Over the next three posts, I’ll be writing about the many interviews I did with the club I talked about last week – “The Gothic, Lolita, and Punk Club”.
I’ll be writing about what lolitas do every day, why they wear Lolita clothes and other information that may help to understand who Lolitas are.
Our first guest is “Pochi” who is the sub-leader of the club.
Dyki: Thanks for having this interview with me!
Pochi: No problem! It’s a pleasure.
Her encounter with Gothic clothes
D: First off, I want to ask you when you first started wearing Gothic and Gothic Lolita clothes.
P: I started to really wear Gothic clothes when I went to College. But ever since I encountered visual-kei clothes in high school, I’ve always wanted to wear Gothic clothes – but because I didn’t have money, I couldn’t. That’s why I only started in college when I started to work part-time.
An Encounter with Visual-kei Fashion/music
D: I see, well I’m also a big fan of Visual-kei music. “Pochi”, why did you first start listening to visual-kei music?
P: Hmm…I probably was influenced by my parents.
D: Wow! That’s something I don’t hear often!
P: Well it’s not particularly visual-kei music that they listened to, but hard rock and that’s what I’ve listened to from a very young age. I was the type of kid who would fall asleep in the car listening to hard rock [laughs]. And growing up listening to more violent music, whenever I heard Jpop I was like, “There’s something bland about this!” So out of curiosity, I picked up a CD that looked like visual-kei – and that’s when I really started to get into it.
D: And who’s CD did you buy?
P: It was a CD by Nightmare
* Nightmare is a famous Visual-kei band in Japan. Check their wiki page for more information!
Nightmare’s Wikipedia
D: The first visual-kei music video I saw was Nightmare too!
P: Nice!!! Which song?
D: “邪心ト薔薇” (Jyashin to Bara)!
P: ahhh, I know that song!
D: At first I was like, “What the hell is this!?” but it grew on me as time passed [laughs]
P: Yeah, I know what you mean! …After listening to Nightmare, I went to a CD rental shop and rented albums by artists like Kagrra or the gazattE. I was a junior in high school when Nightmare became popular, and I used to stop by the rental shop on my way back from school to borrow their albums.
*Both Kagrra and the GazzettE are famous visual-kei bands. Please refer to Wikipedia for more information:
Kagrra’s Wikipedia
the GazettE’s Wikipedia
D: So after that, you gradually started listening to more visual-kei music?
P: Yea, I started to listen to any visual-kei music I can get my hands on. And gradually, I started listening to Indie/amateur Visual-kei bands. [Laughs]
The relationship between music and fashion
D: So, did your fashion change as your taste in music changed?
P: Yeah, as I started to listen to more and more visual-kei music, the clothes I wore became more and more to what I what I wear now.
D: Ahh, ok. Yeah, I see.
D: I think there are many sides to visual-kei music. For example, there’s the fashion, the music, its values, lyrics, its identity, all sorts of aspects but which part of Visual-kei music do you find most intriguing Pochi?
P: In the beginning it was…[pauses] their appearance! [laughs] I was shocked by Sakito (咲人)[laughs] I was like, “Who is this “ikemen!?” [Handsome guy]
And after listening to their songs, I was like “What the heck is this!?”
Before I knew it, the surprises made me obsessed with Visual-kei music. So I guess it’s the appearance and the songs. I never really paid attention to the lyrics.
* Sakito is the guitarist for Nightmare
P: I’ve always liked the color black and Gothic stuff. And towards “gal” fashion I was always like, “there’s something strange about this” so when I found visual-kei and gothic clothes I was like “This is it!”
Gyaru Fashion Wikipedia
My Average Day
D: Do you wear Gothic Lolita/Gothic clothes every day?
P: Yeaa, I try the best I can. Even for Knit clothing, there are Gothic-type ones so I wear that with other more casual clothes and go out as a “Casual Gothic”
D: Pochi, is there something that you take special care of when you wear Gothic Lolita clothes and not Lolita clothes?
P: I choose my clothes based on how fun it is wearing it, so I never really pay special attention to the ideology of Gothic Fashion. But later I read books like, “What Gothic is – The Psychological History of the Great Chapel” by Sakai Takeshi (酒井健) and “The Lineage of a Dead Ideology: A Pedigree of Gothic and Lolita” by Hiroyuki Higuchi, I realized I had a lot in common with the ideologies explained in those books.
What Gothic Lolita is to me
D: Ok, here’s the final question…How do you feel about people that are Gothic and Lolita, Pochi?
P: Ummm…Well, they’re friends I get along with.
D: Haha Great! Thank you very much!
After the interview…
This was only my third time meeting Pochi, but she was really kind throughout the interview. Gothic Lolitas are ordinarily dressed in black, and some have very elaborate appearances, but I again realized how they are simply wearing what they like to wear and that their appearances don’t necessarily tell their personalities.
Talking with Pochi, I got the impression she was very gentle and mature. I could tell how determined she was from every word she spoke – something that I think is possible because, again, she is wears what she truly loves.
Witten by Dyki Ogawa
Translated by Rei Sandy
Written by admin
Topics: FindJPN Contents