Lolita Charm: Baby Steps

Friday, November 20, 2009

Baby Steps

Even after the other brands continue to advance west - Baby's wild success at their San Francisco opening, now Innocent World's excellent overseas customer service - Angelic Pretty, one of the arguably most popular brands, has only made baby steps. The English website is something to get lucky on, while most girls still head for the Japanese site and the shopping service; the best places to get Angelic Pretty are second-hand like Closet Child or Yahoo!Japan. And if you're not able to attend their events in Los Angeles or Paris, the chances of having much interaction with the brand are slim. But for those of us huddled along the northern edge of the United States East Coast, you can finally get your sugar rush a little closer to home.

Tokyo Rebel announced today that after very long negotiations, they are carrying Angelic Pretty merchandise in their shop, from bags to even a few coveted pieces of the latest prints. While the store is new now, with luck and hopefully a growing fan base, they'll have the opportunity to expand - and make New York City flush with frills ;)

So, in a previous article about Tokyo Rebel, the big question mark hovering over everyone's head was - will their choice of more classical brands effect the local fashion scene? In my recent trip to New York City, the styles were mostly set somewhere between sweet and classic - but since many girls wore their own creations, I don't think it's the influence of the shop. Someone remarked recently that there does seem to be a style polarization by location - the very sweet can be found on the warmer sides of California, a few pockets of Central and Eastern Europe seem inspired to house a rookery of beautiful Gothics. I've always personally wondered if they're inspired by the elegantly dark architecture or the spooky legends of the lady vampire, Elizabeth of Bathory. Do you think one area tends to a specific style?

Hopefully during this holiday break, the Loligirls film crew will be making a sojourn to Tokyo Rebel to check out the details first-hand. They even a have a Loligirls poster displayed in the shop!

Labels: fashion, shopping

8 Comments:

At November 20, 2009 at 11:55 PM , Unknown said...: We will be visiting after the holiday rush:D

-LoliGirls Film Crew
At November 21, 2009 at 5:24 AM , Saffron Sugar said...: I've noticed that styles are more...concentrated at certain locations. For example, here in Sweden a more "old-fashioned", toned-down sweet is popular, and in Finland the dominant style is gothic. It's pretty interesting :)
At November 21, 2009 at 5:31 AM , Anonymous said...: i totally think that an area has a special style. also because lolitas in your area influence the others in their area! ^^
e.g. in vienna there are more gothic and classic lolitas. when I was in paris I had the feeling all girls are wearing more babytssb ^^
At November 21, 2009 at 6:09 AM , Hello Naka said...: tehe yeah i agree certain areas seem to have certain styles
At November 21, 2009 at 9:04 AM , Natalia L. said...: While I don't see the relation to all you wrote with Countess Erzsébet Bathory..
I must say that here in Spain I don't see concentration of styles, you can see photos of a Barcelona meet-up and recognize at least 4 different styles, and that happens in Madrid and other cities too.
People here always dress with what the want and what they can no matter what their friends wear..

But I really think is an interesting point of view; I wonder what would happen if BTSSB (for example) would open a store here..
At November 21, 2009 at 9:37 AM , Tokyo Rebel said...: I hope us commenting here doesn't freak you out, but we just like your blog :)

I think we're too new to have really influenced anything yet. But over time, I think you will start to see brands like Atelier-Pierrot and Victorian maiden that have historically been really hard to get start to creep in to the community here. Some of the local girls have already been wearing them to meets after buying from us (not sure about the one you went to, but definitely at other ones).

But I think we share a common culture with the Lolita community so we have just naturally been reflecting more of a New York style, which may generally be a little more muted and/or darker than what you see on the west coast - not just in Lolita but in other clothing styles too. New Yorkers wear a lot of black :)

But there is definitely a place for Angelic Pretty and sweet Lolita here. And they definitely spice up the store.
At November 21, 2009 at 2:26 PM , Anonymous said...: I am hoping to visit NY for Xmas, and I plan on stopping by the shop if at all possible. Thanks for letting us know they now carry more brand!!
At November 25, 2009 at 11:29 PM , Victoria Suzanne said...: @Kato: can't wait!

@SaffronSugar: True! I've seen very pretty such styles on the girls of that area :)

@Duplica: Interesting that the Parisian lolitas wear more Baby, as it's more available. I always had the impression that despite that, they were more Angelic Pretty oriented, maybe due to the Paris motif in AP? I'll have to take notes when I am there this spring!

@Sistinas: Interesting that you have a more diverse area! I don't think its of dressing like friends, but maybe more being influenced by local culture or season?

@Tokyo Rebel: That's true, the reflection of New York style is very different than, say, the reflection of San Francisco style. I can't wait to see how your shop influences the local scene! As for me, I've got big eyes on Angelic Pretty :D

@Littlekobaby: You should follow their shop blog too! They're the comment above yours.

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Lolita Charm

Friday, November 20, 2009

Baby Steps

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