Kawaii & Fashion: Interviews with Lolitas (Becky)

What does lolita fashion mean to those who dress in this kawaii, feminine, and nostalgic style? How has lolita fashion traveled beyond Japan to be embraced by people around the world? This series of interviews from the Kawaii in Japan & Beyond: Theory & Praxis project documents the diverse perspectives of lolita fashion practitioners from the Atlanta Lolita Community in the United States.

In this interview, we hear from Becky, a lolita who first discovered the fashion in the early 2000s through the visual kei band Malice Mizer. Topics Becky discusses include how the US-based lolita community has evolved over time.

Becky says, "Kawaii to me means that I can be a girl the way that I want to be a girl. I don’t have to worry about what society thinks a girl should be… It's a way to own my own femininity in a way that’s meaningful to me."