Ohayocon 2012!

This past weekend, I was at Ohayocon! It was so super fun to go again! Last year, I created the current version of The Elegant Wardrobe panel for this convention, and it was great to do it again for such a great turnout! I hope to be able to go back to Ohayocon next year, it's one of my favorite cons ever~ So I went to the Lolita Crush event too and saw lots of cute people, and I did two panels!

I think my panels actually went pretty well. This was my first time not having Starberry as a co-panelist and it was really weird without her. But July and Nami did pretty well, I think. So if you're reading this because you saw Affording Lolita, thanks for coming to that panel!! That was my first time doing that one alone, and actually Starberry is usually the lead on that. She was at Setsucon actually doing the exact same panel at the exact same time! Isn't that weird? I felt like I was rambling a little bit there, but I hope you enjoyed it anyhow~

If you're here because you saw The Elegant Wardrobe: A Guide to Lolita Fashion (or just A Guide to Lolita Fashion on the schedule) that was an awesome panel! I had a lot of fun doing that one. I began doing The Elegant Wardrobe at Ohayocon 2011, so it was really fun to be able to do it again this year. Maybe next year I can fill that big room up! I got a bunch of feedback from attendees and I'm going to use it all to make my panels better!

Do you like the new background? I wanted to change it up a little, so we'll see how it works out! Thanks for reading~!

Con Report: Fan Expo Canada

So I went to Canada about two weeks ago with a friend before she moved away. We had the best time ever and Canada was such a great country. Did you know that in Canada you can get a waffle on the street and it's delicious? Or that there's a thing called "icing sugar" that's just powdered sugar? Or that there are crepes everywhere? Or that milk comes in a bag? We learned all these things about our great neighbor to the North. But this is not my personal journal blog about the super fun times I had at a con. I'm here to talk about Lolita fashion.

I went to the fashion show on Sunday morning to see two friends walk. I have to say, I did enjoy the show. It was worth staying a little longer at the con. I took so much video of the show, but I've decided not to include it here. The reason being that they were so short and I need to edit them together, but I want to get this article up quickly. I'm going to talk a little about my favorite outfits in the show. All the photo credits go to Tony Pags. I met him at the show and he was kind enough to let me use his photos here.

This was one of the very first outfits, and a strong start to the show. It's cute and sweet without being over the top. I like that she used the pink as well as the red and white from the dress. The print is the French Cafe print from Angelic Pretty earlier this year, and the parasol is from BABY.

This is one of my favorite dresses from Innocent World! She also has the book-shaped purse~ I think I'd rather have had her wear a more cream colored blouse with this, but overall I was thrilled to see this outfit!

Another beautiful classic coordinate! This one looks like it might have been made up of lots of vintage pieces. I love how she did her hair with the hat! She looks like should be in a forest~ I'm not

entirely positive where the dress came from, but

I think it's a piece by Mary Magdalene.

This was I think the only pirate coordinate in the show. I was impressed! I love that she had the hat and vest, it really drove the pirate theme home. I wasn't such a fan of the eyepatch though. Overall, I was really pleased with this

outfit; the blouse and skirt are just perfect.

Chess Chocolate twins! So cute! I like how they matched with the print, style, and color, but their accessories were slightly different. I was glad to see this print here, since it's pretty new. And what a huge

Usakyuma! I've never seen such a big one!

And here's one of my friends! Isn't she cute? We met last summer in New York City for a doll convention, and it was so nice to see her again, even for just like a minute. I love the straight wig with the falls~ She's wearing Milky Planet in pink and I believe the Milky Planet hair bow too. When she came out with the balloons, my first thought was that I hope she doesn't let

those balloons go accidentally! But she didn't, thank goodness!

And here's my other friend! We met in Japan actually two years ago and another girl, San, and I were the ones who introduced her to lolita fashion. Where better to get started than in Tokyo? She walked in the show as well, but this picture I took of her was my favorite. She's wearing the new release of Vampire Requiem and a vintage blouse. Curse you for making me want this dress!

This is the last one, I promise. I really like this Ouji-style coordinate! The striped pants are just perfect, I wonder where she got them. The rose at the jabot adds a touch of elegance, and the little hat is the right scale for the outfit. The classic outfit on the left is simple, but coordinated well. I like the trim on the dress very much, it looks light and airy. The shoes are simple, as is the headpiece. Overall, a solid coordinate great for any occasion.

I had a lot of fun at the show, but I really really wish I had had some business cards to give to the models and organizers. Next time I cover this type of event, I will have them for sure. Thanks again to Tony Pags for these photos, this article would not have looked half as good as it does now without them. When I edit the video together, I'll add it back in here for reference. Thanks for reading, as always!

BABY/AATP Fashion Show Pt. 3 - Baby The Stars Shine Bright

Since the Alice and the Pirates article took me so long, I decided to split the two halves of the show into two posts. All the pieces in this second half were designed by Kano herself, as the pieces in the Alice show were designed by Mitsuba. None of my personal pictures came out for these either, so these are again all from the Anime News Network. I did take this video as well as the AATP one, this one didn't come out as well as the previous one did for some reason. Perhaps they adjusted the lights on the runway. Perhaps it's because many of the outfits feature lighter colors. I'm not too sure, but please enjoy it!

I'll get right to it with the outfit rundowns. I was able to track down almost every piece!

Here's the first model, isn't she lovely? They actually cut her hair to better frame her face! She's wearing a sweet/country coordinate, made up of a skirt and blouse combination. The skirt is pretty new on the site, the name of the print is Early Summer Chocolate Strawberry Parfait, what a mouthful! She's also wearing the matching socks. The hat is from the Chained Berry Memoir series. This blouse was difficult to track down, but I think it's the shirred Babydoll blouse. The bag is a popular design from BABY, but it is this specific version with the white trim. The shoes are the Crema Ribbon Shoes. Overall, this coordinate is quite sweet with a touch of country, perfect for the springtime!

Here's model number two, my friend Starberry! Her outfit was so frilly, not at all her usual style. The dress is the Creamy Alice Decoration OP, and I'd never seen it before this show. The apron is to match this dress, but I was unable to find a picture of it. It's the Creamy Alice Apron, and she says the little cookie buttons are an addition that the designer decided to add on. She's also wearing one of my favorite hair pieces of all time, the Amy Miel bonnet. I think it's adorable and it's one of few bonnets I'd actually purchase for myself! I was unable to track down her socks, but her shoes are the Antique Ribbon shoes. The puppet is not currently available, but isn't he cute? The idea behind her coordinate was Alice in a garden party, and I think they did a nice job with it, don't you?

The Versailles Rose twin look. I'm personally glad they chose this look to be the twinning look. This dress is so versatile in coordination and they did a good job showing that. I'll talk about the pink outfit first. The pages for this print on the BABY moved over to their sale page, the pink outfit is the Rosary version of the jumper. She's also wearing the Chiffon Princess Dress blouse, which is so pretty for the summer time. That headpiece is the Antoine Bouquet head bow, but it's really not a bow at all. For her shoes, she has the Jenny Ribbon shoes paired with the matching Versailles Rose socks. Her parasol is the classic Lace and Frill umbrella, and is in fact waterproof.

Now on the right, the red version of the dress. This is the Carlotte version of the jumper, in red. She's also got the matching bonnet and socks. The rest of the items (blouse, shoes, parasol) used in this outfit are the same as above, but in different colors. She's wearing a pink blouse and a pink parasol, whereas the other uses the same items in white.

To be honest, Unico in Bloomland was not impressive to me when it was first released. The print was cute, but BABY has a tendency to only release items in colorways that they've used before. I'm getting tired of seeing prints on black, white, pink, blue, brown, and navy. But when I saw this dress in person, I was pleasantly surprised. I really like how it looked in the navy. They have it paired with a short sleeve blouse in pink, the printed headbow, and matching socks. Her shoes are again, the Jenny Ribbon shoes, this time in pink. She also has a large Usakyuma as an accessory. Overall, I think the navy highlights the color of the print but isn't a harsh contrast. I would have been thrilled to see a release with a lavender option, but alas no luck. Maybe next time.

Claudia, The Fairytale Princess. I saw this dress online and thought it was spectacular, and seeing it in person only made me love it more. There's a subtle print on the dress that's hard to see online. The material is luxurious and has a slight shimmer to it. It's a dress truly fit for a princess. Here, they have it coordinated with the matching hairpiece and wrist cuffs. Her socks are the Anise Rose socks, currently on sale, and the shoes are the Antique Ribbon shoes in brown. Finally, that bag is the Rose Ribbon Basket bag, isn't it perfectly suited to Snow White? It's a real purse lined with fabric and everything, but the outside is made to look like a straw basket. Overall, a lovely outfit that would cost you a pretty penny to obtain.

Second to last outfit and it's all pink~ This is the Rose Boudoir one piece with the matching bonnet. She has the Anise Rose socks on also, this time in pink. And again the Jenny Ribbon Shoes, the same ones from the Unico in Bloomland coordinate. She's holding a scepter, not currently available from BABY. This coordinate was not a favorite of mine. I think if they had done this dress in more of a hime style coordinate it would have been more successful. While on the runway, the model here bent over in a pose and her bonnet slipped. If you watch the video, you'll see it happen. She was able to fix it, but in the process she exposed the wig cap. I felt so bad for her! When the models came back out at the end it was fixed, thank goodness.

The final coordinate, BABY's wedding dress. I had a hard time tracking this dress down, but I believe it's the Princess Dreamy one piece. It's quite stunning, isn't it? She's wearing the Sheltine socks and I believe the Emily Lace up shoes. Her gloves are the Princess Ribbon long gloves, but again, the scepter isn't available currently from BABY. Her hair piece is a mystery to me. I know it was made to match the dress, but I can't find a record of it existing anywhere! I thought they would bring the wedding dress as a finale piece, and I wasn't wrong. It's a traditional way to end a fashion show and I was glad to see BABY uphold that for this one.

At the end of the show all the models walked out again and there was

much clapping. Then the designers came out for their Q&A session. It was cut short because the show started late, but a few good questions were asked. I would have liked to ask them about what they like to wear and if they're allowed/interested in wearing other brands of lolita fashion. I didn't think of it at the time though. You can read a transcript of their Q&A on the Anime News Network, as well as see larger versions of all these pictures and more! I hope you have enjoyed my coverage of this show, even though it's taken so long to complete. I hope I have an opportunity to see another fashion show like this one again soon!

BABY/AATP Fashion Show Pt. 2 - Alice and the Pirates

I left off with finally being able to go into the panels room where the show was being held. I say panels room because that's what it was technically called. But the room was massive! I talked a staff member into letting me sit where I wanted to and got a fantastic seat because of it! I had my boyfriend with me to take pictures while I filmed. Unfortunately, none of my actual pictures came out. But my video did! And here it is!

First up was Alice and the Pirates. This was, in my opinion, the better half of the show. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of properly put together boy-style. But I have pictures from Anime News Network and I spent an ungodly amount of time tracking down pieces of the outfits. So I have pictures taken by a pro and outfit rundowns for every outfit in the show!

Here's the first model! Isn't she adorable? This is the A/P Cafe set with the matching head bow in the black color way. On their page, it's shown in blue, but I like it much more like this. They paired it with striped socks embroidered with a wheel emblem. Even though you can't see it in the picture, she's wearing white platform shoes. There's an amazing amount of poof in all the petticoats used for the show! Each model is wearing bloomers and two or three tulle petticoats for maximum poofy-ness. And the designers were tugging and pinning and straightening them up until the moment each model walked out on the stage. The result? Gorgeous, full dresses and completely modest pictures.

The second model was for boy style! I have to say, I'm a big fan of Alice and the Pirates' boy style looks. Which is why I was confused when their model call said they weren't looking for male models. They did up a few girls in boy style looks, but I still think it would have been better to ask for actual males and only choose a few. The blue parts of this outfit are the Stripe Clan Ribbon set, pants and vest. I wasn't able to locate this exact blouse, but the Otranto Blouse is fairly similar and would look just as fantastic. The socks paired with this are simple lace topped black ones. The shoes I believe are Claris Tassel shoes, but I could be mistaken. Finally, she's wearing the famous "Mad Hatter" hat, long sold out on A/P's site.

The third model was wearing one of my favorite prints of all time, Scent of Rapunzel. They put her in the one piece version and I have to say, I was not a fan of it until I saw it on a person. But it's actually quite nice and the faux bolero isn't pronounced at all. The sleeves are slightly sheer, which breaks up the color of the dress. She's also wearing the matching bonnet and socks. Many of the outfits featuring prints were coordinated like this, with all the matching pieces in the set. She's wearing the Sylphide shoes, which I think made the outfit look a little more mature. Bonnets have the tendency to make a coordinate look sweeter and more child-like, and with these shoes it gave the outfit a bit of an edge.

Another boy style outfit. Actually, I think this one is more of a male-aristocrat style which is refreshing to see from AATP. This outfit uses my favorite vest on their site, the Chain Bouquet vest. Why it's called that, I'm really not sure. The pants I believe are the basic Wide Pants. As for the shoes, these pants come so far down on the model that you can hardly see them! They have wooden soles, and from what I can tell, they are the Tassle Shoes or the Wood Sole Shoes. There's also a blouse in this coordinate, but I've been unable to identify it. It could be any one of the long sleeved blouses that come in black. The headpiece has also eluded me. There isn't anything similar on their site currently but the most similar piece I've found in my research is the Necrophilia hat from 2009.

The Night Fairy Fantasia coordinate. If you read my previous post, then you know how I feel about this print. I was hoping that they would bring a version with them and I was not disappointed. They brought the first version of the jumper skirt in the tan/brown color, which I liked much better when I saw it in person than on the site. It's paired with the Curiewel blouse for a classic pirate look. She's also wearing the matching hair bow. For the bottom portion of the coordinate, they pulled out my favorite pair of shoes, the cross belt boots and a plain pair of socks. I really liked how they styled her hair too, in the half pulled back look.

This is one of my favorite outfits in the whole show. An almost perfect shiro boy-style coordinate. She was styled so perfectly too. The coat from this outfit is from the Mercurius set, as are the pants. This coat is so fancy looking, with the buttons and the tails in the back. But I prefer the set in black. This blouse I believe is the Griottines blouse, with the cravat attached. I was unable to identify the shoes and tights used in this outfit, but the hat is the Caladrius silk hat. Overall, the ensemble has a very dapper look to it, I'd love to see what it would look like in all black. I have a good friend that would look fantastic in the black version, it's too bad most of these pieces are sold out on the website.

The final coordinates for Alice and the Pirates came out as a pair. On the left we have a sweeter classic coordinate and on the right a sort of pirate aristocrat type look. I'll talk about the one on the left first. This dress is the jumper skirt version of one of Alice and the Pirate's most recent prints up for reservation, Melty Mermaid Princess. In fact, it just went on sale a few days ago on their site. She's wearing it in white and I have to say, I actually do like it after all. The blouse is not something I've seen before on their site, perhaps it's new? She's wearing the matching headpiece and socks, both in white. Her shoes are these ones in black, I'm not sure why they brought black instead of white for this outfit.

Now on the right, the male coordinate uses the most fantastic coat, the Jerenile vest. I think it could work well in a punk or even a visual-kei type outfit. These pants are from the same set and were on the website up until a few days ago. They seem to be gone now though. The blouse is another mystery; I can't find any record of it existing. It's quite similar in style to the Otranto blouse and the Julius blouse. The hat is the Abelia hat with the chain removed. The shoes are these Tassle shoes again, and the socks are not visible underneath the long pants. The look is well put together, and again all I can think of is how fantastic it would look on my aforementioned friend.

This is the end of the Alice and the Pirates portion of the show. Since this post ended up so much longer than I expected, I decided to break the two into two posts. Next time, I'll detail the outfits from the Baby the Stars Shine Bright half of the show. To see larger images of all of these outfits, please check out the Anime News Network page! Until then~

Oh BABY! Baby The Stars Shine Bright/Alice and the Pirates Fashion Show Pt. 1

I was so excited to be able to attend Otakon this year. Not only because I'm a big fan of anime and Japanese culture, but because BABY announced that they would be sending Kano from BABY and Mitsuba from AATP. If you've been following my blog, then you'll know that BABY is my favorite brand of all time. So naturally, I was ecstatic to see the show. My friend was even modeling in it!

Because I had a friend modeling in the show, she was able to get me backstage before the event. But to do this, I had to get up at 5:30 AM to get there by 6. Considering we were working on our panel until 3:30, this was nearly impossible. But I managed and we made the five block trek down to the Hyatt. It helped that I was excited to be able to see how Brand fashion shows are run. Once everyone had gathered at the Hyatt, we went over to the convention center.

They took us through the back way, through the loading docks and the other operations areas. Eventually we ended up in a green room backstage. The designers wasted no time handing out outfits and bags of accessories. Each outfit consisted of hung clothing pieces in plastic protectors, shoes in a box, and a bag full of accessories! Everything they brought was designed by either Kano or Mitsuba themselves, and every item was from either this season or last season.

Once the models were all dressed (minus petticoats, bloomers, and socks/shoes), the hair and make-up people started coming in. These were all professionals as far as I understood, and it showed. I watched as girls got their hair straightened, teased, curled, and pinned into the most beautiful styles. A few were told to wear wigs, provided of course, by BABY. The designers were very hands-on in all of this. My friend got her hair curled by Kano herself. That was what

surprised me the most about the show, how the designers were doing make-up, fixing hair, helping girls into outfits, and generally making sure everyone looked fabulous right up until the start of the show. On the right of this page you can see Mitsuba, the designer from AATP, tying a bow onto one of the models. Left, there are hair action shots, as two models get their hair done. Mind you, this is still two hours before the show.

The models and designers were kind enough to allow me to take pictures of the process of getting ready for the show. So if any of them are reading, I'd like to thank them for their kindness to me. Everyone was so polite and it really made my weekend being

able to see everything happening.

At this point, I started to get concerned about getting a good seat. So I left the backstage area

and got in line for the show. The convention center opened to the public at 8, and at 8:15 there were still about 20 people ahead of me. I waited two hours in that line. I didn't really talk to anyone, but there were some fabulous lolitas in front and behind me. I especially liked the guy in front of me with the A/P Treasure Chest Bag.

Finally, they were ready to let us in.

I'll be publishing my story of the second half of this event along with pictures, video, and outfit rundowns in the next few days. Please look forward to it!!

Otakon 2011 Con Report

Hi everybody! I'm back from Otakon and while I haven't unpacked yet, I wanted to write about the convention as soon as I could. This was my first ever Otakon and I have to say, I was a bit nervous about going to such a big convention. It was quite an overwhelming experience! I had heard that the convention attendance usually goes over 30,000, but I couldn't really imagine how many people that actually is. It was huge!

The Baltimore Convention Center is very nice, one of the nicest I've seen. There's even a Starbucks inside the center! I was at this convention because the store that I work at went as a dealer. So I got to go and help out! I went into the dealers room and I couldn't even believe it! It was massive! I spent a lot of time in there, and I'm still not sure I saw everything. I bought quite a few things there. But the most exciting part of the dealers room for me was the Baby the Stars Shine Bright booth! I didn't know that they would be having a booth. To be honest, it looked a little last minute. They didn't have many things and most of them were accessories. I was hoping that they would bring some cutsews and bags, but no such luck. I didn't end up buying anything from there.

Some of you reading this might be here at this blog because you came to the panel on Saturday night. Starberrynights and I ran the Affording Lolita panel on Saturday night and I have to say, that panel had a fantastic response. We've gotten lots of questions and comments directed to our livejournals and to this blog since. If you were there, I'm so sorry I had to run out afterwards so quickly. I fell off my rocking horse shoes maybe two hours before the panel and my bandage was falling off. If you have any questions for me, please let me know either by emailing me at theelegantwardrobe@gmail.com or by sending them to my formspring. Starberrynights can be reached either through the same email above (I'll forward them to her) or through her Livejournal account by the same name.

Other than the panel, I had a lot of fun around the con. I went to all three fashion shows (more on those later), got to meet some local lolitas at the swap, and I took lots of pictures. I'll be writing long posts about the BABY/ATTP and the American Brand fashion shows. But I'll talk a bit about Sixh right now.

I'm not really a fan of visual kei style. I don't know much about it. But I did enjoy the Sixh show. While I don't think I would look very good in their clothes myself, I can appreciate them. I enjoy dressing my friends up in different styles, and so I really enjoy seeing all sorts of styles. I know that two of my friends would have loved to be there, they're big fans of the line. The show was divided into segments, I'm pretty sure these were the sixh. line, the mint line, and the neko line. Every look was very well put together, but I think my favorite was the one that one of the designers wore (right). To see pictures from the show, please check out Purple Sky! Not a single picture came out for me, and because I didn't have a great seat for this show, my video is pretty terrible too. But please check out the photos, especially if you enjoy or at least appreciate other j-fashions.

My next post will be detailing my time at the BABY/AATP show. I'm working on a very detailed report, so please look forward to it!

Con Report: Ohayocon

Last weekend I went to Ohayocon in Columbus, OH. This was my first time going to this convention and Columbus in general. I got up super early on Friday and put on my favorite Metamorphose skirt and a cutsew. It’s tough to pack a petticoat into a suitcase unless you either have one of those Space Bags that you suck all the air out of, or you take a bigger suitcase. There was absolutely no room for a bigger suitcase and I don’t have a Space Bag, so I put my whole outfit, petticoat, bloomers and all, and drove 2.5 hours. And on the way back, I did the same thing in my Baby the Stars Shine Bright jumper skirt. It’s not too tough, just something to get used to. I wore flat shoes for this exact reason. Which turned out to be good because there weren’t a ton of non-floor places to sit down in the convention.

So on Friday, after a lot of difficulties, we got our hotel room and got to the con. I only had one panel on Friday and it was an absolute disaster. It was Japanese Crafts for Kids. If you were there and now you’re reading this, I’m truly sorry. We severely underestimated the number of people that we would get, and we had an issue with our crayons being in the hotel room. Long story short, we ran out of materials pretty quickly. Overall, Friday was not a busy day for lolitas at the con, as I didn’t actually see any. I did, however, discover that the dealers room had an h.Naoto booth! I didn’t buy anything there, but I was happy to see it.

Saturday was a bit better. We were hired by the Lolita Crush event to help out with the food service. It was a lot of work, but hopefully some people saw our fliers and will come to our convention. We all did one dance together, and then three of our members learned a few others to perform. Anyhow, I saw some super cute lolitas there (you’d hope I would at an event called Lolita Crush). The rest of the day was all promotional stuff, maid café panel and lots of booth work. I must have cut out a thousand quarter-sheet fliers and passed out at least 300. All in all, we passed out 2500 fliers!

Sunday was also pretty quiet. We were out of fliers, so we closed up our industry booth early. I got some jewelry in Artist’s Ally, because the kitty looks just like Vanilla-chan from Angelic Pretty, which I am in the process of getting. We played some Disney music for the attendees from our table, which was a whole lot of fun. I got to wear my BTSSB dress, and my feet didn't hurt too badly.

I did two panels on Lolita fashion, Lolita or Not and The Elegant Wardrobe! Lolita or Not was my friend Jen's panel to run, and of course, The Elegant Wardrobe was mine. It was pretty late in the day when my panel was scheduled, an as a result, I didn't get the size of audience that I was hoping for. Still, it was my first time doing that specific presentation. I'll be doing that panel again at Tekkoshocon, so if you wanted to see it and couldn't make it, you still have plenty of chances!

I saw a whole lot of cosplayers over the weekend, some of which were very impressive. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but the ones I did take are scattered throughout this post.

If you were also at Ohayocon, I hope you had a lot of fun too! If you weren't and need your convention fix, check out Tekkoshocon!

Coordinate Tuesday is coming up again! If you want your coordinate featured here, please either email me at cat91151@gmail.com, or post a link to the picture in the comments section of this post. As always, you can let me know what you think either via commenting here, or on my formspring. Hope to see you all at Tekkoshocon!