Is saving out of fashion?

As the old person that I am, I still have my music on an iPod. And recently, when I put all of the songs on there on shuffle, MC Melod￥ Doll’s iconic Buy Mo' Brand came on. The song’s opening verse, combined with a few of the more recent discussions within the lolita community (both on big forums like Rufflechat and smaller, private ones), got me thinking: is lolita fashion so accessible now that we no longer need to save up for it?

Photo by maitree rimthong on Pexels.com

For anyone unfamiliar with the song or who’s simply forgotten the lyrics, allow me to refresh your memory on the opening verse:

I’ve been working lousy jobs since I was just fourteen
Working conditions that would make a loli scream
Why do I do it? You gotta understand
A gothic lolita needs to buy mo brand
Summer jobs in the kitchen was a hundred degrees
When the working day was over I was covered in grease
I saved up all my money, nearly broke my back
And then I could afford my first lucky pack

Back in 2013 when this song was released, this was the reality for many lolitas. We were young – teenagers or students – with little disposable income and the fashion was accessible only from Japan at brand prices (God bless Meta, but still not everyone could afford that) or from second hand sales that may also not have been in our own countries. The low cost option was predominantly Bodyline, which was still mostly frowned upon, and not everyone had the skills to make things by hand (never mind all the stuff that makes good handmade stuff good, which also adds to the costs). Because of this, everyone within the community had accepted that in order to wear the fashion, saving up was a necessary evil. But more than just a necessary evil, the very act of saving up reminded people of what lolita fashion ultimately is: completely unnecessary luxury that was an investment in something of good quality, as well as a look that tickled our fancy with its over the top nature.

Fast forward to now. On the one hand, lolita fashion is the most accessible that it’s ever been and continues to grow more so. Despite the challenging economic climate right now, in 2023, we have options for diverse budgets, body sizes, in a range of locations, catering to pretty much every look imaginable. Even our second hand market is so full that unless you are selling at very low prices or selling something highly desirable, listings on Lacemarket and other sites simply sit there waiting because buyers do have more alternatives to choose from. On the other hand, looking at things in a bigger perspective, in 2023 we have entire generations of consumers who do not know what buying clothes was like in the pre-fast fashion boom. Online shopping started to take off by around mid-1990s and only kept growing to th point where now it’s the people who do not shop for clothing onlinewho  are in the minority. If the lolita fashion second hand market is oversaturated – multiply that by at least 100 to get a sense of the scale of how much clothing exists globally right now. Whatever garment you can imagine, there will be someone out there producing and selling its cheaper knock-off version that dozens of people will buy before getting rid of it (to a charity shop in the best case scenario – into the bin and then landfills or oceans at worst).

A £175 JSK vs a £75 JSK. And those are just two of the quite popular options and without digging too much.

The combined effect of those global changes within the fashion industry on our niche subculture is that younger lolitas do not treat the fashion in the same way. Where obtaining frills in 2013 or 2003 felt earned, being a result of hard work to first get the funds and then find a way to buy something, obtaining frills in 2023 is more a matter of a few clicks. Unless you want a specific design that is priced just like we are used to pricing lolita fashion from its inception, unless you pay attention to the quality of your clothing and at least try to care about it not coming from a sweatshop, there are scores of newer lolitas who get attracted to the look, find something like it on SheIn and don’t even think about the cost because everything on SheIn is purposefully designed to be cheap, so that you don’t spend so much on one order that you then cannot afford another. I don’t personally know anyone affluent enough to be able to do that by shopping directly with lolita fashion brands.

And recently there have been a few posts where well-meaning people tried to point out that a JSK bought from SheIn that someone had shared on Closet of Frills or other social media is problematic on all kinds of levels and ultimately had to give up. Any of the valid arguments put forward: about the unethical practices at SheIn factories, about the lower quality translating into lesser durability, dispelling the myths about unaffordable or size restrictive brand(s) – all of those were met with a defensive huff from the OP because they have a right to shop wherever they want and why should anyone deny them that. Which rather than a callout for that particular person is a wider observation of what a lot of younger, newer lolitas have been doing and how they’ve been thinking. They grew up with large clothing hauls: from Primark, from ASOS, from Amazon, from SheIn, being a normal part of shopping for clothes. They reached teenage years at a time when one social media platform replaced another as a vehicle for spreading new interesting looks and trends that were then immediately available at the click of a button. When someone has never experienced the barriers that lolitas from even 10 years ago had and when they prioritise that personal dose of serotonin over attempting to navigate an unethical global economy and society with a bit of conscience, there is no argument that can be presented to them that would make them change. Those people have to either learn their lesson or those well-meaning commenters need to realise that they’re commenting more for the sake of the anonymous readers of the comments rather than the OP who will not change their mind.

This phenomenon isn't limited to lolita fashion, it happens within every style that you can name. But those fashion styles reliant on small designers and that grew big thanks to small designers are impacted by it more than mainstream fashion styles cycling back - although they also have a smaller impact than those.
Image from NextMSC

Now, on a personal level, despite what my day-to-day grumbling at work might suggest, I actually have a lot of faith and hope in the younger generations of people. Having worked with 16-to-18-year-olds for a while and seeing the occasional flash of what good the TikTok youths can get up to when they put their minds to it, I’ve seen enough evidence that not every young person out there is this selfish or this hedonistic. Moreover, whilst lolita fashion is the most accessible that it’s ever been in terms of purchasing, we’re also at a time when it’s never been easier to find out more about it to guide any beginners into this world, which includes plenty of great resources. I have personally met people who were mentored by friends on Discord and showed up to their first meetup looking as if they’ve had a few years of coordinating under their belt. Contrary to what social media may make you believe, diligent and conscientious newbies to lolita fashion are out there, they’re pretty numerous – and yes, they are saving up just like the rest of us did back then.

Remember the times when a lucky pack set really could be someone's first complete outfit at a discounted price?

Lolita fashion will continue to appeal the most to young people, both because it looks quite youthful and because this eye-catching style does well with the algorithms on social media, of which young people are the most numerous users. And what hasn’t changed much over the last few decades is that young people do not have a lot of disposable income available to them. People have and are saving up their money however they can – gifts for special occasions and part-time jobs – and then buying whatever it is that tickles their fancy. But whereas MC Melod￥ Doll in 2013 was saving up for a lucky pack to get that first coord in one go for that big ￥31.5k Candy Sprinkle set, in 2023 that kind of money can get someone an even fuller coordinate from a cheaper retailer (like a Taobao reseller or someone making things custom like Glitter Tale). In other words: because lolita fashion has more affordable options nowadays, people don’t need to save up for as long as they used to 10 years ago in order to join the fashion. And because saving up for frills has always been the norm for us, the newbies who continue to do just that aren’t as visible on social media – unlike those who choose to shop with companies that try to gaslight the world into believing that a knitted sweater can reasonably cost $2.