/cgl/

/cgl/

300px Screenshot of /cgl/ on December 21, 2022
Available in	English
Founded	2006
Website	boards.4chan.org/cgl/
Current status	Active

/cgl/ (pronounce see-gee-ell) is an English-language 4chan board, popular in the early 2010s for discussion of lolita fashion and infamous for how its anonymity spawned both memes and the rise of "saltiness" as a concept within the fashion, as well as a variety of references still used today.

History

/cgl/ was launched on April 6, 2006 as one of several new sub-boards of Japanese-hosted anonymous messageboard 4chan The board was infamous for being one of the few boards primarily female-dominated (later confirmed by an anonymous survey of board participants. Users of the board would refer to themselves as "seagulls", stemming from a pronunciation of the board name acronym, and as such seagull imagery could commonly be associated with lolita drama, memes and criticism, especially within Lolita Secrets/Behind the Bows.

In March 2015, several /cgl/ users collaborated to launch the Lolita Guidebook on Tumblr, a spiritual successor the lolita handbook originally hosted and ultimately abandoned on livejournal.

Usage/Common Threads

While /cgl/ was infamous for the criticism and cattiness that anonymity allowed, the very same anonymity and ability for forum-style discussion also, in the interim between the fall of typical forums and Discord servers, made it a common place for FAQs, resource development and community reflection.

Commonly maintained threads during its peak of usage included:

Lolita general - For general discussion of the fashion, community events and brand releases.

Taobao thread - Users would share resources, links, review and commentary on purchasing from Chinese marketplace Taobao, as well as post collage-style images of their 'hauls' when placing an order. While this thread was primarily lolita-dominated due to the influx of Chinese indie brands available on the platform, cosplay supplies and other j-fashions were often shared as well, including mori-kei, otome and larme.

Several resources originating in this thread continue to be used outside of /cgl/, including the Taobao Dictionary, Taobao Budget Sheet, and Store Directory

Ita thread - Perhaps the most infamous of /cgl/'s ongoing topics, this thread would anonymously post 'itas' or photos of lolitas the user thought had tacky or embarrassing coords without their consent. Discussion of these images would typically either mock or defend the subject, or often a combination of both from different users. Being featured in this thread or more generally referred to as getting posted to /cgl/, was at the time considered simultaneously a common annoyance and badge of honour for lolitas active in the community.

Mail thread - Sometimes titled "What's in the mail?", this ongoing thread was a way to share with other lolitas what purchases you had recently made or were excited to receive, as well as reviews of items users had recently received. A spiritual successor to this thread now exists on Facebook as the group i just bought the thing (lolita)

Dream Dresses - Users would post collage images of their dream dresses (not exclusively limited to dresses but typically main pieces) along with whether or not they were actively searching for the pieces/in a place to acquire them. Other users would then typically help these active searchers to locate sale listings for their dream dresses across the secondhand market.

Buy, Sell, Trade - Users would post collage images of items they had for sale or were looking to acquire; typically the sales would then take place via EGL Comm Sales or Lace Market, though these could be carried out directly via email as well.

BTB Discussion - "Secrets are up!" This thread would provide an outlet to anonymously discuss the week's submissions to Lolita Secrets and/or Behind the Bows

Help thread - One of the few discussions shared between the cosplay and lolita sides of the board, this was the catchall thread for beginner questions and advice.