A few things:
1. Why would you say you're cosplaying lolita? Wouldn't you just say you're wearing lolita? If I went outside in a formal dress and said "I'M COSPLAYING FORMAL WEAR" people would think I'm an idiot.
2. Cheap doesn't necessarily mean inexpensive. I could go out and spend $500 on a crappy replica with bad fabric and construction and it would still be considered cheap. At the same time, I buy all of my stuff or make it, and I haven't paid more than $50 on anything I wear. I'm only buying my first "real" lolita item this month, and by real I mean it's a Japanese lolita brand piece.
3. I don't wear lolita every single day and it's still a fashion. The fact that I don't wear it all the time doesn't make an entire fashion a cosplay. That's like saying "I don't wear scene clothing every so therefore scene is a costume." It's dumb and a great way to upset people.
Also why don't you go ahead and post pictures of your Minnie Mouse lolita? I'm not meaning to sound rude, I genuinely like Disney-inspired lolita outfits. Some of my favorite outfits pull inspiration from fictional characters.
As soon as its finished, I would be gald to. And you can look for it at kumoricon.
As to asnwer these, I'll do them one by one. And, Id like you too look at this picture before reading on.
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&global=1&q=lolita+styles#/d39x79y1.I understand that it is a fashion and not a costume. But when people dress up for an 80's dance, are they not, in all honesty, wearing a costume? When people go as goths, punks, and emo kids for halloween, they are dressing up. All of those are fashion styles, and they wear them as costumes. I do not consider myself a lolita girl. I do not read the "lolita bible", I am not an elegant woman, and I am not at all modest. But when I wear a lolita dress, I consider it to be dressing up, which is why I called it cosplaying lolita. If I were to dress up in a formal dress, I wouldnt call it cosplay, but a game of dress up. Which is exactly what it is to me.
2. Yes you are right. I could pay a lot for a poorly constructed dress, and it would be considered cheap. But I make my dresses myself, with good quality fabric; meaning it isnt frayed, is soft, isnt shiny in places, has no holes, ect. I pay good money for good qaulity. I could pay for bad quality, if I bought lolita things. But I dont. I work hard on my dresses to make sure that they are not cheap looking, are not trashy, and have lolita quality in look.
3. As i said above, the example of an 80's dance comes into play here too. 80's fashion is still a fashion to many, as are scene, emo, punk, goth, and cybergoth. But people use those as cosplays too. Ive seen lots of cybergoth cosplays only at conventions, and they are just that. Cosplays. You can turn a whole fashion era into a cosplay if you try. Im not saying that lolita isnt a fashion, but as ive said, fashions can be cosplays too. And to some people who do actually do that; wear scene clothes only every couple of days a week or a month, they do not say they are scene kids. They say they're dressing up in their scene clothes for the fun of it; which is all cosplay really is. Fun.
And Id like to point out that lolita fashion is growing and evolving. Everyday its getting new ideas put in and becoming a genre of lolita fashion. The fact that cosplay lolita has always been seen as a joke is changing, and lolitas should learn to grow with it and accept it. Many new genres of lolita are here now, and people accept them. Saying that cosplay lolita is not lolita because its sometimes done badly, or is too costumey, it wrong. Perfect examples are guro and steampunk and pirate lolita. Theyre costumey, but reguarded as lolita fashions. Same with ero lolita. Theyre costumey, in your face, half the time theyre not modest at all, and they all are still considered lolita fashion.
