Sweet and Classic Elegant Lolita: The regimental Lolita! Frills and stripes! :)

Saturday, 29 March 2014

The regimental Lolita! Frills and stripes! :)

レジメンタル

Regimental in Japanese ^^

Meta

Before 2010, Regimental stripes had popped up from time to time in different brand designs.

Btssb released the Regimental Swallow tail jacket in 2006.

Excentrique had made a smaller collection of regimental blouses in 2008 and a larger collection with various items in 2009 named "Regimental", but before that, these broad big stripes in Lolita was really hard to come by.

But, the source of inspiration for the Regimental Stripes in Lolita is very clear:
Vivienne Westwood.

Vivienne Westwood Deep Sky Blazer (1985)

Vivienne Westwood is by far the most influential British designer on J-fashion, either Lolita or other styles, ever. Vivienne Westwood is the leading punk-queen of the world. She put the chicken bones she had eaten for lunch in the 70s, sewed them on t-shirts and sold them... 'nough said ^^

So, taking an over-class school- or sports blazer and re-designing it, is really punk.

BN077-37896 Red Stripe Jacket

Regimental ties and their regiment

Of course, Vivienne Westwood was in her turn, inspired to make these punk striped blazers...

So what was her source inspiration and why is regimental-style (レジメンタル) called regimental?

Well, in Britain, gentlemen had a certain snag for showing which formal group they belonged to. Since the gentleman wardrobe was rather limited (e.g. a suit), they could only play with colours and accessories. So an odd jacket in the teams colours, became a nice sports outfit, or as in the case of HMS Blazer - a sailors elegant way to dress regimental :).

HMS Blazer from Vanity Fair 1878

Blazers, and far right a blazer suit (Which is rather uncommon)
Early 20th century

And the stripes of the tie became an eye-catching way to tell others which military regiment, school or rugby team that you belonged to.

So wearing regimental ties today, bought from fashion stores, can - just like wearing Scottish tartan - thus be somewhat of a pickle if you accidentally sport a specific stripe that belongs to a certain group...

Lief

But as a Lolita, the regimental stripe has of course gone maximalistic - from a small clash of colour to taking over the entire outfit.

I believe, since Metamorphose broke through to the mainstream-Lolitas',
regimental stripes have become a Classic theme that is here to stay!

Here are a few brand examples!