Bodyline.

These days, it seems like the term 'Bodyline' in the Lolita world is totally frowned upon, 'brand-who-shall-not-be-named'. But really... I'm not exactly sure that's fair...
Today, I shall be talking about the pocket-pleasing Lolita brand, 'Bodyline'...
(Just to clarify, any opinions in this are not intended to offend anyone, and I'll be talking strictly about their CLOTHING since I'm well-aware of why people avoid the modelling contests like the plague. This will be talking only about the items Bodyline sells, none of the behind-the-scenes stuff.)

So, the other day, I was on a buy/sell/swap Lolita Facebook group, and I saw someone asking for white blouses, saying 'I don't mind if they're off-brand, but no Bodyline'. Now, they're saying how desperate for a blouse they are, that it doesn't have to be 'brand' ("brand" within the Lolita community mainly refers to Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Alice & The Pirates, etc.) so I know Bodyline isn't considered "brand"... But this person was saying "Oh I'm fine with hand-made, off-brand... Anything, just no Bodyline" like, really? You're that desperate but you won't actually accept anything that's from a company that actually sells quality and affordable clothes, blouses in particular... Needless to say, I was a little confused.
And then it became obvious that many Lolita actually look down on Lolita who wear products from Bodyline... I have no idea why, it just seems to be a thing at the moment where 'Bodyline = not a real Lolita' by the standards of some of the girls in the community. This is actually kinda sad, and it's actually so shallow... Just because they're not gonna spend over £300 on one JSK, they're not a 'real' Lolita? Wow.

For those of you who are not familiar with what Bodyline is, it's a Lolita fashion company that sells pretty much everything you need for Lolita, at very, very affordable prices.

Now, I understand that in the past, going back around 4 or 5 years ago... Bodyline had a bad reputation for creating very cosplay-looking clothes, and things that were really badly-made, falling apart, etc. BUT, over the last few years, that reputation has totally gone away, because Bodyline really upped their game and hired better craftsmen and women, spent more money on materials, etc. Obviously, this meant that the prices of their clothes went up slightly... But not enough for them to be anything even remotely close to "brand" pieces. And, for not very much money, you were getting things that looked nice, felt nice, and lasted a really long time (unless you're really bad at caring for clothes). So I'm failing to see any problem with the QUALITY of their clothes, so we can tick that off the list of 'problems' with Bodyline...

Next, let's cover the whole "OMG THAT'S A REPLICA" issue that surrounds Bodyline... Yes, some of their designs have taken some aspects of "Brand" outfits and put them into their designs... BUT, it is never directly 100% a replica on Bodyline, contrary to common belief. Now, whilst I understand that our "oh-so-true Lolita" which, we'll call 'Elitist Lolita', don't exactly approve of replicas, since they have the money to afford the real things, which obviously make them much better Lolita than the rest of us... (*cough* snobs *cough*) I also understand that not everybody in the world is opposed to replicas now, so it's not a HUGE crime that some of Bodyline's designs have certain aspects 'taken-from' (I refuse to say 'stolen' or 'copied') from "Brand" designs. Of course, it's not great that "Brand" designers spend time on a design only for it to be stuck onto another dress by companies like Bodyline, but they're NOT the only ones who do it, and yet they receive the most criticism for it. What?! Bodyline don't even release dresses as 'replicas', they give dresses new names, add parts to the designs, change the colour-schemes... So although the print may technically seem 'the same', really, it's not.

Now, I feel personally obliged to back-up Bodyline, because they've always supplied me with the exact products I ordered, in the colours and sizes I ordered, with nothing in bad-condition, nothing missing, etc. I've never had a single problem with anything I've ordered from Bodyline, and I've ordered from them so many times I've lost count. I'm sure, if I had £1000s and £1000s to throw away on clothes, maybe I'd buy a few "Brand" pieces here and there, but I come from a family with a history of being pretty hard-done-by when it comes to our financial situation, and I'm not ashamed to say that because, despite it, I'm still dressing the way I want to and having fun, and achieving things with my life. Personally, Bodyline is like my Guardian Angel, or my Fairy Godmother, there to provide me with pretty clothes despite me not having much money, and to tell me "You shall go to the ball". As someone who orders regularly and has never found a problem with my orders, I'm really unsure as to why they have such a bad reputation. In fact, I've known people to prefer Bodyline over "Brand" because their stuff actually lasts much longer that real "Brand" dresses...

(I'm not against Brand, of course I'm not, but you don't have to wear Brand to be a Lolita. That's the point I'm making here. And if we really want to get technical, Bodyline IS a brand. They're a company, they have their own label, they make their own clothes, and they design pretty much 100% of the detail on their pieces themselves, so in my eyes, they are a brand).

Bodyline pride!