Katsucon 2023 Retrospective

My main convention, as many people are aware, is Katsucon. This year's Katsucon, held the weekend of February 17-19, was my busiest yet; with attendance over 25,000, it was also the busiest Katsucon in general. Since my first convention (Katsucon 2011), a lot has changed. This post exists to help break down some of the major happenings of the event.

Old School For Newbies Panel Links

Here's the links for the resources I mention in my panel for J-Fashion University. When the Old School for Newbies panel goes up on the Bay Area Kei Youtube, I'll link that, too!

Old School for Newbies: Supplemental Reading 3: Size Inclusivity in Old School

Congratulations, students! This is my last post before Bay Area Kei's J-Fashion University, and my panel there on old school. In this reading, I present lists of brands alongside a little bit of explanation about size inclusivity, then and now. For inclusion in these lists, a brand has to regularly produce items with a bust above 98 cm and/or waist above 80 cm. I also included closed brands that might have plus-size options secondhand. This isn't to say that other brands don't carry plus sizes, just that these are a few of the more reliable choices edited from the other posts, with a couple addenda. All lists are numbered and alphabetized for convenience.

Old School for Newbies: Supplemental Reading 2: Buying Old School New

As a follow-up to my post about Chinese indie brands that sell old school lolita, and preceding my panel at J-Fashion University, I decided to create a list of every brand outside of Taobao that I could find that sells old school lolita on a semi-consistent basis. This was not a trivial undertaking, but I hope the results are useful.

I've already laid out my criteria previously. For this post, though, I was a little more stringent-- brands had to sell old school suitable garments semi-consistently, not just as one item among many. This list includes a lot of gothic and classic brands; brands that don't fit into the picturesque old school sweet image, but nonetheless maintain the same look and feel as gothic and classic lolita did around the year 2004. New items in old school style are essential; we can't make more old pieces, but we can keep expanding design accessibility through new pieces!

Old School for Newbies: Core Reading 1: My Old School Criteria

Old school lolita is difficult to pin down stylistically because it isn't a substyle. Age is, of course, the primary factor here: if it was made between 1997 and around 2005, it'll probably look old school. But there's more elements, tangible and intangible, that make a piece old school-able. The materials, construction, accessories, styling, and overall mood of the coordinate all play a key role.

As the presenter for Old School for Newbies at Bay Area Kei's J-Fashion University, I have a duty to share exactly what qualifies as 'old school', at least for my panel's purposes. By no means am I saying I'm a real authority; I've only been wearing lolita for seven years. However, I think developing some clear(ish) guidelines can help people new to old school adopt an eye for the style. Some of this post is adapted from the LiveJournal Lolita Handbook: give it a look if you're unfamiliar or nostalgic.

In other words, I have crowned myself the arbiter of style and taste, and with this post, so can you!

Old School for Newbies: Supplemental Reading 1: Old School on Taobao

Old school is a passion of mine. I'm lucky enough to be hosting a panel on Old School for Newbies at Bay Area Kei's upcoming J-Fashion University, so I decided to compile lists of stores that sell old school-styled lolita clothing and supplies. Since this is a university theme, each post related to my "class" will be framed as a course component.

Old school is difficult to find on Taobao, so I went through more than 300 stores in order to find all of the stores that had at least one piece that looks reasonably old school. I've also included a few sellers of sewing supplies. 

I followed strict criteria for these selections, which can be found in Core Reading 1.