Baby, Usakumya-chan shines bright

Last Saturday, February 10th 2024, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, had their official New York Fashion Week debut thanks to the Global Fashion Collective. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is, together with their sister brand Alice and the Pirates, my favorite brand since, to me, they are the epitome of Lolita fashion. The GFC, besides being the sister company of Vancouver Fashion Week, is a platform dedicated to helping designers increase their global presence, international exposure and open new markets, as written on their website. This is why every year they showcase different designers from all over the world during New York, London, Milan, Paris and Tokyo Fashion Week. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright was one of the sixteen other designers that got to show their collection, with Noriyuki Misawa having a place to exhibit his beautiful wearable and non-wearable shoe designs (it's his name that we see projected at the start of the show). Of course I was thrilled when I read the news in December. Naturally I didn't receive an invite, nor did I buy a ticket, but when it was time to see the show I was almost vibrating. Unfortunately I had to curb my enthusiasm since the stream on YouTube never started and the fashion show didn't lend itself well to Instagram Live. Luckily they uploaded a video the day after for all to enjoy.

What I mainly noticed is that the models were taller than we're used to from fashion shows by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. This is because these models were picked by the GFC so they adhere more to Western modeling standards than East-Asian standards. I don't want to think about the logistical mess they'd have to deal with if they didn't just accept the models provided by GFC (I also don't want to talk about the discourse on this in the YouTube comments). Naturally, this did not divert attention away from the beauty of the garments shown by the brand. I've already fallen in love with the dress the very first model was sporting: Robe à la Française (it's officially been added to my wish list). I was happy to see that they were planning on doing a rerelease of this set this year. Even the second model got me fawning over the Cinderella OP again, because it had gotten a rerelease this year limited to Japan. So maybe I can get it this year? 

Robe à la Française by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Cinderella OP by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

After this I'd noticed a pattern: these all seemed like dresses Usakumya-chan, their mascot, got to wear as well over the years of the brand's existence or that were themed around her. I'm sure I wasn't the only one noticing this. The brand had actually announced this in their introduction on the website of the Global Fashion Collective: "At NYFW, we will be presenting a collection that includes archives that represent the brand, centering around these new releases." So that's why we only got to see a couple of new releases. Of course, I could be wrong about this since I don't have all of their collections memorized. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Usakumya Robe à la Française and Kumya's Cinderella OP & Ribbon Headdress Set by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Usakumya-chan is a bear wearing a bunny ear hood. She's the brand's mascot since the release of the Usakumya rucksack in 2005. This release included a black version named Usakumya Boy. Usakumya-chan didn't get her signature look until 2007 when the brand opened their first oversees flagship store in Paris. It is, however, often overlooked that before this release Baby, the Stars Shine Bright had already brought out the Usakuma rucksack in 2001. A year later a new version of the Usakuma rucksack was released which had the famous removable bunny ear hood (if you want to see it in full action, check out Novala Takemoto's video on Instagram). The same year they also published a sewing pattern for Usakuma-chan in Gothic&Lolita Bible Vol. 3. Funnily enough people confuse Usakuma-chan and Usakumya-chan while they're actually entirely different beings. I have come up with quite the wild story myself fantasizing that Usakuma-chan is Usakumya-chan's long lost love that she dreams of marrying while wearing a Mariée de Kumya series dress.

Mariée de Kumya ♡ ~Mille Tendresses~ by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Mariée de Kumya ♡ ~Cœur Scintillant~ by Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Even with my self-proclaimed beautiful love story for Usakumya-chan en Usakuma-chan, in 2012 the brand had decided to change her story entirely (oh, the misery!). That year's mook had a little segment on their mascot (see bottom right), titled I love you, Usakumya-chan, in which they shared that "Usakumya-chan refined her style everyday to become who she is now." I would like to thank Apple Tea/Salad for uploading it to her Tumblr otherwise I wouldn't have gotten to download the mook. It also tells the adorable story on how Usakumya-chan got her bunny ear hood (see top left). You can find also find my translation in the picture below the scan.

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright's first brand mook, page 33 (2012)

This Sunday, February 18th 2024, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates are doing another fashion show in Tokyo. It is no secret that I'm very much looking forward to these brands showcasing their newest collections. My wallet has already prepared itself by stocking up tissues (Usakumyafied of course) because it will be crying a lot this year. Furthermore I'm also looking forward to Hiroko Tokumine showcasing her collection at Paris Fashion Week next month. However, she does require some more funding to ensure she can make her dream collection and fashion show come true. So if you can and want to support her you can do so by purchasing one of these items on her online store, including tickets for her show in Paris. Since their first collaboration was with Victorian Maiden at NYFW in February 2023, which got the brand featured in Vogue México y Latinoamérica, I'm very happy the GFC is proudly working together with Lolita fashion brands so more people can enjoy it.

Thank you, and take care.