Countdown to Comic Con

London Comic Con is being held at ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre on 22-24 May 2015, and I’m planning to go on Saturday 23rd.

I’ve not been to a Comic Con before, and I’ve not tried Cosplay before either, so naturally I had to dive in head-first and do both at the same time. 🙂

I’ve long liked the aesthetic of Lolita fashion. If you’re unfamiliar with this style (and many are), then your mind will doubtless be influenced by the controversial book and film of the same name and might therefore think that this is somehow seedy or unsavoury. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it has absolutely nothing to do with that whatsoever – it’s very unfortunate that they share a name and hence tainted by association.

Lolita fashion is a fashion subculture originating in Japan that is based on Victorian-era clothing, and far from being seedy is actually quite chaste and formal. There are a variety of subsets including, amongst many others, Sweet Lolita (of which, in the cross-dresser community, the Sissy look is an extreme form), Classic Lolita, and Elegant Gothic Lolita (EGL). What I have in my mind is a mix of Classic and EGL.

Just as with the lighting for Project Reorganise, I did a lot of research and drew up a shortlist of candidates. Here’s a collage of some of them, but there were many more than this that I rejected.

After an awful lot of indecision and mind-changing, I eventually settled on this dress and have ordered it from Milanoo.com. It’s coming all the way from China and, since they are made to order, you can specify your size so it has a very good chance of fitting me. I hope it arrives in time! The delivery estimate is well before Comic Con but even so I will be nervous until it actually arrives. Especially since I have only had automated replies from them so far.

I also found a Cosplay dress on eBay by Avery Dance that looked sort-of ok and was a fraction of the cost, which I have ordered as a backup in case the proper dress doesn’t arrive in time. And, if neither arrive in time, then I will just choose one of my existing dresses and do my best.

I plan to wear my rather extreme Doc Marten stiletto boots, which is what will push the outfit into the EGL area of things.

I’ve yet to accessorise the outfit, but I think some lace gloves and some kind of hair bow or fascinator will probably be the way to go. I still have 4 weeks to choose these, but I need to start looking into them soon. Milanoo did have some nice accessories but I felt that they were a little expensive and that I could source something in the UK directly without the danger of import duty and the like.

I’ll post an update nearer to the time, once everything has arrived and I have put the outfit together.

Finally, the one that got away – I really liked this dress by the Japanese brand Mary Magdalene (link goes to a Japanese language website), but unfortunately it is not a current dress and I could not find a stockist for it.