The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Given that Mana branded his collections with the titles EGL and EGA
quite early on in regard to the subculture’s evolution, he may well have been
the one to coin the label “Gothic Lolita”, or at least one of the first to use
the words “Gothic” and “Lolita” conjointly. It is not even clear whether the
“Lolita” terminology preceded him, although the look was already around. *
According to anthropologist Philomena Keet:
Mana recalls there was a [sweeter] Lolita style in Tokyo but he wanted to adapt this
to make a new fashion genre. “I added a dark element to the cuteness of Lolita”, in
other words a Gothic element, resulting in a mix that combines the frills, lace and
puffy skirts of Lolita with the Gothic black and adds lots of Gothic motifs such as
crosses, candlestick holders and daggers. 11
Without further evidence to ascertain or deny the theory, it may be said
therefore that Mana created the notion of a Gothic Lolita, the term
contracted to Gosurori or Gosuloli, the Japanese phoneticisation of Gothloli,
which has come to stand for the classic Japanese Lolita identity overall,
whether Gothic or Sweet.
Furthermore, Mariko Suzuki states that “although this Japanese look is
now known as Gothloli, that term did not become popular until around the
12 end of 1999 or 2000”. She says “it’s not clear who came up with this
monika [but] perhaps it began… [as a description for] this new look as
Gothic and Lolita-like”. 13 In that Mana set up his company Moi-même-Moitié
* The earlier fashion labels that promoted this look will be discussed later in this chapter.
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