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~!

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!

Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates at Otakon 2011

I've been so excited about this recent announcement! If you haven't heard, designers Mitsuba and Kano will be making guest appearances at Otakon, one of the largest conventions in the Eastern United States! BABY has sent designers from their Japanese offices over before, quite often in fact. That comes with having a store here. But this is only the second or third time that I know of that they've come over to the eastern area. I was able to meet two designers from their company a few years ago at the New York Anime Festival, but I really didn't care about brand or designers at that time, mostly because I couldn't even dream of affording things from them. Now I'm older, and so excited to meet some of the people that actually design the pieces that we wear!

The designers will be hosting a BABY the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates fashion show, as well as signing autographs and holding Q&A sessions. I have to remember to take my winter catalog with me to get it signed. They are currently looking for volunteers to model in the show as well as make-up artists to help out behind the scenes. I'm sure there will be tons of applications, I hope mine gets chosen! Somehow, I doubt it. Still, I'm really excited to see the show. I've never been to a professionally run fashion show before, I hope I can learn a lot from them just by watching.

In addition to the designers from BABY, designers MINT and IBI behind h.Naoto sixh. will be there! They too will be hosting a fashion show, and are also looking for model and make-up artist volunteers. Their line is not strictly lolita in any sense, but it's still a cool line of clothing. I have no idea how to pronounce the name "sixh." but I like the whole idea behind it. I'm looking forward to seeing all these fashion shows, meeting all of these designers, and celebrating Japanese street fashion with everyone else there!

30 Day Lolita Challenge - Day 10

Day 10's prompt is simply "what's in your purse?" I don't take too much along with me to meet-ups or out when I wear lolita, so instead, I think I'll write about what I take with me to cons where I'll be wearing lolita, doing panels, and having fun with friends!

I pretty much always drive to cons. I flew once, and it just wasn't worth it. So first thing is that I don't wear lolita in the car, if I can help it. It's uncomfortable and when driving it can get in the way. I'll just change when I get there. For a three day convention, I usually take at least one skirt, and either one or two jumpers. This is where having continuity in your wardrobe pays off. I can take a blouse and a cutsew, one dress, and one skirt, and I'll have three different outfits. One pair of shoes should work for both, one purse, and my undergarments. Packing lightly is very important, as you'll want to leave plenty of space for souvenirs! For a really big convention, I might take two dresses so that I can make more outfits. For example, I will be attending Otakon for the very first time this year! I'm planning on taking two dresses and perhaps a skirt outfit. I may take three dresses and be done with it, but that's an awful lot to pack.

I always take my comfiest pair of shoes for waiting in lines and walking around the convention. As much as I love my rocking horse shoes, I save those for local meets. If I'm doing a fashion show or a really big panel, then I might wear them, but I change right back after. Parasols are cute, but remember, it's just one more thing to carry around, one more thing to look after, and one more thing to pack back up at the end of the con. You won't need a coat unless you're planning to be outside a lot. The convention hall should be heated. Try to take as few things with you to the actual convention floor as possible, leave the rest in your hotel room or car.

For my make-up I have one set that I take with me. I keep it in my purse so I can touch it up even if I'm not in the hotel room. I keep everything together in a make-up bag. This makes it easy to find and you won't get it mixed up with your roommate's stuff. Nothing is worse than looking for your make-up and finding eyebrow paint for cosplay instead!

Wigs. Ugh, I hate traveling with wigs. I used to be a cosplayer. I quit for many reasons, one of which was that I hate wearing, storing, traveling with, styling, maintaining, and generally caring for wigs. So what did I do? I purchased the brown mix color wig from Gothic and Lolita wigs. It's really cute, but wigs are such a pain. Make sure you take a way of storing it for when you aren't wearing it, a wig head is ideal but they do take up a lot of space in your suitcase. Also make sure to take anything you may need to fix or re-style it. A wig brush, de-tangler, and setting spray are must haves. I didn't take them to my last convention, and it was a bit of a nightmare.

Finally, when you get to the con, make sure to hang up your dresses, skirts, blouses, pants, and/or whatever else you've brought. This prevents wrinkling, and will allow your clothing to air out from the suitcase. Use an iron if you need to, but make sure to check if that will harm your print or lace before hand! Low settings should be fine, but just be careful. It would be terrible to get to the convention, iron your dress, and have it be ruined. Get dressed up and go to the convention!

I've been having really terrible writer's block recently, but I feel like I can write lots more about lolita and conventions. Will anyone reading be at Otakon too? I'm really excited to go, especially now that designers from BABY and Alice and the Pirates will be there! But more on that later. Bye bye for now!