#modifying clothes

[nyxxified]

Why is wanting to modify my clothes so scary! Like OoOoaOaoai dont grab the scissors... those changes are permanent!! But at the same time its a shirt thats old and i dont wear it anymore anyway

[20dollarlolita]

A note on modifying clothing and preserving the designer's vision

Modifying Lolita clothes, especially Brand, is a very highly discussed and polarizing topic in the Lolita community. Those who are pro-modification point out that they paid for the clothes and therefore can do what they want. Those against say it's going against the fashion, and taking away some of the special-ness of the clothes.

My personal view is in the middle of that.

All clothing, everywhere, in all styles and places, started out as the vision of a designer. I believe that Lolita modification should be about preserving the designer's vision.

For example, if your dream dress is too small or too large, modifying it so that it fits is preserving the designer's vision by making the dress look and the wearer feel beautiful, instead of the look of drowning in a sea of fabric or the dreaded boob-loaf. I believe that it is safe to assume that all Lolita designers want to design dresses that look beautiful on the wearer*.

For example, if your waist is an inch and a half too small for the half-elastic waistband in your skirt, and you want to remove the elastic to enlarge the waistband to fit you, this is creating a well-fitting garment and preserving the designer's vision.

If you own a white blouse that has armpit discoloration on it that cannot be removed, dyeing the whole blouse an off-white to hide the stain is creating a garment that doesn't look dirty, keeping the Lolita feel and preserving the designer's vision.

If you have a beaded skirt where the beads are falling off, removing all of them stops the skirt from looking like it is breaking down, creating a more polished look and preserving the designer's vision.

It is safe to assume that the designer always wants their designs to look polished, proper, and beautiful. It is always safe to assume that the designer does not want their looks to be sloppy or dirty looking, or ill-fitting.

Times when I would suggest not modifying the clothing is when the design itself is being modified. For example, buying the white colorway of a dress and dyeing it mint because the dress was never released in a mint color, is a decision about the design of the dress. The designer and the company made the decision to not release it in mint.

As with all specialty fashions, we rely on those who design the fashion to give us new ideas, to keep the fashion visible and spreading it to others, to keep it a subfashion instead of a bunch of people dressing weird. Even if you never own a Brand dress in your life, we look to the Brands for inspiration, and they drive the clothes we make and knock-off.

That said, if you paid for it, you can do whatever it is you want to do with it. If you want to buy Iron Gate and make it into a punk jacket, there's nothing stopping you. All of the guidelines that I'm providing are about keeping your modification in line with the Lolita image and mindset. When you let go of the designer's vision, you come close to the line of letting the Lolita vision go as well.

Please modify responsibly.

__ *There are some designers out there, for sure, who don't want to design for anyone outside of a certain body size range. The designer might have publicly issued a statement that they don't want "fat women" wearing their dresses. In this case, I say fuck them, fuck the designer's view, and wear what you want and look glorious in it. This is one of the few cases where the designer's view is much less important than what the designer should believe. Regardless of size, everyone who wants to can and should look beautiful in Lolita fashion.