What gives, grey? Larmes influence on J-fashion
Little disclaimer: in this post I'm mostly talking about Angelic Pretty, because they take more cues from trends than other brands within lolita, and they're the brand I know most about. I'm not ignoring other brands, they're just not quite as quick with making trendy pieces, and some of the pieces I talk about (eye masks anyone?) wouldn't fit with their aesthetic to begin with.
Also, everything here is just my opinion and based on what I personally have seen! Maybe you disagree, and that's fine. With that out of the way, enjoy!
Sometime back, I was browsing old blogs looking for outdated posts, I love how you can see how much lolita has grown and evolved from old blog posts. I came across a six years old post from Lolita Blog Carnival about underrated colours in lolita, and while the vast majority of the posts linking to it had been deleted, four or five still worked. Of those, two mentioned grey as an underrated colour. And indeed I do remember that when I just started out, grey was NOWHERE to be found. Only a handful of pieces came in grey, and most were very classic or gothic and usually heavy wool. I only knew two sweet dresses that came in grey at the time, Cats Tea Party and Cinema Doll. Nowadays though...
This is just a fraction of what Lolibrary had listed, and it's only Angelic Pretty too. And it's popularity is not just for new pieces, old re-releases and special sets often get a new grey colourway as well:
Grey is hot!Look at not just the amount of pieces but also at the amount of styles, everyone gets a grey, no matter if you like your lolita dark, toned down, retro-looking or super saccharine sweet. It got me thinking, why did grey suddenly explode when it was nowhere to be found for so long? I can't think of another colour that exploded like this before. Sure, lolita got a whole new palette when OTT sweet introduced new shades of mint, lavender and yellow, but that was a whole palette to work with a new flashy style. This is a single colour, and it doesn't have it's own style. Plus it's not like grey is such a pretty pastel that works so well with sweet lolita naturally- grey is kind of a drab colour. So what gives?
Larme gives!
By now, if you love lolita, no doubt you've heard of Larme. It's a very romantic, dreamy new style that became the it-style in no time and influenced lots of styles around it. Unlike other fashions that did the same, like for example Dolly kei and mori though, Larme seems to be here to stay. It has several own brands, an own magazine and a very active overseas community. In case you've never paid much attention to the style or simply have no idea what I'm talking about, let me show you a couple scans from Larme magazine.
Notice anything?
Larme as a clothing style focuses a lot -not exclusively as Larme is huge, but a lot- on dressing monochrome or neutral with pops of pink, red and other bright colours. It's very vintage looking. However, it also focuses on looking sweet and dreamy, something that's hard to pull of in all black, white, beige and red. So they use what is essentially pastel-black to lighten up the looks and still keep the same monochrome style. Where for example a Liz Lisa-girl might use a cream or pink, a Larme girl might take grey to keep a refined image and still dress in pastels. If you want to see how much of a difference colour can make, just look at these two staff snaps:
On the left a Liz Lisa shop staff, on the right E Hyphen Bonbon. They're both in similar clothes: flatforms with socks, a light coloured dress with tape lace and ribbon detailing, and sideswept bangs with curls. Yet their vibe is totally different! The Liz Lisa staff looks cutesy and girly, and the E Hyphen staff looks feminine and mature.
Now,
Larme is MASSIVE. The very first issue of Larme, published in September
2012, sold over 10,000 copies. Same with the second issue, and by the
third it had risen to 15,000 copies. For a brand new magazine, that's
incredible! Especially considering they didn't have any existing fanbase
to cater to. Of course if something this huge hits the fashion world
(and Larme hit like a brick to a window!) other brands will want in on
it, and the easiest way of taking some of that success without altering
your existing brand concepts is by adopting colours and patterns. When
Cult Party Kei was big, brands put out floaty white pieces. When mori
was at its peak, it was florals. Now that Larme is happening, dusty
pinks and monochromes and greys are all the rage- even if you're Angelic
Pretty and you've never made a grey dress before. Angelic Pretty has actually put out several pieces that wouldn't look
out of place in a Swankiss store, like in the image on the right. Left
is Angelic Pretty, right is Swankiss. Not identical of course, both brands have very different concepts and cater to different audiences, but the resemblance is uncanny. These pieces are still being released too, there are several satin tote bags, ribbon chokers and pomponned accessories in the webstore right now. That gives this whole thing an interesting conclusion I think: Larme has changed lolita. Grey pieces that don't fit in the Larme aesthetic are being made, satins and lustrous fabrics are widely used while Larme has gone on to new trendy fabrics, and AP is still glueing pompoms to headdresses while those haven't been trendy in Larme for a good few years now. While I wasn't able to find Angelic Pretty staff snapshots, I could find lots of Larme brand ones, and I think it's fair to say Larme and lolita have drifted apart again.
None of these look anything like what lolita brands make now. I think lolita has gotten some interesting new styles to play with thanks to Larme, but its influence is kind of over. At least I can't see any brand put out new pieces inspired by the coords above any time soon! Personally I really like the Larme-influenced pieces that have come out. It's refreshing. Plus after OTT sweet died, sweet brands were kind of in a rut with what to do. OTT classic was a thing, sure, and Baby might be able to take advantage of that, but AP was simply too sweet to make such a huge switch. (not that they didn't try, but lets not talk about that anymore..)
Larme gave brands like AP a new foundation to play with and personally I think what came out is very pretty. It's new, it's interesting, and it's still undeniably their brand. I pre-ordered the new grey Holy Lantern pretty much the day it was released and I can't wait to wear it! Now I just need to hunt down some hair ribbons and a lace blouse to do it justice.
To end off this post, I can tell you as much as I want that Larme influenced J-fashion, but that doesn't prove anything. So, here's some brand photos (that aren't Angelic Pretty) that I think are very Larme-like! Take note of not just the clothes, but also floaty, fluffy hair, lots of blush and red lips.
Can you see where I'm coming from? What do you think of the Larme-crossover into other styles? Love em or hate em?
Also, everything here is just my opinion and based on what I personally have seen! Maybe you disagree, and that's fine. With that out of the way, enjoy!
Sometime back, I was browsing old blogs looking for outdated posts, I love how you can see how much lolita has grown and evolved from old blog posts. I came across a six years old post from Lolita Blog Carnival about underrated colours in lolita, and while the vast majority of the posts linking to it had been deleted, four or five still worked. Of those, two mentioned grey as an underrated colour. And indeed I do remember that when I just started out, grey was NOWHERE to be found. Only a handful of pieces came in grey, and most were very classic or gothic and usually heavy wool. I only knew two sweet dresses that came in grey at the time, Cats Tea Party and Cinema Doll. Nowadays though...
This is just a fraction of what Lolibrary had listed, and it's only Angelic Pretty too. And it's popularity is not just for new pieces, old re-releases and special sets often get a new grey colourway as well:
Grey is hot!Look at not just the amount of pieces but also at the amount of styles, everyone gets a grey, no matter if you like your lolita dark, toned down, retro-looking or super saccharine sweet. It got me thinking, why did grey suddenly explode when it was nowhere to be found for so long? I can't think of another colour that exploded like this before. Sure, lolita got a whole new palette when OTT sweet introduced new shades of mint, lavender and yellow, but that was a whole palette to work with a new flashy style. This is a single colour, and it doesn't have it's own style. Plus it's not like grey is such a pretty pastel that works so well with sweet lolita naturally- grey is kind of a drab colour. So what gives?
Larme gives!
By now, if you love lolita, no doubt you've heard of Larme. It's a very romantic, dreamy new style that became the it-style in no time and influenced lots of styles around it. Unlike other fashions that did the same, like for example Dolly kei and mori though, Larme seems to be here to stay. It has several own brands, an own magazine and a very active overseas community. In case you've never paid much attention to the style or simply have no idea what I'm talking about, let me show you a couple scans from Larme magazine.
Larme as a clothing style focuses a lot -not exclusively as Larme is huge, but a lot- on dressing monochrome or neutral with pops of pink, red and other bright colours. It's very vintage looking. However, it also focuses on looking sweet and dreamy, something that's hard to pull of in all black, white, beige and red. So they use what is essentially pastel-black to lighten up the looks and still keep the same monochrome style. Where for example a Liz Lisa-girl might use a cream or pink, a Larme girl might take grey to keep a refined image and still dress in pastels. If you want to see how much of a difference colour can make, just look at these two staff snaps:
On the left a Liz Lisa shop staff, on the right E Hyphen Bonbon. They're both in similar clothes: flatforms with socks, a light coloured dress with tape lace and ribbon detailing, and sideswept bangs with curls. Yet their vibe is totally different! The Liz Lisa staff looks cutesy and girly, and the E Hyphen staff looks feminine and mature.
 |
| Left to right: E Hyphen Bonbon Gallery, Rose Marie Seoir, Swankiss |
None of these look anything like what lolita brands make now. I think lolita has gotten some interesting new styles to play with thanks to Larme, but its influence is kind of over. At least I can't see any brand put out new pieces inspired by the coords above any time soon! Personally I really like the Larme-influenced pieces that have come out. It's refreshing. Plus after OTT sweet died, sweet brands were kind of in a rut with what to do. OTT classic was a thing, sure, and Baby might be able to take advantage of that, but AP was simply too sweet to make such a huge switch. (not that they didn't try, but lets not talk about that anymore..)
Larme gave brands like AP a new foundation to play with and personally I think what came out is very pretty. It's new, it's interesting, and it's still undeniably their brand. I pre-ordered the new grey Holy Lantern pretty much the day it was released and I can't wait to wear it! Now I just need to hunt down some hair ribbons and a lace blouse to do it justice.
To end off this post, I can tell you as much as I want that Larme influenced J-fashion, but that doesn't prove anything. So, here's some brand photos (that aren't Angelic Pretty) that I think are very Larme-like! Take note of not just the clothes, but also floaty, fluffy hair, lots of blush and red lips.
 |
| Left to right: Liz Lisa, One*Spo, BTSSB, F.i.n.t. |
 |
| Left to right: Liz Lisa, Secret Honey, One*Spo, MA*RS |
Can you see where I'm coming from? What do you think of the Larme-crossover into other styles? Love em or hate em?
Comments
Post a Comment