Photo courtesy New People

This time last year Viz launched the New People building in San Francisco, establishing a home for the BABY, The Stars Shine Bright and Black Peace Now stores in the United States. To celebrate the building’s first anniversary, all the building tenants are holding specials. For the Gothic & Lolita fashion fans, this means:

Photo courtesy New People

• BABY Lucky Packs - Three types of lucky packs available (BTSSB in three sizes, Alice and the Pirates women’s and Alice in the Pirates men’s)  for $140 each. One lucky pack per customer. Sale starts tomorrow, August 14th. More information.
• BABY SF Limited Item - BABY is also offering a special item only available in the San Francisco store. Starting on August 14th, an Usakumya Sweet Time Tote in 5 colors is available for about $70. More information plus pictures.
• BABY Novelty Gift – To celebrate BABY’s first year anniversary in San Francisco, a Kumya Sophie-chan mini phone strap will be given to all customers that spend over $125 (excluding sale and lucky packs). More information and photo.
• Black Peace Now Anniversary Sale - Black Peace Now is currently running a sale with up to 60% off selected items until September 18th. More information.
• Black Peace Now Special Discount - BPN is offering it’s mailing list subscribers a special deal for it’s anniversary sale. Mailing list subscribers were sent a 15% off discount, limited to the first 50 subscribers that claim it.
• Nail Art House Special Offer - If you like fancy nail art, starting August 15th, Nail Art House is offering a free Calgel Topcoat Remover to customers that spend over $100. The first customer to spend over $150 also receives $10 worth of crystals as a special gift. More information.

The fun doesn’t stop with the official anniversary though…

Photo courtesy New People

The 2nd Annual J-Pop Summit is coming up and Viz has announced a week of events leading up to the main event on September 18th. As we mentioned before, 6% DOKIDOKI is planning a party for September 15th. Well, now, tickets are currently on sale for $20 each. The event starts at 7:00 PM and includes a screening of Harajuku Fashion Walk, fashion talk by designer Sebastian Masuda, fashion contest and fashion show with shop girls, Yuka and Vani.

It’s an occasional fleeting thought, but it does cross my mind now and again – wouldn’t it be great to be a kid again? The stress-free summer vacations, free room and board, no responsibilities… ah, to be young again! But, never have I felt as jealous of children until I saw these girls swimsuits. Can these be made in adult sizes please?

More under the cut. Read the rest…

I tend to horde magazines like no one’s business, but the stacks that I keep in my room are getting pretty unsightly. Luckily, I just scored a few sturdy acrylic magazine racks, so it’s the perfect opportunity to organize things.

The magazine racks are very sturdy, but the super clean lines scream modern decor. Luckily, since the racks clear, the magazine covers instantly became the focal point so the racks don’t stick out like the sore thumb I thought they might. To add a little something extra and fill some empty space, I placed a rose corsage on the top shelf amid my magazines. Now, just to fill up the rest of my magazine racks.

Let’s take a trip on the way back machine (which sadly was only 2 posts ago) when we told you about the 2nd Annual J-pop Summit Festival being held in San Francisco. At the time details were light, and they still are, but we do know that Black Peace Now is doing a contest in their search for the best-dressed goth fashionista. Contestant hopefuls must send in a picture of what they plan to wear on the day of the contest which must include at least one item from Black Peace Now and be available to participate in the contest in San Francisco on September 18th. Submission deadline is August 20th. More details can be found on BPN’s blog and New People’s events page.

Light on information as well, but the 6% DOKIDOKI designer, Sebastian Masuda, along with shop girls Yuka and vani will be visiting San Francisco in conjunction with the J-pop Summit Festival as part of their Harajuku Kawaii Experience World Tour. The 6% DOKIDOKI folks will also be throwing a VIP party on September 15th at the New People building. More details on 6% DOKIDOKI’s Myspace page.

I spotted at least 4 well-dressed lolitas at San Diego Comic-Con but with registration and masquerade being so hectic, I didn’t always have my camera at the ready. Here are a couple I did manage to stop and ask for a quick fashion snap…

Caitlin wearing BTSSB on Sunday, toting a MAM bag

A polka-dotted loli (I didn't catch your name, sorry!) I ran into while standing in line for Big Bang Theory and Bones

Were any of you at SDCC this year? Umi and I had fun!

On Fanime Saturday/Day 2 of Fantaisies dans les Monde des Rêves, Umi and I both wore boater hats, our favorite recent trend. We thought the hats would help people find us, as we’d been asked by Oneesan Inc. to take street snaps that might get published in Kera magazine.

Did I take your picture on Saturday? If so, you probably looked fabulous–so many lolitas dressed up to the nines! It was wonderful to meet some of you, and always nice to see familiar faces!

Angelic Pretty hats on display at the Magical Boutique

While the main event was all happening on May 29th, in truth the Fantaisies dans les Monde des Rêves festivities started on May 28th with the opening of the Magical Boutique and lasted until May 31st when the boutique closed.

Atelier Pierrot clothing paired with a Chantilly bonnet

On the first day, the Magical Boutique was rather calm with just a select number of auction winners being allowed to browse the shops. Against the calm backdrop, the Fantaisies dans les Monde des Rêves special guests mingled amongst each other. Sachi of Kokusyoku Sumire, Chantilly’s designer Fumiko, Angelic Pretty designers Maki and Asuka plus AP’s owner Kanda-san chatted with Sanrio representatives who paid them a special visit.

Chantilly designer, Fumiko with a Chantilly shop girl

The second day of Magical Boutique, which coincided with the main event, was by far the busiest day with attendees lining up to  have their turn shopping at the boutique. Kokusyoku Sumire’s booth sold the musical duet’s CDs and merchandise as well as Chantilly X Kokusyoku Sumire goods. Candy Violet had a booth with a small number of goods available for purchase. Chantilly sold a rack of clothing and a number of headpieces and bonnets including Kokusyoku Sumire’s trademark checkerboard bonnet. Atelier Pierrot also brought a rack of Gothic Lolita and Aristocrat clothing accompanied by a table full of Triple Fortune bonnets, hats and hair corsages. Harajuku Hearts sold goods from brands such as Putumayo and Metamorphose. Angelic Pretty had the most floorspace and brought a seemingly endless supply of their most sought-after prints. Lastly, Wonderland Atelier and Sweet Rococo shared booth space to sell their indie brand jewelry and clothing.

Hit the jump for more photos from the Magical Boutique.

Read the rest…

If you’ve been on vacation or have simply spending more time outside enjoying the summer weather and need a round-up of Lolita news and events from the past few weeks or so…

Ayabie's Intetsu for Alice and the Pirates

BABY, The Stars Shine Bright  San Francisco Gets a New Blog

The staff from BTSSB’s San Francisco Store have discontinued their first blog and started up a new one hosted by Blogspot. The new blog is cute and simple and the staff seem to be updating it on a much more frequent basis now.

Summer Tea Party at BABY San Francisco

Announced yesterday, the staff at BABY, The Stars Shine Bright will be hosting a summer tea party at The Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco called Red Sky at Night. The event will be sailor/pirate/marine-themed and the staff are advising all attendees to dress to the theme. The special guest of the night is Intetsu, Ayabie’s bassist who is currently modeling for the Alice and the Pirates label.

Activities include a Q&A with Intetsu, a fashion contest judged by Intetsu and games. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, July 1st for $40.

Black Peace Now  San Francisco on Twitter

The staff from the Black Peace Now San Francisco store have hopped on Twitter and you can follow their real-time updates at @BPNSanFrancisco.

Pink Macaroon Gets a New Blog

Indie American Lolita brand, Pink Macaroon, has moved to a new blog home. We’ve previously posted an interview with Pink Macaroon’s designer, Sarah Ruth and have posted photos of her at various stages of her pregnancy.

Misako Aoki on XOJapan's Live Ustream Broadcast, July 1st

Misako Aoki to Make Appearance on XOJapan’s Ustream Broadcast

Japan’s Lolita fashion ambassador, Misako Aoki will be appearing as a guest on XOJapan’s Ustream broadcast  live on July 1st at 18:00 JST – that’s 2AM PDT and 5AM EDT for those of us in the U.S. Being awake at that time isn’t even a remote thought in my head, but I my brave it to do a write up for you all. If you miss it, the show will b recorded for playback at a later time.

J-POP Summit Festival 2 in San Francisco’s Japantown

The New People building, which houses the San Francisco BABY, The Stars Shine Bright and Black Peace Now stores, is teaming up with Japantown to host J-POP Summit 2 on September 18. If you recall, the first J-POP Summit last year marked the grand opening of the New People building with Gothic & Lolita fashion shows and welcomed the lead designers from BPN, BTSSB and 6% DOKIDOKI The 2010 event wil include fashion shows, so there will definitely be a BTSSB and BPN presence again. No word on whether there will be an special Lolita fashion guests or whether there will be any guest brands joining the festivities. We’ll keep you posted on news as it becomes available.

Harajuku Hearts Adds Additional Brands

Lolita and J-street fashion reseller, Harajuku Hearts, recently announced that they’ve added Chantilly, Sex Pot Revenge and Algonquins to the list of clothing brands they stock. Although they are not carrying these brands on the website yet, clothing from these brands will be available at Harajuku Hearts’ booth at  be  Anime Expo this weekend in Los Angeles. Harajuku Hearts will be sharing booth space with Angelic Pretty reseller, Starry Candy Box.

Pageant host and contestants of the Miss Gothic & Lolita USA 2010

Fantaisies dans le Monde des Rêves main event, May 29, 2010 in San Jose, played host to a one-of-a-kind event with the first ever Miss Gothic & Lolita USA pageant.

When it was first announced, the assumption was that the pageant would be an Internet popularity contest played out in real life, especially with the much sought-after prize being a feature in Gothic & Lolita Bible. However, it’s obvious the organizers, Oneesan Inc. took measures to avoid that scenario by pre-screening contestants.

Read the rest…

Last but not least in our fashion snaps from Fantaisies dans le Monde des Rêves is the organizer herself, Lynda Leung!

Name: Lynda
From: Bay Area, CA
How long have you been wearing gothic & lolita fashion? Since time started to flow, and it seems like it’s frozen.
Style or theme of the day: Goth loli. Most people know me to wear sweet, so I wanted to try something different and new.
What’s your favorite part of this outfit? Clean underwear!