Angelic Pretty

Angelic Pretty Sweet Lolita Store in Harajuku, Tokyo

Angelic Pretty is the name of a Japanese fashion company specializing in lolita fashion. Angelic Pretty was created in 1979 under the name Pretty but changed to Angelic Pretty in 2001. Angelic Pretty sells an assortment of sweet lolita clothing: Accessories, coats, dresses, jumper skirts, blouses, cutsews, skirts, headdresses, petticoats and bloomers, shoes, socks, bags and more.

As well as the brand's popularity in Japan, Angelic Pretty is one of the most well known Lolita brands worldwide.

In 2008, the company opened an official English site to cater for their fast-growing foreign customers.

Brand Concept

Angelic Pretty is a sweet lolita brand, heavily influenced by the dream of little girls to become princesses. The official brand concept from the English website is as follows:

The Angelic Pretty line-up offers a cute, Lolita-like fashion style, enchanted to make a girl's dreams come true.

Angelic Pretty provides adorable clothing covered in lace, frills and ribbons like that of the fairytale princess you dreamed about as a little girl. We want girls to never lose sight of that dream. And this is a brand for girls who want to keep that dream alive.[1]

At Cosplay Oneesan's Event "Yumemiru Musical Paradise", Maki and Asuka (see below) were further interviewed about the concept of Angelic Pretty, elaborating on the use of the colour pink. They said that they try to use the colour in as many ways as possible and change it with the season, the fashion trends, with the over-all aim to make it pretty. When asked about the story of the designs, both designers were reluctant to respond, since it is up to the girls that wear the clothing to write their own princess story.[2]

All Angelic Pretty stores are decorated almost exclusively with the colour pink, which further shows the brand concept's connection to this colour and underlines the references to fairytale princesses.[3]

Stores

Angelic Pretty's main store is in the department store Laforet in Harajuku (Tokyo), but there are also currently stores in the cities Shinjuku (Tokyo), Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Utsunomiya, Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kanazawa, Fukuoka, Okayama and Sannomiya. There is also a store in Shanghai.[3]

At Cosplay Oneesan, Maki and Asuka stated that Angelic Pretty wishes to open a store in the United States.[2] On October 4, 2010, the Angelic Pretty USA website was launched, and a public announcement was made that an official boutique will be opened in San Francisco's Union Square district in the month of November 2010.

The store was opened on November 20, 2010 at the address of: 15 Kearny Street, San Francisco, California 94108 USA.[4] This store is a combination store with Harajuku Hearts. Half of the store sells Angelic Pretty brand items and the other half sells Harajuku Hearts items. Harajuku Hearts sells other Lolita style clothing and accessories from brands such as Enchantlic Enchantilly, Atelier Pierrot, Black Peace Now, Sex Pot Revenge, and Putumayo.[5] The store is decorated to show the contrast between the brands. On the left half of the store are the more gothic and punk brands of Harajuku Hearts and on the right are the sweet pinks and pastels of Angelic Pretty.

In Paris, an official Angelic Pretty corner opened in 2009, definitely becoming an official Angelic Pretty store in 2010. It closed in 2013, after the annual Paris Tea Party, in July. Now, each year, Angelic Pretty opens a pop-up store in Paris for a few days, in July, and hold a Tea Party.

Maki and Asuka

Two of the designers which have made themselves well known throughout the lolita community are Maki and Asuka. They have appeared at the American event PMX hosted by Cosplay Oneesan during November 2007, and Cosplay Oneesan's standalone event "Yumemiru Musical Paradise" in 2008 where a designer panel was held, and a recreation of one of the Japan Angelic Pretty stores.[6][7]

Maki and Asuka appeared at Oneesan Inc's Gothic and Lolita event "Fantaisies dans le Monde des Rêves" on May 28-31st 2010 In San Jose California along with the designers of Chantilly, Atelier-Pierrot, Vivcore, and Sweet Rococo.[8]

Maki is from the Saitama prefecture. She started working for Angelic Pretty in 2003 and is one of the main designers. She majored in Illustration from a vocational school. Before graduating she brought some of her art to Angelic Pretty to answer their ad and was offered a job, working her way through school. Originally she wasn't interested in clothing design as "you can't draw scenery on clothes, so I thought I would prefer drawing." She is in charge of designing socks as well as choosing the base cloth and thread.

Asuka is from Kanagawa prefecture. She started at Angelic Pretty in 2001. She is another of the main designers, however she also oversees all press work. She majored in Design during high school and entered a vocational school for clothing and accessories. Similar to Maki she answered an ad that Angelic Pretty had placed and was offered a job. She designs shoes, bags and parasols.

References

  1. ↑ "Angelic Pretty Official Web Site". Angelicpretty.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  2. 1 2 "Angelic Pretty Designers Maki and Asuka at Cosplay Oneesan". YouTube. 2008-12-27. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  3. 1 2 "Angelic Pretty Official Web Site". Angelicpretty.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  4. ↑ http://www.angelicpretty-usa.com/announcements/opening.html
  5. ↑ http://www.harajukuhearts.com/index.php?main_page=shippinginfo
  6. ↑ "Yumemiru Musical Paradise". Cosplay Oneesan. 2008-10-30. Archived from the original on 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  7. ↑ "Yumemiru Musical Paradise Event Welcomes Iconic Designers Angelic Pretty and Gothic Folk Duo Kokusyoku Sumire". Anime News Network. 2010-05-13. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  8. ↑ "Fantaisies dans le Monde des Rêves CM". Cosplay Oneesan. 2010-04-27. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-17.

External links

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