RuffleCon: An Upcoming US Alternative Fashion Conference

Have you ever ventured into something that's incredibly exciting, but also incredibly scary? That's exactly what happened over the summer with me and Christina of Ramble Rori. It happened as all big scary exciting things happen, while chatting on Facebook.

We were talking to a mutual friend about Lolita and anime conventions, and how a lot of anime convention are cutting out Lolita and other J-Fashion panels and events from their schedules. Our mutual friend from Germany, Tralala, is lucky enough to have a lot of large scale Lolita events and even Lolita conventions in Europe that she has the opportunity to attend, and after a bit of complaining from us about lack of any fun events (of course, this is outside of Frill! Which was unfortunately much to far for most of us in the Northeast to travel to) Tralala simply asked "Why doesn't someone start a Lolita convention over there?". At that moment lightbulbs probably flickered on over both mine and Christina's heads and we rushed to PM to discuss exactly why no one did and who should do something like that. After some serious consideration, and some really amazing dedication on Christina's part, lawyers were called, LLCs were filed, and RuffleCon was officially born.

So, what exactly is RuffleCon all about? After thinking about it for a bit, it was decided that a strictly Lolita convention isn't the way to go. After all, a lot of the people we wanted to get involved with building the event had a lot of different and amazing personal styles that were not necessarily strictly Lolita, so with that, we decided to expand RuffleCon to encompass other alternative fashions as well and decided we were really more of a conference, than what one typically thinks of when they think "convention". We wanted to provide out dream fashion weekend of shopping, fashion shows, stage events, and even panels. Our "big three" fashions are Gothic, Lolita, and Steampunk, but the list doesn't really stop there!

Just part of the staff for RuffleCon 2014!

I was lucky enough to go with Christina to visit one of the potential hotels to host the event at, the Omni in New Haven Connecticut, and we walked into the lobby and were blown away by the elegance of the place. The aesthetics of the hotel perfectly fit the shared aesthetics of the fashions we wanted our conference to represent. It was decorated in a very lush and inviting Victoriana style, even the panel rooms had wall sconces and chandeliers. It was about a million miles away from the white walls and abstract neon carpets of your average convention center. Connecticut might seem like an out-of-the-way spot at first, but the hotel that RuffleCon will be at is less than a mile away from from a train station that connects directly to Grand Central, as well as pretty much anywhere Amtrak (and a number of bus lines) runs!

We have an Indiegogo up and running to help fund this project and make it even better. While we currently have a fair share of guests, some extra funding can help add even more guests, as well as lowering ticket prices for attendees! If you want to help out even further, and are already making plans for RuffleCon, we're always looking for volunteers as well as people interested in presenting panels or other events. Even just helping to spread the word by sharing the Indiegogo link would be a fantastic way to help. The Indigogo page even has code for a widget for your blog's sidebar!

One of the biggest ways you can help make this event even better than it's already going to be is to donate to our Indiegogo fund! Check it out here!

So far, this whole project has been the making of a dream come true. It's seriously something that I know a lot of people have dreamed of for years. As scary as all of this is, it's really amazing to be a part of something like this! You'll definitely be hearing more about this from me, but in the mean time you can check out RuffleCon's website or facebook for more info!