HYPER JAPAN 2012 Spring

HYPER JAPAN 2012 Spring will be jam-packed with stalls, areas and shows dedicated to one of Japan’s most exciting exports: amazing, inspiring, fun and colourful street fashion. Dress up in your finest and join the fun, including:

• Frills and Frolics Japanese Street Fashion Showcase: check out some brilliant styles on the HYPER JAPAN stage (Saturday 25 Feb from 14:00, Sunday 26 Feb from 11:00), curated by Pixie_late
• Interactive fashion installation by Memz
• Fashion stalls

Keep an eye out for all the details in this section, as well as regular features and reviews by our fashion coordinators, introduced below.

Meet Our Street Fashion Coordinators

Tania/ 'Pixie_late'

HYPER JAPAN’s fashionista Pixie_late is a well known London Lolita and founder of Frills & Frolics, the biggest Lolita meetup group in the UK. She has previously been on a celebrity panel alongside Misako Aoki and KERA's excecutive director at HYPER JAPAN 2010 and hosted a tea party event with Kanon Wakeshima in 2011. She has curated numerous Lolita fashion shows in the past including The Barbican and this February will be putting on a 'Frills & Frolics Japanese Street Fashion' show for HYPER JAPAN 2012 Spring. Check out her regular reports, interviews and reviews on the latest Japanese street fashion trends which also includes her own style choices!

Emma/ 'Memz'

Emma is a Fine Art Sculptor, full time London Lolita who has been in the fashion for 3 years. She is also the co-founder of Frills & Frolics. Her art is heavily influenced by surrealism and Japanese culture as well as her own personal experiences. Her last public installation was a Sweet Lolita tea party on South Bank with sculptures of fake candies and cakes made from wax, polystyrene and plaster. She will showcase a surreal, over-the-top medical Lolita theme in her next installation at upcoming HYPER JAPAN 2012 Spring, which will be more visually impressive as well as being her most ambitious Lolita artwork to date!

Mel Philippides

Mel fell in love with lolita fashion ever since she met lolitas in Harajuku, and has been wearing lolita fashion regularly for three years now. Active within her local London community, she likes to involve herself in J-culture and J-fashion events, regularly modelling gothic lolita in particular. This year, Mel will be modelling Gothic Lolita fashion on Frills & Frolics fashion show wearing her stunning red and black piece by Alice and the Pirates, so watch out for her on the main stage on Sunday the 26th! She is also an organiser for the Lolita Bring & Buy stall at Hyper Japan which will be on both Saturday and Sunday.

Mary-Ann Russon

Mary-Ann Russon is one of the organisers for this year's Lolita Bring & Buy stall. She's a London-based journalist, photographer and web designer who is instinctively drawn to anything creative, alternative and quirky. A self-confessed geekette, she writes about technology by day, while fulfilling her obsession with Victorian and Regency England by night. She loves to dress in Lolita fashion and explore country houses and period buildings. A little princess at heart, she also cosplays as "hime" characters (anything from Disney princesses to Japanese anime) in her spare time. She will be on the stalls on Saturday and Sunday so be sure to give the stall full of frilly goodness a visit!

Reina Osumi

For as long as I remember I've been interested in Japanese fashion, in particular Lolita fashion but it's only until around 2 years ago after I saw a Lolita fashion show at the Barbican (organised by Pixie_late) I became inspired to wear it regularly. I had no idea that there was such an active Lolita community in the UK and soon after became more involved within the community. I now regularly attend meet ups and events, and have taken part in 2 fashions shows (and will be taking part in this years HJ fashion show modeling Otome style) I will also be helping organise the Bring and Buy stall at HJ on Saturday and Sunday. I love all things cute and girly, in particular am drawn to prints with cakes, sweets, tea cups, deers and bears! My favourite Lolita styles are Sweet and Classic style and more recently Otome style. Otome-kei appeals to me as it has a romantic and girly aesthetic without the strict guidelines Lolita fashion has and can be worn day to day.