"Gothic & Lolita" charts the current trend of Gothic street fashion that has swept Japan over the last decade. Influenced by Western fashion trends from the mid 1980s, young teenagers, predominately adolescent girls, congregate in the urban centres of Harajuku, Akihabara and a number of underground clubs in and around Tokyo, dressed head-to-toe in gothic costumes and late-Victorian dress. The psychological characteristics of the average Japanese Goth is one of introversion and exclusivity. The majority of girls in the scene are teenagers and most usually stop by the age of eighteen. The origin of the movement was in Osaka in the mid 1990s when young teenagers adopted Gothic fashion in response to the clothes worn and promoted by Japanese Gothic rock bands. In the ten years since the trend began it has expanded to a number of cities including Tokyo and now boasts many thousands of devotees who dedicate their lives to creating ever more flamboyant and bizarre variations on the Gothic theme. From handmade black lace dresses based on designs from the 1860s to 'Lolita' outfits, lacy Gothic designs that have a pre-pubescent 'rococo' edge to them, to dresses with an occult flavour, the Gothic and Lolita scene is one of the more bizarre hybrids within Japanese street fashion. "Gothic & Lolita" is specially commissioned by Phaidon Press. Based on the creative design of the best selling "Fruits and Fresh Fruits", it will feature portraits and group portraits of Japanese Goths and Lolitas both at home and in the urban centres of Tokyo and Osaka. In addition to the visual content of the book each subject will also be asked a number of questions about their handmade designs and why the fashion is so important to them. This text will run in a similar 'question and answer' format as in the original Fruits publications. The coupling of portraits and insightful first-person commentary will together make "Gothic & Lolita" the definitive book on the scene in both the West and in Japan, presenting an ideal opportunity to view one of the more surreal aspects of Japanese popular youth culture in an informative yet entertaining manner.
