Little Girl look - happening in Japan

"The Little-Girl Look Is Big in Japan Now - Among the Brave"

The Wall Street Journal September 17, 2004 Friday
By Ginny Parker

TOKYO -- When Hayaka Otani goes out, she likes to wear one of her many baby-doll outfits: puffy pink dress, frilly bloomers, knee socks and a big white bonnet.

But Ms. Otani is hardly a child. She's a 20-year-old store clerk and student at a technical college. She's also a loyal fan of what's known here as the "Lolita" look: elaborate, doll-like costumes festooned with ruffles and lace. In recent years in Japan, the look has grown from a tiny subculture to a burgeoning fashion craze...

Some Japanese students of youth culture see the Lolita look as a sign of anxieties resulting from growing up in a nation beset by economic insecurities since the early 1990s. "They live in a society that doesn't feel very hopeful about its future," says Rika Kayama, a psychiatrist. "By dressing up like babies, the Lolitas are attempting to hang on to the carefree days of childhood," she says.

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