The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Doll Collecting
I have been a doll collector all my life. However this hobby became a more
serious occupation when in my thirties I began to start replacing lost dolls
from my childhood. This snowballed into my accumulation of a huge
collection, which now comprises over one-hundred dolls. At this time I also
set up an online shop on eBay as “botticelliangel”, whereby I was buying
and selling vintage and contemporary dolls in order to acquire the funds to
build my prized collection. I have applied this knowledge to my
understanding of doll culture and the psychology behind the attachment to
dolls, the affect of the loss of dolls, and how this informs motivations for
adult collectors. My personal experiences have been enriched by
communications with other online buyers and collectors who have often
started their own collections for similar reasons.
My involvement with the New Romantic and Goth Subcultures
My initial interest in Japanese Gothic & Lolita came from its aesthetic, as it
connects to my own childhood attachment to dolls and has also developed
from the fashions and musical genres of my adolescent days of involvement
with Glam, New Romanticism and early Goth.
As a teenager and young adult I was immersed in these early-eighties
movements, living in London and employed at Kensington Markets which,
in a similar vein to both Camden Markets and the Kings Road, was a retail
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