Things Brands Should Be Making

Man, I just love lolita fashion. 

I love it so much that I want to surround myself with all kinds of things made by brands as an aesthetic reminder of how much of a lolita I am without always needing to wear the clothes. But sometimes I have complaints on what the fashion has fallen short on. Here’s my list of things I think brands could and should be making. 

1.) Printed Leggings and Workout Clothes

Sometimes I wonder how much more enthusiastic about working out if I were the most kawaii person at the gym (or rather, working out at home these days). Just imagine a pair of black joggers with the Moitie’s signature blue candelabra instead of the Nike sign, or an obnoxiously 2000s velour track suit with BABY foil printed on the butt. 

Leggings are an inescapable facet of fast fashion, especially in the era of stay-at-home orders. It’s sometimes really hard to get in the kawaii mood when you’re in boring leggings all day. To combat the monotony of normie leisurewear, I’d love to see popular AP prints in leggings form to throw on with a matching oversized t-shirt that’s meant to be worn together. 

Until then, I’ll settle for joggers by indie kawaii fashion creators. 

2.) Fully Shirred Skirts 

People who’ve been around the fashion for some years and/or old school lolita enthusiasts know and love Meta’s Crown Label “mini” skirts, and it’s a real shame that comfy, fully shirred skirts are barely a thing anymore. 

3.) More Basics

I don’t mind purchasing workhorse pieces from indie Chinese brands, but I do miss the days when it was more common to find practical cardigans, versatile socks, other staples, and accessories from Japanese brands. I do enjoy seeing over-the-top princess dresses, unique prints, and floofy chiffon blouses, but sometimes I just want to tone down my coords with wearable every-day poly-cotton pieces for a Target run. 

4.) Matching Clothes and Accessories for Brand Mascots

I love my Kumakumyas, but I wish that they’d have separate clothes and accessories that I can easily buy and change them into like you could at Build-a-Bear instead of normally selling these as special edition kumyas. I bet brands would make a killing off of mascot enthusiasts. Or at least me. 

5.) Speaking of Kumyas: 

I require a proper Usakumya/Kumakumya kigurumi.  I need this:

But make it like this:

6.) Makeup Collabs

In an age of MUA youtubers and “influencers” pumping out Morphe collabs every month, I’d love to see things like a by lolitas-for lolitas eyeshadow palette. 

Imagine a heart shaped eyeshadow palette with this logo on it and inside includes a mirror and pretty colors inspired by famous prints or motifs (that’ll be ¥10,000). If AP can release a Misty Sky perfume, I require the red colorway of Fantasic Dolly in a lip stick.

AP,  just take this concept and run with it. 

7.) More Home Goods

I love browsing Japanese app stores and I often encounter random houseware goods and novelties there. While some items are available in the shops, most of them are novelties gifted to people who attended special brand run events. Whenever I see these, I can’t help wishing I could easily surround myself with my favorite brands on the daily without wearing the clothes all the time. 

8.) More Casual Lolita Pieces

In the same vein as #3, I miss casual lolita. I miss how easy it used to be to find cute cutsews, camisoles, and mini skirts to wear when I wanted to dress and feel cute without bumping things off surfaces with my petticoat. 

Reinstating point #2:  Considering the growth in popularity of the fashion worldwide, I'd love to see plus sized/fully shirred versions of mini skirts and cutsew tops and knit dresses that were once quite popular. Or at least salopettes that look more flattering for the plus sized lolita market.

9.) Fewer Empire-waist and more Just-waist and Long Bodices

Not everyone looks great in empire waist dresses. So why are brands still making so many of them? Not to mention that just-waist and long bodices generally fit better and look better on taller/plus sized lolitas. Brands, please bring back more regular and drop-waist bodice dresses and you can have my hard earned money. 

An example of a very flattering cut: Regimental Stripe JSK by Atelier Pierrot 

10.) Bring Back Bustiers

Yet another old-school piece I love and miss. Lolita bustiers were like stays meant to be worn over a blouse. They were great for making a plain skirt coordinate look fancy by giving an illusion of wearing a dress. Sometimes people would wear them in place of a blouse in warmer weather. I’m disappointed that they’ve fallen out of fashion for some time and hope that they’ll make a comeback soon. 

11.) Large Posters of Prints 

Because it’s not enough to just wear Honey Cake, but I want it on my wall next to my favorite band poster. 

12.) (More) Roomwear

Let’s face it, some of us are spending more time in our pajamas than usual. Why not make us spend ¥10,000 for some lolita brand PJs? Because we will. 

(From eBay)

(Liz Lisa)

Victorian Maiden released some nightgowns in 2020 that were very popular, but I wish other brands would make their own versions too. I think it’d be so cute to see nightgown versions of Angelic Pretty’s iconic prints! 

13.) (Tiny) Neckties

There once was a time when blouses and cutsews came along with detachable lace edged ties. It was kind of a goofy accessory, but they usually added a kind of girly and punk like coquettishness to a coord. 

14.) Scalloped Hemlines and Embroidery

As much as I love prints, it seems like all brands have to do these days is slap it onto a basic lolita dress and call it a day. I very much miss seeing all kinds of lovely sewing details that made lolita special, especially cute rounded edges and charming embroidered motifs. 

(Scallop Princess, BTSSB)

(Flower Cart Embroidery, BTSSB)

15.) Releases of very sought after 2000s-era Prints and Designs 

I’m very pleased that Baby made the move to launch their Classical Line where one could find re-releases of their iconic main pieces, like the Karami JSK and Elizabeth OP. I only wish that other brands would follow suit. I know AP’s has a history of re-releasing popular prints, but I’d be over the moon to see them bring back some iconic pieces like Puppet Circus and Marionette Girl; or if AATP brought back Vampire Requiem from the grave (lol) and (most importantly) Metamorphose collaborated with Kuniko Kato to revive Teddy Motors and the Rabbitchang and Punkuma collection. 

Meta can has coin if they has re-release (Teddy Motors OP, source: Lolibrary)

 Meta, please.

Meta, I beg of you. 

16.) Improving Old Ideas 

There are many dresses out there that brands have made with high expectations conceptually-wise, but fell very short upon release. It would be great if brands would go back to the drawing board to see what went wrong with the original ideas and made better versions of pieces, like Innocent World’s Mucha print. My wallet is ready. 

What do you think about this list? Do you want these things to make a comeback? What sort of stuff do you wish brands came up with? 

Thanks for reading!

Mocha