For the second year in a row, the j-fashion community of the San Francisco Bay Area was invited to enjoy the grounds and gardens of the historic Filoli House, nestled in the rolling hills between San Francisco and San Jose. Bay Area Kei was asked to put on some themed programming, and obviously, EGL fashion fans are always down to take pictures of their cute clothes in a gorgeous setting.
The event in included an information booth about Japanese alternative fashion, a small vendor hall with local j-fashion brands, a bow decorating station, and lawn games including croquet. Bay Area Kei also invited a photography team to document the event.
The day started at 10 am with a group photo that no one attended. Look, lolita fashion fans are many things, but punctual is not one of them. I arrived with my friend Emma at around 10:30 and said hello to the vendors and our info desk workers.
Vendors
Our vendor hall was located near the cafe, which meant that it had healthy foot traffic from both EGL fashion fans and people enjoying their trip to Filoli. Vendors included The Black Ribbon, Atelier Profane, My Morning Tea, Molly Moonflower, Lea Tanuko, Kaet Shop, and Night Whisper Lolita. We were very excited to have familiar and new faces at this event!
Info Desk
While the Filoli estate includes both a large mansion and additional out buildings, our info desk was located out in the “garden house,” a mostly glass structure with gorgeous views of the garden. It was also centrally located so most people who visited the gardens found us! Unfortunately, in true Bay Area fashion, the day was overcast and chilly, with a brisk breeze that kept us pretty cold the whole day. Next year, we’re definitely packing gloves and handwarmers! We made lots of trips to the cafe to get warm drinks.
Our info desk had a selection of j-fashion magazines and helpful members of BAK who were there to direct people to activities, answer questions about the fashion, and generally be ambassadors of j-fashion. I personally had delightful conversations with many guests. throughout the day. They were all delighted by our outlandish outfits.
Arts, crafts, and SPORTS
The info desk was located right next to bow making. We weren’t sure what to expect with this activity, but it proved to be wildly popular. By about 3 pm, we were completely out of bows. While we had suspected that the craft would mostly attract children, we had kawaii cuties of all ages who enjoyed decorating bows.
My personal favorite activity was learning to play croquet. One of our attendees brought her mom to the event, who turned out to be a very good croquet player and taught a group of us how to play. I’ve definitely used a mallet to hit the balls around a lawn before, but I did not know the rules, cut throat tactics, and genuine strategy to the game. I emerged victorious from the single game I played, and it’s’ definitely an activity I would love to add to future picnics.
Photo Ops
Probably the most popular activity was simply taking photos of coordinates. Bay Area Kei’s photography team took more than 3,000 photos! Of course, plenty of attendees relied on their own pro skills to take stunning photos on their phone. It was hard to take a bad photo among the blooms.
Side note, while our photographers do their best to take flattering, adorable photos of staff and attendees, there are also some truly hilarious shots that did not make the final album. If you want to see those, definitely follow members of BAK, because they’re the only ones who have access to those photos that ended up on the cutting room floor.
Foot traffic died down as the sun started to set and we moved the info desk from the garden house next to the vendor hall. I think everyone was very glad to be out of the wind. By 4:30, we closed up the vendor hall. Everyone was packed and in their cars by 6. Even with the chilly breeze and scattered showers, BAK logged this as another successful event!
