Get a job anon.

Not most. They save.

OR... They don't buy those type items. A lot buy from bodyline.jp (Look at the price difference there. like..wut.. 25USD for a dress? Yeah. There's a big difference.)
Lolitas are more likely to buy the dresses, POSSIBLY a brand blouse or two, but they can be worn with a number of things. A lot of people wear offbrand blouses.

This is what kills me about lolita. $300 for a gorgeous brand JSK? No problem! $120 for a boring, generic white blouse? Yeah I don't think so. I go for BL, Taobao and offbrand for things like blouses and shoes.. and some JSKs too, ngl.

Sugar daddies (or just real daddies), prostitution, strippers, or the ~rarest~ of all...a lolita with a job.

Mooching off of their parents is what I've heard the most.

>>4176399
>implying prostitution and stripping aren't jobs

1/10. Thanks for trying.

I have a job. A real grown up done with school type job.

I live with my boyfriend so I pay half rent & utilities food, etc... I also pay my own car and insurance.

I can save up for about 1 dress or blouse + some accessories every month. A little bit more if I work extra shifts or find good deals on the comms or auctions.

>>4176406
>implying that's what's wrong with the post
0/10, try again never

I am 28. I work (and no, I am not selling panties or prostitute myself) and I make enough money to indulge in my hobby. I don't have any other expensive hobbies really, my life is comfortable and I have savings for emergencies, and then I also save up and budget for clothes. It's not that hard....

I am not speaking for everyone obviously, but I have noticed that a lot of my younger friends who say "how can you afford this" are really bad at budgeting and end up spending huge amounts of money but in small parts, so that they don't realise it. I rarely do any other shopping, I will maybe buy normal clothes 1-2 a year. Most of my friends will buy a little "something" every week and sometimes more often, e.g. a £10 top from H&M, a £30 - £40 - £whatever dress from topshop, little accessories from Accessorize, etc. And before they know it they've blown £100 on little stuff here and there that they don't even need and by the end of the month they wonder where all their money is gone....

I'm not going to lie... All but one dress in my closet is pretty much all bought by my parents and friends.

>>4176428
How do you get your friends to buy you dresses? o_O

>>4176429
I took care of my friend for a couple of years when she needed help. So when she was finally able to be self sufficient she bought me a couple of dresses as a thank you.

>>4176432
Awww, that's sweet :)

how does anyone afford anything? credit cards!

The same way people afford any other expensive hobby? Lolita isn't any more expensive than being a gamer, or a cosplayer, or a toy collector, or a dancer, or a musician, or a foodie, or a weeaboo, or any other hobby.

>>4176440
Maybe some people... I never had a credit card in my life. Seeing my friends always buying stuff they can't really afford and being forever in debt has put me off for life I think. I just have my debit card and use paypal and I work and save for my clothes. I wasn't able to afford it when I first discovered lolita, but instead of getting into it and then pining or living paycheck to paycheck, I put it off my mind, focused on my studies and my job and now that I make more money I've come back to it. I think more girls should try that. When I hear newbies saying "but even Bodyline is just too expensive for me" I am thinking, why do you wanna get into lolita then? It is not a cheap fashion! If you can't afford a 30 dollar dress, maybe you should be worrying about other stuff.. like your rent, your bills, setting up some savings, working harder on your education and your CV and THEN come into lolita when you can afford the basics. It's like, I can't afford Chanel, yeah, I'd love to, but I just can't. There is no point getting into it and just moping about how I can't afford it.

>>4176470
i was kidding. but i know what you mean. i see a lot of girls, and family members, stressing about credit cards. i can't imagine going down that road. but i'm sure i'll get there.

i also hear you on the second part. i don't care what anyone says, you can't really get into Lolita if you're on the strict of a budget. it just is never going to work. i recently quit sweet because i can't afford it and Gothic, and i hate stressing about not being able to afford something.

>>4176485

Be more thankful. You'll be surprised about how wealthy you are by seeing what you already have. Others merely have only the clothing on their backs.

Also, learning how to manage money and understanding how to make wise purchases is key.

I have a part time job (full time uni student here). I save up, but it can get a little frustrating. It's like I'll save up some money and then instead of buying basics that I need (shoes, stockings, blouses) I'll spend it on a main piece I've been wanting.

Also my parents and boyfriend will give me some money to buy lolita things for my birthday and Christmas. But most of my wardrobe has come from saving and making the most of my money by buying second-hand.

I have a job and the only hobby I have is lolita so to speak - I do not buy "normal" clothing anymore.

>>4176470
>If you can't afford a 30 dollar dress, maybe you should be worrying about other stuff
I couldn't agree with you more. I'm honestly not trying to be money centric, but if you can't afford to spare $30 in a BL dress or $15 in fabric and10 free hours to sew it, maybe this hobby isn't for you.

Hmm, Do you think topshop would have any nice blouses? An aunt of mine got my a £25/20 voucher for it at christmas, I completely forgot about it but they do sometimes have those epicly overpriced shirts that could work. (I'm the type who thinks £2 means i'm rich)

>>4176807
Why hell there gothic blouse.
topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=330
57&storeId=12556&productId=2187998&langId=-1&categoryId=&searchTerm=blouse&p
ageSize=200

I love how people have heart attacks over the price of lolita clothing. Um, ever set foot in a higher end department store or a boutique? Lots of people spend much more on clothing that isn't nearly as unique or hard to find.

What happened to the LJ communities like lolita_fucks? Are there any other drama communities apart from getoffegl?

>>4176826

I'm thoroughly convinced that the girls who freak out about how expensive lolita is are young teenagers who do most of their clothes shopping in Hot Topic. Lolita isn't 'zomg so expensive' clothing.

>>4176867

£100 for 1 dress.
>>No no not expensive no no.

Pfft, I only own 1 brand piece. Rest is bodyline.

I'm a cheap-o Lolita too. I don't give a fuck if I'm cool with the crew or "OMG TRUE LOLITA".

I'm a geek too with other hobbies to spend my money on too and I can live with wearing the cheaper stuff.

I respect people who truly love Lolita to death and have a fine appreciation for fine materials, brand, and construction but I think with Bodyline I can find decent looking pieces and at least immerse myself in the aesthetic even if it's not the classes of shit. It's not like folks in the west know any better unless they're other lolitas and it's not like I'm in Japan or anything.

I want to get to enjoy the Lolita look without having to make Lolita my whole life. I've got other hobbies too that revolve around things besides pieces of clothes.

If I can find a way to look decent for cheap, That's just what I gotta do. That's ota-loli for ya.

>>4176462

>implying it's expensive to be a weeaboo when all weeaboos do is download shit
>implying it doesn't get expensive when you're ALL those things.

i either make my skirts or modify them; my shirts are normal blouses from thrift stores or from the sales which i've modified and dresses are either modified (see a theme here) or bodyline or deals from the sales comms. the only "brand" things i buy are shoes (can't make them, lolita shoes are difficult to replicate as well) and even then most of them are off of ebay or the sales comm. i'm saving for the day when i find a print i absolutely adore, then i'll buy it. i have a tropical aquarium though, and that takes priority over clothes to me :)

>>4176470
>>4176485
>>4176796
I've seen a lot of age wank in the community. I do understand if they want to get into, say... sweet lolita OMGNAO when they're young.

>>4179283
>>wank

Another lolita with a real job here. I spent about ~11k in 2010 on lolita and only resold two dresses because they didn't flatter me. As mentioned before I mostly invest in the print dresses. I have a lucky pack blouse and the rest of my tops are vintage. Only a handful of my accessories are brand (4 pieces of jewelry, 4 hairbows, 4 pairs of socks) the rest are offbrand. I can't justify spending £104 on a blouse that won't even reach my wrists.