Candice “Candy” Henderson is a ninth grader who wears Lolita fashion. She has worn it year-round for a year and a half, and has been interested in the style for two years. She has 12 dresses. For the full profile on Henderson, read page 7 of Issue 8.

Q: Where do you buy your clothes?

A: All of the clothes I have, I bought online from Japan. My top three brands are Angelic Pretty, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, and Metamorphose temps de fille. I’m totally not pronouncing that right; none of us can pronounce it right. They all ship overseas.

Q: Lolita clothes are expensive. Do they ever have sales?

A: Everything in Lolita sells out fast. I’ve been on the Angelic Pretty website at 3 am, but the dress I wanted sold out in 3 minutes in every single color. Needless to say, I didn’t get it, and I was really sad. And whenever they have sales, I wake up at 3 am to do that, and that sells out all the stuff in your cart, too. This brand is crazy. I know that all Lolitas look very cutesy and sweet, but we’re terrifying. We look all cute and frilly, but we’re all evil on the inside. Most Lolitas that I know love heavy metal. Or they’re like me, and they love horror and like terrifying things. It’s always the girls who like sweet that like really scary things, and it’s the girls who wear gothic that like sweet things. It just happens like that!

Are all the dresses one-size-fits-all?

Yes, it’s awful. Some stores will offer more sizes, but a Japanese medium is like a US extra small. So, if you’re looking to get into this fashion, and it says you need to wear a 3XL, don’t think you’re fat. Just realize it’s not the same sizing. They’re made for short girls. There are problems if you’re tall or have any body fat, any sort of bust. The older dresses aren’t as comfortable as the newer dresses are because the newer dresses cater more to a western audience.

 Q: Do you only wear dresses, or do you have skirts, too?

A: They make skirts, I just don’t happen to own a skirt. It’s just not as much of my thing. The dresses are in two different styles. A JSK is like what I’m wearing now, and it doesn’t have sleeves, so you have to wear a blouse on under it or something over it to cover your shoulders. An OP has sleeves, so you don’t have to wear anything over or under it.

Q: Which one do you like to wear more?

A: I’d say OPs are great because they’re comfortable, and they’re not as hot, but I prefer JSKs because when you change up the blouse, you can change up the look of the dress because then you can do different socks and different headpieces. I prefer JSKs over OPs because they’re more versatile. Either way, it gets hot. I just suck it up, and I never go outside.

Q: How old are most of the people in the Houston Lolita Community?

A: There is a wide range of ages. I happen to be the youngest in my community, but I would say that the general consensus is late teens, early 20s. That’s generally it. I know a woman that’s 47, and she wears Lolita, and I’m the youngest, and I’m 14, and I wear Lolita. It’s a fashion for everyone, not one that you just have to stop wearing. No one really cares if you wear it in the community, no matter how old you are or what gender or anything.

Q: What do the boys wear?

A: Some boys, typically boyfriends of the girls in the community, wear what’s called Ouji. It’s the masculine version of Lolita. Think Prince Charming. There are some guys that just wear Lolita dresses. They don’t care. One of my really good friends in the community, she and her boyfriend both wear Lolita dresses together. If one of them buys something, it’s both of theirs, and I’m jealous! Double the dresses! That’d be fun!

When you came back to school in seventh grade wearing Lolita, what did people think?

I had a uniform up until last year. I wore Lolita one time last year because we had to do a project on someone and we had to dress up like someone, and it was an excuse to wear Lolita to school. I did a project on one of the kawaii ambassadors of Japan, Misako Aoki, and I did a project on her. I showed up in Lolita, and everyone thought my costume was great! And I was like, little do you know I wear this all the time on the weekends! I wore it every weekend day, and I showed up to Bellaire this year, and wore frilly dresses, and a teacher told me: “wow that’s a great first day of school outfit.” And I was just thinking: “it’s coming back.” Because it never ends.

What are people’s reactions to the way you dress?

Some of the public reactions are, “why do you dress like that?” and “you’re dressed so cute.” The most common question I get is: are you in a play? I don’t know why, why everyone thinks we’re in a play. I was in a Toys R Us at 9 am one day, and someone asked if I was in a play. We were not in a theater! Who just walks around in a play costume? Anyway, you’re bound to have negative reactions. I’ve had 2 negative encounters. In school, most people are nice to me because most people are cowards anyway. I don’t really care about negative responses. I’m still going to wear a frilly dress, even if you don’t like it. And like, I’m in a $600 outfit, and you’re in a t-shirt from Walmart. Please. You cannot compete.