PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show [2015]

I ran into my friend Risu Kim at Tokyo Status the night before (album coming soon since this is batched with Cherry Blossom) and she asked if I’d be going to the dolldelight Fashion Show at the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival the next day. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it due to scheduling, but I’m happy I did. There were only a handful of outfits on display so it was a good thing I wasn’t late!

This year, they changed the layout to one of a more traditional catwalk. For the first time, the models walked off the stage into the audience to allow everyone a closer look at the outfits. It allowed me to get some nice (clear? lol) shots without too many heads getting in the way!

It’s my friend Risu Kim! Had just seen her the night before at Tokyo Status!

dolldelight likes to change up her models so here’s a face I hadn’t seen before!

EDIT: I can’t believe it’s actually my friend Ashi Chan! She looks so different! I even saw her the night before at Tokyo Status! :O

It’s dolldelight herself!

Did she seem me snapping, or did she just pause for effect?

There was a bit of trickery involved in this photo, as it’s actually a composite of two different shots. ^^;

Though the show ran a brisk five minutes or so, it’s always a pleasure to see dolldelight’s handiwork (as well as her lovely models, of course)!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and be sure to Like The Vault on Facebook, where I’m finally caught up through 2010! 😀

2015 04 19 Sun: PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015
PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show [2015]

PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015

Once again, PMX and Infotakus held a Cosplay Runway Show at this year’s Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival!

Tomoyo-chan was the returning emcee as a baker’s dozen showed off their cosplays in advance of the summer con season.

I believe the first cosplay was a Sailor Moon?

I have to say that I liked this cosplay very much!

These two were great! They kept mugging during the judging for Audience Favorite.

This cosplayer actually got into cosplay because of her kids! 😀

She struck so many cute poses it was hard to narrow them down!

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Kirito from Sword Art Online.

Although it was promoted as a Runway Show and all the participants got goodie bags, they also gave out prizes to the Audience Favorite. Here, MC Tomoyo-chan goes down the line to gauge audience reaction.

There was a pretty good turn out (either that or I just got there really, really late ^^; ) and everyone had a great time. Maybe one of these days I’ll stick around long enough to do some photoshoots!

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and be sure to Like The Vault on Facebook, where I’m finally caught up through 2010! 😀

2015 04 18 Sat: PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015
PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show [2015]

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015

The Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival is so close to where I am, but really haven’t been able to enjoy too much of it the past few years since I am (still) trying to finish off Looking for Miku. -_-;

The flower arranging (ikebana) exhibit gets prettier (and bigger) every year!

Did you know that Monterey Park is the Host Town for the Special Olympics World Games? Neither did I!

I always love checking out the PMX Anime Swap Meet!

It’s always neat seeing these up close, since they’re usually hung way up high for the Nisei/Tanabata Festival.

Italian ice and boba, what an interesting combination!

The Food Court and the Market Place are both held in the tennis court.

I wish I knew how I got these awesome colors!

The Ohana Polynesian Dancers are so popular that this was as close as I could get!

Happily, I was able to check out the Cosplay Runway Show on Saturday and the Fashion Show on Sunday (posts coming soon), as well as the PMX Anime Swap Meet on both days. Maybe one of these years I’ll be able to sample the food and watch the performances! ^^;;

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and be sure to Like The Vault on Facebook, where I’m finally caught up through 2010! 😀

2015 04 18-04 19 Sat-Sun: Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2015
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2015
PMX / dolldelight Fashion Show [2015]

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

The week after the Little Tokyo cosplay contest, Pacific Media Expo held a swap meet and another cosplay contest in Monterey Park. This one was co-sponsored by Kyodo System.

The contest started late due to this performance, but enjoyed the taste of the islands before my Hawai’i trip later in the month. ^_^ It also gave me a chance to check out the swap meet (again, since I was there the day before as well).

The area for the contest was covered; a great improvement over the Little Tokyo event, which was out in the open at high noon. I ran video for the actual show b/c I missed some cool stuff at the previous week’s LT contest. To see the actual show, go to my YouTube channel!

Caught up with some of the contestants after the contest. Here is Scout Trooper Sergeant Ace from Clone Wars/Call of Duty.

Very nice that it wasn’t crazy packed, as it allowed for picture-taking before and after. ^_^b Here is Irabu Ichiro from Kuuchuu Buranko (Psychiatrist Irabu: Flying Trapeze / 精神科医・伊良部：空中ブランコ) crossplay. I believe she won first place!

Edward Elric (female style) from Full Metal Alchemist.

See the full album at The Vault on Facebook, check out the videos on my YouTube Channel, and be sure to Like my main Fan Page on Facebook so you can be alerted to my return!

2010 04 18 Sun: Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

Cherry Blossom Festival of Southern California [2010]

Pacific Media Expo ran a cosplay contest co-sponsored by Japanese Language School Unified System (Kyodo System)’s Valley Gakuen on Saturday during Little Tokyo‘s last proper (as of 2014) Cherry Blossom Festival in 2010. I mostly only took pics of the cosplayers. ^^ Managed to get a video clip up on my YouTube channel but missed Haruka’s antics. 😦

Haruka from FLCL was cosplayed by my friend Sai Rei (before I met her)! Really wish I’d gotten video of her, she was rolling around (literally) on the stage and having a great time. She eventually won for Most Spirited or the like.

Oerba Dia Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII, which had just come out in North America. Quite a cutie! ^^ She came in first place in the contest. Well deserved — look at all that bead work!

Princess Garnet from Final Fantasy IX.

Most (if not all) of the entrants, including the wheelchair-bound Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in the lower left corner.

Stryyder from the Anime Expo Forums cosplaying Mushishi.

Another cutie, Simca from Air Gear. Second place winna!! It’s actually my friend Aoi Mizuno, before I met her! 😀

Award winners! Some of the pics I tried to snap of the awards portion got nuked b/c the girl in front of me decided to wave her Census 2010 fan instead of clapping. >.< Why'd she even have one of those; the census was already over by then, lol.

After the contest, a bunch of folks got together in front of the Japanese American National Museum.

Non-cosplaying cosplayers! ^^ j/k Not sure if they were performing, didn’t really catch too much else of the festival.

Obligatory loot post. Not too much loots this time, but it’s not every day you can find something like this Mahoromatic DVD set below retail in any B&M, let alone Anime Jungle. The clerk warned me there are no subs, but love knows no language. ^^

See the full album at The Vault on Facebook, check out the videos on my YouTube Channel, and be sure to Like my main Fan Page on Facebook so you can be alerted to my return!

2010 04 10 Sat: Cherry Blossom Festival of Southern California

dolldelight/J-Fashion Show 2014

I’m not sure if this is technically a follow-up to last year’s PMX Asian Street Fashion Runway Show at the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival, but I’m glad they held it on Sunday immediately after the Cosplay Runway Show instead of the day before!

As indicated by the title, this show featured both Japanese fashions as well as outfits from dolldelight. The J-fashion portion kicked off with what looked like a very warm outfit. D:

Maybe it’s the crowd I’ve been hanging around with, but this looks almost like normal clothes to me. ^^;

The emcee was dolldelight’s Line Manager Ona, and I was happily surprised to see Tokyo Status‘ Stewardess Nora in the show!

So cute!

It’s my friend Porcelain Rapunzel! Hadn’t seen her in a very long time and was happy to be able to catch up with her a little bit after the show.

Hadn’t seen Luna Lovely since she did a quick scene for Looking for Miku back in November! Too bad this was the only good shot I was able to get. :<

Hadn’t seen Jessie in ages, either; I want to say AX13? :O

It’s my friend, Tokyo Status‘ Stewardess Stephanie!

dolldelight Line Manager Ona models the final outfit in the show.

Here are all the models from the dolldelight portion of the show!

Since the lineup of models usually changes for each show, I was happy to see some familiar faces as well as do a little bit of catching up afterwards with some friends! See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 04 27 Sun: dolldelight/J-Fashion Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014
dolldelight/J-Fashion Show 2014

PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014

PMX continued its new tradition of running a Cosplay Runway Show instead of a Cosplay Contest at this year’s Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival and enlisted the help of Infotakus to do it!

Tomoyo-chan was the host as twenty-four cosplayers strutted their stuff on-stage. I was able to get a much better spot this year, though some of my shots were still kind of blurry. ^^;

No idea what series this is from, but I want to say Magi for some reason.

Hey, this Luka was an extra in Looking for Miku!

Is that Luffy from One Piece with a Pokemon trainer?

I really love how the colors of her outfit and her wig complement each other.

She seems so cheerful!

So cute!

I love the chainsaw, haha.

So cool and bad@$$.

Whoa, blast from the past — Happy Tree Friends!

Interesting take on Free!; I think at least one of these cosplayers is also into K-pop since I recognize her from KCON and the Tune in Tokyo 5th Anniversary event!

It’s great to see everyone relaxed and having fun; most of them looked pretty nervous when they did their walk-ons. ^^;

See the full album on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 04 27 Sun: PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014
dolldelight/J-Fashion Show 2014

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014

Was only able to pop by the Cherry Blossom Festival in Monterey Park for a little while on Sunday since I was still busy editing Looking for Miku, but luckily they happened to be running both the Cosplay Show and dolldelight/J-Fashion Show that day! Was able to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while before I had to dash off, but hopefully we’ll get to hang out again soon!

I saw this lady in the audience enjoying the Cosplay Show; not sure if she was participating in something or if she just had a fan hidden under there, haha.

Poked around a bit after the Cosplay Show finished and before the dolldelight/J-Fashion Show started.

Hirofumi Kai always has these neat traditional dolls on display.

I’ve only really been in the Japanese American National Museum a few times, but at some point I’d like to be able to spend a full day there to check it out!

The flower arranging (ikebana) exhibit is always so pretty!

Glad to see the Tanabata Festival booth, since it means they’ll probably be holding their event during the Nisei Festival this summer!

I can usually find great stuff at the PMX Swap Meet, but this year I came away empty-handed. I’m sure my wallet thanks me!

Didn’t really get a chance to check out the food this year, but it smelled delish!

Thank you to the sponsors who make this event possible; it’s always a chill and fun time!

Look for albums from the Cosplay Show and dolldelight/J-Fashion Show soon [EDIT: links added!], and as always see full albums on my Fan Page on Facebook and check out The Vault on Facebook, where I’ve been posting events from 2009! 😀

2014 04 27 Sun: Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2014
PMX/Infotakus Cosplay Runway Show 2014
dolldelight/J-Fashion Show 2014

PMX Cosplay Runway Show [2013]

Before we kick things off with this week’s post, I just wanted to thank everyone who voted in the AX Cosplay Photography Contest! While we didn’t expect to win, we did manage to finish in the top 15, which means our picture will be on display at Anime Expo 2013! Thanks, you guys! ♥

PMX usually runs a cosplay contest during the Cherry Blossom Festival, but this year they did something different by making it a runway show instead! Everyone who strutted their stuff on stage was a winner and got to go home with a goodie bag.

Mikarin of Takeriya Samurai introduced the show!

After the Asian Street Fashion Runway Show the day before, I figured I should try a different spot from which to take pictures. I went to the side of the stage, and boy, was that a poor choice. Sunlight from the open door threw my camera’s metering all off.

The Jedi Knights are Japanese in origin; couldn’t you tell?

Met this Alice cosplayer afterwards. She was really young! :O Better photo in the Cherry Blossom post here.

I’ve watched exactly one episode of Pokemon, but I did play the board game once!

HMO version of Miku! Though her wig reminds me of Luka. xD; Better shot of her in the Cherry Blossom post also!

Wish I could’ve caught up with this Luka afterwards, I think she did a great job with her costume and I’ve always been more of a Luka fan anyway!

I… don’t know how I got the colors like this, lol. But I like them!

LOL Alice trying to protect Pikachu from Ash!

Here is most of the lineup!

It was a learning experience, that’s for sure. I’ll make sure I won’t be shooting into sunlight next time! ^^;

See more in the album on my Facebook, linked below!

2013 04 21 Sun: PMX Cosplay Runway Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2013:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2013
PMX Asian Street Fashion Runway Show
PMX Cosplay Runway Show
Lolita Photoshoot/Adventures

PMX Asian Street Fashion Runway Show [2013]

PMX sponsored an Asian Street Fashion Runway Show on the first day of the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival featuring fashions from dolldelight! Even though dolldelight herself was unable to attend, I was happy to see a few familiar faces in the lineup.

Since dolldelight couldn’t make it to the event, her representative was there for her.

It’s my friend Jessie! (She was Mirai Millennium at last year’s AX.)

My friend Risu Kim in a Spider-Man dress! 🙂 I didn’t even notice Spider-Man last year, lol.

I love all the different colors here.

My friend Kazumi Cosplay, with whom I went to Anime Conji the week before!

There were a few repeat outfits from last year’s show; it kind of made me miss my friends who didn’t get to model this time around!

Kazumi introduced me to Franie later in the day, and the three of us wound up doing a quick photoshoot!

I love this outfit! It has great colors and Marvel superheroes all over it!

Such a lovely red dress worn by an equally lovely model! :3

While I’d been invited to take participate in some photoshoots of the models after the show, I had to miss them since I was going to meet with a friend about some business matters. 😦 However, I did get to shoot with Kazumi and Franie later on! 😀 Pictures here!

See more from the Fashion Show in my Facebook album!

2013 04 20 Sat: PMX Asian Street Fashion Runway Show

Full Coverage of Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2013:

Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival 2013
PMX Asian Street Fashion Runway Show
PMX Cosplay Runway Show
Lolita Photoshoot/Adventures