21 replies to this topic

[SpecialK]

Hello everyone from little ol' Adelaide

We're trying to rally support before this thursday to try and get more Lolita & Japanese street fashion over here direct from Tokyo, as well as supporting our talented aussie designers!
We know there's a select few who would love easy access to the style by walking into a place to try stuff on as well as have their own ideas made up


So if you could find a couple of minutes of your time to help us out before Thursday 7th Aug 08.....please email:
kirsty.brunt@clear-concept.com
stating your full name, suburb and why you would support such a business in SA.


Thank you in advance!
K

[Metanoia]

What are you selling again?
I have no idea what you are trying to say/do here...

Also do I know you from any of the meets/AVCon.
Do you know any of the local Lolitas?

Edited by Metanoia, 05 August 2008 - 12:15 PM.

[SpecialK]

Not trying to sell anything...

We're asking for letters of support for a research trip designed to bring more of the Lolita & Japanese street fashion directly to SA keeping up with their current trends Our outcome is to provide easier access to fabrics, designs & patterns that people can come in and use for their own projects...especially those who find it hard to get online or unable to buy anything with credit cards etc.
You don't need to say much, but if you think having somewhere to go in Adelaide that helps cater to many different aspects of the Japanese culture esp. the youth fashion, materials & patterns then please send us a letter of support. This is very important to us and we only have a few days to get everything together!

We'd like to see an increase in the popularity of cosplay & jap street style and help grow the network of people interested within SA and Australia wide (its about time Australia had a team to send over for the world cosplay summit!)


***There is no profit being generated from this*** its all for the community Plus were looking for more talented people to get involved helping others who have a passion for anything Japanese!!

[SpecialK]

oh....and were looking to have instore access to all the magazines so people can come in for inspiration!! I know they're pricey but sooo worth looking at!!

[Metanoia]

We have instore access to the magazines in Adelaide at Shin Tokyo and Pulp Fiction, plus the girls that buy them regularly bring them to meetups to share. We also have Kanga Kanga in Melbourne, Kinokuniya in Sydney, etc.

We have access to the clothing via importing our own bits, trying on each others things, being aware of our sizes and one of the local girls already has our full support in importing garments and starting her own business.
We support our friends without credit cards via group orders within SA and interstate.
We also have access to patterns via these magazines - patterns that are contributed from the brand name companies themselves.

Do you know very much at all about Lolita and Japanese street fashion?
Have you actually attempted to contact anyone who would actually be interested in this.
Do you actually get involved in Lolita fashion yourself?
Outside of Japan, unless you are involved in the fashion I believe it will be unlikely for you to find the support that you seek. I recently spoke to the woman who owned Chapel Gesture on Rundle St who said she was closing it down due to lack of interest in this state - she sold alternative clothing and had a little sampling of Fru!ts Fashion.

Considering AVCon was less than 2 weeks ago I am surprised that you did not attempt to meet the local lolita girls, go to the panel, see the fashion competition, etc. I am also surprised that you have not attempted to get involved with the local community if that is where your interests lie as we have been having regular lolita meetups since 2006.

I have not seen your passion for lolita in this enquiry - further no brands, products, etc are actually mentioned.
What are you trying to achieve? What are you actually targetting as you also mention cosplay... Are you aware of the huge difference between cosplay and lolita?

Where is your passion for "all things japanese"? That is very broad.

If your aim is to import ("bring more of the jap street fashion to SA") items, then profit will be generated from this post. If this is the case then please write a proper press release that clearly states your aims, what products you would be targetting, etc as at the moment there is *nothing* to support.

Though again I am surprised that you seem to be jumping off the blocks with no contact with or consideration for the already established group of lolitas and japanese fashion enthusiasts within SA. If you do not know what you would import and that is why it isn't listed then you need to go and do some research.

[Alison]

Considering Lolita is a Fashion and NOT a costume maybe this would be better proposed on the actual australian lolita forum, instead of a costume community? Not many lolita's frequent or even have membership to this forum.

Also I would suggest in future that you give yourself and others sufficient time as to this kind of request; three days is is kind of saving it until the last minute.

Another suggestion would be for you to make yourself known a bit more in the community before posting things such as this and upon my first reading your post, I felt it rather suspicious and also I had no idea what you were talking about.

I wholeheartedly agree with with Metanoia with what she has said - she hit the nail on the head there.

Edited by Alison, 05 August 2008 - 04:58 PM.

[Metanoia]

Yes that was a bit in your face, but I feel it needed to be said. If you are looking to start up a business you have to be a bit more proactive and not expect everyone to fall over themselves when I don't know you from a bar of soap as far as the local Lolita community or the Australian-wide Lolita community goes.

Also

We'd like to see an increase in the popularity of cosplay & jap street style and help grow the network of people interested within SA and Australia wide (its about time Australia had a team to send over for the world cosplay summit!)

You are aware that Animania are having a comp about the world cosplay summit, right? So Australia will be represented there....

I would also like to hope that people are trying to *make* their costumes as opposed to buying them for that competition.

And... to reiterate Lolita has nothing to do with cosplay and I suggest you keep the two seperate because some people are very serious when it comes to keeping the divide between a "fashion style" that looks to regular people like a costume and "costume/cosplay" very seperate.

[SpecialK]

Ok...I think we all got off on the wrong foot here!
I am a massive enthusiast of the lolita and street fashions and very aware that cosplay is a totally different aspect of culture! I love both and even if I am new to the forums why cant you be more supportive of people interested in either styles.... the general topic of this section is cosplay and lolita fashions so perhaps they should be seperated into different headers if its that important??
I would have loved to have gone to Avcon but was in KI so bit hard to get there... Id also love to get to know more people in the scene at meet-ups etc. but with running my own business it's hard to find 2 seconds to myself....

As a background reference I am an established alternative designer including costuming etc. and have been officially working in my own business since 2004. I have a studio set up in the city now which we are slowly expanding to include many different types of sub-cultural fashion and designs, but our primary focus is getting young/emerging designers in here and supporting their talents by showcasing work and creating friendly networks between people interested in similar styles...plus having people come in who are interested helps fuel my passion where I can't get out much!

We are not looking at 'importing' anything from Japan, rather having things here which people can come in and use to assist in their own projects (as I said before) and help give access to those who have none. Not everyone goes to the lolita meetups and we've had very positive response from people so far who would like more information in Adelaide regarding Japanese culture.


We only found out about our trip yesterday and Im sorry for the short notice on getting our application together but we have to meet the Friday deadline.
I dont expect you to support us if you dont want to help others get involved in this culture. It was just a friendly post from a friendly person who loves the crazy Japanese

So.......if you feel like you want more people to get involved and interested in the same things you are then please send us a short email of support, if not we don't mind...

[Alison]

I would have loved to have gone to Avcon but was in KI so bit hard to get there... Id also love to get to know more people in the scene at meet-ups etc. but with running my own business it's hard to find 2 seconds to myself....

I do believe we had people from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney attend AvCon the weekend before last....

Come to think of it, I have a feeling about half of the people who attend avcon every year are from interstate....

[SpecialK]

No i mean i was on a family holiday that weekend....didnt really have a choice on dates :s

Edited by SpecialK, 05 August 2008 - 06:04 PM.

[wenz]

Ok...I think we all got off on the wrong foot here!

Hi just chiming in, and giving you the benefit of the doubt. However you need to be aware that as your only previous posts have been to mention items for sale or say that you take commissions, that this thread & post (which is at best ambiguous) may not be viewed as purely social.

Personally I would be cautious about writing a letter of support for something that I don't have enough details of and when I have no idea who it is going to be given to.

The internet & email it's very easy to mis-communicate ... especially when we don't know each other.

[SpecialK]

Yeh I know what you mean....We've been trying to cover different avenues for the business...hence why I registered in the first place, but the support is a community focused thing....im not sure how many times I have to say were not making money on this! It is purely research to try and give greater first-hand experience to other budding designers. We're opening doors without asking for anything but support so that Adelaide has something going for it.
Chapel Gesture might be closing due to lack of interest but what we are trying to do is explore every opportunity to keep interest going We're still new(ish) & def not ready to give up!!

[Metanoia]

Ok. What I understand from these posts:

You are not importing brand clothing from Japan
You are not interested in attending the local meetups with the girls that currently are into this fashion*

You are interested in selling magazines which we can already obtain locally
You are interested in selling other things which you cannot name which are straight from Tokyo, but not imported...
You are going on a trip to Japan

You have some sort of application you are putting together
But you cannot be specific about what it is you are actually trying to achieve and what support you are after.

Gotcha.

I still have no idea what you are trying to do here.

Why can't I be more supportive? You are doing a sales pitch (If this is in fact not a sales pitch then what is it and why is it a business talking about importing things from Japan?). Either give me something I am interested in, be constructive or take the criticism. I help drive the local scene and I am one of your potential customers. It is your job to make me want to help you, not to whine about me not falling over myself at your vague offer.

In fact in my post I gave you quite a lot of tips about things you should consider, questions for you to address, information about things we do locally. You took me as purely negative and did not pick out any of my suggestions.

Here is another tip from someone who has watched the Australian Lolita scene over the past couple of years regarding your "emerging designers". There are commissioners in Australia making Lolita clothes with varying success. If you are not in the scene then I believe you are destined to fail as "brand" means a lot to most Lolita's and that means Japanese brands.

Goodluck. But I don't think you listened at all to any of the tips that I tried to give you. You probably think I'm a bitch. I guess that sometimes happens when you tell it like you see it.

I think I will stick to the girls and our meetups and importing/making my own stuff.



* An assumption based on the fact that I have not seen you at a meetup or in any of the online communities nor did you ask for more information about the local scene.

[Alison]

Goodluck. But I don't think you listened at all to any of the tips that I tried to give you. You probably think I'm a bitch. I guess that sometimes happens when you tell it like you see it.

Bah not a bitch, just telling it like it is. I hate people who are all "thats a great idea" or "thats awesome" and don't mean it. fakeness is lame.

[SpecialK]

Ok. What I understand from these posts:
You are not importing brand clothing from Japan
You are not interested in attending the local meetups with the girls that currently are into this fashion* * An assumption based on the fact that I have not seen you at a meetup or in any of the online communities nor did you ask for more information about the local scene.
You are interested in selling magazines which we can already obtain locally
You are interested in selling other things which you cannot name which are straight from Tokyo, but not imported...
You are going on a trip to Japan
You have some sort of application you are putting together
But you cannot be specific about what it is you are actually trying to achieve and what support you are after.
Gotcha.
I still have no idea what you are trying to do here.

I am a designer. I am going to Japan for inspiration (as I am hopefully going to be part of MFW with my alternative designs) and to bring back items, materials & patterns (and hopefully very good contacts in the Japanese scene): Not for sale, but for people to come in and utilise for their OWN projects...doesn't cost anything to anyone but myself. This also goes for the magazines....not for sale as I know there are other places who sell them, but purely for people to come in and look at for inspiration. It is about network building and fueling my passion for Japanese culture.
I also said in a previous post that I would LOVE to come to meet-ups, but with working in my own business I barely have time to go home and sleep. This is my way to meet people and hopefully share experiences, tips & ideas with others.
I have not had a computer for quite some time so access to online communities has been somewhat troublesome for me.
I never said I was selling anything.
And we are looking for people willing to support a local hub where information can be found outside of sharing with friends.

Why can't I be more supportive? You are doing a sales pitch (If this is in fact not a sales pitch then what is it and why is it a business talking about importing things from Japan?). Either give me something I am interested in, be constructive or take the criticism. I help drive the local scene and I am one of your potential customers. It is your job to make me want to help you, not to whine about me not falling over myself at your vague offer.
In fact in my post I gave you quite a lot of tips about things you should consider, questions for you to address, information about things we do locally. You took me as purely negative and did not pick out any of my suggestions.
Here is another tip from someone who has watched the Australian Lolita scene over the past couple of years regarding your "emerging designers". There are commissioners in Australia making Lolita clothes with varying success. If you are not in the scene then I believe you are destined to fail as "brand" means a lot to most Lolita's and that means Japanese brands.
Goodluck. But I don't think you listened at all to any of the tips that I tried to give you. You probably think I'm a bitch. I guess that sometimes happens when you tell it like you see it.
I think I will stick to the girls and our meetups and importing/making my own stuff.

This is not and has never been a sales pitch...I have stated many times that I am not trying to make money or sell anything.
Anything I 'import' is purely for my own interest or style & im sorry if it looks like im whining...all we asked for was a letter which you appear to have no interest in doing so I dont no why its been made into such a big deal. Ive tried to explain many times that this is not for profit. It is purely my own interest and I have great success as a designer not a 'brand'.
I dont think your a bitch...I just dont think you read what Ive said properly.

once again...I would love to come to the meetups and actually meet everyone in person, time permitting. If anyone thinks that a permanent central local with FREE information, designs, ideas, patterns, influences is a good idea then please write us an email and thanks for your time.
I dont no why ive rubbed people up the wrong way with this...

[SpecialK]

Oh and I quickly wanted to add....that whilst I posted in a different topic saying I would make stuff for people, I would prefer to think of myself as a mother hen and help people make their own rather than make it for them. I know how happy I am when I complete something for myself and that feeling could never be matched by someone making something for you!!

[Metanoia]

Right. Well I am still not interested in writing a letter of support as I do not think you bring anything new to the lolita community. You can see all of what you speak of at a meetup and many of our girls now share clothes and magazines as I have said and meet casually outside of the organised meetups. Also you have not said anything to make me think this is not a business.

Be careful how you post... especially when this is your second topic and your only other posts on here were to sell things! 99% of your comments interpret to me like you are a business selling either clothing, your custom designs or some other part of your business. I don't seem to be the only one mis-interpreting what you are trying to say. Either this studio of yours is a business or it is a community group. If you are promoting a free service to this online community group then either stop trying to promote your business at the same time or promote your business and stop making it sounds like you are all about servicing the community and not about selling things at all. Your contradictions just look bad for you.

I would say you're not making sense anymore, but right from the start I think I made it clear that you weren't making sense to me.

If anything you "import" is purely for you... then join the club. How do you think we are all getting our Lolita stuff?? There is FREE information, designs, ideas, patterns and influences on the internet already and I can talk to people who have had a lot more experience with the fashion.

Why do you *need* this letter?
How will it benefit you?
I am extremely suspicious of your so called "goodwill help the community" offers and have asked you to convince me otherwise right from the start.
If you are supporting the community out of your own niceness then shouldn't your little community centre spring up of its own accord with invitations to come and see what you are offering instead of all this talk of your business/studio?

Further, while telling me I am reading your posts wrong you have been highly contradictory and continuously mentioned your business, studio and the fact that you are a designer obviously making things for people to buy throughout this post which according to you has nothing to do with selling anything... In turn I think you have not heard anything I have said in my posts. You have certainly missed my point on multiple occassions.

And now you have rubbed me the wrong way, mostly because it seems like you have not read anything I have written.
I think I have given you enough opportunities to tell me what you are trying to do and why you are after this letter.

Again I sound like a bitch which isn't a good start if you do decide to come to any of our meetups, but seriously... Maybe go away and work out what it is you are trying to do. If it is part of your business plan, write a press release. If it is unrelated to your business then come back later and start a new topic and stop talking about your business!

[SpecialK]

I have a business....BUT I am personally interested in lolita and cosplay etc. i bought it up because i have no chance to leave here and meet up with others. My focus is purely to further my interest in lolita etc. where I can not meet up otherwise. Im sorry, but every post I have said my intentions of the letter. if your not interested a simple no would have been fine, or no reply at all.
If I am using my business as a community hub as well as where I work, how can I not bring up one without the other?

No hard feelings, but for someone very interested in this stuff im feeling even more isolated and unwelcome than before.....

[wenz]

If I am using my business as a community hub as well as where I work, how can I not bring up one without the other?

No hard feelings, but for someone very interested in this stuff im feeling even more isolated and unwelcome than before.....

Ok, I don't want to fan any flames here. What you could have done differently was be very clear in your post that this is what you're wanting to do. Until this post, it hasn't been clear to me, and probably others. Without being told specifically that you want to use your business as a community hub it appears to others that you're trying to drum up business without being up front about it.

Can I suggest looking at your posts from the perspective of someone who doesn't know you and has no idea of your intention ... cos that's where those reading them are coming from. So as someone who doesn't know you, or your intentions we can only speculate on the details we've been given, which are quite limited.

We can all understand being short of time and full of ideas ... most costumers have been in that situation. (I know this is a lolita discussion, but it's in a costume forum/website).

I'd like to restate my earlier post ... I'm not comfortable providing a letter of support for something I don't clearly undersand and where it's use is so vaguely described? Is it being submitted to businesses, business associations, government departments or who??

If you're familiar with the lolita community, you'll understand that it can be quite volatile, and far more devoted to brand name than almost anything else I've ever come across.

You're probably feeling frustrated & misunderstood - as will others - so please remember that email & forum posts it can be easy to be misunderstood.

[SpecialK]

Its for a grant to go overseas. we only have 1 shot at it and was only given 4 days to prepare everything. I would personally love to see more to do lolita stuff here as do many people I know who are not part of the 'meet ups' and don't have the same social circles that are evident here.

Part of what we're going for is to gain further insight to the world of cosplay as I'm very keen to get into it myself. I might be a bit of a late starter to all this stuff but I find it all very fascinating and with a huge opportunity coming up early next year as a designer to showcase my work I really need the inspiration that a cultural trip would provide, not just experiencing photos online etc. Im very keen to learn how to make Kimonos and some of the traditional attire as well that you could not get anywhere else but the place they are traditionally from.

We hope to bring back things to share with people that are interested in this stuff too that don't have the same already existing networks avail. & hopefully bring more people together at the same time.

The original post (which i did go back and read, and yes I didnt write it particularly well) was just copied from other forums I am & that I am known in so I can see how it might have come off the wrong way to people that dont know me.



This is my last opportunity before everything gets handed in tomorrow, so if you are still unsure of my intentions then no need to respond but I think this would be a fantastic thing for anyone to have the chance to do & we want to bring back our knowledge to share. So once again....if anyone out there thinks that having extra info avail. in Adelaide please send me an email before 2pm tomorrow and thanks for your time!! kirsty.brunt@clear-concept.com