Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology 12-17-2014 The Fashion of Frill: The Art of Impression Management in the Atlanta Lolita and Japanese Street Fashion Community Chancy J. Gatlin [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Recommended Citation Gatlin, Chancy J., "The Fashion of Frill: The Art of Impression Management in the Atlanta Lolita and Japanese Street Fashion Community." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2014. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/87 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE FASHION OF FRILL: THE ART OF IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN THE ATLANTA LOLITA AND JAPANESE STREET FASHION COMMUNITY by CHANCY J. GATLIN Under the Direction of Emanuela Guano, PhD ABSTRACT The Atlanta Lolita and Japanese Street Fashion Community is a multifaceted fashion community that developed in the early 2000s. The majority of the members wear Lolita fashion which is a fusion of Victorian era dress, Rococo costume, and various Japanese street fashions. Lolita fashion developed on the streets of Tokyo Japan in the 1990s and has since spread across the world. The Atlanta Lolita and Japanese Street Fashion Community heavily relies on the building and maintenance of impressions by its members. In this thesis, I analyze face-to-face and virtual community organization, fashion, and photography to illustrate how members of the community build their impressions, how they are maintained, or how they are threatened. INDEX WORDS: Subculture, Social media, Community, Brand, Cosplay, Photography THE FASHION OF FRILL: THE ART OF IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN THE ATLANTA LOLITA AND JAPANESE STREET FASHION COMMUNITY by CHANCY J. GATLIN A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2014 Copyright by Chancy Jean Gatlin 2014 THE FASHION OF FRILL: THE ART OF IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN THE ATLANTA LOLITA AND JAPANESE STREET FASHION COMMUNITY by CHANCY J. GATLIN Committee Chair: Emanuela Guano Committee: Faidra Papavasiliou Jennifer Patico Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2014 iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to the many people who have helped me through this long and arduous process. I would like to thank my parents, Rick and Beverly Gatlin, for putting up with me and my stresses throughout my year and a half of fieldwork and thesis writing. I would also like to thank my wonderful boyfriend, Jesse Anderson, for always being there for me when I felt like giving up and for helping me push through. I would like to thank my brother, Wyatt Gatlin, for constantly offering up his expertise on all things “otaku”. I would like to thank Hiroyuki Isobe and Machiko Ozeki for opening up their home to me in Tokyo last year. The experience I gained while in Japan was in invaluable! Lastly, I would like to thank all of my fellow anthropology graduate students at Georgia State University for sharing their research and writing experiences with me and giving me constructive feedback on my work. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis committee (Emanuela Guano, Faidra Papavasiliou, and Jennifer Patico) for all of their guidance throughout the writing process. I would like to particularly thank Dr. Emanuela Guano, my thesis advisor and mentor, for her constant support over the past two years. I could never have pulled this project off without her! Aside from my amazing thesis committee, I would also like to recognize each professor that has built into my education and helped bring me to where I am today: Kathryn Kozaitis, Cassandra White, Brandon Lundy, Kenneth Williamson, Wayne VanHorne, Terry Powis, Madie Golan (for making me fall in love with anthropology), Steven Black, Bethany Turner, Gyewon Kim, and Daniel Bigman. I am also incredibly grateful to Miss Chubi from Elegy for helping turn me into a true Lolita. Without her magnificent craftswomanship, I would have never been able to conduct such successful fieldwork! Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank the Atlanta Lolita and Japanese Street Fashion Community for bringing me into their frilly family and allowing me to work with them on this project. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 4 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 Lolita 101 .............................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 15 1.2.1 Impression Management .............................................................................. 15 1.2.2 Subculture ..................................................................................................... 22 1.2.3 Emergence of Japanese Fashion Subcultures ............................................. 28 1.2.4 Fashion Theory ............................................................................................. 34 1.2.5 Photography .................................................................................................. 40 1.3 Methods .............................................................................................................. 43 1.3.1 Interviews ...................................................................................................... 43 1.3.2 Participant Observation ................................................................................ 44 1.3.3 Netnography and Use of Social Media......................................................... 46 1.3.4 Shopping ........................................................................................................ 47 1.3.5 Photography .................................................................................................. 49 1.3.6 Methodological Strengths ............................................................................. 51 1.4 Limitations ......................................................................................................... 52 1.5 Role and Experience as an Ethnographer....................................................... 54 2 1.6 Role and Experience as a Member of the Community .................................. 55 2 COMMUNITY .......................................................................................................... 57 2.1 History and Evolution of the Community ....................................................... 60 2.2 Community Members and Organization ........................................................ 62 2.3 Events, Meet-ups, and the Face-to-Face Community .................................... 66 2.4 Virtual Community and Social Media ............................................................ 69 2.4.1 Anonymous Forums ...................................................................................... 72 3 THE FASHION OF FRILL ..................................................................................... 77 3.1 Visuals of Lolita Fashion .................................................................................. 77 3.1.1 Cosplay .......................................................................................................... 85 3.2 Online Shopping ................................................................................................ 87 3.2.1 Facebook Buying, Selling, and Trading ...................................................... 91 3.2.2 Chinese Replicas and Bodyline .................................................................... 92 3.2.3 Brand Shopping ............................................................................................ 94 3.3 Fashion Shows in Lolita .................................................................................... 96 4 PHOTOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 103 4.1 Dynamics of Power: Lolitas Being Photographed in Public ....................... 103 4.2 How Lolitas Utilize Photography ................................................................... 107 4.3 Photography in Social Media ......................................................................... 111 5 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 118 3 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 122 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1.1 Shirololi. Photography by Mario Panebianco. ............................................. 10 Figure 1.1.2 Kurololi. Photography by Mario Panebianco. .............................................. 11 Figure 1.1.3 Ōji/Kodona ................................................................................................... 12 Figure 1.1.4 Cookie Table