Chapter 5: In A. Peirson-Smith & Hancock II, J. H. (Eds.), Transglobal Fashion Narratives: Clothing Communication, Style Statements and Brand Storytelling (pp. 91-114). Intellect. ISBN 9781783208449 https://www.intellectbooks.com/transglobal-fashion-narratives
ABSTRACT
“The fashion style of the ‘Gothloli’ (Gosurori, Gosu-loli, or Gothic Lolita), a member of the contemporary ‘Lolita’ subculture, is inexorably bound to the archetypal ‘Alice’. Members of this movement dress in garments inspired by the Victorian age, whilst the silhouette is reminiscent, particularly, of Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s heroine, and defined by Walt Disney’s, Alice. Most often, the design is referential and, other times, the translation is more literal, whereby outfits may be decorated with Alice figures and motifs.
The Alice-Lolita image is prolific, especially in Japan. Here, the relationship between Alice and Lolita also appears in other areas of popular culture, such as shōjo graphic novels and anime, and in the art of Nori Tomizaki. In Tomizaki’s digital paintings and manipulated photographs of doll-like figures, or lifelike dolls, there is an emphasis on the Gothic, whereby Alice and the Gothloli are juxtaposed to represent the epitome of a sweet-but-scary little girl.
However, there may be more than a superficial connection between Alice and Lolita, in that, it may be argued, there is perhaps no coincidence that the author, Lewis Carroll, or Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (his true identity), is believed to have suffered from a syndrome known as the ‘Lolita Complex’, the condition that takes its name from the female protagonist of Vladimir Nabokov’s notorious novel, [Lolita,] and is designated as an obsession with young girls. Though – whilst Carroll’s Alice stories, Nabokov’s Lolita, and Gothloli are similar, in the fact that they all serve to immortalise the Little Girl – the Lolita fashion style, formed in Alice’s image and bearing the title of the Nabokovian child is determined to be neither directly nor circumstantially related to its namesake.
This chapter explores these intertextual relationships between Alice, Lolita, and the fashion-based movement, and investigates the validity of the subculture’s identity with the Lolita Complex.”
Kathryn A. Hardy Bernal 