Giving Back to the Community

Recently Rufflechat surprised us with a little bit of positive energy. The thread asking how we give back to the community was full of inspirational people who do so much, including archiving, updating, organising and mentoring. However, there were also equally many people there admitting that they don’t do much – mostly because they’re unsure as to what could they do.

From the responses I read, I got the impression that in a thread full of lolita superheroes people felt intimidated and assumed that to give back would mean going to similar lengths. That’s not true! There are loads of things that every one of us could do which would give back to the community. Below are just a few suggestions.

Name, Share, Review, Promote

Big brands like AP or Baby don’t need any more promoting – they’re already dominating the market and every newcomer to the fashion is well aware of them. However, there are literally tonnes of lolita brands out there that many of us don’t even know of! Indie labels and smaller companies rely on any promotion they can get and word of mouth is usually the best form of advertising. So if you received or bought something you like, you can help by spreading the word. Post a detail shot on your social media with even a few words of a review. Tag the brand in your outfit shots. When complimented, say where you got the item from. If someone’s looking for raffle donors or vendors, suggest that brand (tag them so they can respond too). It doesn’t matter how many followers you have – ultimately, if even one person buys something from that brand because they saw it on your social media, you’ve helped that brand (and the individual designer) continue and grow. Don’t believe me that there are tonnes of brands local to every one of us you’ve never even heard of? Check out this video from Fluffy Tori where she visits the Porcelain Doll shop in the Czech Republic! Oh, and the same goes for content creators! Your $1 a month might be little to you, but if given to a site like Lolibrary (who do have a Patreon page), it means continuing life of our most beloved resource. Or more videos from your favourite YouTuber or new kinds of content from other creators.

This headpiece? It's by Sheena's Bella Bows! Totally check them out if you're
after wacky headpieces (and some less wacky ones too).

Organise a Meetup

This may sound scary if you’ve never done one before, but trust me – it’s not. Have you ever organised to go out with your friends to go shopping or lunch? This is exactly the same, just in different clothes. People in lolita communities are happy for any excuse to dress up and hang out, so don’t feel the pressure to do anything out of the ordinary. Simply say when and where to meet, what you’re expected to do and that’s it. Yes, sometimes things happen when the meet doesn’t end up happening (and there are ways to prevent that from happening). And yes, some people genuinely do not have any opportunity to do meets as they’re too far away from the nearest lolita. But until you make that post, you won’t know where it may take you. Also remember that the distance between point A and B goes both ways, so while it may be far for you to travel to see your comm, others may be happy to travel in your direction or meet you halfway. It all starts with a simple invitation to meet up.

It doesn't have to be anything major or fancy. You may be
surprised how many will respond positively!

Volunteer

Pretty much every time you attend any larger event there will be need for volunteers. Setting and packing up, running the stalls, carrying things, bringing items, even doing a round with refreshments – there’s a lot behind the scenes that anyone could get involved in. If you’re attending anything, look out for the volunteers call. If there isn’t one, you can still message the organisers and let them know that you’re available to help. It won’t eat much of your time at the event itself, but will ensure that it runs smoothly. Plus, you never know who you might meet whilst doing so! At Tea Party Club events I was lucky to help out Ayumi Watanabe from Rose Marie Seoir, I also got to meet Kunika, the Japanese sweets artists who is now based in London, and whilst behind that table met some people I recognised off social media. Never asked for that particular task when applying to volunteer, I was just lucky this way. And if you’re very lucky, you may even get a small gift for your help (just don’t expect one, that’s not the point). Giving up one hour to carry boxes or sit behind a table and exchange goods for coin is a very small price to pay, but it means the events can run smoothly and can be as great as they are.

Although modelling is one way to volunteer, it's not the
only way. Taking care of someone's stall may mean that
a vendor can get something to eat or to be that amazing,
sociable guest they're known as. Literally can't be done
without you!

Archive, Document, Catalog

This is a great way to help if you’re an avid internet lurker. Lolibrary is one of our best resources, but it is run entirely by volunteers. Helping to keep it updated and maintained by adding things or fixing past entries when you spot mistakes is not the most exciting of jobs, but it keeps it the great resource that we know. At the moment the option to add may be restricted, so drop the developer team an email to express interest. After all, every little helps – and Chinese brands seemingly do not sleep, they’re churning out so many designs that otherwise go uncatalogued. If you’re more old school, you can still help! Look through your collection of old GLB and KERA issues. Some issues are incredibly rare, so you could help preserve them by scanning if you have the means (most libraries should have the facilities to do so, if you don’t have a scanner at home). You could also combine the two and update Lolibrary entries with images and/or information from the old magazines, since there are many older releases that we know almost nothing about. Whatever you can do, will help the community preserve its history.

Analog or digital, there are so many pieces of lolita fashion history that need
preserving as magazines and websites hosting old scans disappear.

Help, Advise, Support, Report

From as big as coaching newcomer lolitas to as small as helping someone find the right link, any bit of mutual support and help you can show will in its way give back to the community. Not every deed needs to be big and often it’s the small ones that make the biggest difference. Yeah, people grow tired of linking the same resource page to newbie lolitas every time someone asks one of those questions. But it will take some pressure off the mods/admins if you do it once instead – and it may help that newcomer grow into a more informed, better-rounded member of the community in the future thanks to you. On the flipside, if you see anything that bothers you, anything inappropriate or that you think is a danger – report that. Whether you’re clearing Lolita Updates FB page of spam or getting rid of predators in a group, reporting these things to admins helps keep these pages and communities a clutter free and safe space for everyone.

Everyone started somewhere. Without you sharing that link
to a beginners' crash course, maybe you're stopping
someone from blossoming into an amazing lolita?

These are just some of the things that I feel anyone could do that would give back to the community we all love. Of course, there are all kinds of ways to grow your activity from there: host a bigger meetup or event, start your own brand to fill a niche in the market, create content to help other people, translate or recover old content from web archives, moderate a community… In communal projects like this the more people are involved, the easier it is to make the community an open and welcoming place that keeps everyone informed and engaged. This means that both big tasks and small help and we have equal need for people doing both (if not slightly more need for people willing to do those little bits that aren’t the most exciting, but that pile up and affect our day to day life most).

However, if you’re not able or ready to do any of the things I suggested above, there is one more thing that I encourage you all to do: say thank you to the people who contribute those big and small things. It costs absolutely nothing and makes it all worthwhile.