Editor’s Note: This is a collection of research papers, essays, lolita history explanations and zine articles. It’s important to consider that some of these pieces are written by new lolita, others by veteran lolita and some are written by outsiders. This collection is presented without evaluation, and the material in the articles does not necessary reflect the opinions of the editors.
History
General / Early History
- Blue Letter Magazines
- [ 序 ] 青文字系雑誌は、夢と好奇心の扉だった (Intro: Blue letter magazines were the door to dreams)
- #1 90年代の雑誌『Zipper』とパチパチズ (90’s magazine Zipper & Pachi-Pachi)
- #2 『Zipper』的90年代原宿ファッションとは (“Zipper” 90’s Harajuku fashion)
- #3 『Zipper』のハンドメイドブームとはなんだったのか (The handmade boom of Zipper)
- #4 漫画『Paradise Kiss』が育んだZipper的美意識とは (The Zipper-like Aesthetic of Paradise Kiss)
- Tokyo Girl’s Update: The Kawaii 2.0 Theory
- 1. Finding Where “Cuteness” Currently Lies
- 2. What is the Exact Origin of “Kawaii”?
- 3. Kawaii Culture Didn’t Exist at the Beginning of the Modern Age?!
- 4. Consumerist Society and the Birth of “Kawaii” Culture
- 5. The Word “Kawaii” Becomes Just for Girls, to Re-affirm Their Girliness
- 6. The Magazine “Olive” Made Japanese Girls Aware of The Rare Value of Girlhood and Maidenhood
- 7. Just Who Exactly Was Momoe Yamaguchi, the Popular Idol Who “Sang” Realistic Stories About Everyday People?
- 8. Seiko Matsuda
- 9. MILK, Harajuku & Kawaii Culture
- 「かわいい」の帝国 (The Cute Empire) 2009 ISBN-13: 978-4791764860
- SHOICHI AOKI INTERIVEW (founder of Fruits Magazine)
- 平成ガールズサマリー・改/コギャルからインスタグラマーまで (Heisei Girls Summary / From Kogal to Instagrammer)
- I don’t want to say that it was good in the old days! The history and present of Harajuku fashion as seen from the Fashion in Japan exhibition
Lolita History Specifically
- Kawaii Ambassador Misako Aoki’s Lolita Lecture – The History of Lolita Fashion (2013) [Mirror]
- ロリータファッションクロニクル (Lolita Fashion Chronicle)
- FYeahLolita: Very Old School Lolita: The fashion in the 90’s, 80’s, and 70’s
- What Makes a Lolita Coord According to Kera in April of 1999
- Old School Lolita History and How To [Sea of Serenity] (Video)
- ロリータについての見解 (Opinions About Lolita) – Kato-San of Meta circa 2002)
- ロリータについての見解１
- ロリータについての見解２（原稿紛失・・・）
- ロリータについての見解３
- ロリータについての見解４
- ロリータについての見解５
- ロリータについての見解６
- ロリータについての見解７
- ロリータについての見解８
- ロリータについての見解９
- ａｂｏｕｔ ｌｏｌｉｔａ ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ
Other / Adjacent J Fashion Styles
- Let’s Talk About Milk (History of Milk)
- 大川ひとみ MILK/MILK BOY | それぞれの原宿物語 a long time ago in harajuku Vol.4 (History of MILK)
- Lolita History: ATSUKI ONISHI
- Current Trends: Pink House / Kaneko-Kei Influence on Lolita (2021)
- “Natural-Kei” History: Shocking Update: Natural Kei Style Doesn’t Exist (kind of)
- J fashion of the Last Decade: Cult Party kei and Dolly kei (video)
Western Lolita Community Specific
Life, Community & Culture
- Cuties in Japan (1995)
- Is Pink House Lolita? Japanese Lolita Respond In 2004
- Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion (2006)
- Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku Street Fashion – Tokyo (2007) ISBN-13: 978-0811857963
- Lolita Fashion and the Identities of the Youth of America and Japan (2008) [Mirror]
- Urban Princesses: Performance and “Women’s Language” in Japan’s Gothic/Lolita Subculture (2008)
- Undressing and Dressing Loli: A Search for the Identity of the Japanese Lolita (2008)
- Transcultural Flow of Demure Aesthetics: Examining Cultural Globalisation through Gothic & Lolita Fashion (2008) [PDF]
- The Role of the Internet in the Global Lolita Fashion Community (2010) [Mirror]
- Transnational Bricolage: Gothic Lolita and the Political Economy of Fashion (2009)
- Lolita: Dreaming, Despairing, Defying (2011) [PDF]
- From Gothic Lolita to Radiant Shaman: The Development of Mariko Mori’s Ethereal Personae (2011)
- Street Corner Angels and Internet Demons: Spectacular Visibility and the Transnational Gothic (2011) [PDF]
- Glamorising the Gothic (2011)
- “Lolita”: Imaginative Self and Elusive Consumption (2011)
- Girl Reading Girl in Japan (2011)
- Gender Bending in Anime,Manga, Visual Kei and Lolita Fashion. Representations from Portugal (2011) [PDF]
- The Lolita Complex: a Japanese fashion subculture and its paradoxes (2011)
- Girliness Next to Godliness: Lolita Fandom as Sacred Criminality in the Novels of Takemoto Novala (2011)
- The Transformation of Japanese Street Fashion between 2006 and 2011 (2012) [PDF]
- Habitual Difference in Fashion Behavior of Female College Students between Japan and Thailand (2012)
- Maiden’s Fashion As Eternal Becomings: Victorian Maidens and Sugar Sweet Cuties Donning Japanese Street Fashion in Japan and North America (2012)
- Fashioning Japanese Subcultures (2012) ISBN-13: 978-1847889478
- Lolita: Atemporal class-play with tea and cakes
- The “Nationality” of Lolita Fashion – Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation Across Borders (2013) ISBN-13: 978-0857854490
- Returning in a Different Fashion: Culture, Communication and Changing Representations of ‘Lolita’ in Japan and the West (2013)
- Kawaii as Represented by Wearers in France Using the Example of Lolita Fashion (2013)
- Cosplay, lolita and gender in Japan and Australia
- ‘I Want to be Happy Looking at Myself’: Lolita Style and Its Embodied Practices between Resistance and Urban Fashion (2013)
- Time Machine Fashion: Neo-Victorian Style in Twenty-First Century Subcultures (2013)
- Japanese popular culture in Latvia: Lolita and Mori fashion
- Empowered Princesses: An Ethnographic Examination of the Practices, Rituals, and Conflicts within Lolita Fashion Communities in the United States (2014) [PDF]
- The fashion of frill: The art of impression management in the Atlanta Lolita and Japanese street fashion community (2014)
- From Dolly to Loli?: Female Empowerment and the Lolita Fashion Subculture (2014)
- An Ethnographic Study of Normativity and Deviance Through an Examination of Ritual and Taboo in Lolita Culture (2014)
- “Lolita”: Imaginative Self and Elusive Consumption (2015)
- Lolita fashion: A trans-global subculture (2015)
- The American Lolita Subculture: An Exploration of Self-Authentication, Postmodernism, and Social Belonging (2015)
- Fashion Subcultures in Japan. A multilayered history of street fashion in Japan (2015)
- Down the Rabbit Hole: An Exploration of Japanese Lolita Fashion (2015) [PDF]
- A Research Study on How Influence and Cost-Efficiency Affect Customers in the Lolita Fashion Market (2015) [Alternate Source]
- Rebels in Frills: a Literature Review on Lolita Subculture (2015) [DOC]
- Eternal maidens: Kawaii aesthetics and otome sensibility in Lolita fashion (2016)
- Performing Lolita: The Japanese Gothic and Lolita Subculture and Constructing Identity through Virtual Space (2016)
- What Makes a Style: Experimental Analysis of Fashion Prediction (2017) [PDF]
- Ethnographic Comparison of a Niche Fashion Group, Lolita (2017)
- Tanizaki’s Naomi, Nabokov’s Lolita, and Naomi’s Lolita: Exoticism of a New Era (2018)
- “Maiden’s Armor”: Global Gothic Lolita Fashion Communities and Technologies of Girly Counteridentity (2019)
- Dream Dress for Girls: Shōjo Fashion (2019)
- Under the Petticoat: Differing Perspectives on Mass Commercialisation and Commodification of Lolita Subculture (2019)
- An Informal Survey of Brand Reach: Top 50 Lolita Fashion Brands (2020)
- Lolita fashion, new media, and cultural hegemony in contemporary Japan (2020) [PDF]
- Mini-Twitter Poll: What Got You Into Lolita Fashion? (2021)
- The Conformity and Subversion of Lolita Fashion to Male Chauvinism from the Perspective of Gramsci’s “Hegemony” Theory (2022) [PDF]
Miscellaneous
- Kawaii Ambassador Misako Aoki’s Lolita Lecture – Misako Aoki’s Lolita Column [Mirror]
- Japanese Wikipedia Article [Current] [2007] [2003]
- Harajuku Doll House
- Doll Make: A visual analysis of cosmetics and the transformation of the face in kawaii subcultures. [Abstract]
- Takemoto Novala
- Dead But Delicious: How Vampires Influenced Lolita Fashion (2021) (video)
- Teddy Bear Picnic: A look at Teddy Bears through JFashion
News / Zine Articles
- Gothic Lolitas: Goth Girls just wanna have Fun! (2002)
- Morbid Outlook – Elegant Gothic Lolita (2002)
- Morbid Outlook – Lolita Galore (2004)
- Morbid Outlook -Gothic Lolita Fashion (2008)
- Lolita: Style, Sin, and Soul (2016)
- ‘My Heart Fluttered’: Affect and Emotion in Kawaii Fashion Communities (2018)
- CNN: Lolita style, explained: Why the Japanese-born, Victorian-inspired street style enchants women around the world (2024)