Toontown Inspired Lolita Fashion Coords
Reese used to play Toontown all the time as a kid. It’s a story a lot of 90’s kids are probably familiar with, installing it on unsuspecting family members’ computers during visits and remaking accounts several times because you were too tiny to remember your login… good times. Reese’s anticapitalist leanings can also probably be traced to Toontown, what with it being a game where the villains are gentrifiers. Serena played Toontown too, but living under a very strict “no spending money on the internet” rule at the time (which of course was later rectified for younger siblings who wanted Club Penguin memberships… #eldestchildproblems), never managed to get very far.
That’s one reason why we think Toontown Rewritten is so cool! It’s given us a way to play this childhood favourite together, and Reese has gotten to introduce Serena to one of the best parts of the game: the themed locations. (For the record, Reese didn’t get access to these locations either until Toontown Rewritten, but Reese was playing that way before Serena ever downloaded it). Toontown is an online multiplayer game where you get to create a character, do quests called ToonTasks, and uncover hidden parts of the map by exploring the world.
As a big Donald Duck fan, Reese’s favourite location in the game is naturally Donald’s Dreamland, a location that’s themed around slumber and lullabies, with winding streets and snoring mailboxes. Donald’s Dreamland is actually the Toontown location that inspired the idea for this post. We were browsing Lolibrary when we came across Baby the Stars Shine Bright’s Le ciel étoilé ~Night Sky’s Gift~ Météore JSK (what a mouthful!), and Serena pointed out that it totally has Donald’s Dreamland energy.
We got super excited about the idea of creating Toontown location-themed coords, and got straight to it! Reese had lots of ideas for how to incorporate different details of the locations into the different looks. We want to eventually create coords for every one of them and share them with all of you. This post is about the first three!
Donald’s Dreamland
As mentioned above, Donald’s Dreamland is… well. Dreamy! With it’s droopy buildings and hazy clouds blanketing the streets, you could describe the overall effect as soft. Le ciel étoilé ~Night Sky’s Gift~ Météore really captures the vibe with the misty glitter and a moon touching down to say hello to the items at the border. The indigo cloud earrings with dangling, multicoloured charms really capture the fun spirit of Donald’s Dreamland, and the melty moon bag evokes the surrealist dreamy energy. We chose celestial body themed accessories and tights, and the sparkly blue shoes remind us of the night sky. The sleepy Donald Duck necklace is a direct tribute to the coord’s inspiration.
And, of course, we have to talk about the nightcap. Obviously, long dangly nightcaps are not a traditional lolita headpiece (okay, no, they aren’t a lolita headpiece at all), but one of the staples of Donald’s Dreamland is the Headquarters building that is wearing a nightcap and we felt that this coord wouldn’t be a complete tribute without it! We chose one that is covered with a night sky pattern and added more detail with a moon and star themed pin and a chain of dangling scars near the brim. Combined with the blouse, which has a soft look overall and bows at the sleeves that reminded us of nightgowns, we feel like these pieces really round out the dedication that Donald’s Dreamland has to its sleepy theme. For a look that’s a little more traditionally lolita, try it out with a vintage nightcap!
Toontown Central
One thing that really excited us while we were putting these coords together was the way it challenged us to work with colours and themes that aren’t used very often in lolita. Reese would describe this look as “country meets chaos,” with a JSK from Baby in the rarely used orange colourway and accessories inspired by a variety of Toontown’s details like the different gags (used to fight Cogs, the game’s villains) and, of course, the Trolley. We felt like we were breaking the law or something using yellow, red, orange, brown and lime green (in lolita?!??!) in one coord, but we’re really proud of how cohesive the overall look manages to be! The ice cream bag is a reference to ice cream as a replenisher for your Laff Meter — which functions a bit like a health bar in Toontown, but is themed around your sense of humour (which we think is absolutely essential to appreciating this coord!) The steampunk pieces like the necklace and bracelet are our… tribute (???) to the Cogs. Sure, they’re the bad guys, but Toontown just wouldn’t be the same without ’em… (uh. Actually given that they’re gentrifiers, it technically would… but you get our point). The white gloves are a lolitafied tribute to Mickey Mouse!
We’re really proud of this coord for managing to draw on so many ideas that aren’t traditional in lolita while still being recognizable as drawing on the fashion. Lolita fashion’s love for the borderline ridiculous (cake hats, anyone?) was something we really got to embrace and have fun with here, and we think it makes lolita fashion a medium that’s really uniquely capable of capturing the mood of something like Toontown!
Minnie’s Melodyland
Minnie’s Melodyland is one of the prettiest locations in the game, with its sunset sky and buildings shaped like musical instruments and jukeboxes. Piano keys decorate the walls and floors. With the Donald’s Dreamland and Toontown Central coords, we were very literal in our approach to choosing details like accessories (meringue pie earrings for example because cream pie is one of the first gags you can use in the game), but the musical theme of Minnie’s Melodyland gave us an opportunity to be a bit more abstract and conceptual with how we designed this coord. Of course, the one very literal aspect of the coord is the headphones used here as a headpiece, a tribute to the Head Quarters building that wears a pair of headphones in the game.
We love the pink and yellow colour scheme of this coord and the way that the gradient of the leggings evoke that sunset feeling. There were so many music themed dresses that we considered for this coord, but we thought Neon Star Diner’s retro theme was especially evocative of Minnie’s Melodyland’s classic feel, with its gramophone trashcans and the Headquarters building being an old time-y radio. The sheet music bracelet conveys how music is so intertwined with every aspect of Minnie’s Melodyland. The pins are so cute and really sum up how warm this location feels, with the kitty that’s vibing and playing the keyboard and a pastel jukebox. Of course, the coord needed a bow to represent Minnie Mouse, who would definitely wear lolita. We feel like the chunky boots add a nice finishing touch to the look, with an edgier feel that reminds us of the drum and horn bridge which is such an iconic part of the Minnie’s Melodyland playground.
We had such a great time putting these different coords together. Toontown is a really wonderful game with a dedication to playfulness that touches every part of it. One of the best parts of lolita fashion is the element of playfulness and we really felt like this is an unlikely but also surprisingly well-fitting crossover. It was really nostalgic and fun to get to theme coords around a game that’s so well-loved by us but also so many kids who grew up around that time, and we’re really excited to make more!
Did you play Toontown? Do you still play it on Toontown Rewritten? Which untraditional colour do you most like seeing in lolita? Tell us in the comments!
