The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Mana, Malice Mizer
and The Emergence of the Lolita Subculture
The figurehead for G&L is commonly identified as Mana, a musician and
now one of the foremost leading fashion designers of the G&L movement.
Although not the originator of the Lolita style, he is often accredited with its
instigation due to his high profile as the subculture’s most recognised and
prominent personality and certainly one of the most continuingly influential.
Mana gained his cult status as the guitarist for the legendary Visual-kei,
J-rock, Goth band Malice Mizer (Jap. Marisu Miseru, 1992 – 2001). * Visual Kei
(Jap. vijuaru kei, or “visual style”) is a music genre less signified by a common
sound than by the highly flamboyant, theatrical, heavily made-up fashion
sense of band members that places an emphasis on androgyny and an
effeminate, oftentimes feminine form of male dress.
* J-rock = Japanese rock music. Marisu Miseru is a Japanese phonetic translation of “malice” and
“misery”.
Mana is the ultimate Lolita and consummate idol of Gothloli
worldwide. Renowned for dressing in an overtly female manner, Mana takes
on the image of the Lolita both onstage and off (Figs 15 & 16).
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