Ouji/ouji-sama (王子), literally "prince," is the style that is often associated with lolita fashion. Even if the style is more masculine, it can be worn by both males and females. It has a variety of looks often combining pirate, punk, cute, or gothic elements. Other an also be used to describe this style, but they are not used as often as ouji.
Often it can be mistaken for Gothic aristocrat. F Yeah Lolita and Rosa Nitada both have excellent overviews to aristocrat. While ouji and dandy share eras of influence, the former adds fantasy and child-like fun to a vest and knickerbockers, while the latter aims to be more historically accurate with a full suit and top hat. Sometimes ouji outfits are used in visual kei, and visual kei elements can be used in ouji. Despite being very similar to each other, ouji is not considered lolita. It is incorrect to call it "ouji lolita" or "kodona lolita" because lolita requires a specific silhouette made by wearing a petticoat. "Boy lolita" or "brolita" are not correct either because they refer to a male wearing lolita.
Why not kodona?
Although the term is widely used, "kodona" is not the proper term for the style. The term kodona came from an interview with Plastic Tree's vocalist Ryutaro. The term was used to describe his personal style. A direct translation:
kodona = kodomo + otona → childult = child + adult
As you can see, childult isn't the best term to describe the style and it would be odd to go around saying "I'm wearing childult fashion." The international lolita community somehow adopted the term kodona and it just stuck. If you were to go to Japan and ask about kodona fashion, most likely they would have no idea what you are talking about.
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| Ryutaro's interview from Gothic & Lolita Bible Vol. 1 |
Stay tuned for part 2 Basic Anatomy of an outfit!
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Hello, could I link to this blog post in a blog I'd like to write about Japanese vs English lolita terminology?
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