The Subculture Study Of Lolita Fashion

The Lolita costume subculture originated from literary creation and then began to thrive in Japan through the re-dissemination of related films,animations,and light novels.The subculture of Lolita fashion and diversified style have attracted the attention of scholars from different subjects.It is a complete system from the same vein.However,the overwhelming majority of studies have analyzed the Lolita costume subculture from the perspective of subculture,but most of the researches still focus on the design of clothing,the overall control of the Lolita costume subculture system was neglected.Therefore,this study attempts to explore the development path of Lolita costume subculture from a more macroscopic view,tracking the object's research methods,and analyzes the personality and visual style of characters in texts,films and television materials.Therefore,this study willl use the method of “tracking objects” by Scott Lash in “Global Culture Industry: the Mediation of Things”.By tracing the development of Lolita subculture,we realized it is a constract process which contributed by prodecer,consumer and media.The development of Lolita costume subculture has two processes: the thingification of media and the mediation of things.This study will analyze the specifically process of Lolita costume subculture.The study found that the development process of Lolita costume subculture spans the boundaries of time,nationality,and culture.It shows distinctive even totally different styles in different countries and regions.In the novels and movies,Lolita's character image is sexy,temperament,and rebellion.But from other media,Lolita's image has becomed elegance and sweetness.The mediation of things has spawned a large number of commodities and derivatives.Combination with brands,the related media images has becomed goods,they have traditional exchange value and use value,at the same time,it also has cultural value.In the mediation stage of Lolita costume,the producer has multi-dimensionally expanded Lolita costumes from a commercial point of view.Consumers have enriched Lolita from the perspective of production and consumption.The completed system of Lolita subculture included four phases: branding,symbolization,graphicization and scenarized.As youth subculture,the differences between Lolita costume subculture and traditional subculture in resistance and incorporation have two aspects: firstly,the negative effect of the media in the development of traditional youth is not adopted in the Lolita costume subculture.Secondly,the negative character of lolita constume subculture is not obvious,“ideological incorporation” and “commercial incorporation” are totally different from the traditional youth subculture.The Birmingham school believes that the media will have side effects on youth subcultures,it will induce “ethical panic” by the media through labeling.This view is not suitable to the Lolita costume subculture.Different from the "resistance" promoted by the early youth subculture,the "resistance" in the Lolita costume subculture more focused on emphasizing the differences between different individuals.The consumers are pursuing the satisfaction of inner spirit.It is very different from the early youth subculture "resistance" that stemmed from the taboo against the social changes brought about by the Victorian era and the Rococo era.In addition,by interviewing consumers of different genders,it can be found that female consumers' rebellion is against to their own understanding of themselves.But the male consumers' resistance from the external evaluation and recognition of themselves,their self identity comes from the unity of body sex and gender after wearing Lolita.