Hello everyone,

The Lolita Collective wholeheartedly supports this petition regarding John Leigh and Anime Matsuri. https://www.change.org/p/japanese-lolita-association-global-lolita-community-revoke-the-kawaii-ambassador-titles-from-john-and-deneice-leigh

The Lolita Collective, in keeping with our anti-bullying and anti-harassment policy, do not support the actions of John Leigh and Deneice Leigh. We regard John Leigh’s behavior as inappropriate and unprofessional. His disregard for guests, attendees, and staff is an embarrassment. As the experiences of other lolitas with Anime Matsuri come to light, we felt it necessary to show our support of this petition.

The Collective attended Anime Matsuri this year, and experienced a few issues with the purchase and planning of our booth. Unfortunately we do not plan to returning in the foreseeable future until drastic changes are made.

September 2014, the Collective purchased a booth space through Eventbrite. We had listed our booth choices, but given the nature of how quickly space fills up, we inquired about the location immediately after purchase. The fashion area was clearly demarcated, and while we wanted to be near that area, we know that we would not have a conflict of interest or draw customers away from the brand booths. Our previous convention experience has proven this to us. We were met with rude resistance to our space choice, even questioning our participation in the convention. AM insisted that we sell in the Artists Alley, not in the fashion area, or simply receive a refund and not vend at all. They left us up for review by the directors of the convention on whether or not we could even participate in their convention. We submitted a list of brands and continued to email even when hearing no response. Finally our space was agreed upon, but not confirmed, leaving us uncertain until the week before the convention if we actually would be attending or not. Our experience was rude, but mild compared to those shared by others. We are very fortunate to not have had too awful of an experience, but we understood that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

We are truly humbled to assist Chokelate in selling the Lockshop Wigs stock. We are incredibly grateful that this experience has allows us to work with her. She is very brave to come forward in exposing John’s harassment and unprofessional conduct. We know this is no small feat and we applaud her courage. The community is very lucky to have such strong and courageous members as business people.

Kate Davis (girlyhoot) and Buttcape (as well as several other lolitas) has also bravely shared her story of Anime Matsuri. The continuing series of poorly-planned and disorganized events shows a lack of integrity that we at the Collective can simply not endorse nor participate in.

The Lolita Collective began as a way to bring unique and quality pieces to the lolita community and support those who wear this fashion, and related J-fashions. We have grown so much in such a short amount of time, all thanks to those who have supported us, purchased from us, and worked with us. It is only through the community and support of other passionate lolitas that we have come this far. We take pride in our community that has supported us for so long, and has brought us to where we are today.

Thank you!

Original post on Facebook: HERE