Responses to our “Fashion at Anime Conventions” Exchange

harajuju:

iamcupcakeandtea:

As someone who goes to Anime North, I’d like to tell you that year by year AN has been getting more and more fashion oriented people at the con. The lolita community has notice a steady increase of better and better Lolita outfit. And personally I have been trying to push fashion oriented things at Anime North, this year Im bringing 4 panels on lolita, 1 on mori girl, a swap meet and helping in the fashion show. I think you should really consider coming to this convention :) It not going to happen overnight off course. My non-lolita panels usually have poor attendance but I really want to see this take off :)

Thanks for your response. With regards to Anime North, I’m not really convinced — I was there last year and while there was certainly a solid lolita presence there was nothing particularly new or interesting. I sat in on a few general Japanese fashion panels and they were abysmal. There was one in particular where people openly talked about experiences while wearing Japanese fashion, but it was largely a bunch of saccharine “be yourself!” stuff. One guy was sharing his experiences about wearing a jester hat in high school. I guess that certainly is subversive, though.

This isn’t to rag on anime or anything like it — I watch a lot of anime and otherwise nerdy Japanese shit — but I just don’t think the atmosphere of an anime convention is generally very interesting to people who are into fashion. There are exceptions, of course. Sakuracon is having shows for h.NAOTO, Chantilly and Atelier Pierrot. But serious fashion people are likely not going to be hanging around furries and hardcore otaku. In the end, I decided that just because these are Japanese culture conventions doesn’t mean they really align with the realities of Japanese fashion. Still, I wish you luck in your events.

Last year at Anime North, the fashion oriented events I liked best were the fashion swap meet, the fashion show, and the lolita tea party. I understand that the panels may not have been to your liking and that’s fine, but the lolita community here is really trying to organize ever-more fashion oriented events for those who might be interested. Just a question, what kinds of fashion oriented panels would you be interested in attending? What kinds of content would you consider better quality? I’m just asking because the onus is on individuals in the community to come up with their panel content, and the only way those individuals can make their panels better is through constructive feedback from those who attend them.

It’s great that conventions like Sakuracon are able to get big fashion names to hold shows and set up shop, I wish we could have that at Anime North as well. I just don’t know if brands like Atelier Pierrot and H. Naoto would even consider coming here. Is it really worth it for them, coming all the way out to Canada without a guarantee that there will be interest, or that they’ll do well?

Fashion events need to become more popular in the area before we can convince designers and individuals who are serious about fashion that this convention is worth attending. In the meantime, the amount of people wearing Japanese fashion at Anime North is growing, and that’s what needs to continue happening if the convention is to have a bigger fashion presence. It’s baby steps. Every year, more and more people see these things, ask questions, and get interested. I think it’s just something that takes time to spread.