Kammie Pomeranian
Kammie is high energy! You’ll find her bouncing off the walls and screaming her love for Shrek. In direct contrast to her loud personality, her fashion is soft and subdued. Her Lolita palette is entirely pastel and girly, but her true self shines through with the addition of character pins… particularly Shrek!
Anyway, the New Orleans native also runs a wig and accessories shop! If you’ve ever wanted to achieve the rainbow unicorn look similar to the one Kammie sports herself, head on over to her shop. The brighter the better!
Having discovered a passion for entrepreneurship through unusual means and combining that with a love of Japanese street fashion, this unique combination created the bubbly girl that is Kammie!
Tell us about your shop Minty Mix. What made you want to start?
I’d definitely say the virtual pet website Neopets is what influenced me to build my own webshop, many years ago! I was just a baby middle schooler, and the internet was so new to me. You could do so much on the Neopets site; it was more than just flash games. One part of it was the economy—buying and selling items for your pets, and having your own storefront. I think it encouraged this spirit of entrepreneurship in the middle school-aged me. Another feature of the site was that each pet had a “pet page” where you could either fill out a basic template for your pet, or if you could figure out some HTML, you could completely customize your page—which drove baby me into a whole community of peers learning how to code from each other, creating pastel coloured, early 2000s HTML websites. It was fascinating to me that you could have your own little place on the internet, with your own art and content. My other hobbies merged together with it, so I began posting my handmade items onto my websites to sell to my peers. There’s a heartening feeling that I get knowing that someone likes your craft enough to come visit your website and make a purchase!
What is your connection to Japanese culture? How did you discover it?
The early FOX releases of Ghibli movies were probably my first exposure to anything Japanese culture-related, though we didn’t know it at the time since we were so small. My sisters and I knew there was something different and special about the films, but it didn’t click until much later! For Japanese street fashion, the first look I had into it was from same 2000s pastel HTML-culture community. I was a part of some BBS boards, where many of us would post regularly about coding or anything else. It was before Myspace, and I can see that those boards filled the role that social media is today. Someone posted scans of FRUiTS magazine, and one of them was about wearing lolita fashion. I was so hooked! I found out that there was a book by Phaidon Press also called “Fruits” in Barnes and Noble, so I got my hands on volumes 1 and 2. I feel like those books were very iconic, and helped to introduce many of us in the US to Japanese street fashion, and made many of us realise that fashion can be creative and fun!
If you only had one day to spend in Tokyo, where would you go and what would you do?
Puroland! I would live inside Puroland if that were an option!!! I cry every time I go…
Where do you find inspiration?
My friends! I love everyone’s unique style and respect it, and especially love when people let their creativity take over. I also get big inspiration from characters—all kinds of characters! Vintage or new!
What do you do when you need to get yourself out of a creative rut?
I go to a thrift store! So many random and different patterns and media collected in one place, and you have access to put things together that you wouldn’t automatically think to put together normally. The possibilities motivate my creative side! I especially love to go with friends and bounce ideas off each other!
What are your future goals and dreams?
I’m really loving product photography at the moment, so I hope I can grow and learn more about styling and set building. I also very much want to add a clothing series to my product line—I want to bring my ideas to life!
Any last words?
I love The COMM, I love Choomy!! ❤
