I WANT THE TINY TOP HAT!

Eeks, those topless dolls have 13-year old boob buds! There's something sick about that

Ha! I used to collect issues of Gothic and Lolita Bible. Once it was my plan to own every single issue. I have since come to my senses, but it's still fun to browse through them at bookstores. Sometimes they even come with patterns so you can make your own EGL clothes. I have an irrational love for EGL fashion.

duuuuude...those white pant cuffs are gonna get dirty so fast.

I can't get past the dead-eyed stares that comes from those contact lenses. Creeeeeeeepy.

@lesleykat: YES! I was just considering how that would look perched on my head.

My friend just got back from Japan. I sent her this link and she said "There were absolutely people dressed like that on the subways and in the streets.
No joke. Those outfits aren't even remotely an exaggeration."

Lost in translation, indeed. Does not compute.

I like the one with the skirt and knee high boots. The rest scare me. But damn, how did they get their eyes to look so gorgeous!!

@RyanB: The dolls are arching their backs!

Japan, you have some 'splainin to do...

Too bad you didn't post any pictures of best friends in matching black-n-white ensembles. The friends would wear identical outfits, one entirely in black, one entirely in white, and each would don a black and blonde wig respectively. Sometimes they may be handcuffed together. Now THAT'S committment.

@Algren: Never actually go to Harajuku, then, where all the kids are wearing 'em. I wanted to tell them: Yes, you've succeeded in completely freaking me out. Well done. Well done, indeed.

I kinda like the bonnets. On others. obv.

stoned, sexed, this should be called ravaged lolita w/schmeared schtuff.

I first saw gothic lolita fashions on [Hel Looks] and given that the majority of individuals photographed wearing the look on that website were in fact 10-20 years of age, I didn't think it was particularly creepy.

But fashion that infantilizes adult women? Is something of which I'm not particularly fond.

I like the one with MarPle Jane or something printed on it. She looks like Anny of Crazy Gables.

I love the japanese because they really get into their clothes. ridiculously so.

Does. Not. Compute.

doesn't one of them look like one of the olsens?

Unless it comes with a skeezy European to steal my flower, I'm uninterested

This is why I can never go to Japan. I would come back with two extra suitcase absolutely stuffed with this kind of stuff. My closet is too full already.

japanese street fashion is awesome if only for the "wtf!?!" factor.

@RyanB: i was thinking the exact same thing!!! that, and they look like they're on heroin or something.

@RyanB: Yes, I thought that was seriously disturbing, too.

At first, many of these Harajuku fashions creeped me out (especially the overtanned faces with silver mascara), but after awhile I began to appreciate their individuality in a culture that traditinoally stresses conformity.

Those dolls are going to haunt me in my nightmares. *shudder*

baby boobs! AH!

frightening

You know what? At least nothing is velour and says JUICY on it.
People don't wear costumes enough. That black dress in the fourth pic makes me think Violet Baudelaire. Lets bring this look to the states, who's with me??

I'm going to have bad dreams tonight about scary doll people.

Dude I really look like the first pic. Minus bonnet. I like vintage, but bonnets are a little too old even for me. Freaky, and I kinda dig it. But I want to be both Alice and the Pirate.

I kind of admire kids that dress absurdly. I mean, you can only do this when you are really young, after that you are just "insane."

@RyanB: I think that they are perhaps influenced by the painter Mark Ryden (these dolls, specifically, that is): [www.markryden.com]

I find some of this is strangely appealing. I like little Edwardian and Victorian vintage touches and romantic clothes. On the other hand, the infantalising and objectifying stuff is a little queasy-making.

Germaine Greer could write a book on this - dressing as dolls? Did feminism reach Japan yet?

@HoneyLush: As I've mentioned -- creepy contact lenses.

@Cam/ron: I think that look you are referring to is more Shibuya than Harajuku, though the two areas do mix a little.

The boob bud dolls look like Mary Kate and Ashley a little bit. So weird.

Oh, I like except for half naked dead hooker dolls. No no no.

@nodoubt9203 (Reefer Madness '36): YES! I was thinking that myself.

This is awesome. I would certainly never dress like this but man, you have to admire their commitment! (I do!) and the first doll in the first pic is Pullip (which are very cute dolls!), and a LOT less creepy than those 13 year old porn-y dolls. gross!

That second girl is SO "If Slash and one of the Olsen twins mated." Anyone?

Um, some of those models look very non-asian. Is that part of the trend as well?

Then again, this is the nation that gave us "The Doll Master". Nightmares guaranteed...

Who knows, maybe our descendents 50 years from now will look back and believe that our regular fashions are freaky.

@flackette: yep, look up asian blepharoplasty

i'm going to blow my extreme dork cover here but...
those dolls are super dollfies..they come anatomically correct, with tons of different faces and bodies, both male and female-they're also fully customizeable, from the eyes and hair down to the makeup, which you pain on yourself XD
also, a lot of the girls over there make their own outfits, which is pretty badass, even though the bonnets and over the top frills are not my speed, haha.

super dollfe.....[www.volksusa.com]

if these weren't expensive as shit, i'd totally have one.

I want one of those creepy dolls. I would put a little shirt on it to cover the buds though. I'm getting kind of a Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby vibe from them.

ACK @ dyed blond Japanese women. I'd kill for my hair to be that natural, mesmerizing blue-black. Mine is the boring and sad flat black.

@astralgravy: uhhh yeah. I actually think I knew that. Blythe and Dal collector, here :)

@Jessi Ramsey Skips Ballet: There are already a few people in the States wearing this look. Usually they are already big on Japanese culture. I see some at the local Japanese bookstore. But yeah, I'd be inordinately delighted if I saw more people roaming the streets in this stuff. People who dress in amusingly demented fashions are almost always awsome in my book.

I totally wish Americans would commit this way. It would make riding the subway so much more entertaining. But no. we reserve it for that one glorious gothy, costume-y, party all night day of the year.

Damn I love Purim.

There are lolita community's in most countries, although obviously the scene is alot smaller.
The fashion is amazingly fun and comfortable to wear because it's genuinely just about having fun. Not looking 'hot', wearing something simply because it's fashionable or to look like a celebrity, just because you love the style. There's no 'colours of the season' or buying things simply because your old things are out of style.

The only problem is that most people can't wrap their heads around the idea that woman can wear clothes for any reason other than to be sexy, hence you get harassed alot as people think it's a fetish if you're not dressing in an overtly sexual way.

@Cam/ron: yes, except that now that this trend has been around for much of the 00s, it's no longer individual. It's a look, like having a mohawk, and you can pick it out of a catalogue.

Oh my god that doll with the black top hat is the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. You just ruined that whole 'living alone' thing. Because obviously that is what is waiting to kill me when I turn the lights out!

@Jessi Ramsey Skips Ballet: I live in Las Vegas and I have started seeing the teenagers rock this style. God, just typing that sentence made me feel old!

@alcibiades: cosplay! half my friends in HS were nerdy japanophiles.

jezebel = pedobear

The dudes in these clothes have EXACTLY the same expression as the kats in the kat kontainers/straight jackets. Exactly. And otherwise, SCARY!