V&A Lolita Exhibit

Last month on my trip to London with my sister, we popped by the Victoria & Albert Museum to check out the Hollywood Costume exhibit. My sister had been waiting two years for this exhibit and some of the costumes we saw were really amazing and it's so different seeing them in life rather than on the movie screen. (My favourite has to be the Dolly Levi gold dress from Hello, Dolly!)

There was a 45 min to an hour wait to get into the exhibit, so my sister and I walked around the gift shop and planned to head into the gem room, because we love sparkly things~! However, on our way there my sister got side tracked for some reason while walking by the Japanese antiquities room. I knew that the V&A had a small exhibit dedicated to lolita fashion and how British culture has influenced it, but from what I knew, it was on display from March until August. However, the museum has extended the exhibit until February 2013! So, if you visit the V&A museum before then, you'll see the lolita exhibit in the Japanese section on the main floor! You can't miss it because the displays have pink windows!

Kitty and the Bulldog: Lolita fashion and the influence of Britain

Kitty and the Bulldog explores the way in which British fashion – notably Victoriana, Punk and Gothic – has influenced the development of Japan’s ‘Lolita’ style, a cult fashion movement whose defining feature has been its preoccupation with cuteness, or ‘kawaii’. The display features nine outfits recently bought in Tokyo for the V&A's permanent collections. - http://www.vam.ac.uk/

My camera couldn't make due to the dim lighting in the room and the contrast between my coat at the displays was too great, so the lighting was off! So, I must apologize for the quality of the photos (>_<;)

Left: Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Alice and the Pirates    Right: Innocent World

Examples of Sweet lolita, that venture into classic and a bit of gothic for the AatP dress.

I really love the styling they used for all the mannequins. I also noticed that all the wigs used were from Priscilla. Good to know they didn't cap the budget on wigs since Priscilla wigs are quite expensive. I really like that bag on the BtSSB display. . . Oddly it was on the outlet page on Baby's online site, but it was sold out. (-__-;)

Left: Moi-Meme-Moitie     Right: Putumayo

I'll have to admit I'm not expert on Gothic lolita, but I love looking at Moi Meme Moitie's clothing. There are minute details that you have to see up close that I couldn't capture on film, but the custom lace is gorgeous and the simplicity makes the overall outfit very elegant. 

Putumayo! I don't own anything from the brand, but I always like looking at their ads in my Kera magazines. Their branding is geared towards punk lolita. I also like the Hangry & Angry stuffed doll that's part of the styling!

Left: H.Naoto's Sixh. and MINT Neko    Right: Mamechiyo

H.Naoto has so many lines, I can't remember most of them. Apparently the outfit is inspired by Vivienne Westwood and falls into the punk and visual kei category. 

Mamechiyo has some lovely contemporary works that modernize the kimono. I've known of the designer for awhile since Magic Pony exhibited some of her work many years ago here in Toronto! The description for this display categorized the style as "Japanese Lolita" and is more demure and explores Japanese traditional dress.

I'm really happy that I got to see this exhibit before it went away. It was purely by accident since I didn't know it was extended. It's just interesting and fun to see a fashion/hobby that you're devoted to in a display at one of the best Art & Design museums in the world. 

Also, it also brings lolita to a broader audience and hopefully more people see it as a fashion rather than a costume. 

♥