The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

dresses we bought in Japan. The final addition was a case of twelve of the
Gothic & Lolita dolls from my personal collection.
The enormous media attention that Loli-Pop elicited proved that the
show was a success. And, with it came exposure for the Japanese Lolita
subculture. However, as far as I have noticed there are no more Gothloli in
Auckland than there were previously. On a trip to Sydney in 2008, to attend
the Australian tour of Japanese Visual-kei band, BLOOD, I observed that in
this city there appeared to be many more Gothloli who turned up to both
the “meet and greet” session at the Kinokuniya bookstore and the gig itself. I
would imagine, though, that the numbers are relative to population. The
main difference in Auckland is that since 2007 I have not come across
anyone who has not heard of the movement or to whom I have to explain
its meaning. Yet, I have been told that the phenomenon is subsiding in
Japan. Recent visitors have said that it was hard to find Gothloli on the
streets of Harajuku and others have noted that more girls seem to be
wearing non-descriptive cute styles rather than authentic Lolita fashions.
This brings me back to the question I have been posing recently, “Is
this the death of the Subculture?”. One reason for wondering this is in
relation to terminology. Can a movement still be called a subculture when it
is no longer subterranean, or underground? When it can no longer be
considered élitist connected with notions of having to be “in the know”?
When it becomes globalised and, at least in some pockets of the world,
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