The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced designers from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright – Japan’s premier Lolita fashion brand – will participate in its 2008 event as Guests of Honor. Baby, The Stars Shine Bright designers Miho Satoh and Masumi Kanoh will attend the New York Anime Festival to speak about the history and philosophy of their brand, welcome fans to a special Baby, The Stars Shine boutique, and even enjoy a cup of tea with NYAF attendees during a Baby, The Stars Shine Bright tea party. All this will occur at the New York Anime Festival, an anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture convention from the creators of New York Comic Con, that takes place September 26th through the 28th at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.

Born on the streets of Japan, Lolita fashion adopts child-like charms and details from periods such as Rococo France and Victorian England. The Lolita look is full of knee-skimming skirts, pintucks, petticoats, and blouses edged in lace. Developing since the 1970s in Japan, Lolita fashion is now rapidly gaining a wide following worldwide.

“We’re very honored to have Baby, The Stars Shine Bright take part in the New York Anime Festival,” NYAF Show Manager Lance Fensterman said. “NYAF is a celebration of all that is part of Japanese pop culture, and Lolita fashion is a dynamic part of what’s on the cutting edge — and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright is largely responsible for getting it there.”

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright was founded as a boutique in Shibuya, Tokyo in 1988 by husband and wife team Akinori and Fumiyo Isobe. Baby, The Stars Shine Bright has since grown into an international phenomenon with fans around the world and stores as faraway as Paris. The brand has collaborated with numerous famous icons including Sanrio’s Hello Kitty and Japanese pop star Nana Kitade. Anime fans and followers of Asian cinema will no doubt recognize Baby, The Stars Shine Bright as the clothing line at the center of the feature film Kamikaze Girls.

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright designer Miho Satoh was born in Tokyo, enjoyed handicrafts since she was young, and started studying clothing design as a high school student. Even now, after joining Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, she continues her studies in clothing design. Designer Masumi Kanoh was born in Miyagi, Japan. She’s always loved cute things and discovered Lolita fashion in junior high school. She joined Baby, The Stars Shine Bright right out of university.

Further information about Miho Satoh and Masumi Kanoh and the Baby, The Stars Shine Bright events at the New York Anime Festival will be available at newyorkanimefestival.com in the coming weeks. Tickets to NYAF are on sale now at newyorkanimefestival.com.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK ANIME FESTIVAL

The New York Anime Festival takes place September 26-28, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan and is organized by Reed Exhibitions, the creators of New York Comic Con. The New York Anime Festival showcases the best of anime pop culture, including the latest anime, manga, Japanese cinema, music, and games, and anime-influenced comics, animation, and films from around the world. The festival features exclusive and extensive screenings, a gala cosplay masquerade, sessions with the some of the biggest names in anime from Japan, Asia, and America, and explores the Japanese cultural experience with displays of both traditional and cutting-edge Japanese life. NYAF’s partners include Bandai Entertainment, BookExpo America, Dark Horse Comics, Del Rey Manga, Kinokuniya Bookstore, New York Comic Con, Samurai Beat Radio, Subway Cinema, TheOtaku.com, and TOKYOPOP. Further information can be found at newyorkanimefestival.com.

ABOUT REED EXHIBITIONS

The New York Anime Festival is operated by Reed Exhibitions, the world’s leading events organizer. In 2007, Reed brought together over six million industry professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today, Reed events are held in 38 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and organized by 39 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a FTSE-100 company and world-leading publisher and information provider. In 2006, Reed Elsevier made adjusted profit before taxation of £1,052 million on turnover of £5,398 million.

Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Metamorphose Temps de Fille are two brands with online shopping sites which offer international shipping and accept PayPal. Closet Child deals in used Lolita clothing, and is a bit cheaper than purchasing new items, but is still pricey. Their website also accepts PayPal and ships internationally. (Unlike the other two sites, Closet Child does not feature a shopping cart option. Customers email a list of their desired items and receive a PayPal invoice afterwards.) For other brands which do not ship outside of Japan, there are many overseas shopping services available. eBay and other auction sites offer Lolita clothing on occasion, yet these items are usually created by independent seamstresses and are not Japanese brands.

Why is Lolita brand clothing so expensive? There are a number of reasons. For starters, Lolita companies are not major manufacturers. These brands produce a small quantity of specialty items, usually in a single size, and once their inventory is depleted they have a tendency to invent new designs instead of resurrecting old ones.

Apart from accessories, most of the clothing is produced in-house by Japanese clothiers instead of being outsourced to third world countries. They are composed of first-rate materials (although there are exceptions, of course). The Moi Meme Moitie line has a renowned reputation for its exceptional fabric and lace, and is perhaps the most costly of brands.

Lower priced Lolita clothing, typically produced outside of Japan, has a tendency towards cheap, thin fabric and rough lace. It’s the old maxim – You Get What You Pay For. Would you rather spend $100 now on a poorly made dress which will only last you a couple of months, or save your money and spend $300 on a gorgeous dress which will be beautiful for years to come?

$100 dresses from places like Bodyline (and Hot Topic, although not Japanese) are mainly purchased by those who are uncertain about whether they will enjoy dressing in Lolita clothing. Granted, $300 (excluding accessories, shoes and the like) is a large commitment. But one would not purchase a budget dress in order to decide if they would like wearing a Vera Wang gown. Actually, wearing an ill-fitting, scratchy dress may sour a person on the idea of Lolita altogether.

Lolita brand clothing is most often created in a single size (although Metamorphose has started to sporadically offer “tall size” in some blouses and jackets). The majority of Japanese girls have a similar body type, which lessens the need for brands to produce S, M and L sizes in anything but shoes. If your figure matches precisely to this standard, you will not have a problem, but this is rarely the case. Most Lolitas tend to have fitting issues involving shoulders, arm circumference, bust, waist, and height. Check diligently with the measurements on the websites before purchasing.

If you receive your item and fitting issues arise, you have two choices: constrain yourself with support garments, or take your clothing in to be altered. If your brand dress cuts off circulation at the waist yet fits perfectly otherwise, you should consider having it let out by a reputable tailor. If your dress requires three friends to shoehorn you into it, you should consider sending it back for a refund, or selling it and purchasing a new one. Ill-fitting Lolita has the same horrid look as any other ill-fitting clothing and should not bulge, pucker, slack or constrict.

If there is no possible way that you could fit into a Japanese brand dress, you can opt to have your clothing commissioned, which I will cover in a later installment.

About Curiosity: Curiosity Valentine is a contributing Lolita fashion writer with extensive knowledge of Lolita fashion. She’s spent time in Japan studying the subject matter and learning the language. She’s also the lead singer in the Gothic Lolita Industrial Jazz band, Curiosity. If you have any questions please feel free to comment below!

Lolita is just a broad term encompassing many categories and subcategories for this style. I was blown away by all the different types of lolis present at Anime Central 2006:

Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita is the most familiar variety of Lolita, made popular by Mana of the band Malice Mizer in Japan. The style incorporates mostly black clothing with white lace or vice versa. Dark colors may accompany the black and white, but only if suitably somber. Crosses and skulls are a must for accessories as is anything else morbid.

The attitude is darker than for other Lolis and not as carefree but still maintains some innocence which is essential for a Lolita. The complexion is pale and the make up should be dark with either red or black lipstick, or no make up at all.

Sweet Lolita

Sweet Lolita is the soft babyish Lolita as characterized by Momoko in the film Kamikaze Girls (written by Novala Takemoto BTW). Colors are soft pastels (pinks, baby blues, lavenders), and white with floral prints, plaids, frilly headbands, ribbons, fancy finger nails, and lace, lace, lace, lace! Stuffed animals and BJD (ball jointed dolls) are common accompaniments of the Sweet style.

Classic Lolita

Classic Lolita keeps the color palette of the Sweet but without the excessive cuteness and frills. Classic Lolita is more adult and brings to mind Alice in Wonderland with the apron and princess-waist style dresses.

Kodona

Kodona is not really a Lolita but it’s still a style that runs in the vein of the Lolita, keeping with the Victorian era. I have no idea what the word Kodona means, but it’s a masculine style of Victorian dress that compliments Lolita. Girls and guys who wear it are reminiscent of mischievous school boys like the ones in Oliver Twist.

Wa Lolita and Qi Lolita

Wa Lolita and Qi Lolita are Lolis that draw inspiration for their dresses from the traditional kimono and qipao respectively.

Aristocrat Lolita

Aristocrat Lolitas tend to wear longer, straighter skirts and cut waaay back on the frills. Blacks, burgundies, darker colors, and velvets abound. The look screams school teacher or librarian and the style is much, much, more mature than Sweet, Classic, or even Gothic. It is a modest style and is not seen as much as Sweet, Classic, or Gothic.

Casual Lolita

Casual Lolita will probably be the gateway Lolita for most Americans as anyone can do it without really looking like your “dressing” like a Loli. Casual Loli is the simplest version of Lolita, giving a person ample opportunity to play with Lolita stylings without going all out and spending a fortune. The style is like Gothic but not so stern. T-shirts, chains and combat boots are all acceptable for Casual. Just think American Goth with a petticoat and some lace and there you have it.

Ero Lolita

Ero Lolita is a very mature version of Lolita that’s kinda like Gothic but showing more skin and bringing fetishes and leather to the mix. It’s still considered Lolita even though it’s not as demure as its counterparts; older women tend to gravitate towards the Ero Lolita style. The moderator was adamant that you’re no longer considered a Lolita once you start acting indecently and immodestly even though you’re dressed for just that.

Ojisama

Ojisama is the male counterpart to the Lolita style. Ojisama is the Japanese word for prince, and just as Lolitas are lil’ princesses so are Ojisama princes. Ojisama dress as any well mannered gentleman would have dressed back in Victorian times. They are NOT like the Kodona. The Kodona are rakish scoundrel looking folk whereas Ojisama are men of society.

Gory Lolita

Gory Lolita is a style I have never heard, seen, or dreamed before, but the panel mentioned it as a form of Lolita. Gory Loli is a version of Loli where the girl or guy dresses as a usual Lolita, then pours buckets of red paint or dye on their outfits. WTF?! Really? Do these people actually have that much money lying around that they can take an uber-expensive outfit and turn it into a bloody ruin? One possible reason for this style is that these Lolis have a thing for Jack the Ripper, the macabre, and/or are probably “touched” for all I know. Whatever buddy, to each their own.

I’ve only listed those varieties of Lolita that I’m most familiar with and feel comfortable writing about. I know that there are many more sub categories out there, with more and more popping up every day as the style progressively gets more popular. I’m aware of the Punk Lolita and the Nurse Lolita (maybe a sub category to Gory) but since I don’t have enough info on those I won’t be writing about them till I do.

The standards for makeup differ in some varieties of Lolis but the look for most Lolita styles remains constant; little or no makeup, and keep the face fresh and young. Of course for Gothic and Eros I’ve seen people smear on the black eye shadow and whiten their face with Ben Nye theatre makeup and then slap on a generous amount of black, red, purple, whatever, but DARK lipstick a la Mana. I imagine with Punk and Casual you can go any way you want to with the make up as well, but for Classic and Sweet the makeup must be at a minimum.

Lolita Hair

Lolita hair always eluded me as to how to get those perfect ringlets until I asked someone at the Loli panel how they did it. They said they used wigs and hair pieces which sounds simple but expensive. A good wig will probably run you $50 then add on the pieces, and whoa, pricey, but no one ever said going Loli was cheap.

Lolita Nails

Have you seen the other accessory that’s a must with most Lolitas? What’s with having those outrageous nails? How is that Lolita? You obviously can’t do much with nails that are manicured 10 ways to Sunday without fear of chipping something that cost a quarter of someone’s paycheck; I guess that’s the point. I just have never seen a little Victorian girl with long-ass acrylic nails with plastic roses glued on the tips, sorry. Must be a modern day Victorian affectation…

Lolita Poll

Early Lolitas hand sewed and designed their clothing themselves and many still do. A poll I took at Anime Central this year revealed that:

• 33% of the Lolitas that attended completely handmade their outfits
• 33% bought theirs online or from someone else that made them for them
• 33% were a composite of the two

So where can a stateside wanna be who can’t sew get hooked up? Some sites I found are:

• Apple Sugar
• Candy Violet
• Cosmates
• In the Starlight
• Milk Pearl
• Moi-Meme-Moitie (Mana’s clothing line)
• Noir Desir
• Supert3ch

Hot Topic has even jumped on the wagon and started selling Gothic Lolita style garb so that helps to a degree, but not if you want something truly unique, individualized, Sweet or Classic.

Ladies, a word to all those out there that are broke like me yet want something you can’t find anywhere else: thrift, thrift, thrift!! Get well acquainted with all the Goodwill’s and Salvation Armies in St. Louis cause believe it or not you can totally find a super cool loli outfit for under $40 not including the shoes if you really try.

Note: All images of Lolitas were taken at Anime Central 2006 unless otherwise noted.