A brief history of lolita fashion events in the United States

announcement of Angelic Pretty designers as guests at PMX 2009

Now that I am seriously considering traveling to attend large scale lolita events and brand tea parties, I got to thinking: when did brands even start hosting tea parties outside of Japan?

 

Major Japanese brands have been hosting tea parties and fashion shows since at least the year 2000. Magazines such as Kera and the Gothic and Lolita Bible as well as the brands' blogs and websites regularly published reports and photos from these events. Lolita fashion communities outside of Japan have existed since at least the early 2000s, possibly even before that. (One of my local communities, the Chicago Lolita Community, has existed since at least 2003!) Undoubtedly, lolitas outside of Japan heard about these tea parties and fashion shows and also wanted to participate in something like it. Tea parties are regularly held within local communities, but I specifically wanted to gather information on larger events that included more than just a single community. Read on for what I found.

Beginnings

The first large scale events in the United States were held at anime and Japanese popular culture conventions. As with many imports of Japanese culture, they were concentrated on the coasts, where there are many dense population centers, often with sizable populations of Japanese immigrants. These events were often organized by members of the local communities in the cities that the conventions took place, and did not necessarily involve Japanese brands, especially not at first. A group called Cosplay Oneesan organized a number of events at Pacific Media Expo (PMX) in various cities in the Bay Area; the earliest I could find was one called Twisted Tea Party in 2005. The Twisted Tea Party was held again in 2006 in conjunction with Novala Takemoto being a guest of honor. Other events were organized by local Japanese culture societies. For example, the New York City location of Kinokuniya (a Japanese book store) held an annual Lolita and Maid Fashion Day from 2008-2010.

The founding of International Lolita Day (ILD)

In July 2005, an American lolita (from my home community of Chicago, no less!) was falling asleep one night and thought 'we should have a holiday', and posted about it in Livejournal, where the online community mainly gathered at the time. To this day it continues to be celebrated twice a year, on the first Saturday of June and December. While International Lolita Day is not just celebrated by Americans, and many celebrations of this holiday are held within local communities, the fact that it caught on and has only continued to grow since then was proof that lolita fashion had a significant following in the US by the mid-2000s.

Brand tea parties and fashion shows

Like homegrown lolita events, the first lolita fashion brand tea parties in the United States were also held at anime and Japanese popular culture conventions. As part of their appearance at PMX in November 2007, Angelic Pretty held a Fashion Brunch with a preview of soon-to-be-released items. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright held a tea party at the New York Anime Festival in September 2008. Angelic Pretty hosted a tea party in Los Angeles, CA in November 2008 as part of the Cosplay Oneesan event Yumemiru Musical Paradise. SakuraCon (Seattle, WA) and PMX both held their first lolita and J-fashion shows in 2009.

It is likely the participation and response to these events led major brands to consider opening storefronts in the US. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright opened their physical storefront in San Francisco on August 15, 2009 and hosted a tea party of their own the very next day. Tokyo Rebel, an official retailer for Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and many other J-fashion brands, opened its doors in New York City in October 2009. The Angelic Pretty/Harajuku Hearts storefront in San Francisco, CA and US based online shop opened in late 2010.

inside Tokyo Rebel, ca. 2013

 

Once the physical storefronts (a concrete metric of international interest) were established, brand tea parties both at these store locations and various anime and Japanese culture conventions became more commonplace. This type of arrangement seems to be as popular as ever, even regularly spreading to larger inland cities in the US. Some conventions with established fashion tracks that regularly attract big J-fashion guests include:

• Anime Weekend Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
• Katsucon (National Harbor, MD)
  
• Pacific Media Expo (various cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
  
• SakuraCon (Seattle, WA)
• Tekko (Pittsburgh, PA)
  

Lolita and J-fashion specific events

Fashion show models wearing Triple Fortune at Rufflecon 2014 (source)

With interest in lolita and Japanese fashion continuing to grow through the 2000s, a number of events, conferences, and conventions specifically dedicated to it were established. Many on this list are no longer active or were one-time-only events, but since about 2008 or so there has been at least one major standalone event each year somewhere in the country.

• Cosplay Oneesan / Oneesan Inc. events (2005-2010): After hosting events at conventions, Cosplay Oneesan (later renamed to Oneesan Inc.) organized standalone events dedicated to lolita fashion, held annually in various cities in the Bay Area of California.
• Yumemiru Musical Paradise (2008) -- an interview with Maki and Asuka from this event can be found on YouTube!
• Fantaisies dans le Monde des Rêves (2010) -- photos from this event were published in the GLB #37 (page 45).
• Crystal Candyland (2012; New York, NY): A Winter International Lolita Day ball held in New York, NY. Social media accounts and a website for the group that organized this event still exist, but the group does not appear to be active anymore.
• Frill (2012-2013; Atlanta, GA): Organized by Affrilliation, a group that organized J-fashion events in the Atlanta metro area.
• Rufflecon (2014-2017; New Haven, CT)
• BOWlahoma (2015-2016; Oklahoma City, OK)
• Paradiso (2016-present; Kansas City, MO): Their 2020 in-person event has been postponed to 2021, but an online event (Purgatorio) was held during the original event dates of May 16-17, 2020.
• Royal Vegas Retreat (2020-present; Las Vegas, NV): Organized by the Pretty Princess Club. Their 2020 in-person event has been postponed to 2021, but there will be virtual programming during the weekend of November 13-15, 2020.

Virtual events

announcement of Purgatorio virtual event (source)

Due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic this year, many in-person events and guest appearances were sadly postponed until 2021 or cancelled. But out of this new environment sprung a new format: virtual events! Virtual lolita and J-fashion events were practically unheard of until 2020, especially ones hosted by major brands.

 

The J-Fashion on Demand Twitch channel was started by a group of Americans (including the head of the indie brand Puvithel) and has already partnered with various lolita communities to host four events since March 2020: Purgatorio, Ursa Major, Medical Melancholy launch party (Puvithel x Haenuli collaboration series), and Sea of Serenity. They also organized some online programming for Tekko after the in-person convention was cancelled. The Bay Area EGL Community has launched a website dedicated to future virtual events they are planning (bayareakei.org); though they are based in the United States, international participants are welcome too! Their next virtual event is called Gramarye (October 30-November 1, 2020).

Moi-même-Moitié has also hosted two waves of virtual tea parties. I have not personally attended, but have heard lots of good things about them and how competently they're run. They also apparently have participants from all over the world. If you're interested in applying to participate in a future virtual tea, they are announced on the Moi-même-Moitié Facebook page.

 

For virtual tea parties you generally have to apply to participate beforehand (much like buying a ticket) but for virtual events there is usually no fee. However, you will need to have a working webcam, you might need to hold a paid account to the videoconferencing platform that the event is hosted on, and if it's a brand specific event, you still need to wear the hosting brand's items (a standard requirement at in-person events).

Personal thoughts

excerpt from a virtual fashion walk video I made

As someone who did not participate in any major in-person events before the pandemic, I am very excited that there are people in our community with the creativity, skills, and wherewithal to pull off their own virtual events, and that the content offered is far more nuanced and diverse than just anime convention Lolita 101 panels. J-fashion specific events have historically had a rough time building themselves to last, and I think this new virtual format has a lot of potential with its greater reach and lower barriers to participation. I anticipate that organizers may still eventually charge a fee for some things if virtual events become a regular thing (tea parties seem likely) since they still have to do quite a lot of work to put a virtual event together, and for the Sea of Serenity virtual tea party, there was an event staff member hosting each table/room the entire time. However, it would likely be much less costly than an in-person event and I would be happy to pay people for their time.

 

My favorite things so far about virtual conventions and events are:

• Virtual fashion walks. I had been planning to apply to model for fashion shows before the pandemic hit, and virtual fashion shows feel like a good way to dip my toe into that world with less pressure than a live show.
  
• The relaxed atmosphere since you are at home. If it's a day of panels and you're not going to be on camera, you can get dressed up super fancy to get in the spirit...or you can roll out of bed in your pajamas 2 minutes before it starts. Or watch from your bed, lol. You can usually view the streams after they're completed, too, though watching it live is nice because you can engage with other attendees and the panelists in the chat.

Overall, I am personally really happy about the rise of virtual events and hope they continue even when in-person gatherings become feasible again. While it may not feel quite like being physically in a room where it's happening, and you have to provide your own tea and snacks, it's still a convenient way to connect with other like minded people from all over the world, and it's a little easier to meet people than just messaging them out of nowhere because it gives you a reason to strike up a conversation.

 

No matter where you are located, I hope I'll see you at Gramarye!

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When did your local community get established? Did you attend a brand tea party in the 00s, or do you know of brand events held outside of Japan even earlier than what I talked about here? How do you feel about virtual events that you've participated in? I'd love to hear your stories!