One quick clarification! When I wrote that it was improper to use "Harajuku Fashion" as a term, I just meant as a general umbrella term- as many J-Fashion styles didn't originate in Harajuku! It's perfectly fine to call a style that DID originate in Harajuku a "Harajuku Fashion."
I think videos that are about crossovers between different niches like this are actually a good idea, because not only does this interest doll collectors, it also interests JFashion enthusiasts. I'm definitely gonna be sharing this in a Lolita server I'm in.
The fashion fever Barbie looks are directly taken from the first Fruits book. There's even a kogal with the furry yellow bag. A girl with a qipao over pants and sunglasses.
I think it’s so funny that Monster High made a Draculaura doll where she goes to Shibuya (Shibooya, in universe), and it still wasn’t J-Fashion enough to get mentioned lmao
Something that wasn't mentioned in the intro which i think is important to clarify is that, much like gyaru, lolita ALSO started as a rebellion against Japanese sentiments of "proper womanhood". The emphasis on a porcelain doll like silhouette isn't a coincidence at all but a very purposeful choice by the wearers to eschew the idea of desirability by purposefully dressing themselves up to be more childish and cute, fully embracing that cuteness when men told them being "childish" was a turnoff. It's very similar to fairy-kei in that aspect, where -kei styles in general just ramp EVERYTHING into over the top delightful obnoxiousness At the root of every fashion subculture in japan is an essence of rebellion against society, which is pretty much the norm for EVERY fashion movement that got its start organically amongst the people, everywhere, ever. From punk to hipster-ism to goth to emo to rockabilly, these groups of people were purposefully going against the "norms" to stand out from the crowd and make a statement Which is why it's so so common for dolls to utterly fail in capturing what makes these styles, from lolita to flapper to goth and everything else you can think, resonate with people the way they do. How are you supposed to capture the wide market appeal of a niche fashion subculture? The answer is you don't.
I think most fashion trends were originally created to go against the norms at the time of their creation. It’s really neat to learn about this stuff! Thank you for explaining!
Not sure if its already been said, but the mix of sweet and gothic styles is sometimes referred to as "Bittersweet", wich I can totally see Draculara rocking!
Nah bittersweet is just sweet in black colorways, closest thing to actual 'sweet+gothic' is some AATP prints. A good example would be their fairytale prints, the architecture and roses but it still has some more sweet elements like alice and princesses on the dresses.
@smegellimes I dunno, I've always referred to it as bittersweet. Obviously the dark colorways are the easiest way into it, but there are specifically people who create and curate bittersweet coords, using sweet, gothic, and even more niche substyles to get the feel across. And since the strict rules of the LiveJornal days have been laxing a bit, I've seen smaller brands catering to more niche substyles and multi-style abominations of cuteness like bittersweet, pastel goth, lacepunk, pirate hime, all kinds of fun stuff that would've been nearly impossible to find even 5 years ago!
@@FrankiKaye What I'm saying though is most 'bittersweet' coords are just sweet coords in black, a lot of them just straight up use AP dresses (which about 99% of are not gothic at all which makes sense since they're known for being the most sugary sweet brand) Not sure what you mean by pastel goth since most pastel goth was nu goth stuff but with pastel colors and not lolita...not to mention that pirate and hime are basically opposites style wise Never heard of lacepunk in my life, do you mean punk lolita?
I came into the comment section just to bring up bittersweet, and also about my fond recollections of people arguing constantly about bittersweet. Ah, memories. Personally I was in the “it’s sweet but in a black colorway instead of a separate style” camp if I had to pick a side, but bittersweet never bothered me much as a term I think
@@alinar.6312I always thought it meant pastel goth but lolita, and the “black color way” thing was just an oversimplification for the sake of the argument not being like 500 words
Another example of J-style inspiration I'd like to point out is the LOL OMG Fierce version of Neonlicious! She’s got the colors, the layering, the skirt, and of course, the nose band-aid. The inspiration is very clear there.
yes! there are several omg dolls that are likely inspired by j-fashion, many of which I see on his shelf lol! on a side note, i looooooovee kogals and used trendsetter and clothes sourced from other omg dolls (lady diva's coat and skirt, neonlicious's platform sneakers, aya cherry's loose socks) to make her into a kogal... im so proud of her when i see her, she makes me so happy lol
Can't believe MGA went ahead and cancelled the Fierce line after just one wave 😢 that Candylicious leak would've flown off the shelves had it been released
@@jisoochrist I KNOW, RIGHT??? I understand the low sales giving them cold feet, but they seriously could have (and should have) just sold Candylicious at a $45 price point as a more limited collector's doll and she would have flown off the shelves. Trying to sell LOL dolls with very few accessories or extras and no unboxing experience as a PLAYLINE product for $37 was just never going to work.
I think when brands try to go "OMG quirky Harajuku fashion!! rainbow clusterfuck, lolita dresses but miniskirts and huge anime eyes!!" route as their main selling point it's quite cringe, I've seen a lot of that growing up a weeb while Japanese stuff was still trying to break into the mainstream. J-fashion or BJD/Pullip/anime inspired dolls can be great though, as they're beautiful aesthetics and fit the doll medium and having them on cheaper fashion dolls is way more accessible than the highly gatekept BJD community, especially for younger people. And more inset/inset-like eyes on dolls please!! Either way feels like more Japanese/East Asian inspirations on dolls are unavoidable with a lot of current artists having grown up with anime.
That's a fair statement, ig they do that because alot of people outside of Japan are not familiar with J fashion, so brands play it safe when it comes to J fashion to appeal to adults and kids plus brands like Pullip who do J fashion more accurately are expensive( my personal reason why I don't have accurate J fashion dolls😂)
Is the bjd community highly gatekept because they don't want people buying recasts? Because they want the artist to be supported and are fine with people going to cheap legit artists. Or is it because of something else?
@@ANME1rocker It's mainly to do with recasts. BJDs are produced by smaller companies and artists with high quality materials and years of development, and thus they are priced very highly. Buying a recast for much cheaper is basically consider a crime because the artists' lose profit, and considering the prices of BJDs, that's quite a loss.
@@ANME1rocker I haven't been part of the community for a while. There are a mix of reasons from my point of view. The reasons you mentioned are part of it for sure. The problematic parts for me are the exclusionary aspects. Many brilliant American BJD artists were looked down on because they weren't Asian. Some of the companies that sold cheaper dolls were devalued by exclusionary collectors because they weren't expensive enough? There was too much of a 'my doll is expensive and your's is not' attitude coming from some people. And an unwillingness to embrace plastic, mass produced dolls under their umbrella. Like, they could have made a few sub-forums where people could share those kind of dolls. Like, they were upset that their dolls were no longer as uncommon, and therefore it threatened how special their dolls were (just conjecture on my part). Mind you, I Never ran into these exclusionary attitudes in person. The people in my local community were very welcoming. Also, I tended to hang out in the sculpting and sewing sub-forums, which as a whole seemed to be more open to variety than the larger forum as a whole. I also was in a different forum that embraced BJDs and all other types of dolls. That made for a larger, more welcoming community.
@@susangriner6736 I have to laugh because I immediately twigged why you said all of this as "aha! Angel-forum" (not real name), they are very elitist there and do appear the way you say they do. Personally i find the BJD community on Instagram much nicer, at least with the smaller collectors and there are many really nice dolls that are way cheaper than the Fairyplace dolls that are honestly way overpriced for their quality (tho they do make cute faces). Also, a lot of the smaller artists are totally okay with paying in chunks, which makes it a lot more accessible to more people. Definitely still more of an Adult-collector thing, but doesn't mean I don't play dress-up with my dolls x'D
You can buy purses for your pullips so you can carry them safely when you twin with your doll in lolita if you buy one of the brand colllabs. They're usually shaped like little houses
I think Rainbow High also deserves a mention with Sunny and Lila. They’re pretty basic compared to some of these dolls, but MGA really pushes the fact that they’re meant to embody the “kawaii” aesthetic of J-Fashion, especially in Lila’s face-up with her colorful stickers and nose bandaid.
THANK YOU for not saying Lagoona is a gyaru 😭 honestly, I'm so tired of people seeing swimsuits/tropical style and going "gyaru!". Also, I think you could've talked about Sunny and Lila from Rainbow High. I like Sunny's design, but I think the J-fashion influence could've been implemented better. As for Lila, I can't over over how culturally inaccurate she is lol, which is sad cuz she's so cute :( also, Bratz Tokyo a Go Go is THE BEST western doll line to ever reference J-fashion. I don't think anyone ever got it as accurate as they did, they look like they came directly out of fruits and I'm living for it!
As a black girl who had Namika and was so happy a J-fashion inspired doll line had a black doll..it was so disappointing to find out she was only made with dark skin for the American market 😮💨
A "fun" thing about those Barbies is that entire sections of their outfits were copied "verbatim" from the pages of the Fruits book that came the the US.. I'd gone through those pictures so many times that I couldn't believe it when I saw the dolls at..wherever. Put the things on layaway, and saltily marked the matching pages of my copy of Fruits with color coded paper.. Felt pretty bogus that Mattel just copied not just Japanese designers, but individual creatives...and made $$
Cutie Pops did acually post a picture of a Lolita they ran into on their Facebook and captioned it along the lines of "Doesn't this look like one of our dolls?". I worked on updating the fandom page for the brand and looking at their socials was part of the research.
As a gal I’d also like to point out out that ko-gal isn’t really a substyle of gal more of just a name for real high school girls that existed. It always strikes me as weird that doll lines use the “style” so often cause it really isn’t a style. Yet I think it’s due to how easy it is to make and how people see school uniforms as “kawaii” or associate them with Japan.
I wish more dolls had Mori Kei fashion, but since it's not as colorful as other J-Fashion, I understand why it's not often incorporated. You do see more Mori Kei-esque looks in OOAK custom dolls, but still not much compared to Fairy Kei. It's kind of a shame; I think Classic Lolita is also penalized for not being very colorful, judging by what I've heard about the Sweet Lolita prevalence.
As a fellow Lolita i am surprised you didnt mention Haunt couture draculaura! its the only reason i want that doll so badly, shes so clearly inspired by lolita. I know that underbusted/suspender skirts arent as common but its definitely a thing! its even about the right length too. I would still consider her sweet even if the clothes look too dark. There are plenty of sweet lolita dresses with black colorways that are still too sweet looking to be gothic. (i know some call this bittersweet but i think we can just call it what it is since it feels unnecessary to give a single colorway of a print a completely different name than the rest imo) this video made me want to buy lots of jenny and licca dolls. Theyre so cute!!
She definitely has a Lolita silhouette, but someone pointed out that a lot of her outfit comes from traditional Hungarian clothing. It could be a fusion of both, though
Yes omg this is the sort of niche overlap I love. Fashion dolls and J-Fashion are two of my biggest passions. This makes me so excited not even gonna lie 😭😭😭 edit: honestly surprised Lila Yamamoto and Sunny Madison from Rainbow High weren't mentioned. I was interested to hear what could've been improved on Lila's design to make her more accurate to Japanese street fashion (I personally redressed mine to be more accurate!) And how Sunny Madison's twin pack design improved on the decora/kawaii aesthetic significantly better than on her initial designs. Still a great vid! I want more on this topic honestly 💕
@@NakanoMiku-chan-z2m I am aware of that yes. However, in her character bio it says she wears Tokyo streetstyle. I would assume this meant she was J-Fashion inspired. This is shown with the stickers on her face, the band aid, as well as her decorated crocs. However aside from that she doesn't seem to show much that really demonstrates recognizable japanese street fashion. The korean hanbok is also out of place since she is Japanese/Chinese. There was a lot of potential given these details, I just wish they showed off her fashion influences with a more accurate approach.
@@truly_dewey I wish they would have done more to reflect that look in her doll. I have that gripe about a few rainbow high dolls. Not just her. Also I don't think Mga or whoever designed her didn't do enough research either. If she wasn't intended to be 1/3 korean then they shouldn't have included Korean fashion into her design. I feel like Stella suffers from a very similar problem. She is meant to be English royalty but dresses more like a rich American.
For Jessica its strange its called hime gyaru, when it seems more like agejo gyaru which while it still shares some elements with hime like some frills and bigger hair usually, is meant to be more adult and primarily uses pinks, blacks, and whites for the colors!
I had already forgotten that there are so many styles in Asia. Of course, MGA uses these styles the most, the last Sunny turned out especially cool with her outfit and cute teddy bear bag from the double pack. Licca and Jenny are my favorite dolls, I grew up with them.
Little clarification on the looks you're seeing for Jenny collection- some of the styles given to the dolls are different to the ones you mentioned or are more aligned with other styles jenny: cool-kei. mentions casual and denim outfits and LA inspired styles in the description. Gals can fall under this umbrella but it extends to other styles of casual style too Mirai is just school-girl. There's no mention of kogyaru but it does mention Idol (j-idol) influences Jessica is himegyaru but the description says koakuma-kei which I'd say is more accurate label for this look Ayano is Love-Kawa and mentions frills, lace and other sweet motifs. It's more aligned with Amagyaru style than himekaji Shion: oneesan kei/oneegyaru/big sister style and notes the look being 'elegant' with blouses and purple and white colour pallet
Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown! Can you translate/elaborate on koakuma kei? That one is new to me, and when I try to google it, the English results are, uh, not quite fashion related 😅
Dracalaura, as someone who is gothic but wears j-fashion a lot aswell. Is definetely a pastel goth in my opinion. (+a mix of pastel goth Colors with lolita clothes in some outfits.)
Pastel goth with gothic Lolita elaments like he said her picture day forbidden love and haute couture dolls where all full on Lolita coords her sweet 1600 doll was almost just needed a blouse and some socks would HAVE Been the rest Lolita inspired more or less There I'll get of my soap box now
I low-key have beef with Kuu Kuu Harajuku because I love the art style and the character designs for the main girls are really cute but the lack of any attempt to give these dolls looks actually inspired by J-fashion and the appropriation of Japanese kawaii culture cannot be forgiven.
As a lolita myself this is simply incorrect: Actually, quite the opposite. When looking at kera and cutie magazines In the 90s lolita fashion wasn’t a distinct fashion style, a lot of the “diverse silhouettes” you may have seen weren’t considered lolita at all and instead called “free style” when looking at fruits magazines earliest issues was a term to describe outfits with no specific style. It wasn’t until the early 2000s when the term “lolita” was first used to describe the feminine conservative style and became its own thing. Lolita Fashion can still be diverse in its style without breaking the core rules of the fashion.
@@theasleephylianlclara9277 lolita fashion at its core is a fashion for women and girls to explore femininity in a way that’s not necessarily sexual while still empowering the wearer (unlike most religious wear or other “normal” means of conservative clothing). If you don’t like lolita’s conservative but vivid style that’s fine! We all have different tastes, just don’t go into EGL communities and hate on girls in the fashion and we will respect your opinion.
I wear lolita myself. There is a WIDE variety of silouttes in modern lolita fashion than there was earlier on. I don't really count 90's as @FrillyDisaster pointed out, it was sort of a proto-lolita era, with no real distinct definition. But lolita in the early 2000's namely had two shapes, A-line and cupcake with the main piece being specifically around knee length for the average Japanese wearer. (This differs of course for height and shape outside the Japanese average). These days, the fashion has a great deal of differing lengths, cuts and types of petticoats needed. Lately, tea length dresses are quite popular, but shorter skirts and salopettes (some debate if it's lolita) were quite popular. I personally have a wide variety of different cuts and sillouttes in my wardrobe and have about 8 petticoats that I use pretty often. @theasleephylianlclara9277 The west really went hardcore on the rules. In Japan, the rules were not really quite as strictly defined as they were here. This is because one could easily go to any of the lolita shops and purchase the items directly and put together a coordinate with ease. That wasn't the case in the west until fairly recently. Even then, it's still a bit tricky. But when I started back in 2010, a lot of lolitas wore loliable items (standard fashion items that work okay-ish for lolita). Or they would modify those items to work well. The rules still exist, but they aren't so strictly enforced as it's easier for beginners to get started even on a lower budget than they did in the past. I'm not even sure if the Japanese really even follow much for rules. So many still follow the standard of just purchasing a full set from the brands they support. The west has always been more creative and the rules really existed to keep the creativity from going so far it's no longer in the box, if that makes any sense. All I'm saying is that it's always been a bit fuzzy and it's forever getting fuzzier and floofier as time goes on.
@@theasleephylianlclara9277 I like the rules. The way I see it, You have to have a gate and walls to have a community. First, the rules allow us to not get wiped out by fast fashion. there’s this one replica dress on Amazon that’s a copy of a real dress. That Amazon copy literally killed the original brand. Lolita brands are all relatively small businesses. Also- if you don’t maintain certain features of lolita, what’s the difference between lolita and other jfashions. If we said “yea, skirt length and silhouette doesn’t matter” would sweet lolita be a distinct style anymore?? Our rules allow us to maintain quality, and a proper community. I understand why people wouldn’t like rules, but try to understand our reasoning for having them
Commenting before I’ve finished the video but i love this kind of content. Doll collecting as a consumerist hobby can become one note very quickly so content like this keeps my engaged and remind me what’s so fun about this hobby in the first place. Please keep up the good work 🙌🏾
That sums up what I was thinking too! Darling makes content that makes me love dolls more. Not content that makes me want to buy more dolls that i can afford/ love
great choices!! Juku Couture will always have a special place in my heart even if I can't find my Kana doll ATM. The only line I think was missed was Misaki & her adventures since she covers a decently large spectrum of fashion styles.
Thanks for going into what J-Fashion is in a way that was both in depth enough to give those unfamiliar a good grasp on the concept but brief enough to only cover the relevant styles for this topic! That was really well done because I came here thinking I’d have to sus it all out on my own and making assumptions is never a good thing xD Also your outfit today is super cute!
I love j-fashion and actually the reason i bought Fierce Neonlicious was because i felt like i could see a lot of Harajuku esque influences in her look!
Totally think Azone International dolls should be on this list but they are a little niche 😅 and not everyones cup of tea because they have a very anime aesthetic but their fashion is so sweet and cute. Totally check them out if you haven't seen them!
@@smushedgrape7967 I feel the same way! Idk why no one seems to know about them. I think it must be in part due to the anime aesthetic 😭 but I think they are the cutest. There one of my favorite doll lines I'm collecting right now.
I might be stretching, but Novi Stars reminded me of the substyle uchuu kei back in the 2010's! Granted, it was more niche than fairy kei and lolita was so it could have just been me.
as a japanese kid living in western countries the only dolls i had were Rika chan dolls given to me by my japanese aunties. this current trend of barbie everything has really been making me feel like i missed out but this video just reminded me of all the fun fashion i got to play with!! this video was SUPER nostalgic i love it!! thankyou for such an interesting and well researched video!!!
I think Lila Yamamoto from Rainbow High was a really nice doll that was done really well for harajuku fashion. The band-aid over the nose and stickers on the face are very reminiscent of decora and i loved the croc charms and fingerless gloves! The black amongst the purple really pulled it all together in my opinion. I also really enjoyed that her clothes were very kimono inspired but done in a way that feels modern and stylish with her secondary outfit being more of a traditional look. The kimono is even crossed the correct way, and both outfits have a proper wide obi style belt so you can tell that the creators did their research on the traditional fashion before stylizing it which brings me joy 💗💗 Lila Yamamoto is the doll that started my doll collecting journey, and i hope we get many more J-Fashion inspired dolls in the future!
The blonde and redheaded Juku Couture dolls read as Amekaji Gyaru to me! I’m definitely not a gyaru expert, but the colors and pieces really seem right. If so, I love the double cultural exchange of American fashion to Japanese fashion to American fashion dolls 😊
I've never ben in the community itself but I've always loved J-fashion! My favourite was always Mori Kei, and I feel like cottagecore fashions are very reminiscent of them today. There's definitely some big differences but I feel like they are atleast sister fashions 😁 I actually have both the Romantic Alice Pullip and the Romantic Hatter Taeyang dolls, which are absolutely stunning! They're definitely classic Lolita inspired! The frills on the Hatter's sleaves are so fun and I love the lkke 4 layers of frilly skirts on the Alice doll 😁 I'd love to see a brand make some dolls with more obscure fashion styles, including some J-fashions!
JUST started the video and i have to say, your outfit is SOOO CUTE i adore it!! cant wait to finish the video itself! edit: video was amazing as usual!
I love lolita fashion and, oh boy, does the reference to that book just boil my blood. And we all know that Ever After high had an adult audience of all us lolita fashion fans. I remember going to a convention that had tons of fans there with inspired outfits.
Barbie actually had a pretty big collab with the Laforet shopping mall, there was a Barbie-sized BTSSB Robe à la Française OP, a human-sized Angelic Pretty Barbie OP that was a recolor of the Moon Drop OP with barbie shoe shaped charms on the bow and an embroidered logo patch, a Metamorphose temps de fille pink and black JSK set in two colorways, and some more roma-gyaru (I think) clothing from a brand called Pop Sister.
22:13 a sweet lolita here, we usually refer to this as "bittersweet," the same term is often used to describe sweet prints that come in dark colorways such as the black colorway of sugary carnival from angelic pretty
Thank you so much for this video! I love how complete and well-researched it is. Very recently, I found out that, in 2020, Italian toy company Dkidz (a subsidiary of Dynamic Italia, whose core business is localization and distribution of Japanese media) launched a line of tiny plastic figurines with interchangeable parts and plastic clothes named My Lovely Tokyo Baby Girls, with a marketing heavily focusing on stereotypically Japanese elements. I have very conflicting feelings about this one, because obviously SOME level of research on Japanese culture and fashion went into it. I think a couple of the dolls in the three lines that were released do have some hime-gyaru elements to their outfits... the rest, not so much, as the line was essentially conceived as a budget alternative to LOLs, which can get VERY expensive in Europe. But the My Lovely Tokyo dolls did come with pamphlets with accurate information about the geography of Tokyo and the peculiarities of Shibuya and Harajuku, written in a way that was targeted to kids. Also, their pets were decent quality pieces inspired by the design of Licca-chan's pets (in fact, some are nearly identical). With the exception of the pets, the dolls seem flimsy and with a tendency to lose their body parts all over the place, but as long as they helped an Italian parent somewhere not go crazy over having to buy expensive LOL toys, they probably achieved their purpose!
I loved this video! I had actually never heard of the Juku Couture dolls 😅. I think along the lines of Pullip, Blythe dolls could be included as well. But an absolutely comprehensive list of J-fashion inspired dolls might quite possibly be endless.
Yesss Ever After High caught my eye when I first saw Apple White cuz I was like YO THAT DEF LOOKS LOLITA INSPIRED. I really like the Blondie Locks in the Sweets outfit themed after well sweets! The cartoon version looks better than the irl version tho. I agree with all of your comments about the Western dolls, but never knew about Juku Fashion I think is what you said and the Tokyo a Go Go Bratz series. I love that these dolls incorporate lots of accessories and clothes to do a mismatched layer look that still comes together to look like you would see it in Tokyo Fashion
i think the jessica doll at 11:35 is def more agejo gyaru than hime its got the hot pink colors and use of patterns/prints and general silhouettes more in that style ! fun video i didnt know about some of these lines !
I always thought that Sunny Madison from RH was inspired by Gyarus (Like, really blond yellow hair with tanned skin and her style being "kawaii") but since they had so few dark skinned dolls it would've been weird if one of them was just tanned skin.
As an Asian and an artist myself, I definitely enjoy harajuku and lolita (the latter especially)! They’re so fun to browse through for inspiration for character outfit designs-although, since I’m of Chinese descent, I usually browse Chinese street fashion and hanfu lolita now. But there’s a lot of cool Japanese fashion styles out there and it’s pretty neat seeing how dolls try to incorporate them-although any time the west draws on East Asian cultural phenomenons, it can get…kind of interesting. So I’m excited to learn more about them here haha. 😂 So yeah! A niche within a niche video is actually always pretty fun-because they offer insight into topics that are interesting but not many may be familiar with.
I’m not a Bratz collector, but the most tempted I ever became was when I saw Tokyo a Go Go. I’d still buy those dolls if they weren’t so expensive now.
I love the new g3 monster high but I just really miss those clear style inspired outfits in the new monster high dolls. On most of the g1 character you could easily pull together what they probably used as inspiration, but with g3 I think it just lacks that interesting fashion that g1 had in the outfits.
Robecca was straight up steampunk, Operetta was a rockabilly revivalist, and Elissabat was a romantic goth. You could tell just by looking at them. As cute as some g3 outfits are, the best you can do is guess which online stores the characters shop at.
I feel like that's because both gens have different priorities: G1 focused on fashion and appealed to an older demographic. G3 focuses on character and appeals to a younger audience. The difference in audience is important cause younger kids won't get some of the inspirations for the outfits in G1. G3 dolls wear very Gen Z clothing that is not very alternative. I do hope that G3 doesn't consistently lean into trendy Gen Z fashion and does more alt stuff. The leaked Venus doll looks to be promising in that regard.
@@fruitygarlic3601 sure but look at the diversity in outfits you just mentioned. I’m not seeing as many cool inspos in this besides trying to make them look trendy. The clothes they wore weren’t mainstream and were more risky and interesting imo
Also Haley from Jukucoture is very clearly wearing an Amekaji gyaru cord in the first picture, which is such an interesting sub style to me bc it was Japan interpreting American street fashion kind of like how the American market was interpreting Japan’s fashion at the time.
I'd love for you to do more videos talking about licca dolls! I'd love to see some more of their fashions and I'd love to hear what you think about them!
im shocked lalaloopsy wasn't included at all- when i was a kid i LOVED lolita and only ever got bodyline stuff from my parents if any so i LIVED through lalaloopsys. not all of them, but so many of them felt so lolita inspired, even down to the super drilled curly ponytails that you see especially in 90s magazines and stuff!!!
I dont remember if it was the begoths dolls or the bleeding edge ones but there are some of their figurines that are clearly mana-sama inspired including the haircut,theres also the princess Ai ones that have an oldshcool gothic lolita vibe to them
Hi, great video! I'm not too knowledgeable on dolls and the like so this has been very informative :) I just wanted to point out though that at 11:34 when you talk about the Jessica doll, she's actually got more of an Agejo style going on than Hime Gyaru! The styles definitely overlap in some places (in particular the hair and makeup) so I understand the confusion. Keep up the good work!
I was going off how she's labeled in the promo and on her boxes ("Hime Gal") but I agree with you actually. The translated description on the image even seems to describe agejo more than hime, as it refers to it as "a devilish style" lol
Ohhh I love j-fashion. I think it's quite relevant since fashion dolls are about fashion. I'd definitely watch if you do more stuff like this about fashion or j-fashion
LOL OMG did a doll based on the Japanese band Babymetal! Personally, I'd count it. Also they discontinued their Firece line, but the prototype for Candylicious is very sweet lolita/fairy kei. Its a shame we'll never see it :,(
I really like Wa Lolita, the merger of traditional Japanese styles with Victorian influences. It’s actually a pretty natural fusion because Japanese fashion had a minor influence on Victorian fashion anyways (it’s the origin of the pagoda sleeve). In Wa Lolita you see the top of the outfit incorporating the kimono shape, and the skirt being more standard Lolita, generally. I don’t think it was ever super popular, though, when I researched it in Japan it was hard to find and that was back in 2014! I also like that lately there has been an interest in Taisho/Meji period inspired fashions, I think because of the Wind Rises & Demon Slayer. Anyways it involves trying to replicate the schoolboy/girl look of that era. Again, super niche, but I do like the casual look for men mixing Western style hats with yukata...
I love that your talking about the overlap of dolls and J fashion! I’m a Lolita and I started my Lolita journey when I bough my first pullip doll. It was an Alice de Jordan doll and even though it wasn’t explicitly Lolita I started searching for cloths I could wear that looked the part. At the time I was 100% into doll collecting. I’ve stepped back to balance alt fashion with my doll collecting hobby. I love nose J fashion, especially more colorful styles. I hope we can see more videos covering the topic.
u never fail me for a good watch tysm!!! id love to see more J fashion inspired dolls - 2 of my fave LOL OMGs (bubblegum DJ and twist queen) have a J fashion vibe and in general i think LOL OMG faces really suit gyaru looks, but id also love more realistically proportioned dolls like the jukus with more focus on the fashion itself with abundant layering pieces and accessories !!!
This is one of my favourite videos you've ever done. I wouldn't mind one bit if you did more videos on either J-fashion (had no idea you were that into it!) or Japanese dolls ^^ I'm curious too what sites did you use to find all the photos? I would love to explore more!! Thank you so much for making this, really was awesome to see
I love this topic - thanks for diving in 💖 I had the first 4 Juku Couture dolls. They were so pretty and their fashion was so ornate. I did end up giving them to my kids though (they collect dolls too). I have learned that I won't end up keeping a doll I don't sew for and these dolls didn't have any patterns readily available. I know, I know, I could have made them patterns, but I didn't
Just Sweet Blondie Lockes captures the pure essence of sweet lolita. This isn't an opinion, it's just a simple fact 🤷♀She's an absolute masterpiece and easily my favorite EAH doll (and honestly probably my favorite overall) I even took the time to paint the molding on her accessories, including all the little sprinkles on her cupcake shoes. EAH always impresses me with going unreasonably hard when they really want to
As a jfashion enthusiast I love what you discussed! Please cover more jfashion inspired doll videos!! I feel like lol omg dolls do have some jfashion influences too like neonlicious and candylicious and some of the tweens
Honestly the mention of Juku Couture brought back so many memories, they were my first attempt at collecting dolls, and i wish that i had kept them in their original form, but my 15 year old egg self just had to make them all into boys 😅
I guess I must live under a rock - I wasn’t aware of any of this. This is so fascinating to me. Thanks for sharing! I always learn something new from your videos. ❤
It’s all good, this is all still pretty obscure in the West! I’m a big fan of j-fashion, but the only places where I run into it offline are anime conventions and dedicated j-fashion meetups
I absolutely love this and would love to hear you talk more about j fashion! I've been getting into EGL recently myself and I'd love to hear you talk about it since you have such a cute style and your videos are always wonderful. ❤
Great video! Just curious what your take on Rainbow High's Lila Yamamoto is, I don't know J-substyles very well but I think her clothes and accessories are super cute 🌸
I also would like to add Winx to this conversation. While their dolls, for the most paart, are not the greatest, over the years the focus of the creators shifted from creating a interesting show to producing a series to promote toys and other merch. A lot of what makes Winx what it is seems to be thanks to Eastern trends/entertainment. That also includes character's appearance (not all of it, but some parts for sure), which did and maybe still do get to be translated into doll designs (I do not follow Winx CLub that close anyomre, so cannot say for sure). For instance, Season 5 main outfits take clear inspiration from Gyaru fashion. In addition, Many looks in season 4 take inspiration from Japanese and Korean style trends.
One quick clarification! When I wrote that it was improper to use "Harajuku Fashion" as a term, I just meant as a general umbrella term- as many J-Fashion styles didn't originate in Harajuku! It's perfectly fine to call a style that DID originate in Harajuku a "Harajuku Fashion."
I think videos that are about crossovers between different niches like this are actually a good idea, because not only does this interest doll collectors, it also interests JFashion enthusiasts. I'm definitely gonna be sharing this in a Lolita server I'm in.
The fashion fever Barbie looks are directly taken from the first Fruits book. There's even a kogal with the furry yellow bag. A girl with a qipao over pants and sunglasses.
I think it’s so funny that Monster High made a Draculaura doll where she goes to Shibuya (Shibooya, in universe), and it still wasn’t J-Fashion enough to get mentioned lmao
Tbh I tried to like that doll but the face is so ugly!
Something that wasn't mentioned in the intro which i think is important to clarify is that, much like gyaru, lolita ALSO started as a rebellion against Japanese sentiments of "proper womanhood". The emphasis on a porcelain doll like silhouette isn't a coincidence at all but a very purposeful choice by the wearers to eschew the idea of desirability by purposefully dressing themselves up to be more childish and cute, fully embracing that cuteness when men told them being "childish" was a turnoff. It's very similar to fairy-kei in that aspect, where -kei styles in general just ramp EVERYTHING into over the top delightful obnoxiousness
At the root of every fashion subculture in japan is an essence of rebellion against society, which is pretty much the norm for EVERY fashion movement that got its start organically amongst the people, everywhere, ever. From punk to hipster-ism to goth to emo to rockabilly, these groups of people were purposefully going against the "norms" to stand out from the crowd and make a statement
Which is why it's so so common for dolls to utterly fail in capturing what makes these styles, from lolita to flapper to goth and everything else you can think, resonate with people the way they do. How are you supposed to capture the wide market appeal of a niche fashion subculture? The answer is you don't.
Great post.
I wasn't going to type all that so thanks for clarification for those who aren't aware
👏👏💐💐✨✨
So well said!!🎉
I think most fashion trends were originally created to go against the norms at the time of their creation.
It’s really neat to learn about this stuff! Thank you for explaining!
Niche within a niche is my favorite genre of TH-cam video
😂
Not sure if its already been said, but the mix of sweet and gothic styles is sometimes referred to as "Bittersweet", wich I can totally see Draculara rocking!
Nah bittersweet is just sweet in black colorways, closest thing to actual 'sweet+gothic' is some AATP prints.
A good example would be their fairytale prints, the architecture and roses but it still has some more sweet elements like alice and princesses on the dresses.
@smegellimes I dunno, I've always referred to it as bittersweet. Obviously the dark colorways are the easiest way into it, but there are specifically people who create and curate bittersweet coords, using sweet, gothic, and even more niche substyles to get the feel across. And since the strict rules of the LiveJornal days have been laxing a bit, I've seen smaller brands catering to more niche substyles and multi-style abominations of cuteness like bittersweet, pastel goth, lacepunk, pirate hime, all kinds of fun stuff that would've been nearly impossible to find even 5 years ago!
@@FrankiKaye What I'm saying though is most 'bittersweet' coords are just sweet coords in black, a lot of them just straight up use AP dresses (which about 99% of are not gothic at all which makes sense since they're known for being the most sugary sweet brand)
Not sure what you mean by pastel goth since most pastel goth was nu goth stuff but with pastel colors and not lolita...not to mention that pirate and hime are basically opposites style wise
Never heard of lacepunk in my life, do you mean punk lolita?
I came into the comment section just to bring up bittersweet, and also about my fond recollections of people arguing constantly about bittersweet. Ah, memories.
Personally I was in the “it’s sweet but in a black colorway instead of a separate style” camp if I had to pick a side, but bittersweet never bothered me much as a term I think
@@alinar.6312I always thought it meant pastel goth but lolita, and the “black color way” thing was just an oversimplification for the sake of the argument not being like 500 words
Another example of J-style inspiration I'd like to point out is the LOL OMG Fierce version of Neonlicious! She’s got the colors, the layering, the skirt, and of course, the nose band-aid. The inspiration is very clear there.
yes! there are several omg dolls that are likely inspired by j-fashion, many of which I see on his shelf lol! on a side note, i looooooovee kogals and used trendsetter and clothes sourced from other omg dolls (lady diva's coat and skirt, neonlicious's platform sneakers, aya cherry's loose socks) to make her into a kogal... im so proud of her when i see her, she makes me so happy lol
Even several of the LOL Surprise Tweens are super J-style, Lolita or Fairy Kai! 💖
i was thinking that!
Can't believe MGA went ahead and cancelled the Fierce line after just one wave 😢 that Candylicious leak would've flown off the shelves had it been released
@@jisoochrist I KNOW, RIGHT??? I understand the low sales giving them cold feet, but they seriously could have (and should have) just sold Candylicious at a $45 price point as a more limited collector's doll and she would have flown off the shelves. Trying to sell LOL dolls with very few accessories or extras and no unboxing experience as a PLAYLINE product for $37 was just never going to work.
I think when brands try to go "OMG quirky Harajuku fashion!! rainbow clusterfuck, lolita dresses but miniskirts and huge anime eyes!!" route as their main selling point it's quite cringe, I've seen a lot of that growing up a weeb while Japanese stuff was still trying to break into the mainstream. J-fashion or BJD/Pullip/anime inspired dolls can be great though, as they're beautiful aesthetics and fit the doll medium and having them on cheaper fashion dolls is way more accessible than the highly gatekept BJD community, especially for younger people. And more inset/inset-like eyes on dolls please!! Either way feels like more Japanese/East Asian inspirations on dolls are unavoidable with a lot of current artists having grown up with anime.
That's a fair statement, ig they do that because alot of people outside of Japan are not familiar with J fashion, so brands play it safe when it comes to J fashion to appeal to adults and kids plus brands like Pullip who do J fashion more accurately are expensive( my personal reason why I don't have accurate J fashion dolls😂)
Is the bjd community highly gatekept because they don't want people buying recasts? Because they want the artist to be supported and are fine with people going to cheap legit artists. Or is it because of something else?
@@ANME1rocker It's mainly to do with recasts. BJDs are produced by smaller companies and artists with high quality materials and years of development, and thus they are priced very highly. Buying a recast for much cheaper is basically consider a crime because the artists' lose profit, and considering the prices of BJDs, that's quite a loss.
@@ANME1rocker I haven't been part of the community for a while. There are a mix of reasons from my point of view. The reasons you mentioned are part of it for sure. The problematic parts for me are the exclusionary aspects. Many brilliant American BJD artists were looked down on because they weren't Asian. Some of the companies that sold cheaper dolls were devalued by exclusionary collectors because they weren't expensive enough? There was too much of a 'my doll is expensive and your's is not' attitude coming from some people. And an unwillingness to embrace plastic, mass produced dolls under their umbrella. Like, they could have made a few sub-forums where people could share those kind of dolls. Like, they were upset that their dolls were no longer as uncommon, and therefore it threatened how special their dolls were (just conjecture on my part). Mind you, I Never ran into these exclusionary attitudes in person. The people in my local community were very welcoming. Also, I tended to hang out in the sculpting and sewing sub-forums, which as a whole seemed to be more open to variety than the larger forum as a whole. I also was in a different forum that embraced BJDs and all other types of dolls. That made for a larger, more welcoming community.
@@susangriner6736 I have to laugh because I immediately twigged why you said all of this as "aha! Angel-forum" (not real name), they are very elitist there and do appear the way you say they do.
Personally i find the BJD community on Instagram much nicer, at least with the smaller collectors and there are many really nice dolls that are way cheaper than the Fairyplace dolls that are honestly way overpriced for their quality (tho they do make cute faces).
Also, a lot of the smaller artists are totally okay with paying in chunks, which makes it a lot more accessible to more people. Definitely still more of an Adult-collector thing, but doesn't mean I don't play dress-up with my dolls x'D
You can buy purses for your pullips so you can carry them safely when you twin with your doll in lolita if you buy one of the brand colllabs. They're usually shaped like little houses
I NEEEEED
I’ve seen the AP chess chocolate one, it’s super cute
I think Rainbow High also deserves a mention with Sunny and Lila. They’re pretty basic compared to some of these dolls, but MGA really pushes the fact that they’re meant to embody the “kawaii” aesthetic of J-Fashion, especially in Lila’s face-up with her colorful stickers and nose bandaid.
Gothic + Sweet = Bittersweet! It’s quite commonly called that in western Lolita communities to my knowledge
THANK YOU for not saying Lagoona is a gyaru 😭 honestly, I'm so tired of people seeing swimsuits/tropical style and going "gyaru!". Also, I think you could've talked about Sunny and Lila from Rainbow High. I like Sunny's design, but I think the J-fashion influence could've been implemented better. As for Lila, I can't over over how culturally inaccurate she is lol, which is sad cuz she's so cute :( also, Bratz Tokyo a Go Go is THE BEST western doll line to ever reference J-fashion. I don't think anyone ever got it as accurate as they did, they look like they came directly out of fruits and I'm living for it!
As a black girl who had Namika and was so happy a J-fashion inspired doll line had a black doll..it was so disappointing to find out she was only made with dark skin for the American market 😮💨
A "fun" thing about those Barbies is that entire sections of their outfits were copied "verbatim" from the pages of the Fruits book that came the the US.. I'd gone through those pictures so many times that I couldn't believe it when I saw the dolls at..wherever. Put the things on layaway, and saltily marked the matching pages of my copy of Fruits with color coded paper.. Felt pretty bogus that Mattel just copied not just Japanese designers, but individual creatives...and made $$
Ah, Mattel.... Barbie was stolen from Bild Lili, it's a tradition started from the beginning...stealing ideas and making money...
Cutie Pops did acually post a picture of a Lolita they ran into on their Facebook and captioned it along the lines of "Doesn't this look like one of our dolls?". I worked on updating the fandom page for the brand and looking at their socials was part of the research.
Aw, that's actually pretty adorable!
I love the beret with this outfit! Looks so good on you!
Yes
Fr! Its such an adorable outfit and color palet
Yesss
As a gal I’d also like to point out out that ko-gal isn’t really a substyle of gal more of just a name for real high school girls that existed. It always strikes me as weird that doll lines use the “style” so often cause it really isn’t a style. Yet I think it’s due to how easy it is to make and how people see school uniforms as “kawaii” or associate them with Japan.
I 100% blame magical girl shows for this since they tend to use a characters uniform for the costume, just in a different color
@@uniquenewyork3325basically only sailormoon does this but thats the only magical girl most people have ever heard of
I wish more dolls had Mori Kei fashion, but since it's not as colorful as other J-Fashion, I understand why it's not often incorporated. You do see more Mori Kei-esque looks in OOAK custom dolls, but still not much compared to Fairy Kei. It's kind of a shame; I think Classic Lolita is also penalized for not being very colorful, judging by what I've heard about the Sweet Lolita prevalence.
As a fellow Lolita i am surprised you didnt mention Haunt couture draculaura! its the only reason i want that doll so badly, shes so clearly inspired by lolita. I know that underbusted/suspender skirts arent as common but its definitely a thing! its even about the right length too. I would still consider her sweet even if the clothes look too dark. There are plenty of sweet lolita dresses with black colorways that are still too sweet looking to be gothic. (i know some call this bittersweet but i think we can just call it what it is since it feels unnecessary to give a single colorway of a print a completely different name than the rest imo) this video made me want to buy lots of jenny and licca dolls. Theyre so cute!!
She definitely has a Lolita silhouette, but someone pointed out that a lot of her outfit comes from traditional Hungarian clothing. It could be a fusion of both, though
@@DarlingDollz oo hadn't heard that before. I can kinda see it.
Holy shit, I searched it up and it looks so pretty!!!
As a lolita, anytime a doll has a lolita fashion-inspired outfit, I become very happy.
Yes omg this is the sort of niche overlap I love. Fashion dolls and J-Fashion are two of my biggest passions. This makes me so excited not even gonna lie 😭😭😭
edit: honestly surprised Lila Yamamoto and Sunny Madison from Rainbow High weren't mentioned. I was interested to hear what could've been improved on Lila's design to make her more accurate to Japanese street fashion (I personally redressed mine to be more accurate!) And how Sunny Madison's twin pack design improved on the decora/kawaii aesthetic significantly better than on her initial designs. Still a great vid! I want more on this topic honestly 💕
Lila's design isn't really J-fashion. It is a mix of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
@@NakanoMiku-chan-z2m I am aware of that yes. However, in her character bio it says she wears Tokyo streetstyle. I would assume this meant she was J-Fashion inspired. This is shown with the stickers on her face, the band aid, as well as her decorated crocs. However aside from that she doesn't seem to show much that really demonstrates recognizable japanese street fashion. The korean hanbok is also out of place since she is Japanese/Chinese. There was a lot of potential given these details, I just wish they showed off her fashion influences with a more accurate approach.
The Jr High Sunny Madison's clear plastic jacket with toys sewn into it is so kawaii!
@@truly_dewey I wish they would have done more to reflect that look in her doll. I have that gripe about a few rainbow high dolls. Not just her. Also I don't think Mga or whoever designed her didn't do enough research either. If she wasn't intended to be 1/3 korean then they shouldn't have included Korean fashion into her design. I feel like Stella suffers from a very similar problem. She is meant to be English royalty but dresses more like a rich American.
Ever After was THEE Lolita Fashion Fantasy and I won't here anything against it
For Jessica its strange its called hime gyaru, when it seems more like agejo gyaru which while it still shares some elements with hime like some frills and bigger hair usually, is meant to be more adult and primarily uses pinks, blacks, and whites for the colors!
I had already forgotten that there are so many styles in Asia. Of course, MGA uses these styles the most, the last Sunny turned out especially cool with her outfit and cute teddy bear bag from the double pack. Licca and Jenny are my favorite dolls, I grew up with them.
I wish there was more visual kei in doll fashion. I love that look!
Shibajuku dolls are painfully ugly, but as an ex-decora I fucking looooooved the lil hairclips they came with. They were a lil slippy, but still cute
Little clarification on the looks you're seeing for Jenny collection- some of the styles given to the dolls are different to the ones you mentioned or are more aligned with other styles
jenny: cool-kei. mentions casual and denim outfits and LA inspired styles in the description. Gals can fall under this umbrella but it extends to other styles of casual style too
Mirai is just school-girl. There's no mention of kogyaru but it does mention Idol (j-idol) influences
Jessica is himegyaru but the description says koakuma-kei which I'd say is more accurate label for this look
Ayano is Love-Kawa and mentions frills, lace and other sweet motifs. It's more aligned with Amagyaru style than himekaji
Shion: oneesan kei/oneegyaru/big sister style and notes the look being 'elegant' with blouses and purple and white colour pallet
Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown! Can you translate/elaborate on koakuma kei? That one is new to me, and when I try to google it, the English results are, uh, not quite fashion related 😅
Dracalaura, as someone who is gothic but wears j-fashion a lot aswell. Is definetely a pastel goth in my opinion. (+a mix of pastel goth Colors with lolita clothes in some outfits.)
Pastel goth with gothic Lolita elaments like he said her picture day forbidden love and haute couture dolls where all full on Lolita coords her sweet 1600 doll was almost just needed a blouse and some socks would HAVE Been the rest Lolita inspired more or less There I'll get of my soap box now
I low-key have beef with Kuu Kuu Harajuku because I love the art style and the character designs for the main girls are really cute but the lack of any attempt to give these dolls looks actually inspired by J-fashion and the appropriation of Japanese kawaii culture cannot be forgiven.
I think it's a pity that there is less diversity in Lolita silhoutes than there was in the 90s
As a lolita myself this is simply incorrect: Actually, quite the opposite. When looking at kera and cutie magazines In the 90s lolita fashion wasn’t a distinct fashion style, a lot of the “diverse silhouettes” you may have seen weren’t considered lolita at all and instead called “free style” when looking at fruits magazines earliest issues was a term to describe outfits with no specific style. It wasn’t until the early 2000s when the term “lolita” was first used to describe the feminine conservative style and became its own thing. Lolita Fashion can still be diverse in its style without breaking the core rules of the fashion.
@@FrillyDisaster i think that's due to very strict fashion rules in lolita, which i don't personally understand
@@theasleephylianlclara9277 lolita fashion at its core is a fashion for women and girls to explore femininity in a way that’s not necessarily sexual while still empowering the wearer (unlike most religious wear or other “normal” means of conservative clothing). If you don’t like lolita’s conservative but vivid style that’s fine! We all have different tastes, just don’t go into EGL communities and hate on girls in the fashion and we will respect your opinion.
I wear lolita myself. There is a WIDE variety of silouttes in modern lolita fashion than there was earlier on. I don't really count 90's as @FrillyDisaster pointed out, it was sort of a proto-lolita era, with no real distinct definition. But lolita in the early 2000's namely had two shapes, A-line and cupcake with the main piece being specifically around knee length for the average Japanese wearer. (This differs of course for height and shape outside the Japanese average). These days, the fashion has a great deal of differing lengths, cuts and types of petticoats needed. Lately, tea length dresses are quite popular, but shorter skirts and salopettes (some debate if it's lolita) were quite popular. I personally have a wide variety of different cuts and sillouttes in my wardrobe and have about 8 petticoats that I use pretty often.
@theasleephylianlclara9277 The west really went hardcore on the rules. In Japan, the rules were not really quite as strictly defined as they were here. This is because one could easily go to any of the lolita shops and purchase the items directly and put together a coordinate with ease. That wasn't the case in the west until fairly recently. Even then, it's still a bit tricky. But when I started back in 2010, a lot of lolitas wore loliable items (standard fashion items that work okay-ish for lolita). Or they would modify those items to work well. The rules still exist, but they aren't so strictly enforced as it's easier for beginners to get started even on a lower budget than they did in the past. I'm not even sure if the Japanese really even follow much for rules. So many still follow the standard of just purchasing a full set from the brands they support. The west has always been more creative and the rules really existed to keep the creativity from going so far it's no longer in the box, if that makes any sense. All I'm saying is that it's always been a bit fuzzy and it's forever getting fuzzier and floofier as time goes on.
@@theasleephylianlclara9277
I like the rules. The way I see it,
You have to have a gate and walls to have a community.
First, the rules allow us to not get wiped out by fast fashion.
there’s this one replica dress on Amazon that’s a copy of a real dress. That Amazon copy literally killed the original brand. Lolita brands are all relatively small businesses.
Also- if you don’t maintain certain features of lolita, what’s the difference between lolita and other jfashions. If we said “yea, skirt length and silhouette doesn’t matter” would sweet lolita be a distinct style anymore??
Our rules allow us to maintain quality, and a proper community.
I understand why people wouldn’t like rules, but try to understand our reasoning for having them
11:34 wait a minute..... That's literally AKB48 as a doll hahahaha, had I known about this doll I would have added it to my AKB48 collection!
Commenting before I’ve finished the video but i love this kind of content. Doll collecting as a consumerist hobby can become one note very quickly so content like this keeps my engaged and remind me what’s so fun about this hobby in the first place. Please keep up the good work 🙌🏾
That sums up what I was thinking too! Darling makes content that makes me love dolls more. Not content that makes me want to buy more dolls that i can afford/ love
great choices!! Juku Couture will always have a special place in my heart even if I can't find my Kana doll ATM. The only line I think was missed was Misaki & her adventures since she covers a decently large spectrum of fashion styles.
Thanks for going into what J-Fashion is in a way that was both in depth enough to give those unfamiliar a good grasp on the concept but brief enough to only cover the relevant styles for this topic! That was really well done because I came here thinking I’d have to sus it all out on my own and making assumptions is never a good thing xD
Also your outfit today is super cute!
honestly i feel like if any jfashion would suit draculaura its not gothic lolita but agejo gyaru. the mix of hot pink and black with lace fit so much
I love j-fashion and actually the reason i bought Fierce Neonlicious was because i felt like i could see a lot of Harajuku esque influences in her look!
Totally think Azone International dolls should be on this list but they are a little niche 😅 and not everyones cup of tea because they have a very anime aesthetic but their fashion is so sweet and cute. Totally check them out if you haven't seen them!
Thank you for mentioning them 😭 I love them but no one ever talks about them, they’re so underrated In the (current) doll community
@@smushedgrape7967 I feel the same way! Idk why no one seems to know about them. I think it must be in part due to the anime aesthetic 😭 but I think they are the cutest. There one of my favorite doll lines I'm collecting right now.
I would love to see some of your full outfits in the future!!! You clearly have a good eye for fashion :)
I might be stretching, but Novi Stars reminded me of the substyle uchuu kei back in the 2010's! Granted, it was more niche than fairy kei and lolita was so it could have just been me.
as a japanese kid living in western countries the only dolls i had were Rika chan dolls given to me by my japanese aunties. this current trend of barbie everything has really been making me feel like i missed out but this video just reminded me of all the fun fashion i got to play with!! this video was SUPER nostalgic i love it!! thankyou for such an interesting and well researched video!!!
I think Lila Yamamoto from Rainbow High was a really nice doll that was done really well for harajuku fashion. The band-aid over the nose and stickers on the face are very reminiscent of decora and i loved the croc charms and fingerless gloves! The black amongst the purple really pulled it all together in my opinion. I also really enjoyed that her clothes were very kimono inspired but done in a way that feels modern and stylish with her secondary outfit being more of a traditional look. The kimono is even crossed the correct way, and both outfits have a proper wide obi style belt so you can tell that the creators did their research on the traditional fashion before stylizing it which brings me joy 💗💗
Lila Yamamoto is the doll that started my doll collecting journey, and i hope we get many more J-Fashion inspired dolls in the future!
So glad that you cited Lor as an authority on lolita fashion! I've been watching her for years and she seems so sweet!
The blonde and redheaded Juku Couture dolls read as Amekaji Gyaru to me! I’m definitely not a gyaru expert, but the colors and pieces really seem right. If so, I love the double cultural exchange of American fashion to Japanese fashion to American fashion dolls 😊
I adore this style 🩰🌸🐇
I've never ben in the community itself but I've always loved J-fashion! My favourite was always Mori Kei, and I feel like cottagecore fashions are very reminiscent of them today. There's definitely some big differences but I feel like they are atleast sister fashions 😁 I actually have both the Romantic Alice Pullip and the Romantic Hatter Taeyang dolls, which are absolutely stunning! They're definitely classic Lolita inspired! The frills on the Hatter's sleaves are so fun and I love the lkke 4 layers of frilly skirts on the Alice doll 😁 I'd love to see a brand make some dolls with more obscure fashion styles, including some J-fashions!
Hi, I just want to say the shizuka doll does seem quite inspired by the sub style of “cult party kei” espically with the pale colors and laying
you playing pripara!!! with leona on the screen!!! how much more relatable to me can u be lmao
JUST started the video and i have to say, your outfit is SOOO CUTE i adore it!! cant wait to finish the video itself!
edit: video was amazing as usual!
I love lolita fashion and, oh boy, does the reference to that book just boil my blood. And we all know that Ever After high had an adult audience of all us lolita fashion fans. I remember going to a convention that had tons of fans there with inspired outfits.
Barbie actually had a pretty big collab with the Laforet shopping mall, there was a Barbie-sized BTSSB Robe à la Française OP, a human-sized Angelic Pretty Barbie OP that was a recolor of the Moon Drop OP with barbie shoe shaped charms on the bow and an embroidered logo patch, a Metamorphose temps de fille pink and black JSK set in two colorways, and some more roma-gyaru (I think) clothing from a brand called Pop Sister.
22:13 a sweet lolita here, we usually refer to this as "bittersweet," the same term is often used to describe sweet prints that come in dark colorways such as the black colorway of sugary carnival from angelic pretty
Thank you so much for this video! I love how complete and well-researched it is. Very recently, I found out that, in 2020, Italian toy company Dkidz (a subsidiary of Dynamic Italia, whose core business is localization and distribution of Japanese media) launched a line of tiny plastic figurines with interchangeable parts and plastic clothes named My Lovely Tokyo Baby Girls, with a marketing heavily focusing on stereotypically Japanese elements. I have very conflicting feelings about this one, because obviously SOME level of research on Japanese culture and fashion went into it. I think a couple of the dolls in the three lines that were released do have some hime-gyaru elements to their outfits... the rest, not so much, as the line was essentially conceived as a budget alternative to LOLs, which can get VERY expensive in Europe. But the My Lovely Tokyo dolls did come with pamphlets with accurate information about the geography of Tokyo and the peculiarities of Shibuya and Harajuku, written in a way that was targeted to kids. Also, their pets were decent quality pieces inspired by the design of Licca-chan's pets (in fact, some are nearly identical). With the exception of the pets, the dolls seem flimsy and with a tendency to lose their body parts all over the place, but as long as they helped an Italian parent somewhere not go crazy over having to buy expensive LOL toys, they probably achieved their purpose!
I loved this video! I had actually never heard of the Juku Couture dolls 😅. I think along the lines of Pullip, Blythe dolls could be included as well. But an absolutely comprehensive list of J-fashion inspired dolls might quite possibly be endless.
okay, pripara AND precure?? this is taste i TRUST. 😍
Yesss Ever After High caught my eye when I first saw Apple White cuz I was like YO THAT DEF LOOKS LOLITA INSPIRED. I really like the Blondie Locks in the Sweets outfit themed after well sweets! The cartoon version looks better than the irl version tho.
I agree with all of your comments about the Western dolls, but never knew about Juku Fashion I think is what you said and the Tokyo a Go Go Bratz series. I love that these dolls incorporate lots of accessories and clothes to do a mismatched layer look that still comes together to look like you would see it in Tokyo Fashion
i think the jessica doll at 11:35 is def more agejo gyaru than hime its got the hot pink colors and use of patterns/prints and general silhouettes more in that style ! fun video i didnt know about some of these lines !
I was going off how she's labeled, but I agree she could def qualify as agejo. The translated description even describes the style as "devilish" haha
@@DarlingDollz i figured it was probably the doll labeling lol, there is a lot of overlap
I always thought that Sunny Madison from RH was inspired by Gyarus (Like, really blond yellow hair with tanned skin and her style being "kawaii") but since they had so few dark skinned dolls it would've been weird if one of them was just tanned skin.
12:47 Hunter started a toy company, that gold plated goof ball been busy.
As an Asian and an artist myself, I definitely enjoy harajuku and lolita (the latter especially)! They’re so fun to browse through for inspiration for character outfit designs-although, since I’m of Chinese descent, I usually browse Chinese street fashion and hanfu lolita now. But there’s a lot of cool Japanese fashion styles out there and it’s pretty neat seeing how dolls try to incorporate them-although any time the west draws on East Asian cultural phenomenons, it can get…kind of interesting. So I’m excited to learn more about them here haha. 😂
So yeah! A niche within a niche video is actually always pretty fun-because they offer insight into topics that are interesting but not many may be familiar with.
I’m not a Bratz collector, but the most tempted I ever became was when I saw Tokyo a Go Go. I’d still buy those dolls if they weren’t so expensive now.
I love the new g3 monster high but I just really miss those clear style inspired outfits in the new monster high dolls. On most of the g1 character you could easily pull together what they probably used as inspiration, but with g3 I think it just lacks that interesting fashion that g1 had in the outfits.
The new gen just looks like your basic instagram model…it’s super boring
Robecca was straight up steampunk, Operetta was a rockabilly revivalist, and Elissabat was a romantic goth. You could tell just by looking at them. As cute as some g3 outfits are, the best you can do is guess which online stores the characters shop at.
I feel like that's because both gens have different priorities: G1 focused on fashion and appealed to an older demographic. G3 focuses on character and appeals to a younger audience.
The difference in audience is important cause younger kids won't get some of the inspirations for the outfits in G1. G3 dolls wear very Gen Z clothing that is not very alternative. I do hope that G3 doesn't consistently lean into trendy Gen Z fashion and does more alt stuff. The leaked Venus doll looks to be promising in that regard.
@@fruitygarlic3601 sure but look at the diversity in outfits you just mentioned. I’m not seeing as many cool inspos in this besides trying to make them look trendy. The clothes they wore weren’t mainstream and were more risky and interesting imo
Also Haley from Jukucoture is very clearly wearing an Amekaji gyaru cord in the first picture, which is such an interesting sub style to me bc it was Japan interpreting American street fashion kind of like how the American market was interpreting Japan’s fashion at the time.
I'd love for you to do more videos talking about licca dolls! I'd love to see some more of their fashions and I'd love to hear what you think about them!
i always considered Licca as the Skipper of Japan, and Jenny is the Barbie...but idk. Just going off pre-internet Barbie Bazaar Magazines.
im shocked lalaloopsy wasn't included at all- when i was a kid i LOVED lolita and only ever got bodyline stuff from my parents if any so i LIVED through lalaloopsys. not all of them, but so many of them felt so lolita inspired, even down to the super drilled curly ponytails that you see especially in 90s magazines and stuff!!!
Skullsout dracualura has bittersweet vibes to me, in general her color scheme reminds me of tjis substyle
Aaaah thank you so much for mentioning me in your vid description! This was such a cute video 💖
Omg you look soooooo cute!!!! Love the outfit!! 😍😍😍
Yassss
In the 80's there was a failed My Little Pony fashion doll line spin-off of sorts made by Takara that has some elements of Lolita in my opinion. 🤔
I brought my Rainbow High doll with to Japan and I am so happy you covered this ❤
I dont remember if it was the begoths dolls or the bleeding edge ones but there are some of their figurines that are clearly mana-sama inspired including the haircut,theres also the princess Ai ones that have an oldshcool gothic lolita vibe to them
Licca chan also a sub series called neo licca that was very much inspired by gyaru fashion too!
Hi, great video! I'm not too knowledgeable on dolls and the like so this has been very informative :) I just wanted to point out though that at 11:34 when you talk about the Jessica doll, she's actually got more of an Agejo style going on than Hime Gyaru! The styles definitely overlap in some places (in particular the hair and makeup) so I understand the confusion. Keep up the good work!
I was going off how she's labeled in the promo and on her boxes ("Hime Gal") but I agree with you actually. The translated description on the image even seems to describe agejo more than hime, as it refers to it as "a devilish style" lol
Ohhh I love j-fashion. I think it's quite relevant since fashion dolls are about fashion. I'd definitely watch if you do more stuff like this about fashion or j-fashion
LOL OMG did a doll based on the Japanese band Babymetal! Personally, I'd count it. Also they discontinued their Firece line, but the prototype for Candylicious is very sweet lolita/fairy kei. Its a shame we'll never see it :,(
I really like Wa Lolita, the merger of traditional Japanese styles with Victorian influences. It’s actually a pretty natural fusion because Japanese fashion had a minor influence on Victorian fashion anyways (it’s the origin of the pagoda sleeve). In Wa Lolita you see the top of the outfit incorporating the kimono shape, and the skirt being more standard Lolita, generally. I don’t think it was ever super popular, though, when I researched it in Japan it was hard to find and that was back in 2014!
I also like that lately there has been an interest in Taisho/Meji period inspired fashions, I think because of the Wind Rises & Demon Slayer. Anyways it involves trying to replicate the schoolboy/girl look of that era. Again, super niche, but I do like the casual look for men mixing Western style hats with yukata...
I love that your talking about the overlap of dolls and J fashion! I’m a Lolita and I started my Lolita journey when I bough my first pullip doll. It was an Alice de Jordan doll and even though it wasn’t explicitly Lolita I started searching for cloths I could wear that looked the part. At the time I was 100% into doll collecting. I’ve stepped back to balance alt fashion with my doll collecting hobby. I love nose J fashion, especially more colorful styles.
I hope we can see more videos covering the topic.
u never fail me for a good watch tysm!!! id love to see more J fashion inspired dolls - 2 of my fave LOL OMGs (bubblegum DJ and twist queen) have a J fashion vibe and in general i think LOL OMG faces really suit gyaru looks, but id also love more realistically proportioned dolls like the jukus with more focus on the fashion itself with abundant layering pieces and accessories !!!
This is one of my favourite videos you've ever done. I wouldn't mind one bit if you did more videos on either J-fashion (had no idea you were that into it!) or Japanese dolls ^^ I'm curious too what sites did you use to find all the photos? I would love to explore more!! Thank you so much for making this, really was awesome to see
I love this topic - thanks for diving in 💖 I had the first 4 Juku Couture dolls. They were so pretty and their fashion was so ornate. I did end up giving them to my kids though (they collect dolls too). I have learned that I won't end up keeping a doll I don't sew for and these dolls didn't have any patterns readily available. I know, I know, I could have made them patterns, but I didn't
Just Sweet Blondie Lockes captures the pure essence of sweet lolita. This isn't an opinion, it's just a simple fact 🤷♀She's an absolute masterpiece and easily my favorite EAH doll (and honestly probably my favorite overall) I even took the time to paint the molding on her accessories, including all the little sprinkles on her cupcake shoes. EAH always impresses me with going unreasonably hard when they really want to
got jumpscared by the shibajuku dolls
i adore the little hat
As a jfashion enthusiast I love what you discussed! Please cover more jfashion inspired doll videos!! I feel like lol omg dolls do have some jfashion influences too like neonlicious and candylicious and some of the tweens
i literally turned in my bachelor's last assignment on this topic YESTERDAY i'm going crazy
I really enjoyed this video. Can you Please do one on the Korean "barbie" dolls and their aesthetic?
Honestly the mention of Juku Couture brought back so many memories, they were my first attempt at collecting dolls, and i wish that i had kept them in their original form, but my 15 year old egg self just had to make them all into boys 😅
I'm surprised that you didn't mention Kiyomi in the monsterhigh section
I guess I must live under a rock - I wasn’t aware of any of this. This is so fascinating to me. Thanks for sharing! I always learn something new from your videos. ❤
It’s all good, this is all still pretty obscure in the West! I’m a big fan of j-fashion, but the only places where I run into it offline are anime conventions and dedicated j-fashion meetups
keep it coming with the niche within niche vids it's so interesting and i learn so much
Blondie Lockes is literally my favorite character because her base outfit reminded me of lolita😭
yeah it could totally work as a coord
I absolutely love this and would love to hear you talk more about j fashion! I've been getting into EGL recently myself and I'd love to hear you talk about it since you have such a cute style and your videos are always wonderful. ❤
never feel hesitant on making nietch vids on this cause I saw this title and got so excited dolls & j fashion are also things near and dear to me
Your outfit is the cutest!! So excited to watch this video rn 🤍
I've never been THIS early before. I clicked so fast when I saw fairy kei
same but for me it was gyaru
two of my fav thing in one video!!
Great video! Just curious what your take on Rainbow High's Lila Yamamoto is, I don't know J-substyles very well but I think her clothes and accessories are super cute 🌸
i love your channel so much!!
FINALLY someone talks about kuu kuu harajuku I thought everyone just forgot about that
I also would like to add Winx to this conversation. While their dolls, for the most paart, are not the greatest, over the years the focus of the creators shifted from creating a interesting show to producing a series to promote toys and other merch. A lot of what makes Winx what it is seems to be thanks to Eastern trends/entertainment. That also includes character's appearance (not all of it, but some parts for sure), which did and maybe still do get to be translated into doll designs (I do not follow Winx CLub that close anyomre, so cannot say for sure). For instance, Season 5 main outfits take clear inspiration from Gyaru fashion. In addition, Many looks in season 4 take inspiration from Japanese and Korean style trends.
Ahhh a video that combines two things I love - fashion dolls and j-fashion! I’m so excited!!