to think are all very considerate points, I know first hand that timetabling in real schools isn’t always done this way due to staffing, but this is the benefit of having a fictional school to work with!

As mentioned in the beginning, this post is brought to you thanks to an excess of creative energy following the Lolita Lifelong Learning collab. My video for it is below and the playlist with videos from everyone participating can be found in the video description.

What sort of classes would you want to see in such a Finishing School for Lolitas? And if you’re one of those people who have resumed their education this September - all the best of luck!