Banana (for Scale)
Shopping online can be a struggle. I know I personally am particularly bad at figuring out how big something is or isn’t from the photos and/or measurements, and so many lolita items have to be bought online because in person sales are so rare. This past weekend I attended Fanime in California and had the luxury of being able to see a bunch of things in person to see their actual size. Now, I’m American, and we all know that Americans will use anything else except the metric system to measure things. Which brings me to this month’s Bibliotheca theme: Banana (for scale).
I bought Bananas before I left for Fanime with the full intention of making a totally different post. And those bananas turned black and became banana oat muffins which we brought with us. In our suitcase. Across the country. To California.
And, I kind of just gave up and thought well, maybe I’ll manage it when I get back home.
And then I was sitting in my hotel and I thought: WAIT. I saw bananas in the hotel store earlier that morning. So, I went down at like 10pm to the Hotel store and lo and behold… Bananas.
This was the same hotel store where I spent just under $5 USD for a single person size bottle of diet coke.
And I thought…
$2. Two whole United States Dollars. For one (1) Banana. But, hey, I had a need for a banana. So, I bought the most expensive Banana I’ve ever paid money for in my life, and promptly labeled said banana so my hotel roommates did not eat my stupidly expensive banana.
The next morning I had a mission: Get as many scale photos with my banana as I could. I marched over to the Jfashion building and went to work.
I started off at A. Gato Designs where I put the Banana with it’s delicious relatives. They had a delightful selection of food hair clips including Watermelon slices, Fried Chicken and a whole hot dog.
These clips matched with their new picnic series which they showed in the pop fashion show.
I don’t think this series is up on their webshop yet, but I’m sure they will be up soon.
A. Gato Designs also has some absolutely massive head eating headbows.
I particularly liked the lace on the black and white one on the right.
Back over at Belladonna where I was helping out this weekend, we had a variety of new rectangle headdresses. Fun fact, some of the solid color fabric in some of these is vintage from my grandmother who has been making quilts since the 1970s. She let us pick any solids we wanted from her (huge) lovingly curated fabric stash last month, as she doesn’t think she will make any more large quilts. So those pieces contain an extra little bit of love. She was delighted by the idea of the fabric getting used and bringing joy to others.
The star print one above is a barrette, and perfect for those who want a cute hair accessory, but don’t want the pain of a headband. These items are new and not yet on the shop, but you can DM them on Insta about any items not listed online.
Clamy Heart had these very cute (and surprisingly roomy!) bags with frog x mushroom and lavender x plaid prints that were super cute. The bags are also pretty deep, making them both cute and practical!
Aren’t these fruit-y earrings from Morning Tea just the most fun? I ended up buying a pair of the double cherries in the second row, but the citrus slices were very tempting too!
Their webshop is closed still from the event as I’m writing this, but you can check out their Insta for more photos of their super cute stuff.
This delightful rabbit print bag is from cottonbook, and behind the bag you can see a selection of their other custom textile prints, which I believe were examples of some of their shirts. I always love how restful their artwork feels.
I don’t think this particular bag is online yet, but they do have their larger ruffle tote up, which you can see side-by-side it on Insta.
Next up was Halcyon Dollhouse! Halcyon Doll house had this beautiful apple necklace with a surprisingly large apple that had a really nice weight to it.
Regretfully, I didn’t understand in the moment that this was a combined table, and I didn’t get any photos of the items from the other brand at the table, Caliko Studios, but you absolutely should check them out because their stuff was super cute!
Hello x Mari is a brand with an exacting eye for detail. This is one of their larger necklaces, and it features hand-done embroidery of a lovely bouquet of lavender.
I picked up a smaller one in a tiny little embroidery hoop which featured a basket of strawberries to wear with my Pink House collection and I’m super excited to wear it.
Their webshop is currently offline, but they have an active instagram you can follow for updates.
Forest Girl Clothing had an absolutely delightful array of things that featured embroidery, but I was particularly taken by these Strawberry hair bows which were just so cute.
I ended up buying a barette set and a pin with the same little strawberry on them to wear with my pink house clothing, but these bows were just absolutely the most darling thing.
Changing direction entirely, I also was able to get some great scale photos of these items from MintyMix! On the left we have their Pastel Worms Border Socks, which are absolutely delightful. My girlfriend owns a pair of these and they are durable and great quality socks. Next is a scale image of the print on their Tiny Celebration Worms Button Down Shirt. I also snapped a quick photo of some of their cabochon rings, which are not in the webshop.
Sugar Star Cafe had so many cute things but I think my absolute favorite was this little guy. This is their Magic Worm Bag.
He’s currently available in the crayon colorway, which is more primary colored, but I don’t see this specific colorway on the webshop.
This friend from fancy love club is everything you could ever want in a pastel panda.
He’s also currently on sale for just $30 on their webshop which is incredibly reasonable for an indie plush.
If you like him, but are looking for a more clothing-type item, they also have a really nice sweater featuring a purple and white puppy charecter that is also just absolutely too cute for words.
This long leggie friend is from Ugly Plants and he’s a backpack!
He’s really large and at $40 at the event he was also really reasonably priced given that he’s an indie plush backpack!
I really love his little bow tie and his blushing cheeks. He just really has so much character.
He doesn’t seem to be on the webshop right now, but they have an Insta you can follow and maybe check back later to see?
This sweet plus star keychain is from precious bbz and I can not emphasize enough how cute their plush are. This friend isn’t on their shop at the moment, but they have a bunch of other cute plush listed.
I also have their Yee Haw Pals stockings and they are so super cute, I can’t even cope.
Thanks to The Black Ribbon, there was also a selection of items from several additional indie brands who didn’t attend the event in person, as well as some Japanese brands, including Metamorphose.
Up first from Metamorphose we have the Tulle lace head dress (pearl chain), followed by the Princess of Remembrance Half Bonnet which is huge, the veil on that is huge, and I had no idea how large it was until I saw it in person. Next up is a princess sleeve blouse from Meta. I like to joke when I wear the solid black one I have from them that I have filled lizard collar sleeves because their princess sleeves are like whole circle skirts. They are intense. This specific blouse is the Princess of Remembrance Blouse, which comes in straight and plus sizing. Last, but not least, a pair of ankle socks to show how full the lace topper is on the Raschelle lace crew socks. (I picked up an OTK version of these in cream).
There was the coolest selection of coffin shaped jewelry boxes from Raspberry Mazohyst at The Black Ribbon Booth as well.
Pictured here is the smaller RM Small Signature Coffin Jewelry Box in Black x silver, Red x silver & Black x Red and the larger RM Signature Coffin Jewelry Box (Vampire Edition).
From Eat Me, Ink Me, I got the opportunity to get up close to one of their Paper Doll print garments to get a scale photo of the print. This print is available as an OP and a JSK via the Loltia Collective Shop.
This delightful ‘lil friend is Melonpeng! He’s a melonpan penguin! He was super soft and a really nice quality plush with plenty of stuffing.
If you want to learn more about him, his Bio states:
Melonpeng is an east coast pengu. His favorite pastime is baking in the sun. Be it at the beach or his backyard, this boy loves to soak in the rays. Though native to New York, he frequently travels to California, seeking their beautiful beaches. Being slow to react and a bit of an airhead, he often gets into trouble. Despite that, he’s easy to warm up to.
Also from the Melonpeng brand is this absolutely fantastic bread bag. This is the Baguette Plush Crossbody.
It’s soft and so large in person and just absolutely gives the best kind of quirky bag vibes.
The Black Ribbon also had a variety of spoon necklaces from Midnight Springs in silver and gold colorways.
These necklaces are petite, but incredibly detailed.
Many of them had cute glittery paw print details that added additional sparkle.
Their webshop is currently closed, but if you end up at an event they are at, you should for sure check them out!
Romantic Serenade is a brand that was new to me, I don’t believe I’ve ever had the chance to see their work in person. They had a variety of hats. This straw berret comes in a bunch of colors and had a really nice casual summer vibe. While the pink wool pillbox hat is much more formal. I absolutely love this style hat, and if you do as well, you might be interested to know that they are made to order and available in a variety of colors. Lastly we have a closeup of the print on their Retro Neon Sign JSK for scale.
Molly Moonflower had a lovely array of crochet accessories as well as some other things like the floral accessories seen a few of these images. The little strawberries and mushroom in the center bottom were pins, iirc, and the little hearts were either pins or clips as well. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have a webshop, but you can follow them on their insta.
A number of attendees also helpfully contributed photos to show the scale of items they were wearing…
Check out this absolutely fantastic hat!
And of course, how could you know the size of a neant glass necklace without a banana (for scale)?
Did you know how large this Angelic Pretty Lyrical Bunny bag was in comparison to a Banana? Because I certainly didn’t!
And two people had these absolutely adorable cat bags!
And several wonderful attendees also helped me get general photos of a lolita or jfashion wearing person with a banana… for scale.
And of course, special thanks to Guy Ferrari who helped me get many of these photos by lending me a hand quite literally.
Also, thank you to all of the event staff who helped put on the Jfashion track at Fanime, and to everyone who participated.
Oh, and the banana? Did you know that Bananas get weirdly smooth after being handled by a couple dozen people, being hand sanitized and sitting in your pocket all day?
Because I can’t unlearn the feeling of that texture now…..
Bonus Banana Shenanigans…
p.s. I will be posting a fanime part 2 post in the near future, but I’m still editing the images from the elegant fashion show.