The Hyper Japan experience!

I am still recovering from Hyper Japan. My muscles are all achy and I think I may have caught a cold but it was worth it!

I couldn't resist hugging this giant Chopper (from One Piece). As you may have noticed, I wore my Metamorphose Old Emblem print skirt, matching hair comb and the black cardigan I recently ordered from the Bodyline sale. The socks are also from Bodyline and the shoes are from a shop in Swindon called Blue Banana.

So here is my run-down on Hyper Japan-

The all-important PHOTOS!!!

You can view all the photos and videos I took at the event by going to this link-

http://s979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/Luna_Rain_photos/Hyper%20Japan%20Oct%202010/

All the content should be public so go have a look!

The Kera and Baby the Stars Shine Bright shops

As I may have mentioned before, this was the first time that a lot of the lolita brands who attended HJ have appeared in the UK. The biggest names like Angelic Pretty and Baby were there and they were selling stuff! The shopping area itself was quite small but I still managed to buy lots of accessories. Kera were selling back issues of their magazine and there were also Japanese language Gothic and Lolita Bibles up for grabs. The Kera issues were selling for £7 and the GLBs for £20 (which is not as bad as some prices I have seen in London).

Obviously the biggest part of the shop was the Baby bit. Baby had their own little section of the shop and they were selling both Baby and Alice and the Pirates. A majority of their items were headbows (most were around £40) but there were socks, blouses and tops as well. There were a few bits of jewellery but not much. It is worth mentioning that I saw some Baby dresses being sold for around £120 which is very cheap. I am kicking myself for not saving up even more money. Most of their stuff was fairly recent. They had Aristo Kitty's Invitation which is a recent series.

The next most prominent brand in the shop had to be Angelic Pretty. There were a lot of socks on sale for around £23 (I got myself some wonder cookie socks!) and headbows too. I got myself some Melty Chocolate rings. I noticed there was also a ring with a teacup on it but I decided the 2 rings and socks were enough. It appeared as though there were no AP dresses being sold. If there were AP dresses there then some lolitas must have quickly snapped those up. The stock being sold was not as recent and up to date as the Baby stock. The melty chocolate stuff had recently been restocked but a lot of the items were from series released earlier in the year.

I was disappointed with Innocent World because apart from the odd hairbow and skirt, there was not a lot there. There was obviously a stronger focus on the sweet and gothic styles in the shop and at first I didn't even notice the few bits of Innocent World on display. I think this was a bit of a wasted opportunity. Currently, Innocent World do not take international orders. This event would have been a good place to showcase their stuff.

Another disappointment for me was Moi Meme Moitie. I had only seen a few bits of Moitie in person before this event. So I had a look at some of their dresses and I was greeted with very flimsy material. It looked like the material was quite stretchy which is useful because these dresses were tiny. I know Moitie has a lot of fans but in my opinion I don't think their quality justifies their higher prices. However, I was impressed with their jewellery. Sadly I don't wear gothic enough to justify buying it.

The Kera Fashion Show

If you go to the link which I gave above to see my photos, then you will also find videos I took of the models and the panel. Misako Aoki was only a few metres away from me. She is very adorable in real life. An English based lolita called Tanya was also there. Some of you may know Tanya as Pixie Late. I watched with fascination as Tanya had her hair done on stage. By the end her hair was bigger than her head. Tanya was wearing 3 wigs, a hair bow and some tulle shaped into large bows as well. It was a really useful demonstration. If I can, I will try to write it up some time. On the day I went, Moi Meme Moitie, Black Peace Now and Baby were being showcased. My favourite was the Moitie model but all three girls looked incredible. The action was a little slow paced in places. It didn't help that the microphones stopped working in places. At the end all the lolitas in the audience were invited onstage. I did not get up on stage because I had spotted Popi and bambi from Neo magazine and decided to chase after them before they disappeared. Watching the show definitely gave me a lot to think about.

Trends

So what were the English lolitas wearing? Here are the biggest trends that I spotted-

-Although lots of brands were being worn by the public, it became clear early on that English lolitas love Angelic Pretty. It was everywhere you looked.

- Lots of girls had decorated their headbows by adding on extra clips and badges

- Big hair was also very popluar

- The most worn colour was probably pink but there were also many gothic lolitas

- A majority of the lolitas who attended were either in sweet or gothic

- I noticed that a lot of girls were wearing metallic star shaped clips (they looked like the sort of thing Chocochip would make)

- Tanya had attached a pom pom to her bag. The woman who did her hair had a fake fox tail attached to her belt. So maybe pom poms are something to watch out for

- Most of the prints worn by lolitas had sweets or cakes on them

The other exhibitors

I am glad I had my ID card handy because I got a free shot of limited edition sake! Many food stands were handling out little samplers. I enjoyed this little savoury thing which tasted of curry (I have forgotten what it was!) and I discovered that I actually like some sushi after all. I thought I hated sushi. It turns out I just hate Tescos sushi. There was very limited anime and manga on offer and Hyper Japan focused more on Japanese culture. The top prize for the cosplaying competition was a trip to Japan (lucky!) and you could get your photo taken by these giant Tokyo backdrops. Some people treated themselves to eyelash extensions or you could try on traditional kimonos. I had a go at making a deco sweets pendant. I wont know how it looks until it is finished drying next week. I made a strawberry/kiwi combo pendant. It was my very first try at deco so I hope it looks great.

James and I left Hyper Japan by mid-afternoon because we were mainly there for the fashion show. I did manage to catch the voice artists from Milky Holmes performing (they seemed to be having a great time!) before I left. We hung around Leicester Square for a bit before going home. In fact, I managed to find a cupcake place which was selling gourmet cupcakes. I may be popping in when I next go to London!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. It took me ages to type it all! Please check out my pictures and videos!