Inside The Most Unconventional Fashion Conference In The Country

Sartorial subcultures find a home at the most unconventional fashion conference in the country.

- Lisa Mischianti

At a southern Connecticut Sheraton, guests are bracing for a bonnet battle. On the ground floor, Triple Fortune, a Japanese label with a fervent fan base devoted to its ornately brimmed headwear, will soon be setting up shop with a limited supply, and if history is any indicator, things could get a little feisty. Upstairs, life-size dolls incarnate mill around the mezzanine level—waves of frills, tons of tightly bound corsets, a bounty of bows and lace. This is not some standard hotel chain’s elaborate effort to rebrand. This is the third annual alternative fashion destination known as RuffleCon. 

“When I first started out, I remember there was always this joke that when you saw someone else wearing an alt fashion designer you knew, you’d run to each other like in a slow-motion movie scene,” recalls the event’s co-founder and chairperson, Christina Gleason, posted up at a big mahogany table behind the scenes. “But the beautiful thing about RuffleCon is that now, instead of having to wait and hope that you’ll see people, they’re all right here.” Gleason herself became immersed in the alternative fashion scene in college while doing analytical research on Japanese subcultures. Fed up with the fact that such a vibrant and varied community was continually relegated to a mere afterthought at anime and gaming conventions, she decided it was high time that alt fashion and its enthusiasts had a place to shine. RuffleCon—a yearly gathering of non-mainstream style subcultures, complete with vendors and consignment, panels and lectures, a runway show and tea party—made that space. And Gleason’s right: They’re all here.