The Paris store of BSSB (Baby, The Stars Shine Bright), affectionately known as "Baby" among Lolita fashion enthusiasts, (72, Avenue Ledru Rollin 75012 PARIS) has already been open for seven years.

It boasts customers not only from France but also from all over Europe, including Germany and Spain, and has now become one of the most important brands supporting European Lolita fashion. Like its Japanese counterpart, the Paris store regularly hosts "tea parties" as a forum for communication between the store and its customers, and between customers themselves. The most recent event was held on March 1st during the Paris Fashion Week.

The venue for the tea party changes approximately every six months, but this year it was held at the Ladurée Champs-Élysées store, which was particularly popular last year. While customers are required to pay several thousand yen for tea and cake, the store sees it as an opportunity to show its appreciation to its customers, and covers much of the cost of the venue and gifts for each customer. At the tea party, several awards, including the Best Dresser Award, are presented, with winners receiving luxurious gifts like baby dresses, attracting a large gathering of Lolitas dressed to show off their finest. Tea parties are fun, but they are also a place for beauty competition, creating a unique and intriguing atmosphere. Charismatic Lolita models like Misako Aoki and Midori Fukazawa sometimes appear as special guests, making the event a study session on authentic Lolita fashion. Advance tickets for this diverse event sell out within minutes of going on sale, making it so popular. This time, a guest was from "Kaga Lolita," a fusion of Ishikawa Prefecture's Kaga Yuzen and Lolita. A second-year student at Kanazawa University, who designed the Kaga Lolita character "Youchama," wore the outfit she won in the "Kaga Lolita Contest" to promote the appeal of Kaga Yuzen and Kanazawa. Kaga Lolita is part of a new three-year business plan that began this year in Ishikawa Prefecture, and is also planning to take part in Japan Expo, a festival of Japanese anime and cosplay.

Around the same time as Baby's expansion into Paris, several Japanese Lolita brands opened boutiques, but they have now all withdrawn, and Baby is the only one remaining. Despite the ongoing recession in Europe, the brand continues to develop new customers and is doing a solid business. As a long-established Lolita brand in Europe, it is sure to continue to steadily expand its support.