Sweet Lolita through the years: tradi vs oldschool
Now that we’ve covered the bare basics in the first part I wanted to do a more in depth post on what differentiates modern sweet with a solid mainpiece, “traditional” Lolita, and oldschool Lolita.
Now I do have to say this is a pretty complex topic with a lot of nuance to it and while I can give pointers and a few answers there really is no right answer. Oldschool has a lot more to do with vibes than just specific items
First I want to reiterate a point from the first post, solids were not the only thing present in oldschool so not every solid is oldschool… and you can even style an oldschool piece in a modern or traditional way.
What is oldschool?
Oldschool refers to both the time period in Lolita fashions early days AND a way of styling that aims to accurately emulate how people dressed at the time. Think historic and vintage fashion with an emphasis on historical accuracy.
What is traditional?
If oldschool itself is real historic or vintage fashion then traditional Lolita is retro fashion. It’s a modern interpretation of some of the popular elements from Oldschool but often watered down to be more modern and marketable. The focus is more on a nostalgic feeling rather than an accurate emulation of a time period. Traditional Lolita often involves re released dresses that update and modernize oldschool pieces. We will look at some specific comparisons but a lot of the common things changes are skirt length, fabric, lace, and even length- giving it a far more marketable and clean look. Oddly unlike both modern sweet Lolita and oldschool sweet Lolita traditional rarely, if ever, features prints. The exception being patterns such as florals, gingham, and other more simple designs.
What is modern Lolita?
Well, any Lolita that came after it shifted from a more simplistic small fashion into an elaborate subculture with rules and sugary sweet plastic jewelry. It’s how Lolita looks now. If you’re interested however the entire point of this project is to cover every era of Lolita from oldschool, to 2010’s ott sweet, and all the in between.
While a lot of the differences come down to styling (which we will go over), there are also notable changes in the garments themselves.
Here’s a visual guide I made of how these classical releases by baby have changed over time. As well as how the way they style their models has changed. Usakumya is definitely the best example but I think Elizabeth shows it well too. The different fabric, the fact it fits a much larger petticoat, the length changing. All these things lead to a more modern sleek look.
Now let’s get into the meat of this topic, how to style modern versus traditional versus oldschool. I’ve broken these examples down to be really simple and a bit reductionist for sake of clarity!
Theres no one single right way to coord oldschool so for the focus of this coord i wanted to just create a very bare bones oldschool coord to show the differences between oldschool and modern at the very lowest most basic level.
Traditional Lolita often takes the rules imposed on Lolita fashion in 2010s and applies them to what would be an oldschool coord. (Ie, color balance, full petticoat, accessorizing fully,) this paired with the stylistic changes that baby and many other brands have made to modernize their releases causes a really beautiful but definitely different look. It’s much CLEANER. It has the polish that a lot of oldschool lacks.
I think a lot of the time if people aren’t aiming for just a basic oldschool look they can struggle to pick more dynamic accessories out. Based off the example coord above I’ve thrown together a little guide of items that would read as oldschool and also give the coord more flavor!
What mistakes do people often make when trying to emulate oldschool? Tea parties, modern color balance, modern looking items, modern usakumyas, over accessorizing, adhering to modern rules and over all looking too “clean”. Wrist cuffs often look out of place in oldschool coords despite being a staple of traditional. It never hurts to just play around and see how things look.
Ultimately you can wear whatever you want I just know some people DO care about accuracy so I thought this guide may help!
Sources on Oldschool
This is another great blog post on this topic:
Ever since we moved away from the era in which old school lolita was simply 'lolita', there has been a fairly stereotyped idea of what old s
If anyone has additional questions or wants clarity or something I’m happy to make a part 2
If you haven’t seen the prior posts in these series just follow the “sweet lolita through the years” tag
