I was in a Japanese fashion shop in Camden a few days ago, checking out the overwhelming cuteness and trying on some of the Goth-Lolita clothing items, which I had no real intention of buying.   Well publicized by magazines such as Fruits, Lolita and Goth-Lolita (see photo on left) are teenage girl fashion trends which include the wearing of short, frilly dresses, bows, lots of lace, and carrying cute old-fashioned styled accessories, like parasols; the Goth counterpart is naturally the whole ensemble in black.  As interesting as they are, I’m not really writing about Japanese fashion trends here, rather I want to take the term Goth-Lolita, because I think it aptly describes a branch of western counterculture- the trend in art, music, and fashion that features dark, twisted images of childhood.

             A couple of months ago, I went to see an exhibit of paintings and sculptures by the Los Angeles artist Camille Rose Garcia, whose art can best be described as painfully, gothically, cute.  She co-ops a 1970s children’s book illustrative style, tones down the colours, and ads lots of black glitter to make art commentary on all the usual suspects- famine, depression, war, global warming, and how evil Disneyland is.  The characters in her paintings are usually girl children, who are emaciated, puking up their souls, and looking sadly sweet with their sunken eyes, lined in black (example on right.) 

Garcia’s Goth-Lolita style is in good company in the art world, with people such as Mijn Schatje (left)  and Trevor Brown (right)  painting little girl waifs, who are so sweet looking that it’s uncanny and disturbing.  Beyond the realm of strictly fine art, there are the numerous spawn of Wednesday Adams, such as Emily Strange, Ruby Gloom, American McGee’s sadistic Alice, and various Tim Burton characters.  Also notable are gothic toy lines such as “Living Dead Dolls,” and the many gothic dolls made by individual artists, (Garcia also has a set of dolls out.)  Musically, Rasputina provide the perfect soundtrack to the artwork of Camille Rose Garcia and company.  Rasputina are a Victorian inspired cello band, who play eerily lush pseudo rock/pop songs, often accompanied by creepy samples of children singing nursery rhymes and other Halloween-esque sound effects.  Quite a few of their lyrics deal with the corruption (sexual and otherwise) of pre-teen girls, with much of the corruption being initiated by the girls themselves.

(Ruby Gloom, Emily the Strange, Wednesday Adams, Camille Rose Garcia Dolls)

 The juxtaposition of the supposed sweetness of children (especially little girls) with the world’s corrupting forces isn’t exactly a new theme. The Victorians, for all their romanticization of childhood, didn’t always necessarily portray the time very nicely.  Victorian tales such as Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan fairly revelled in claustrophobic insanity.  Alice, Dorothy, and Wendy, who are all innocence personified, must each journey through a mad fantasy land which is essentially the corrupt adult world seen through a child’s eye; essentially they are grappling with growing up and navigating bizarre adult situations for the first time.  Finally, each girl consciously chooses to enter the adult world and embrace the corruption, rather than to remain scared, confused children. 

The difference between Victorian portrayals of childhood and the Goth-Lolita themes of today is of course that Alice, Dorothy, and Wendy were sweet girls who are battling against their evil environments, each ultimately loosing, whereas Wednesday Adams, Emily Strange, Ruby Gloom and the host of others are themselves already corrupted and gothic and what’s more, they all enjoy it.  In an interview in Nude magazine with the aforementioned artist Trevor Brown, the interviewer makes an interesting point when he ( or she?) says “Childhood is classed as a time of innocent discovery, but in hindsight it’s more a period of destructive curiosity, with a child constantly pushing and testing their boundaries and limitations, frequently in the most horrible ways.”   Thus each child is his or her own corrupting force; the child doesn’t want to remain innocent; the adult world isn’t forced upon the child (most parents would probably happily keep their children safe and innocent forever,) rather the child can’t wait to enter the adult world of sin and debauchery. 

The growing acceptability and embrace of Goth-Lolita art is paralleled by an interest in childhood in other areas of our culture.  Participants in rave culture were practically obsessed with their own childhoods and used artefacts from their youths, such as bright, baggy clothing, schoolchild backpacks, cartoon characters, candy, stuffed toys, and pacifiers to represent themselves.  As rave culture spread beyond underground dance halls, there was a period during the 90s when all things childish and 80s were terribly hip.  As a highschool student in America during the late 90s, I remember Winnie the Pooh tee-shirts and toys being extremely popular among girls especially.  TV programmes such as “I love the 80s” and “I love the 90s” and internet memes such as “You know you were a kid in the 90s if…” continue to capitalize on societal nostalgia for all things childhood as it seems that we are a generation which is loathe to move into adulthood. 

It may be that the emergence of Goth-Lolita art is simply a version of childhood nostalgia for the Goth crowd, and this is likely the case with some of the Goth-Lolita merchandise knocking around.  And it is also likely that some of this art can accounted for by pure gothic shock value.  After all, what is more awful than seeing the supposed innocence of childhood drenched in blood; such an image must be irresistible for a sub-culture which at times thrives on shocking normal society.  But beyond the nostalgia and shock value, which may be a part of this art trend at times, I think there is a deeper thread of commentary running through the movement- that childhood isn’t necessarily a wonderful time in life.  Childhood (even a good childhood) can be sweet and happy but it is also a dark, unsure, and downright scary period in life.  To ignore this fact and to give children angelic status denies children the right to have feelings, to be upset, and to be cruel; it denies children their humanity and devalues their experiences during their formative years.

                       (Trevor Brown art)