Amaloli

1. n. A style of clothing, characterized by its similarity to children's fashion, incorporating full skirts, pale or bright colors, and attention to frilly details.
2. n. A person who dresses in the amaloli style.
(From the Japanese amai, meaning 'sweet' and lolita, a diminuitive of  Dolores, a name taken from the Spanish Maria de los Delores, meaning 'Mary of the Sorrows')

The first thing to be understood is that amaloli, like the other lolita styles, is NOT meant to relate to Nabokov's Lolita or to the disturbing phenomenon the Japanese call 'lolicon', short for lolita complex (a fancy term for pedophilia). You will not find an amaloli at an 'image club', nor is she dressing in a childlike style in order to titillate.

If anything, it is a reaction against the phenomenon of asking children to grow up ever faster, against the marketing terms which have memed their way into our common speech: first 'teen', then 'tween', and most recently 'pre-tween' for the precocious 5-7 year old. More on this later, trust me, I do have a full-blown rant for you. But we were talking fashion, weren't we?

Amaloli, and other lolita styles, are the sort of thing one wears when one wishes to be beautiful to one's own self, to be beautiful in a feminine, but not overtly sexual way. It does not shy away from the cute, or the joyfully playful, or any other good thing that women too often regretfully put aside at the end of their childhoods. To please oneself, to be feminine for the sake of one's own self, is a powerful and attractive idea. In addition, who can get over "dress-up", the idea of dressing as a princess or a favorite character from a childhood book depicting some past time? Or the idea of adorning yourself in such a way that you are polite and gracious to live up to your attire?

To the amaloli, it is a laughing solemn responsibility to make sure life is sweet.

But decide for yourself. I have links for you.

Definitions of the lolita styles, according to livejournal's egl community
And the wiki...
And my favorite brand...
And pictures of amaloli-chans inspiring each other!

For the first time, in a long time, I wrote a poem.