[coord/meet] A-kon Tea Party with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Last year I did not make it to A-kon's tea party because it was in Fort Worth and I didn't feel like going through the effort/cost and instead just hung out with friends, but I went this year to check out the new venue at Fair Park in Dallas. It was super hot and humid and I'm sure my dress is ruined with sweat, but it was worth it. This year's tea part was in the elegant Capitol Hall, catered by a local tea restaurant, with fashion guests from Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Hard Decora, along with Haruka Kurabeyashi! I wore a new Baby dress bought from the Japanese website, but the matching accessories were not available, so I had to buy them from the American shop. I also bought new shoes for some reason even though I didn't have to lol. I'm too lazy to retake the photos in my bathroom but this is the gist of my coord, taken at the venue by a fellow lolita.

[Onepiece: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; shoes, socks, headdress, choker: Baby the Stars Shine Bright; rings, hairpins: Forever 21, H&M, offbrand]

This coord was almost head to toe Baby, because nothing else from a different brand would have matched, lol. I love this blue and white long length Rococco style dress and bought a hoop petticoat to wear under it, which was an experience. I am glad I didn't get the matching hairbow, I think this hairband from a different line worked very well without being too fussy over the curly wig. Also made a new set of blingy deco nails to wear, which I am very proud of. Hoping I can rewear this coord someday, as it cost over $1000 total lmao!!!

[event] Project A-kon and tea party coord!

I was on J-fashion staff again this year for Project A-kon, and sure enough, things were suuuper hectic with the new venue in a new city and only our second year running a full program of events, with even more guests! But despite the last minute changes and constant chaos, what I saw of the programming was as good as it got. I hope we can learn from the gaps, expected and unexpected, and do even better next year, I'm like pretty sure of this, lol.

First of all, I had no part in this, but everyone in the community was super jazzed for our guests, Haenuli and Miss Octopie and Atelier Pierrot, who had apparently come to A-kon years ago but didn't have a great time, and a cameo from Minpha of the J-rock band, Pentagon (Japan.) I don't think we could have had a better lineup from overseas guests and local guests, good job to the higher ups who managed to get them to come to Texas. I hope they had a good time!

The panels this year covered both the basics and advanced topics of lolita, as well as a few other fashion styles. I wasn't able to make as many as I could due to work, only my own ouji/aristocrat panel, not even the fashion show, which was a bummer. But of course I had to put in work for the tea party! It took place in the Hilton, while we were packing and checking out, which I had to do for our room, lmao. We packed and distributed the cute tote bags with amaaaazing goodies, and we did my attempt at a parlor game, the shiritori game but to go with the "travel" theme. Raffle and prizes were done, and gifts for the guests, including these huge tacky Texas gift baskets from guest relations, lol.

Anyway, onto the important part of my post, my coord for the tea party. I was going to wear Atelier Pierrot, but the skirt I got was a mini-skirt, so I wore it Friday and rewore my Enchanted Fawn dress instead. I had grand plans for a completely new coord, but scaled plans back because I had to work on my ouji panel and a simple cosplay instead.

So here I am with Nunu, who said I was her deer princess, aww. Don't we look perfectly radiant? Anyway, I'm too lazy at the moment to rewear this outfit for a proper coord shot, so let me describe it quickly.

JSK: Haenuli; socks: Metamorphose; shoes: Secret Shop; blouse, horn headdress, jewelry, glasses, scarf: off brand, Forever 21, Daiso, H & M

I made the headdress from a set of golden horns on a headband I got from yesstyle by sewing Daiso and vintage lace and flowers on, then decorating one of the horns with wire strung with pearls and acrylic beads. Only one because I ran out of time to do the other one, lol. I also hung gold tassels on the horns and tried to elegantly drape this Pier Imports scarf over the back of the horns for a sort of mori-kei look. Overall, I really loved how everything looked so different from my previous coord, even though my glasses from cosplay were too shiny, lol, I had to wear them because I didn't get good sleep so I wanted to cover my red and puffy eyes. Here is a close-up!

Ouji outfit and panel info coming up next!

[coord] Wa-lolita and Ero-lolita mashup

I bought an Atelier Pierrot skirt from Wunderwelt for something a little more casual to wear for A-kon since they are one of the guests. Of course I love kimono prints, so I was excited to work out a coord for this skirt. Upon wearing it, it felt a little short, and so I decided to combine with an ero look as well. I'm not sure I succeeded fully, but hey, it's comfortable for the summer!

skirt: Atelier Pierrot; bustier: Hot Topic; tights, gloves: Forever 21; shoes: Bodyline; jewelry: Forever 21, off-brand, Daiso, handmade; hair accessories: handmade, Daiso; parasol and purse: Daiso too

Anyway, another outfit purchased mostly at Daiso lmao. I bought the googly eye fish purse and parasol for the Dreaming Goldfish dress, but since they were red they worked for this coord too. I was lucky to find a few flower kanzashi pins from Daiso's Japanese product line, because before that, I made the large flower headdress using some using mums from Michael's and weeping plum blossoms from Daiso. I'm not so sure about the wig, I was planning to wear the bob wig but it looked a little rough lol. Also still unsure about the lace choker, I think it pulls the lace bits together better, but also the laces are different shades of white/cream, so maybe I will make a new choker from cream colored lace to match.

If I cared more and wished to wear more layers, I was going to wear a lace high neck blouse I got from YesStyle under the bustier. Another time, I will add some lace sleeve ruffles, but I'm feeling lazy and out of sorts for this convention, so time to work on the other coords and cosplay!

[update] A-kon's first official lolita and Japanese fashion events!

I am fortunate to be working on staff with some go-getter girls in the Dallas Fort Worth area who will be debuting A-kon's full Japanese fashion lineup of events!

I have actually worked as A-kon staff before for lolita panels, events and unofficial tea party back in the good old days, but after Japanese fashion has gotten popular (or as popular as it can get) in the United States at several big conventions in the past five years, our group is trying to get it recognized as a legitimate addition to A-kon's current line up of anime, gaming and cosplay/fandom activities.

We will have fashion vendors, such as Lolita Collective and Lockshop (no Baby, though) as well as Minori starring in the fashion show! So... if you're in the area at the end of May beginning of June, check it out!

Here are some facebook links:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1600819833573138/ (for the tea party)