Con Report: Anime Central 2014 Part 1

ACEN 2014: Lolita Con Report!

This year, I was very excited to go to Anime Central aka ACEN on May 16-18, 2014 in Rosemont, IL. None of my friends in the past were interested enough into anime & manga culture so I always went alone. Through lolita and the AMKE maid cafe, I made a ton of friends that I ran into during the convention! So happy to hang out and room with awesome folks.

ACEN is listed as the 3rd largest anime convention in the United States. This year they had really good guests, but as usual, they announced them super duper late. I was hoping that they would sponsor a lolita brand again, since Putumayo was making the convention rounds with Harajuku Hearts. However, they managed to book angela, Yoshitoshi ABe, h.NAOTO & sixh.ibi, Wake Up, Girls!, and Nobuo Uematsu & Arnie Roth for A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY concert.

Day 0

My roomies were setting up an artist alley table (btw you should check out cubecrazy2, he does fantastic original illustrations!) and since I didn't have a vendor badge, I couldn't help set up the Midwest Lolita Collective booth, which some Chicago lolitas created to support and promote indie lolita brands from around the world. There is a high-end mall called Fashion Outlets of Chicago, which is a 5 minute walk away from the convention center!!!  This was great news, as it boasted a food court so you won't starve. I got my badge mailed to me so I avoided Line Con ©.

Day 1

Friday was a super exciting day of walking around and visiting my friends working at the Midwest Lolita Collective booth. We had the annual Indie Designer Showcase aka lolita fashion show! I modelled for a Chicago designer and I was pretty happy that I got the qi-lolita outfit. You can view more pictures here!

Wearing Rina Cali, photo credit: http://photographybanzai.com/

My favorite designs of the night were from mossbadger! I love OTT classic...

Makes you think of royalty and Game of Thrones...

Me and my 2 other roomies also attended "A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY" concert. We woke up and got in line at like 5:30am since they were first come, first serve FREE tickets. I was super tired during the concert, but Nobuo-sensei made me energized again when we all gave him a standing ovation after he accompanied the chamber orchestra on keyboard. I definitely want to hear the bigger concert live in Chicago in August!

Snuck a pic of Arnie Roth talking in between songs!

Lolita snaps

A lot of Angelic Pretty, strawberries, and sweet!

First-time lolita wearing F+F, some girls from my comm, & another cutie!

More lolitas! Including real twinning & a fabulous coordinated couple~

Unofficial DDC day! XD

Midwest Lolita Collective

Midwest Lolita Collective booth at its finest~

Volunteer booth girls & designers!

I ended up buying an Innocent World parasol and Lily of the Valley (sakurafairy) sash from the Midwest Lolita Collective booth. Everything that was there on the racks or displayed on the table made me want all the things...

Cosplay

My favorite cosplay goes out to the Saint Oniisan Jesus-kun with his replica laptop!