Marie Antoinettes and Other Rococo Craziness at Royal/T
Categories: Events
Click on the photos for the Rococo Rendezvous slideshow.
So I went to Rococo Rendezvous at the maid cafe Royal/T in Culver City a couple nights ago. There was a lot of this action going on. The whole Rococo thing is a subset of the multi-faceted Japanese cosplay subculture, in which girls and girly boys dress up in the manner of Marie Antoinette and Louis XV (or maybe XIV? Or XVI?). You know, elaborate, puffy, bejeweled, beflowered pastel wigs and kabuki-white makeup. Enough frilly frothiness to power a thousand candy factories. What I know about Rococo, the 1730s France time period or the cosplay, is not a lot. But I can see the appeal. It's Shabby Chic before the shabbiness sets in. It's the icing on the cake... on a cake made entirely of icing. It's little songbirds who live out entire lifespans in gilded cages woven into your wig. For one night, the Royal/T cafe was Versailles in miniature, right down to the beautiful, popular courtiers in ballgowns working the center of the room to the awkward palace girls on the fringes worrying about the smartness of their dresses. Which only reinforces my feeling that Palace Versailles was the original high school experience. Though granted, while bloody, not enough high school experiences culminate in beheadings.
The evening was put together by these two vixens:
On the left is Camille Vergara. On the right, Mandy Ma. They are the editrixes of Zippercut, an alternative fashion blog/community/thingie. They look like flighty little socialites, right? But don't be fooled. Camille is a biochemist at Amgen. Mandy is a chemical engineer at Neutrogena. I kid you not! And they're both nice. Life is just not fair. Camille says she is not a Rococo specialist per se, merely enjoys the occasional fluffy dress and extravagant outfit. Ditto for Mandy. Both are cosplay veterans.
On the left is Camille Vergara. On the right, Mandy Ma. They are the editrixes of Zippercut, an alternative fashion blog/community/thingie. They look like flighty little socialites, right? But don't be fooled. Camille is a biochemist at Amgen. Mandy is a chemical engineer at Neutrogena. I kid you not! And they're both nice. Life is just not fair. Camille says she is not a Rococo specialist per se, merely enjoys the occasional fluffy dress and extravagant outfit. Ditto for Mandy. Both are cosplay veterans. They put together an outstanding evening of decadent photo sessions, performances by bands, DJs, itsy bitsy lemoncakes and salmon puffs, a Portaparty booth (basically a musical outhouse with a disco ball and an iPod hooked up to very loud speakers). The editors of the Gothic & Lolita Bible Michelle Nguyen and Jenna Winterberg arrived, and where they go, the Lolitas follow.
What else? Oh, I'd never been to Royal/T before. It's a good place. Plenty of this:
And this...
And this...
I urge you to take a look at the photos I shot from the evening, many of which are even in focus. The Japanese maid waitresses were more than happy to hold my Diet Coke ("Yes! Yes! Yes! Sure. Sure. Sure," they'd say) each time I had to put the glass down to take a picture.
And this...
And this...
I urge you to take a look at the photos I shot from the evening, many of which are even in focus. The Japanese maid waitresses were more than happy to hold my Diet Coke ("Yes! Yes! Yes! Sure. Sure. Sure," they'd say) each time I had to put the glass down to take a picture.
Let them eat cake!
Love,
Gendy
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