Waku Waku +NYC Day 2 [Pic Heavy]

Hey y'all, I hope that had a wonderful Christmas or holiday if you don't celebrate it^^ I had a relaxing day with my friend at his apartment in Queens with his two cats Ali and Boom. I'm back to finish my adventures at Waku Waku +NYC.

Day 2
On Sunday, the first thing on our list was to attend a panel called Introduction to Manga and Anime Studies and it was really interesting. We both are writers (Tiff more so than me), so we figured it would be cool to go to a panel for a career or hobby we are interested in doing. Since I'm a big fan of the humanities (particularly literature) I spent a lot of my time reading in school and analyzing texts. I haven't analyzed manga or anime yet, but I think it would be something I could be potentially interested in doing. The panelists talked about looking at anime and manga under the same lens as film and other contemporary media. They discussed why such a field should exist and one of the reasons being that mainstream American pop culture has been influenced by anime and manga. You can see its influences in shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time to name a few. Putting these texts and films into context is a great way to explore why these influences exist. I wonder if one day the US will be like how it was in Blade Runner.

It's interesting that for manga and anime to be such a huge influence on American pop culture that there is no such thing in schools as an anime/manga studies major or minor. There are a few schools that has Comic studies as a minor. But students that want to examine Anime and Manga are usually studying it under a Japanese literature or film studies major.

The also pondered what is categorized as manga and anime citing for an example that Miyazaki does not like his work to be called anime. I had no idea he felt this way because he is often heralded as a major front runner to the popularity of anime in the West. His work is usually synonymous with the word anime. They also brought up shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and RWBY and how there are debates about whether or not shows like this can be considered anime. It was a really informative panel^^

After the panel we headed back to the Brooklyn Expo center to grab something quick before lining up for the Baby the Stars Shine Bright fashion show. We remembered how long the line was the day before for the PUTUMAYO fashion show and figured it would be even longer for Baby whose show we did not want to miss. What I grabbed to eat was so scrumdiddilyumptious like oh my word! I got a chicken katsu sandwhich from Katsu-Hama and my life was changed.

My First Sakura Matsuri | Cherry Blossom Love

I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather! I attended my first Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanical garden with Tiffany. I only attended on Saturday, but next year depending on the events I would love to go both days. Geek Girl Brunch was holding a Lolita themed brunch where we brought on our food. The weather started out a little chilly, but gradually warmed up as the day went on.

I decided to spend the weekend with Tiffany. It's also nice to kick it with her and relax at her crib. We got up and helped each other get our coords on. For some reason I always hate pulling things like dresses and tight garments over my head lol It's like I'll always panic a tiny bit midway through like I'm gonna get stuck lmbo Been doing it since I was a kid lol Tiff always thinks it's funny because it's the second time she's seen me do it haha One day I'll master it!

Our journey was very interesting compared to the last time we wore Lolita together for the Novala Takemoto meet up at Baby. It was a lot more positive not that we cared either way haha A lot of people gave us nice compliments. I had a few older black women tell me they thought I looked really nice. We did receive interesting comments, too haha A guy asked if we were attending a tea party, a lady walked past us telling us we were in the Parasol Society. It's interesting having people talk about you when you're right in front of them. It's like uhhh I'm right here lol

We arrived right on time at 10 for the meet up. Geek Girl Brunch was giving away a few free tickets, and Tiff was able to win one :)

Tif's coord

I really love her Innocent World dress! I checked out there website and I love pretty much everything they have. I'm hoping to buy a dress from them to make a country Lolita coord with me being a Southern girl and all. I gotta represent!

My coord

It was the first time I wore my coord from my lucky pack from Baby. I like everything, but I'm not  a big fan of the blouse. I'll be looking for a new blouse at AnimeNEXT to replace it. I'm also hoping to buy a new dress while I'm there^^

Meeting Novala Takemoto and Wearing Lolita for the First Time

Hello loves^^ January has flown by so fast; it literally felt like it was December yesterday. The one perk is that hopefully we can experience Spring weather soon. Earlier this month Tif and I found out that the Baby the Stars Shine Bright/Tokyo Rebel store in NYC would be having an event with Novala Takemoto. I'm super mad that I missed AKIRA when she came, so I def wanted to meet Novala. Being new to the Lolita fashion, I'm still learning, but I had already heard that Novala, Mana, and Misako Aoki are very revered in the Lolita fashion community.

I decided to spend the night at Tiffany's house on Friday after work so we got get dressed together. Her family's house is really warm and relaxing, and it was nice to meet her family members. Saturday morning we woke up a little late since the event wasn't until late afternoon. Boy, did we have some outfit shenanigans lol We changed outfits a few times due to fitting issues on both sides and were both semi-frantic and frustrated. Eventually, we both let the other know that the other looked fabulous. We both were just overthinking our individual coords but that the other looked awesome. It just goes to show that people tend to be hard on themselves. Tif is really the bomb, I'm so happy that we became awesome friends. My previous job was very toxic for both of us, but she is one of the best things that came out of it for sure.

We made it to the store around 3:15, 3:30 and luckily there wasn't a line which surprised us. Novala greeted us as soon as we walked into the door and shook our hands. He was very nice :) He even complimented me on my hair and took a picture of it on his cell phone.

We took a picture together and I got his autograph ^_^

Hatsune Miku Art Exhibition at Wallplay| Universal Positivity

Hey homies! It's getting super cold in NY, and I am not happy about it. It's almost time for me to take my Senegalese twists out and I'm debating whether or not I should put in another protective style. I may just ride out the rest of the winter by covering my hair with a hat. I can wear my bonnet underneath to avoid friction^^ #lifehacks lol

Back in October I had the chance to visit the Miku Expo at Wall Play. My boo, Tiff, was working there. So I decided to stop in and visit her. It was really cute inside and they had a cafe on the main floor. They also had this cute Miku Hatsune figure right when you came inside.

Upstairs they had merchandise you can buy; there were some really cute shirts up there. There was also a wall that people could draw on. I actually didn't know much about Hatsune Miku or the other vocaloids, so I really liked that they added a timeline and a short explanation.

♥︎Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Tokyo Rebel Store Opening♥︎

Hey! I hope everyone has been well. Work has still been crazy, but it's starting to calm down. I've been attending some events and visiting new places in the city, and I'm excited to share with you! Last month my boo Tiffany and I got to go to the opening of the Baby the Stars Shines Bright and Tokyo Rebel store together. 

I met Tif at Grand Central and she looked adorable! Her coord was really cute and well put together. Her accessories were super cute!

Her coord

I've decided that I really want to plan a coord, but since I don't know what style I want to do yet or haven't seen a dress that's out that has caught my attention, I would just rock a J fashion street style outfit. 

My outfit

A cute girl of color's mother asked if Tiffany would take a picture with her daughter because the girl liked her outfit. It was the cutest thing ever^^

Next, we proceeded to head down to Astor Place. I noticed the whole time that we were together most people were chill about her and would look at go about their day. There were a few people that were being a little extra about it -_- I'll get into that a little later. 

Frilly lady on the train^^

We decided it was probably smart to eat before we went to the opening. The opening was at 1 pm; I heard the day before that there was a special tea party earlier for people that bought tickets. We figured it would be smarter to eat before we headed to the store. We passed by Ippudo NY and decided to give it a try. Tif had eaten there before, but I hadn't had the chance and always wanted to try it. It's usually super packed at night, so I always end up eating somewhere else. We decided to try the Hirata buns, and they were delish! They were also super filling.

We walked to the store from there and got there right at 1. On the walk over a lady called to Tiffany to ask if she could take our pictures. She remarked that Tiffany looked like a strawberry parfait that came down from heaven. I had to snap a shot of its beauty. I love that purple and black coord in the window ^_^

Unfortunately, the line was down to the end of the block. We ended up waiting in line for four hours. When we left the line wrapped around the block and was longer than we we arrived. The other downside was that there didn't seem to be a time limit, so people were in the store for awhile. Also people were cutting in line. It wouldn't have been a big deal if it was a few people, but it would be like a group of ten girls joining another big group. I  had new flats on like a dummy and the back of my feet were killing me.

The upside was that we made friends with the girls in line in front of us :) They were wearing some awesome coords. Also, there were a lot of POC lolitas and that made me super happy. 

Kitty in her beautiful coord. We exchanged tumblrs and now follow each other :)

Another lovely Lolita

Us waiting in line

Tiffany's macaroon necklace^^

We finally got in around 4. I bought two magazines a KERA magazine and the Gothic Lolita Bible. I could not wait in line with my feet killing me and not get anything lol Tiffany bought a super cute dress.

Tokyo Rebel section

Ugh, I wanted this dress soooo bad! One day my friend you shall be mine >_<

I do have a mini rant to go on about people's reaction to Tiffany and the other lolitas in line in general. Tiffany told me that when she got on the train, she heard someone taking her picture. Also a girl gave her the rudest look ever for no reason. Honestly, people trick you into thinking that because NYC is a fashion capital people don't act weird about different styles. Sadly, that's not the case. There were people just taking pictures of the girls in line. Okay that's a little awkward, but some people got even more disrespectful by taking pictures of girls without their consent. One of the girls we made friends with said someone came up behind their friend and was trying to take a picture of her back. Like wtf?! How about you ask her if you can take her picture?! I saw another older gentleman that was trying to take a picture of a girl without her permission. She told him to stop and his comment was, "Why? You're dressed like that." She corrected him that she dressed for herself and told him to leave her alone. He then tried to stand across the street and take her picture. Tiffany did receive mostly positive remarks, but there were some guys when we left that were being super rude. He was just loudly talk shit about her right behind her back as we were trying to get a taxi. He didn't realize I was with her probably because I was dressed differently. I literally stared them down, and his friend noticed and apologized. Like why do you feel the need to talk about someone because of what they're wearing. Nothing is ever that serious. It doesn't matter what you think about it because it's what makes them happy. End of rant.

I would love to visit the store again when it isn't so crowded. We were pretty tired and just wanted to go home and crash afterwards. I had a lot of fun with her and can't wait to have more adventures with her! If you want to check her out you can follow her at @Ferenteeny on Twitter. Thanks for reading!