Katsucon 2022 came and went, and wow did we have a BLAST! There were so many things to see and do at the event, including a great selection of JFashion panels, exhibitors and a fashion show! Lolita Collective was there to experience it all and we are so grateful to Kristen and the JFashion team at Katsucon for their hard work.

Lolita Collective hosted our vendor booth alongside designer Puvithel in the vendor’s hall Friday through Sunday. After a very busy Thursday of driving across the Midwest, our team started loading in and really hustled to showcase the cutest items in our stockpile of goodies! We were super lucky to have Lina of A. Gato Designs on standby to help us bring in some staging essentials for our set up. That’s something really special about Lolita Collective - we’re one big family across the states, and we have friends in almost every major city!

Check out Puvithel on Instagram: HERE

Check out A. Gato Designs on Instagram: HERE

Our team got up early on Friday morning to finish our set up and wait for customers to start spilling into the vendor’s hall, however, Katsucon staff had some difficulties with their registration system! Their team worked quickly to resolve the issue, and this gave us some extra time to really perfect our  booth while we waited. Thankfully, Katsucon was able to fix the issue and started letting attendees into the hall and that’s when things really started to get busy! 

Mossbadger sent us a special delivery of the remaining Mystic Wandering Spirit collaboration items for the booth, and boy were they POPULAR! So many attendees were in love with the beautiful artwork on the dresses, the quality of the fabric, and of course - THE POCKETS! It was really fun to watch the reactions of passersby as they recognized the Tarot cards on the dresses and came in for a closer look. 

Check out Mossbadger on Instgram: HERE

Designers Puvithel of Puvithel, Christen of Starcrossed Lovelies, and Shanna of Magical Mews were on site at the booth to answer questions about the Lolita Collective and help customers with their purchases. Our incredible teammate Ash kept the rest of us on task and went above and beyond to keep the displays looking stellar all weekend with fresh items! 

Saturday was another big day of work and sales, and our team stayed busy from open until close in the vendor’s hall! We also had a chance to catch up with the team at Belladonna, whose booth was filled to the brim with more excellent fashion items. 

Saturday evening was the fashion show, and featured three designers: Sweet Mildred, Empire Noir and Starcrossed Lovelies. Each collection was totally unique from the others, but the overall experience blended together beautifully! 

Sweet Mildred showed incredible, old school inspired looks with a variety of plaids and beautiful lace details. We were absolutely blown away by the craftsmanship of this collection - everything looked so comfortable and adorable! Some of our absolute favorite pieces were a “skort” - a skirt with attached peek-a-boo bloomers, a super cozy sweater with the cutest heart detail on the front, and the most adorable berets. We’re honestly waiting on the edge of our seats to hear more about when this collection will be available for sale!

Check out Sweet Mildred on Instagram: HERE

Empire Noir took the show in a romantic, vampiric direction with a collection that would make Dracula himself jealous! Every one of Empire Noir’s models looked like they had stepped right out of a haunting, Baroque painting. The collection was a beautiful blend of deep reds and blacks with gothic motifs scattered throughout, and it was an out of body experience to see how each of these garments moved on the runway. We were completely blown away by the heart shaped bonnets worn by several of the models - they were so otherworldly and eccentric! The designer was kind enough to let us hold one of these beautiful bonnets and we were shocked by how lightweight they were! We were left completely mesmerized as each look floated across the runway.

Check out Empire Noir on Instagram: HERE

Starcrossed Lovelies wrapped up the show with a cozy collection of loungewear featuring soft pastels, clouds and stars. Little hints of holographic details sparkled on the runway between mahou kei inspired knitwear, along with ENORMOUS heart shaped totes! In typical Starcrossed style, all of the adorable models had at least one, if not two, nostalgic scrunchies included in their 90’s inspired looks. 

Check out Starcrossed Lovelies on Instagram: HERE

Sunday of Katsucon was smooth sailing for our team - we indulged in some coffees and chatted with lots more guests and friends while the convention began to wind down around us. Of course, our real work began after the Vendor’s Hall closed and we needed to hustle to pack all of our goodies up and hit the road! We were sad to say goodbye, but we had a 15 hour drive ahead of us back to our new home in Kansas City, and there was no time to lose!

HUGE thank you to @fairytaletragedy on Instagram (Ash, you're the best!) for taking photos over the weekend. Please check Ash out on Instagram!

We can’t wait to go back to Katsucon again in the future. We hope you’ll join us there next time!