Hello forgive me for intruding, ive taken a recent interest im EGL fashion and was looking for other ppl in Ontario who have the same interedt (im outside of the GTA) how do u find ofher ppl in the community?
Hello!! So first and foremost I am far from being an expert on this subject as I am a lonelita (not a part of any comms/don’t have any friends within the community) and I am also fairly new to the scene myself, however, I am also from outside of the GTA (Niagara region) and I understand the struggle. I honestly couldn’t even tell you if there was a comm out where I live but I wear EGL out in public with the hopes of finding others nonetheless.
I’d say that starting out the best way to find your local comm would be through Facebook, as most of the active groups can be found there. Off the top of my head the most helpful groups would be EGL Events - North America (public) and Southern Ontario Lolitas (private) (I am too scared to join a private group so I don’t actually know what gets posted here, but as far as I know it should be a great resource). I must say though that what you’ll find in these groups (for Ontario anyway) is based within the GTA and that the best way for getting to know people and finding your local comm is through the meet up events that’ll get posted there, even if they are initially out of your way. I myself have to travel a good hour and a half to 2 hours to attend events happening in Toronto and I understand that that’s not necessarily an option, easy, or accessible for a lot of people but, unfortunately, that’s the only way I’ve been able to be around fellow lolitas. These events do have a good way of bringing people across Ontario together though, and through socializing you should, hopefully, find some people attending who are closer to you. If you’re willing to drive a bit though, it makes things a whole lot easier.
Socializing at events with a lot of people, none of which I know, is incredibly daunting for me so I haven’t really tested out this method. So if the whole group meet up thing isn’t for you, I get it. I unfortunately do not have any resources for how to find or where to find people to just casually chat with online (I mean I guess there’s discord but I am simply never venturing back there, though I have heard of online movie watching parties for kamikaze girls and online fashion shows being held in discord groups, it is just simply something that I do not know enough about). I understand that it also may feel intimidating to even just show up at all, let alone talk to people when you’re there if you’re new to it all, which is why I’m also going to recommend some non lolita exclusive feeling spaces that may make things easier, all of which have other activities you could potentially focus on if socializing is difficult. First, there is a ton of anime conventions that happen every year where those dressed in lolita tend to show up as well as many of these conventions holding EGL or jfashion panels/runways/tea parties/swap meets etc on specific days that you could potentially check out (sadly though, it’s way more common at American conventions). Most notably, Anime north tends to have things like this. Second, I’d check out Dolls Funeral by Gloomth. They hold a lot of closet shop days which tend to attract quite a bit of people and they’ve also brought in special guests known in the community in the past as well as held other meetup/tea party events. There’s plenty to shop for there if you’re looking to pick up any EGL items as well as other alternative items in general. Third, though less EGL oriented and more general jfashion oriented, I’d also recommend checking out Ghost Girl Goods, they hold plenty of different events like their annual picnic and often can be seen as a vendor, with plenty of cute jfashion items to buy. Lastly I’d have to recommend checking out Kei-Con, it’s an EGL oriented and jfashion dedicated convention happening over the course of 3 days with different things to do each day.
I’m sorry that pretty much everything I recommended was within the GTA, but I hope that this could be helpful to you even a little bit. Also, I’d be happy to be friends if you’d like!! If you want to ask me anything, just send me a message. Anyway, I wish you luck on your journey and I hope you find what you’re looking for, best of luck!!
