So a while back (October?) we were to create a piece on "social justice." I hate tackling serious topics unless they affect me personally, and nothing right now really is, so I did my project on something a little bit lighter: fashion and conformity. In our society, people who defy the conventional standard of dress are seen as "nonconformists" and "just trying to be different," and given labels such as "goth" or "slut." As a Lolita, I know I don't speak for everyone following a fashion subculture, but I do speak for much of the lolita community when I say: we're not "different." We're just like everyone in pretty much every way, shape, or form in terms of social conventions. We'd never stand out in a crowd otherwise. In fact, and I'm probably guilty of this as well, many of the people I've come across that have been labelled "different" because of how they dress are some of the most boring people personality-wise.
Since I'm not used to using a graphic style of drawing, I gave that a shot, using only solid lines with no shading. I chose to draw my characters in a cartoon style to keep the piece innocent; I didn't want it to seem like I was putting this issue at the same level as that of my classmates who did subjects such as domestic violence.
Originally I had drawn up three characters: A little Lolita girl, a shopkeeper advertising a pair of jeans, a young man pressuring the girl to straighten her curly hair, and a tan bombshell sitting on a tanning bed, looking at the pale lolita with disgust. These represent our current standards of physical beauty and presentation, all of which the lolita defies.
However, when I set the characters up to trap the lolita, I felt as if there were too many opportunities for her to escape the mob, so I added another character, an older gentleman presenting her with a book titled "How to Grow Up," in reference to her childlike attire.
On this setup, though, it was obvious the man had just been stuck in there at the last minute. So I cut out my templates...
and traced them over in the positions I wanted them for the final product.
Bits and pieces were colored for the final product, which turned out quite cute. In the final, there was less space at the bottom for the lolita to escape, which brings me to the last point: the only way out for her is through you, the viewer. Are you going to accept that she's a normal functional person like the rest of us? Or will you, too, push your standards of beauty on her before you can make yourself even begin to believe it?
This project was done entirely in black marker.
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