Kawaii & Fashion: Interviews with Lolitas (Miyu)

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 Miyu, a lolita with mixed Japanese, Okinawan, and African American ancestry. Topics Miyu discusses include how she came to embrace kawaii as a form of rebellion despite stereotypes she faced as a mixed-race person growing up in Georgia.

Miyu says, "Kawaii is just me essentially. I had a quite different relationship to kawaii because when I was growing up everyone called me 'kawaii, kawaii'… so when I was a teenager, I kind of disliked it. [Eventually I learned that] I can be alternative and be cute and still be myself."