A Witches Tea at the Madison Beach HotelThe last major event that I dressed in EGL fashion for in October was a witchy tea tasting and artisanal dessert pairing sponsored by Tea & Tarot at the Madison Beach Hotel on a Wednesday evening the third week of October 2024. Now if you recall from the last blog post, I had taken this week off as a vacation for myself, and this was the last major dress up event I was attending that week. (I almost ran out of clean bloomers at the three times in one week mark...this very fun hobby suddenly seemed like a lot of work!) The theme of the event was called the "Witches Tea" and guests were invited to "dress like a witch". I styled myself as a celestial witch, starting off with my navy and gold stamping celestial dress from Chinese indie brand Soufflesong. I bought this dress a few years ago, so I don't think its available new anymore, but it might be found on a used marketplace. A little after the time I purchased it, I also purchased the Polar Night Sky ~ Halloween Gorgeous Gilding Lolita Witch Hat in the navy from Chinese indie brand Rose Thorn to go with it. Of course the hat came after Halloween that year, so I had to wait till the following year to even wear it with anything and boy was I surprised at how big, sturdy, and kind of heavy it is. It's like an over sized witch hat, expertly sewn to retain a sort of crooked yet whimsical look. The big bow and gold star chain are completely detachable, so you can remove weight if you need to. The outside is black velvet and the inside is whatever color you ordered with gold celestial design. I also found that it is quite a warm hat, and is perfect if you have to be outside for any length of time, especially at night in late October. The last time I wore the dress, I simply wore it BY ITSELF with a shawl and sandals on an excruciatingly humid day in July of 2023, so I had the chance to style it completely differently this time. I added an incredible stand collar semi sheer detachable puff sleeve blouse from Miss Point. It only comes in beige, which in this case is a light off white with a yellow undertone. (Beige, Ivory, and Off-White are often subjective labels in EGL fashion and color matching can be challenging even between different tones of the same essential color. At the end of the day, you have to decide what truly matters). This blouse fits so incredibly well and has a lining so you don't have to worry about picking the wrong colored undergarments. I also love that the sleeves are detachable. If you find yourself drawn to Classic EGL styling, this blouse is an essential edition to your wardrobe. Trust me on this...the stand collar is my go to nowadays. Now since I was wearing a beige blouse, I needed to repeat that color on my legs somewhere. Rather than doing so with my socks, I purposely wore a pair of long bloomers that would peek out from under my skirt for the visual color and texture matching. Then I added white over the knee socks that incorporate navy, blue, and pink under the bloomers. I just thought it would be fun to have something a little more decorative that repeated at least the navy and gold once more. I wore this with my black tea party shoes. This style of shoe I've found is the best for showing off patterned socks without taking away from the visual balance of the colors and textures throughout the coordinate. To repeat the black once more, I brought my Book of Charms and Spells cross body purse back on the scene. The tea tasting and dessert pairing event was located on the third floor of the Madison Beach Hotel. You had to walk from the bar area to an elaborate grand staircase and head to your right to a series of small rooms that opened up into a medium sized conference room. In the smaller room, readers (of many types) were doing private readings and there was also a small table of merchandise for sale from the Tea & Tarot Boutique (also located in Madison, CT). The medium sized conference room had probably six or seven large round tables that could hold up to about 10 guests a piece. Now I signed up for this event on my own. The tickets sold out at lighting speed. I don't know exactly how it was advertised, but most of the people I talked to in attendance happened to also live in Madison, and some of them had been to the Tea & Tarot Boutique before, but most of them seemed to be hearing about the boutique for the very first time. (I myself had visited the boutique in February, so that's how I knew about the event). Most of the attendees had booked out an entire table with their group, but Tea & Tarot had made sure everyone had an assigned table. I must have waited alone at my assigned table quietly sipping the Blessed Be Banana Bread tea (which is amazing by the way) for at least 30 minutes. A kind and gracious volunteer kept refilling my cup. Eventually a couple of other people showed up, but we still had at least 4 people assigned to our table that never came. The thoughtful attention to detail between the design and taste of the desserts produced with the teas they were paired with was simply magical. A lot of people had signed up for private readings, so while people would slip in and out for that, there were additional activities for us to engage in such as a 10 question quiz to see how much we knew about Witchcraft. I knew all the answers mind you, but I had some fluency issues when reading the questions to myself in my head and maybe a little bit of nervousness (not knowing anyone else) coupled with a sugar high so I actually circled some of the wrong answers. But one of the questions was where the first witch trials took place and it was actually Old Wethersfield, CT (even though the closest option on the quiz was Hartford, CT). I had learned this the week prior at a lantern lit graveyard tour I attended in Old Wethersfield with a friend. Someone else knew it too because they shouted that out across the room. That person got all the answers right and received a prize! Another activity they offered between pairings was passing around divination cards face down and taking one for yourself to take home with you. I got the Mystic, which shows a person with their back facing you wearing a witch hat, a patterned shawl, and a glove on the left hand holding a wand looking into two sort of possibilities--a well lit building on the left and an unknown city to the right. It says "Seek knowledge and spiritual growth. This card represents the pursuit of knowledge and spiritual growth. It invites you to seek out new experiences and to expand your understanding of the world around you."
According to the dictionary, a Mystic is "having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding. Someone who believes in the existence of realities beyond human comprehension". Clearly on a short term level, I nailed it. I went to an event dressed like a witch by myself where most of the other people did not know all that much about Witchcraft. It was a new experience! But really, I'm 100% a Mystic, according to the definition. I read tarot and am working on my own major arcana deck, so this is also not my first go around with divination cards. (I own about 20 decks and have been reading for over 10 years). Perhaps it's my cue to seek out even more unique experiences, which I'm sure you will read about in upcoming blog posts!
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DanielleI love EGL and alternative fashion and modeling. I am taking two of my favorite hobbies and making them into a story for you to read about. Archives
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