the clinic is open
one of the iterations of lolita fashion that i fell in love with early on was medical/nurse themed coordinates. i love medical aesthetics and knowledge in general, as i'm fascinated by the human body and how it works. i used to love watching televised surgeries on PBS as a kid. (yeah yeah it's kinda weird lol)
i first saw this theme applied to lolita fashion in doll clothes. i came across a few designs that stuck with me while browsing the internet in the 2000s, such as sweet girl jenny's red and white coordinate, dream of doll twing-key's default outfit, and a super dollfie outfit set from kk workshop. i managed to get a secondhand sweet girl no. 9 jenny this year; i'm so happy to have her in my collection. as an aside, early 00s jenny dolls in particular were formative to my interest in j-fashion. sweet girl no. 10 and her ballerina mary jane pumps will always be famous.
while browsing scans of the gothic & lolita bible online, i eventually came across hospitality doll from metamorphose. in the mid 2000s when i was first getting into lolita, i also had a strong interest in western goth wear such as lip service, and always loved the medical theme in those clothes too. seeing a slightly different take on medical goth in lolita felt so novel and exciting. at the time, my wardrobe options were pretty much limited to lucky packs and the cheapest secondhand items from egl_comm_sales, so i stood no chance of getting my hands on this set.
throughout the early 2010s, i laser focused on super sweet angelic pretty, then in the mid-2010s, i pivoted to an all chocolate-and-mint themed wardrobe. i'm still not even sure why i went through this phase, as i don't even like chocolate or pastries all that much, lol. but suffice to say, i definitely didn't pay much attention to medical themes for several years.
then in 2017, angelic pretty released fancy hospital. i remember really hating it at the time. i had been dealing with a multiple sclerosis-like neurological condition, and was feeling bitter and miserable about anything related to illness or doctors.
after some years passed and my health improved, my feelings toward this print softened considerably, and it has actually become one of my favorites. i have the sax blue jsk, a skirt i made from the white cutsew op, the cutsew top, and as many accessories and novelties from the series as i have been able to get my hands on. to be honest, i'm not crazy about the satin material that angelic pretty used for the print, but i do love everything else about the series. the super desaturated sax blue is so calming and pleasant to look at.
in the past several years, i've also seen some really cute medical themed designs from chinese brands such as alice girl and choker bunny. i actually purchased a few of these pieces in the past, but ended up selling them. i have difficulty with sizing on some designers. i have a larger bust than the average domestic customer for whom they make small/medium sizes, but more petite than the average international customers for whom they make larger sizes. everything i have tried from chinese designers has been either too large or too small for me, never an ideal fit.
so although i generally stick with ap and baby as their sizes consistently work for me, i admire the work of these designers on other people. unicorn tears' ange l'enfer op is one of my favorite medical lolita designs, i feel like it's in that perfect sweet spot between retro, sweet, and slightly edgy gothic aesthetics.
now, as of writing this, i just received my preorder of metamorphose's little nurse series yesterday. i love the throwback design of this release, it comes very close to filling the hospitality doll-shaped hole in my heart. i wish the skirt were a bit shorter for that true old school look; it's below the knee on me at 154cm tall. (modern meta in general tends to be unflatteringly long on me, which is why i don't own much of their newer pieces.)
however the overall design is super cute, the light material is comfortable to wear, and i love the iconic white x red look. if they had released the sax colorway with white trim instead of navy, i would have 100% gone for that. i've managed to collect several of the accessories from meta's original hospitality doll release, and the red ones look great with little nurse. i'm looking forward to wearing this set around once the weather finally cools off in my area!
in the future, i'd love to see angelic pretty revisit medical themes, but not necessarily a fancy hospital re-release. with the popularity of "sick" themes in tenshi kaiwai and jirai kei, now feels like the perfect time for ap to relase some dreamy nurse-style solid pieces in pale pink, sax blue, and white. btssb and aatp have done some more classical- and historical-leaning nurse inspired pieces over the years, but i think it would be so fun if they released something super sweet, like a medical themed kumya print.
thank you for reading, and may lolita fashion bring you health and healing~ ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭
i first saw this theme applied to lolita fashion in doll clothes. i came across a few designs that stuck with me while browsing the internet in the 2000s, such as sweet girl jenny's red and white coordinate, dream of doll twing-key's default outfit, and a super dollfie outfit set from kk workshop. i managed to get a secondhand sweet girl no. 9 jenny this year; i'm so happy to have her in my collection. as an aside, early 00s jenny dolls in particular were formative to my interest in j-fashion. sweet girl no. 10 and her ballerina mary jane pumps will always be famous.
while browsing scans of the gothic & lolita bible online, i eventually came across hospitality doll from metamorphose. in the mid 2000s when i was first getting into lolita, i also had a strong interest in western goth wear such as lip service, and always loved the medical theme in those clothes too. seeing a slightly different take on medical goth in lolita felt so novel and exciting. at the time, my wardrobe options were pretty much limited to lucky packs and the cheapest secondhand items from egl_comm_sales, so i stood no chance of getting my hands on this set.
throughout the early 2010s, i laser focused on super sweet angelic pretty, then in the mid-2010s, i pivoted to an all chocolate-and-mint themed wardrobe. i'm still not even sure why i went through this phase, as i don't even like chocolate or pastries all that much, lol. but suffice to say, i definitely didn't pay much attention to medical themes for several years.
then in 2017, angelic pretty released fancy hospital. i remember really hating it at the time. i had been dealing with a multiple sclerosis-like neurological condition, and was feeling bitter and miserable about anything related to illness or doctors.
after some years passed and my health improved, my feelings toward this print softened considerably, and it has actually become one of my favorites. i have the sax blue jsk, a skirt i made from the white cutsew op, the cutsew top, and as many accessories and novelties from the series as i have been able to get my hands on. to be honest, i'm not crazy about the satin material that angelic pretty used for the print, but i do love everything else about the series. the super desaturated sax blue is so calming and pleasant to look at.
in the past several years, i've also seen some really cute medical themed designs from chinese brands such as alice girl and choker bunny. i actually purchased a few of these pieces in the past, but ended up selling them. i have difficulty with sizing on some designers. i have a larger bust than the average domestic customer for whom they make small/medium sizes, but more petite than the average international customers for whom they make larger sizes. everything i have tried from chinese designers has been either too large or too small for me, never an ideal fit.
so although i generally stick with ap and baby as their sizes consistently work for me, i admire the work of these designers on other people. unicorn tears' ange l'enfer op is one of my favorite medical lolita designs, i feel like it's in that perfect sweet spot between retro, sweet, and slightly edgy gothic aesthetics.
now, as of writing this, i just received my preorder of metamorphose's little nurse series yesterday. i love the throwback design of this release, it comes very close to filling the hospitality doll-shaped hole in my heart. i wish the skirt were a bit shorter for that true old school look; it's below the knee on me at 154cm tall. (modern meta in general tends to be unflatteringly long on me, which is why i don't own much of their newer pieces.)
however the overall design is super cute, the light material is comfortable to wear, and i love the iconic white x red look. if they had released the sax colorway with white trim instead of navy, i would have 100% gone for that. i've managed to collect several of the accessories from meta's original hospitality doll release, and the red ones look great with little nurse. i'm looking forward to wearing this set around once the weather finally cools off in my area!
in the future, i'd love to see angelic pretty revisit medical themes, but not necessarily a fancy hospital re-release. with the popularity of "sick" themes in tenshi kaiwai and jirai kei, now feels like the perfect time for ap to relase some dreamy nurse-style solid pieces in pale pink, sax blue, and white. btssb and aatp have done some more classical- and historical-leaning nurse inspired pieces over the years, but i think it would be so fun if they released something super sweet, like a medical themed kumya print.
thank you for reading, and may lolita fashion bring you health and healing~ ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭