Gothic lolita
Gothic lolita started on the streets of Japan. With girls dressing in a similar style to their favourite j rock stars, resembling victorian dolls with their frilly dresse's, frilled socks, & mary janes. Not to be confused with the kinderwhore look of course.

The style has evolved greatly & is not just worn in Japan, you can find 'lolis' all over the world & yes even here in the UK.
In the past year or so Gothic lolita has been getting alot of attention throughout the UK's alternative scene, with companies taking on gothic lolita 'inspired' lines from drac in a box to alienskin to kathmandu to noir desir. Not to forget you can find Sai sai in Camden market selling every aspect of lolita clothing you can imagine!
With companies taking a keen interest in gothic lolita over the last year or so, the public saw alternative magazines putting the focus onto gothic lolita

with alt.wear doing a photo shoot at a loligoth meet, Meltdown doing a finale focus on the gothic lolita look & alternative london doing a gothic lolita feature too.

Of course for all of this to happen first people had to get into the style first. With the cult book "fruits" picturing gothic lolita's in Japan & showing people in the UK the unique style, & others discovering the style through j rock bands such as Malice mizer.
Gothic lolita's in the UK were drawn to the look at first through the victorian imagery & style as well as a mutual love for J rock bands associated with the style.

In Japan gothic lolita is quite set in it's ways, by that I mean the key features of outfits & the companies where they buy their pieces from.
In the UK that aspect has been taken on too & you can find gothic lolita's trying to steer away from more westernised outfits & sticking soley to brands in Japan, this can be costly of course so again some do tend to buy from more diy companies or people who make outfits as close to the style as possible.

You can also find some gothic lolita events cropping up around the UK with communities such as Loligothuk organising meets, bands such as Razor blade kisses & Danni McCormack performing in Loli inspired outfits & J-rock nights at the dev where you can always find at least one loli.
Gothic lolita hasn't reached a fully public status in the UK such as other styles from goth to punk, but it has reached the alternative scene & is definetly still stirring some interest. You can find shops as far as Newcastle selling Loli branded items by K star & the occasional glimpse of a brave loli out shopping in a fantasticly cute outfit.
It's one of the many sub-cultures in the UK now & despite some seeing it's recent exposure as a bad thing, it has managed to reach some people who would have been hard pushed to find the style.
Article: Leona