A little back story on me, despite seeing me frequent the Bay Area and Sacramento a lot? I actually live no where near those places. I used to. But not now. I actually live a good hour and a half-two hours away from San Francisco depending on the traffic or form of transportation I take. This has been my life for four years or so. Beforehand I did live in the Bay Area fourty-five minutes away from the city and I was in the middle of everything quite literally in the heart of the Bay.
Here, I had blossomed into being outrageous and unique but when my family decided to make the move off to to the Valley I never felt so out of place and alone. To this day, I live my life elsewhere and work extremely hard to do so. Much like Momoko, I do not have friends. Would I be interested? That would be questionable and be depending on the type of company. Point is, I am very fortunate and unfortunate because I live so far and yet close. It's a weird in between, especially for a girl who wears circle lenses, lashes, frills, short skirts and petticoats.
When I first watched Kamikaze Girls in high school. the appeal of lolita fashion is what drew me in and kept me there. However I couldn't really relate to anyone but Momoko because of her love of lolita fashion. It like she said, shot her in the heart and she wanted to die living like that forever. I could definitely see why! However, watching the movie further on down the line-I related to her character more and more once I had moved to yes, quite literally, farm land. Much like Momoko she would do anything to live her life elsewhere even if temporarily due to her love of fashion. I get that-not in the swindling sense (there is none of that and wouldn't be for me LOL) but in the work sense. I've always worked and worked and worked to life my life temporarily elsewhere because elsewhere is where I fitted in. Where there was a community that liked or understood the same passions as I do. This doesn't just go for lolita but for anything J-Fashion related or even cosplay! Feeling a sense of belonging is definitely important and I understood having that weird in between. It's not like Momoko hung out with any other fellow lolitas outside just going to buy her frills. Thinking about it now, she probably lacked the time to due to the commute she had to take just to get to Tokyo. She was close enough to get there by train but we obviously see an obvious time difference in when she departs and returns. Hence why it was kind of a running joke that I was one of probably many real life Momokos. The second time I watched the movie and then read the manga-the more I understood her character and realized why so many people adored her character and even other than that-she's gotten a lot of hidden traits that make her interesting.
For me, it felt her struggle. To get to SF I have to first be driven or bused to a train station-I take the train station and then bus it. Usually I throw on a longer coat to hide my frills or just change when I get where I need to be. A lot more recently I've worn less lolita and more gyaru clothing just because it's easier to conceal. I throw sunglasses over my eye make-up so I don't attract crazy attention but even so it still happens! Haha~ I'm always worried about my safety when I commute.
This subject definitely wasn't written to complain but to relate. I'm very very sure plenty of girls can relate to this feeling and like I said, I'm very lucky to have that in between of being close and yet far! I can only imagine how it is for other girls that aren't as lucky to be near any of the flagship stores for J-Fashion (god bless online shopping...this totally wasn't an easy feat a couple of years or so back that is for sure!) or even near a community. I can only imagine how lonely that feels and the trek they have to take to feel a sense of community or belonging by traveling to conventions, events, and meet ups. In a way I feel very blessed that I still can somewhat reach the city that I fell in love with that just so happens to be J-Fashion friendly.
So with this said, I admire the girls who life style their fashion all the time especially when they don't live near a major city or where there are strength in numbers. It takes a lot of courage and tolerance of other people to go that route and push for what you want. Even I have still yet to do that fully on the lolita front because I've gotten smashed on plenty (called a whore, prostitute, sexually harassed ect) as a gyaru where I live just going to the mall for leisure so I have to tone down because safety is a lot more important than my fashion being my form of art and stress reliever.
A big question for you readers is, do you wear J-Fashion outside of events or where there's a lack of strength in numbers? If so how do you keep safe or conceal your outfits? How much do you relate to Momoko or what was your first impression of the movie or her character?
