Traditional Lolita Vs Old School Lolita

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 school lolita was. Since the style has become more popular in recent years, this has become particularly clear. And as an ~evil old school purist~, this bothers me a little bit. Not because I hate these coords, because I don't, they're cute and always well put together, I just feel like they aren't old school.

It occurred to me that it might actually be quite beneficial to make the distinction between Old School Lolita and what I call 'Traditional Lolita'. I came across the term in this video where Misako wears a very modern interpretation of old school, but she calls it 'Traditional Lolita'. With this differentiation, people can wear the cute pseudo old school style without diluting or stretching the meaning of Old School Lolita.

Traditional Lolita

I would describe Traditional Lolita as a refined idea of oldschool. As if you have a vague memory of the most obvious features of Old School Lolita, that also fits the current rules and standards. It could even be described as the most typical idea of lolita, it's sort of what a basic and timeless lolita coord looks like. A neatened up idea of oldschool, using more accessible things and modern makeup styling.

https://www.instagram.com/ghostdesu/

https://to-boldly-goth.tumblr.com/
wearing a recent re-release of Millefuille JSK, a bag from 2010, and modern blouse

It's generally a cute and simple coord with a solid main piece, often a re-release or even original old school piece such as Babydoll or Millefuille JSK, or perhaps a solid piece from Bodyline. Most commonly worn in traditional lolita would be a white blouse and legwear (though not exclusively), perhaps with a rectangle headdress or a head bow and often worn with matching shoes. Common are modern items such as Usakumya bags, looser ringlets, tea parties, etc. It could be considered easier to wear than old school, as you can use pieces with more current fabrics like tulle lace and chiffon, rather than worrying about finding 'era appropriate' items. It leaves out the nuances of old school and is more fit for the coording mindset of the modern lolita, so much so that it deserve it's own category in my opinion. Baby The Stars Shine Bright's Classical series coord photos are the perfect example of Traditional Lolita.

Usakymya as we know him only turned up in 2005, towards the very end of the old school era, and even then he had a slightly slimmer face and from the looks of it his snout was slightly longer. Compare him to the Usakumya in the coord picture above this one.

https://www.instagram.com/obliviously.happy/
wearing a bodyline JSK released a few years ago

Old School Lolita

Old school Lolita is slightly more nuanced, it does encompass the way the entire fashion looked for a large stretch of time, after all. To put it simply, old school lolita would be an accurate imitation of the way the fashion looked at whatever point between the 90s and 2006 (or even the 80s if you want to go hard mode).

https://www.instagram.com/troubleinthemessagecentre/

Old school lolita does not just include the basic 'black and white jsk, white blouse, white socks, black shoes' look that over the years it became known as, although that look was one of many popular ways to wear lolita in the early 00s. Since old school is the entirety of lolita fashion within a certain time frame, there are many many ways of wearing it, and certain features that are important, such as era appropriate makeup, the type of lace used, shoe shape, etc. I'll be writing a complete blog post on this so I won't go too in depth here as this is just to differentiate the two styles.

While the coord on the right is the type that 'traditional lolita' is based on, the left coord shows that old school was much more than just the one style of coord.

Hey, it's me~

Ringlets, when worn, tended to be tighter, tea parties weren't worn as they weren't released by Angelic Pretty until 2006 (I'm pretty sure), and shoes with bows were less common until later on in the period. Petticoats, something lolitas consider vital today, were more optional in the earlier old school years, with some items not even being made to fit one.

Old school Main Pieces Styled Modernly

Hey it's me again, from back in 2014!

It occurred to me to give this a quick mention as well, even though it's not it's own sub-style. I wouldn't consider this type of coord old school, just because it has an old school main piece. This is 2018 after all, and if you want to wear your 2003 OP in a way that wasn't even invented yet back then, go ahead! Be as modern as you like, they're your clothes. But in my opinion, it wouldn't be old school, and that's totally fine. The year your items were released shouldn't prohibit the way you coord it, but the way you coord it will affect what substyle it belongs to. Think of it this way, if you wore Sugary Carnival with modern sweet styling, it wouldn't be that classic 2008-11 OTT sweet. I know this paragraph sounds a bit patronising but like, I'm not sure how else to word it other than "it's not old school and that's fine".

https://www.instagram.com/sadpartyqueen/

P.s. I just want to make extra clear that I don't think any of these ways of styling are lesser than the others, just that there should be differentiation and clarification. My opinion is not some magic lolita law, but I do hope this catches on in the community.