What is the EGL fashion/subculture?

Ciao lovelies! Today I thought I’d talk about something very close to my heart since I was about fourteen and something that influenced my style for years (and still does because now I’m dressing in it!)……This “mystery thing” is the EGL fashion/subculture!


What is EGL?

EGL stands for “Elegant Gothic Lolita”- and before you freak out, no NO it has nothing to do with the book. HERE is a link to why this fashion has this name. 

EGL is a fashion started in Japan. It’s focus is on feminine clothing with a distinctive silhouette. Though sometimes Victorian inspired, not all EGL substyles are based on Victorian fashion.

There are four main substyles of EGL fashion- Old School, Classic, Gothic, and Sweet.

Of course, there are other substyles too, like Punk, Country, Witch, Military, Sailor etc. But the main four are Old School, Classic, Gothic, and Sweet.

Old School focuses on looking like the beginnings of the fashion. With simple dresses sans prints, sometimes rectangle headdresses or mini hats, rocking horse shoes, sometimes even showing bare knees! 

Classic focuses on a muted, mature color pallet, with Rococo influences and more regal aspects. Floral prints are highly common in this fashion, as well as underskirts and gold colors.

Gothic focuses on mixing Goth style with EGL, still maintaining the silhouette of EGL but including darker elements.

Sweet, the most famous substyle, focuses on pastels, prints, kawaii themes, and overall just projects the sense of “Kawaii”


EGL as a Subculture

So while there is some debate regarding EGL fashion vs EGL subculture- for our intents and purposes the EGL subculture means the “Lifestyle Lolitas.” The lifestyle Lolitas try to live life as elegantly and almost royally as possible.

The idea of a lifestyle Lolita is what inspired me to write the Royals Lessons and what inspires me daily. I love the idea of living in such a way.

The EGL community can be considered a subculture because it has its own resources, marketplaces, communities, events, rules, and websites.

My Involvement with EGL  

I have been involved with this subculture/fashion for a long time, since I was about 14. My first coords (short for coordinate, meaning outfit) were quite ita (meaning bad, hard to look at.). I got out of the fashion for a while before coming back to it this year. I just couldn’t stay away.

Here are some of my recent coords:


I hope you all enjoyed learning about EGL today.

Thanks for reading! Here are more resources on EGL fashion:

F Yeah Lolita is a site with so many articles helping new lolitas and even explaining subculture aspects.

The Lolita Handbook is also great for people curious about the fashion/subculture

I will see you in my next post!




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7 Comments

  1. Wow! Never knew where this kind of style came from. Thanks Lunaria! (By the way, I love your outfits int he third and fourth photos.)

    With Love,
    Tiffany R. Dameron

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    1. Thank you! And thank you for your comment! -Lunaria

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  2. I love the idea of "lifestyle lolita" too. Have you heard of the Princess Portal? It was a popular lolita blog about 10 years ago, with a focus on living like a princess. It inspired me to start my blog and I bet you would find some inspiration there for your Royals Lessons as well. It has long since been deleted but you can read the archives here http://web.archive.org/web/20080606214613/http://princessportal.com/index.php

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    1. Yes actually I love reading that! I find princess skye’s works to be very inspiring. She’s what inspired me to start the royals lessons series here! 💕

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  3. Thank you for writing this post! I just made a friend who mentioned they like EGL and I was inspired to look it up. Finally I feel like I have an easy way to refer to the most prevalent aspects of lolita style.

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    1. I'm so glad you liked this post! Thank you for reading and commenting!

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  4. You actually mis-labeled the first couple of styles. What you called old school is actually classic and what you called classic is actually Victorian/Rococo style.

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