Oh man *laughs in introvert*
So, complete honesty time, the current pandemic situation has not really affected my attendance of lolita events. Well, I did plan to host a craft day but had a cold, so had to cancel on principle when I wouldn't have if it was not, you know, government mandated at the moment. But by and large I'm not a sociable person so this isn't really 2020 specific opinions, but more the opinions of someone who's more lone-lita than anything.
Just do it
Thing number one is to not let circumstances stand in the way of wearing lolita. Don't feel like you have to wait for the perfect occasions, just wear these clothes that you love. In a sense, dressing up in lockdown can be freeing. You want to wear OTT but don't want to put on makeup? Go for it! You want to do something experimental? Try it! You want to just lounge around the house in a JSK with nothing else? You totally should!
Participate online
A very simple way to keep involved in lolita is to engage with the online communities when you can't participate in IRL ones. Personally, I'm a lurker, not a poster, but I'm still a part of Rufflechat and CoF on Facebook. It's nice to feel connected, even if I'm doing to Internet equivalent of sitting in a corner at a party.
Create content
Last but not least, my favourite way of keeping the candle burning for this fashion - content creation! Start blog or a YouTube or Amino or TikTok...whatever the cool kids are doing these days. Have fun with lolita and hey, when we get to a point where we can have proper meets again, you can share those too.
So basically, this introvert strongly believes that, while the lolita fashion subculture is a subculture and thus no frilly person is an island, there are many ways to enjoy the fashion without going out and spending time with people.
That's the main point here: whilst the pandemic has affected people's ability to host social gatherings, lonelitas and introverts have been a part of this fashion from the very beginning. So the question doesn't really apply to them because lonelitas and introverts are doing much the same as they did pre-pandemic, with maybe fewer outings to cute places for food or culture. I think I'd also add to this to maybe try and engage with some activity that we'd consider to be the domain of lifestylers? Lack of meetups creates two basic problems for lolitas in comms: extra time and extra money on their hands. Trying something that would make you more Momoko-like, be it embroidery, baking, practicing calligraphy, scrapbooking, whatever - not only will fill the time and stop you from mindless browsing and risking impulse buys, but can make you feel better about being a lolita without anywhere to go.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, us introverts are like "what pandemic?" (though I do miss hugging people, thank goodness I have a husband lol). The idea of taking the time to engage in lifestyle activities is a very good one!
DeleteOooh I didn't knew you had a youtube channel! ^^ I'm glad I found another one to binge watch, hehe! ~
ReplyDeleteThank you, hope you enjoy it!
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