Pink House

[sumirechan.livejournal.com]

What do you all think of Pink House style? Whenever people mention "country lolita," it's the first thing I think of, even though it's never grouped with gothic & lolita fashion.

A typical Pink House outfit consists of a long, rather baggy dress laden with ruffles, shirring, and bows, made of cotton in a floral or teddy-bear print. Cardigans and sweaters are similarly baggy, adorned with bears, bobbles, or dangling knit strawberries. Typical accessories include teddy bears, wicker baskets, hair ribbons, leather lace-up walking boots, or even casual items like backpacks or canvas sneakers (if they're made by Pink House).

The brand dates back to the 1980s, and still has that sort of Japanese 80s feel (long wavy hair with bangs, long skirts with ankle socks). Most of the women I've seen wearing it look like housewives--I've never seen anyone in, say, their teens or early 20s wearing it, but I wonder--if gothic and lolita fashion hadn't exploded, maybe today's girls who love old-fashioned frills would be saving their money to shop at Pink House instead of BSSB or Metamorphose. At the site I linked to above, Renmu, who has separate galleries for her Pink House, lolita, and cosplay photos, says that she started out wearing Pink House because that's all that was readily available, and only found out about lolita fashion in 1999.

ETA: Official Pink House site. This is a more typical Pink House look, but in black and white, it's not that far removed from the GLBible. More rag doll than porcelain doll, but still a doll, you know?

Comments

[missmeganmaude.livejournal.com]

I know I actually fall somewhere between the PinkHouse look and the egl look in my everyday clothes... especially in the summertime. I can see what you mean about the similarities. But most fashion trends are like that. They don't come out fo just no where no matter how innovative they are. I would almost venture to say that Pink House is the 80's version of EGL. Perhaps the reason you've only really seen house wives wearing that look is because they're at the age where that would have been popular when they were young... I mean look at all the house wives in america who are stuck in the 80's. I can't imagine that japan is much different.
I think it's a good point you make. ^__^

[atelier-alice.livejournal.com]

What a strange, lovely brand. I looked at their spring line and some of it looks like casual streetwear, where others look like gothic lolita. I loooove it! Whenever i hear 'country lolita' i'll definately think of Pink House. Thanks so much for the link ^_^

[clarice.livejournal.com]

wow, pink house has gotten a lot nicer in the last couple of years. Those sample photos are pretty nice. I really don't like the older Pink House style because there's something very, very wrong with anyone over the age of 10 or so wearing ruffled, pastel-teddy bear printed clothing, but I do like the feminine, long floral skirts like those pictured (but only if they're paired with an adult-ish blouse. No 30-something woman should look she's trying to be an actual Lolita, even if she is Japanese.)

[chuppie.livejournal.com]

There's a Jenny Doll sewing book for Pink House clothes. That's where I first saw it. I think it's kind of cute, but kind of housewife-ish.

[miyu-sakura.livejournal.com]

Rathe reminiscent of a "hippie" look or the Little House on The Prarie look that was popular in the 70s

[vebelfetzer.livejournal.com]

Probably the only person in the world who can actually pull off that look is the girl they got in the photos.

Ugh, those shoes make her feet look HUGE.

[xelyna.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about Pink House lately, because they were one of first, if not the first lolita brand...

http://www.pinkhouse.co.jp/collection/coll_pinkhouse/index06.html

I think theee border on gothic, especially the skirts and apron. But still, for the price I'd rather buy from another brand^^;;

[lady-vader.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Of course it has some sort of 80's feeling over them, but anyway they seem to be a good choice for women who want to be lolita-chans but are like over 30 years old. Mothers and such. This style is cute and innocent but yet suitable for older women because of the cut. The bagginess is also good as an everyday causal style of clothes. But as other said, at the price.. nah. I still prefer my casual wear of a mix of decora/fruits/goth light....

[(Anonymous)]

this style was called "kaneko lolita"
garland is also a nice brand. in case anyone of you like this style.

[sumirechan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info--I didn't know that! (And sharing the results of my research with the group:
Kaneko Isao is the designer who started Pink House, and after PH was bought out by a larger company, left to start his own brands, the outrageously expensive Kaneko Isao and Wonderful World (http://www.kaneko-isao.com/index.html).
Garland has a website here (http://www.garland.jp/). The clothes seem kind of plain to me.
And hey--this is interesting--we were talking about different subcategories of lolita made up/named by foreign lolis, but this Japanese fashion links (http://homepage3.nifty.com/spiral-garden/10.link/exitdolls.htm) page does use the word "country" to describe some brands.