aimeekitty

Pardon, I didn't take like ANY PHOTOS, so I'm taking photos from my friends. (Huge, thanks you guys!)

Also, I'm going to gush IN DETAIL about lolita fashion in this, so BE WARNED. <3

I was very excited to be going to the BABY opening at New People World two weekends ago. It is BABY's first USA store, and it's the first full lolita store, really, in the USA. On top of this, other than their JAPAN stores, BABY only has a PARIS store, so it's really quite special. Also, I'm a fan of 6% DokiDoki, Black Peace Now and Amano... and in general I like to go to Japanese-related California events... so there were lots of reasons for me to want to attend.

SIDENOTE:
BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT SF
phone: 415-525-8686
email: BABY@newpeopleworld.com
temporary home of BABY SF's new blog.

On top of this, Spring '08 I got to visit BABY's store and headquarters in Tokyo, and got to meet and interview Mr. and Mrs. Isobe (the brand creators) and Kumiko-san (one of their designers.) It was such a special experience,... I'll never forget it. It was the sort of thing that you can never anticipate happening. I was hoping that they would attend the BABY opening in San Fran so that I could thank them again and say "hi".

A few weeks before the event, it was announced that there was to be a special invite-only teaparty with the BABY staff, designers and models on Sunday. In order to get an invite you had to be one of the first 50 people to spend 200$ pretax at the BABY store on Saturday. (which is basically the cost of a dress, or the cost of a skirt + some socks, etc...) But first 50 people... that didn't sound like it would be very likely that I'd get it. I also worried that it would encourage people camping out the night before, or panicked crowds... A day or two before the event, New People announced on their website that there would be no lining up early, and that tickets for entrance would be handed out at 9:30 am.

So, when Judy and I arrived at 9 am (full 30 min before they were supposed to hand out the tickets) they'd already started handing out the tickets (in fact, had started at like 8 am.) I really should have known better. I told myself I didn't really care that much, I'd already had really awesome lolita-related experiences so I didn't HAVE to go to the tea party, right? But, deep down, I really did want to go. Hah...

While talking to some old friends from anime cosplay, (HI, NANDO and KATIE!) I mentioned that I was kinda bummed that I'd gotten ticket 180-something even though we got here at 9 am. They said that actually some people got here really really early! They didn't mind trading me a ticket... how nice! So I moved from 180-something to like 88.

Judy and I hung out and talked with a lot of lolitas. Everyone was dressed really wonderfully and I met a lot of people I didn't know before, or only knew online. A couple sweet girls talked to me about Japan Ai (both had taken it to Japan with them, which makes me really happy. ) In general, everyone just seemed really excited and kind-of unified by the event. I was worried that there would be ickiness or awkward situations... but instead everyone really came together for this event.

photo from mintymuffins

I think in general, this was my feeling, summed up pretty awesomely by xbiteyourtongue (photo by neku-niku)

Look how awesome Nicole looks in her Alice and the Pirates!
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

As for me, my outfit was BABY's Sweet Merry Castle. I couldn't find the L size, so I modified this one into a halter so that it's long enough for me. I love the black plus sweets style lately! New BABY clock purse! Parasol from my very first trip to Tokyo... <3 These are also my new boots from One Day in Paradise

photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

Lydia got a closeup shot of my stuff:
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

What was miss Lydia wearing? TAKUYA ANGEL! AGGGGGH, I love Takuya Angel!
photo from mintymuffins

Ran into Deb from About.com!

photo from xbiteyourtongue

sberri , me, becausedead, and xbiteyourtongue

HAHA I'm going to use this photo again cause it's AWESOME.
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

Met up with Sheyne and company and Sheyne's boyfriend felt sorry for my ticket-plight, and traded me... moving me up to number 59. (YAAAAY) At this point... I felt that MAYBE if there were enough gothic folks (BPN fans) or Amano-fans in front of me, then I might get to get into the tea party.
Sheyne and I stood together in line for entrance and watched the opening ceremonies. For a long time we used our parasols and Sheyne let me have some of her sunblock... but I am pretty pale, so I still got a bit too much sun, and after a while, the MC made us put our parasols down.

Me and Sheyne getting our super-pale selves sunburnt. haha.

This is what the crowd was like:
(photo thanks to neku-niku)

photo thanks to looooo

Glenn (photo thanks to smileysquid)

Cutting the red tape: (check out the actress' gorgeous kimono!!)
photo thanks to mangaabout.com

As we were waiting, staff kept peaking out of the 2nd floor window. First a couple lolita staff... and then eventually, I saw Kumiko-san... and then... I hadn't thought he would come, but it was Mr. Isobe! And he was grinning ear to ear looking down at all of us dressed to the nines in our lolita, packed in the street waiting! He kept taking pictures and they'd all wave at us and we'd wave back.

photo thanks to looooo

photo thanks to looooo

Finally they let us enter. It felt a bit like being let in on the red carpet... since as we "slowly" speed walked in, people at the entrance took photos of us, and in the lobby, people took photos of us, too! (you can find a video here of Lauren entering POV) We of course couldn't be bothered to stop. ha.
We made it up the stairs, and immediately I had the feeling of being in OIOI in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The layout is very similar,... my feelings of nostalgia made it even more special for me, I think.

The stairway
(photo thanks to smileysquid)

photo thanks to looooo

Baby the Stars Shine Bright Circus Ribbon JSK

The store was SO CUTE! But,... didn't have time to focus, I made a bee-line for the dress racks to see if they had the Circus line. (also was looking for the cake purse for Judy). Immediately saw the new dresses, but they'd already sold out of the black or navy in the Circus ribbon jumper skirt. I didn't want the Circus Tutu JSK because the bust size is a little smaller in it, and the Circus ribbon has straps that would be easier to halter (and thus make it longer for me.)
Truly though, I love all the circus colorways. I grabbed the white Circus Ribbon JSK as my "buy this quickly to get the tea ticket" purchase.
When looking at the white color way, my heart goes <3 <3. The pastel mix of it is so dreamy and adorable. But I was a bit worried about it being "too cute" for me. In that I'm so tall and I'm now THIRTY. Ha, ha. anyway...
Now I was in line, and actually, I was only like number 5 or so in line. I would definitely get a tea ticket!! SO EXCITED!

Sheyne in the mad-clothing-dash
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

photo thanks to mangaabout.com

The view down to the crowd from the second floor:
(photo thanks to smileysquid)

while we leave me waiting in line to pay, I describe the store more...
The BABY store itself was at least twice the size of stores I'd seen in Japan (if not 3 times the size). Which is not to say that it's huge, as the stores in Japan can be quite small, but it was pretty big! I felt like we were very lucky to have such a large store with so much stock. They brought a very large number of dresses, skirts and blouses. A lot of head accessories, parasols and bunny bags. I was really impressed with the selection. As far as I could tell, if they had a dress, they had at least one of every color of that dress, and they had many different lines of dresses. Matching head accessories for a ton of stuff, too.
The only thing they didn't have a lot of was jewelry (almost none) which is too bad, cause I love it. :)
The dressing rooms (which I was too harried to try) were quite large and there was two of them! They also had a large three-way mirror (outside of the dressing rooms) and the decor in general was very elegant and beautiful. Everything was custom and designed. (Like the shelves were lovely scallops, and the dress racks were gold with Baby finial designs at the top.) I can't wait to shop here at a later date in a more leisurely way. It's a beautiful store. On top of this, next door with 6% DokiDoki and BPN,... and then downstairs a great bookstore, too... it's really a good cross-section. They did a great job with the building!!

It was great, too, that the BABY staff were knowledgeable lolita and spoke English. It's going to be great to go back and enjoy this store!!

I was glad that I brought cash, because if you had credit card only, they had to walk you downstairs to the one credit card machine that worked and you had to wait in line there, too... so it really slowed stuff down. I'm sure they'll have this fixed in the future, but there were a few problems for opening day. (Basically a few things like the credit cards and the air conditioner weren't working yet... but will be very soon, so don't worry about it for the future, I think. They just didn't want to delay the opening date, which is understandable.)

photo thanks to starlollie
(this is the line for BABY... it goes all the way back to BPN)

Even with only like 5 people ahead of me, it took a very long time to pay. Judy, who was more like 130-something (as she never traded with someone) got into the store before I'd paid yet, even though I almost immediately went to pay! Judy, seeing that the line would be an issue, shopped briefly for a parasol and then went to get in line, telling me that after I paid, I should shop a bit, and then we could trade in line, etc. GREAT IDEA. JUDY IS A GENIUS.

I shopped a bit, played with trying on a bonnet (still not sure if I'm brave enough to try it... ) looked at hair bows,... compared sizes on some JSKs and skirts.
I ended up picking up one of BABY's standard karami skirts... but it was in mint, and really a very lovely textured fabric. I figured this would be a really great thing to wear almost everyday type thing for work, even,... and I like the idea of mixing mint with my blue and pink tshirts. (Thanks for the advice, Danielle!)
I also picked up the hotpink dot swiss JSK. (see photo on the right) On the website, the measurements didn't look hopeful. But on seeing it in person, it looked like it would fit, and also looked very easily halter-able. I'd been turned on to the hotpink JSK after seeing this coordinate with the skirt version. But the skirt is SUPER SHORT. Like "no way, this is way too short short". And dot swiss fabric on heirloom sewing sites does NOT COME IN HOT PINK. so... hot pink is actually rather unusual, and awesome. and I look great in hot pink.
So I settled on these. Mitch had wanted me to have fun and get something special and my mom really really wanted to buy me something at the store. I think she misses me a lot and she wanted me to have a really nice time this weekend. I told her she really didn't need to do that... and BABY stuff is expensive, but she insisted. So, this weekend I let myself get a few special things,...

Some cute stuff I got from 6% DokiDoki
(not including Michelle's... <3 )

6% DokiDoki's store (with Danielle shopping)
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

Ran into Patrick Macias and crew! Of course he was there! His comment to me was "Of course you are here!" haha.
( Patrick wrote "Cruising the Anime City : An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo", editor for Otaku USA and is just generally awesome. He's interviewed me about lolita and Japan Ai before for MARUI.)

Back to Judy. I went to get some water, then Judy took a break to get some water, and so it went. We ended up waiting in line for like 2 1/2 to 3 hours, (THANKYOU JUDY!!!) even though there weren't that many people in front of us.
By the time we paid, it was 3pm and Judy and I were just totally exhausted from standing in one place and the heat. Despite the crowds and heat, though, everyone, from staff to visitors were super nice and patient. That was impressive.

So, Judy and decided to leave since we were so tired, and she'd made a pedicure appointment for me and AJ at 6:30. (For my birthday!) So we met AJ for tea. I had yummy miso fish and tea (funny combo, but just what I needed...) and then we went to an adorable salon. We all got to sit next to each other on posh seats with drinks and snacks and chatted peacefully while they did our feet. Which, btw, included a foot and lower leg massage... EPIC AWESOME after standing all day. I got my toes painted hot pink, which would match my new dress... but really I just felt like something hot pink.

Judy and headed home and piddled around while watching a movie.

BTW, the day before, Judy'd taken me to DAISO (which I'd never been to before, although we have some MARUKAI 99's that are similar in Torrance.) I really love cheapo stores like this. I bought some cute folders and boxes... and a mini TANUKI.

Went to bed and slept in the next day... and then Judy and I went out to brunch at a great place nearby. We popped by San Jose Kinokuniya, too,... which is better IMHO than my LA store. They have different stuff. I got a great binder (the kind I seem to only see in Tokyo... never in my local kino...) I love to put papers in them. It's great. you don't understand my love.

anyway... then I got dressed for the tea in my comfy BABY Sweet Check JSK and headed out a little early since I'd never driven in SF on my own before, I'm notorious for getting lost while driving, and I wanted to check out the New People bldg in a more leisurely fashion for a bit before the tea party. Got there without trouble, and enjoyed looking around 6%dokidoki again and finally getting to check out Black Peace Now. They had a lot of great jackets,... but with the (still broken) heat and me being dressed in full lolita, I didn't want to try them on. I'd really like to at a later point though. I also like the sousou tabi shoes, but felt I'd already spent more than enough money, so maybe later.

I waited with the other lolitas in the 2nd floor lobby. A lot of people who had bought the Circus print the previous day showed up in their Circus dresses. It was very cute! I was glad that some folks I knew had gotten tickets, too. I got to talk with Tara and Danielle and I got to get to know some other lolitas better, too. It was nice!

photo thanks to mint_cake

photo thanks to mint_cake (who is the cute one in black on the far right)

I really loved this girl's coordinate! The pink hair and pink jabot are the best!

Lydia was there, too! I was glad to see her since I hadn't had much time to talk to her the previous day. (again, I'll look forward to coming back up to SF later for a more relaxing time!)
photo thanks to frozenemotion

We finally got led up to the tea,... but then there was no tables or chairs. But we were all troopers!

photo thanks to mintymuffins

photo thanks to mintymuffins

Yummy cupcakes from Miette!
photo thanks to frozenemotion

photo thanks to pawteegal

Closeup of the teacups
photo thanks to mint_cake

There were delicious tea sandwiches, great tea and beautiful macarons and cupcakes, etc...
One of the teas was called "Honeybush Lollipop Delight". I got the black tea though. <3
They told us that they intended to keep the teacups at the store so that they could have future teaparties! That bodes well!

We all milled around and attempted to eat without spilling since we didn't have any way to set things down. Eventually some of us figured out to sit on the ground, so everyone huddled and ate for a bit. It really worked out fine. Actually, because we weren't segregated into tables, it made it so everyone was more close together. Very cute, actually. Little chicks around little tables!

photo thanks to pawteegal

photo thanks to mintymuffins

Danielle drinkin tea

The room, by the way, was the art gallery, filled with Amano's stuff! It wasn't what you typically expect from Amano, though. It was super bright neon colors and shiny glitter! They looked like magical girl drawings almost, but in Amano's style... and painted with auto-body paint (embedded with glitter.)

photo thanks to Patrick Macias

Kumiko-san was there and so was Misako-san, who is a model in GLB and Kera, in fact,... she's one of the most well-known models and has been for a really long time. She was just as lovely in person. It was nice to hear about how she felt about lolita, too. She really likes to wear it, it makes her feel so wonderful... it's not just modeling job for her.

photo from frozenemotion (Kumiko-san with one of the dresses from Kamikaze Girls)

Screenshot from Kamikaze Girls

It's the dress that "slays" the old Momoko and helps her be "reborn" as a lolita.

Kumiko-san and Misako-san (wearing) and standing next to the new Chibi Neko Bouquet dress. (which was supposed to have some kittens on it... but as the designer was working on it, she put bears and chicks but somehow, does not have kittens. haha.) The white dress on the model is the runway version (so it has extra rhinestones and bows.) Misako is wearing the retail sale version (in a different colorway).
photo thanks to BABY SF's blog.

Regarding the dresses most of the staff were wearing, it was "Sweet fruit a la mode". Kumiko-san said that she thought the parfaits and sweets on it felt like a tea party to her (so they wore it for this occasion.)

Also, BABY-geek fact, Misako's pink heart purse? It's a new "leather" color for BABY. It's kinda a cherry-pink. They also used it on their rerelease of the strawberry cake bag.

Kumiko-san said that she always loved princesses when she was a little girl and lolita for her is about making a princess dress for the modern young woman. So she researches princesses and queens and such (like Marie Antoinette) and uses that for her inspiration for BABY. I loved that she said this... it's how I feel about lolita, too... that lolita is like what I would imagine a princess to be when I was little, or a dress you dream of. It's not trying to be a little girl, it's not trying to be some fetish or something... it's about a dream of being a princess, or at least having such a beautiful cinderella gown... that sort of thing.
Hearing her say that, it made me feel very good... and I know it's silly, but it reknewed my love of lolita! That and lately finding things that suit me a bit better (so that I don't feel so awkward...) I'd like to wear more lolita than less. A while ago, I was thinking "I should just stop this..." but now I feel the other way. Thankyou for the inspiration, Kumiko-san. (Also, it made me glad that I'd been right to do a fairy-tale inspired illustration for her...!)

By the way,... Kumiko-san is not super young and she has a child. (When I say "young", I mean that so many girls in the lolita community seem to be teenagers... which is fine, but sometimes makes us older lolita feel a bit out of place. ) One of the other staff ladies (one of the store managers from Japan) is not a super young girl, either... and both she and Kumiko-san wore the pink or white Circus JSK this weekend. I thought they looked so beautiful in it. I was so happy that I'd bought the white circus JSK. I'm looking forward to proudly wearing the light and cute color even though I'm tall and even though I'm an "older" lolita.

Closeup of Kumiko-san's circus coordinate
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

(You can also read an interview with Kumiko and see more of her Circus coordinate here on Carosel of Crowns)

Some more questions and answer:

-------

Misako-san said she got started modeling for lolita fashion, because they (probably Kera or GLB) took a streetsnap of her in Harajuku and liked her look.

Kumiko-san talked about how she applied to BABY and got rejected, but then she started her own clothing line. (Also a lolita-styled line) And then BABY later saw some pictures of her line in a magazine and called her up to offer her a job! Now she is the head designer.

"Is there anything you both do besides lolita?"
Kumiko-san: "I have a child, so I love to play with him in my free time."
Misako-san: "Shopping!"

"Do you have any tips for wearing lolita fashion?"
Misako-san: "Making sure your hair is done, your makeup is right, you nails are done, no holes in your socks. Basically, from head to toe, you should be well dressed. Don't be crass, Stand in a cute way, not with legs too far apart."

In response to whether BTSSB will open more international stores (in USA or other countries, etc.) The question was asked of Kumiko-san but all the employees turned toward Mr. Isobe-san hiding in the back.
Akinori Isobe-san: "After it was announced that BTSSB would opened in SF, there were many request for BTSSB to open in NY. We would like to open more stores but currently just the SF and Paris stores will be the only international ones. " (So they'd like to, if they can, but we'll have to wait and see. No specific indication of a location or anything like that. It's too soon to see.)

"Will there be special prints for SF only?"
Kumiko-san: "Since there things specially released for Paris, we might. (There is a special PARIS pillow, by the way...) We will consider it."
(all the lolita started chatting about various SF inspired prints at this point...)

They also said that they were pleasantly surprised to see so many lolita (on opening day the previous day, and also today.) And not just that, but that all of us were so well-dressed, from head to toe. They were surprised, too, that we all read Kera and The Gothic and Lolita Bible. Kumiko-san said that she really didn't know what to expect, coming to the US... she didn't know if many people would show up. But after seeing us she feels so encouraged, and wants to work hard to make lots of beautiful dresses for us.

Lydia taking photos while we listen to the interview
photo thanks to j9isawesome

General feeling of the whole room
photo thanks to faunkegin

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By the way, I was happy to see Mr. Isobe as I'd brought presents for him and Kumiko-san. I should say... that, I never got to see Mr. Isobe or Kumiko-san in person on Saturday. It was so crowded and busy that there was never a chance. Both Kumiko-san and Mr. Isobe remembered me, even though they'd only met me that one time and it was over a year ago.
Lydia was sweet enough to get some photos of me giving it to Kumiko-san.

photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

Aren't Kumiko-san (left) and Misako-san (right) adorable!
photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

This is the drawing I gave Kumiko-san:

I was so nervous when giving it to her that I didn't really notice their reaction. But my friends said that they seemed to really like it, so I'm really glad.
I then gave Mr. Isobe some pink champagne (enough for him and the staff), and actually, it was very cute because he was like "futatsu? (two?) and I said yes,... and then the staff explained that my gift was really good because Mr. Isobe really likes to drink. (haaa. XD Thanks, Mitch, perfect gift!)

photo from Lydia and Carosel of Crowns.

After the question and answer period and milling around, everyone got photos and autographs with Mr. Isobe, Misako-san and Kumiko-san. They also did lottery based on the number on the back of your Tea Party ticket. They gave away bags, socks, a blouse and a JSK! (so about 1 in 5 folks got one).

Several of the BABY folks took photos of us as a group.

By the way, this is the temporary home of BABY SF's new blog.

Also, Misako-san has been posting more and more photos she took at the Tea Party and also of her time visiting in San Fran. One of the lolita suggested she visit Ghirardelli Square, and she and Kumiko-san did! So cute!

It was a nice time. Finally we all left and got gift bags. :)

Here's what came in my gift bag. <3

On the drive home, I took a different route than normal and accidentally passed some gorgeous rose fields. I pulled over and took a couple quick shots.

I'm really glad I got to go. For me, it was like a mini-trip to Tokyo. I got to see lots of good friends, I got to go to a beautiful store, and I had a really magical time. Over the past year or two, I've been considering a lot of my fashion choices, but... on this day, my love for lolita crystalized.

Perhaps I will not die alone, 80-years old, in a BABY dress while a robot-maid finds my corpse, as Momoko says in Kamikaze Girls... haha... (I'm sure my loves will change) but I will post this screencap anyway.