In between dressing in historical and EGL fashion, Pahl and I also went to three concerts within the span of about a month. In this post, I'll be highlighting a little about the acts that we saw, what kind of music they played, and what we wore to the show. 

​The first show we attended was Adam Ant at Foxwoods Casino. This concert was the EXACT SAME DAY as the Alice Tea, so we got a hotel room in Norwich, CT and took a nap before getting ready for the Adam Ant show. Adam Ant is an English singer, musician and actor who gained popularity as the singer of the new wave group, Adam and the Ants from 1980-1983. With the Ants, he gained popularity with songs like "Stand and Deliver", and "Prince Charming". He began a solo career in 1982 and top singles like, "Friend or Foe", "Goody Two-Shoes" and "Vive Le Rock" all became songs that he is widely known for. During his American tour this time he played all the top hits of his early days, which I recall having heard before in some capacity, but I can't quite say exactly when as I wasn't alive during his most popular years.
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New Wave music is a genre that encompasses pop oriented styles from the 1970's and 80's, and is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture". Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics, and a distinctive visual style in fashion.  

Adam Ant's onstage fashion has always been a HUGE influence in Pahl's everyday fashion. He incorporates military style tail coats, waist coats, expressive belt buckles, a sash, a hat of some kind, motorcycle boots, and some sort of cravat into his on stage looks. The waistcoat that Pahl wore to the concert---apparently Adam Ant owns the exact same one. Pahl got his in London years ago, so it must be one and the same!!!

Pahl is wearing a cotton shirt with the collar up, a red cravat, the iconic black corduroy waist coat, a pleather motorcycle tailcoat, black jeans and knee high leather boots. If you just keep kind of scrolling up and down between Adam Ant's onstage look, and Pahl's concert look, you can see similarities in style choices. 

I didn't grow up listening to Adam Ant as an idol or anything, so I kind of worked off the idea of "lighter punk" look.

For all of the concert looks in this post, you'll notice I wear a lot of items from Killstar. Killstar in general I have mixed feelings about. They have a lot of choices on their website and many different types of "goth" styles. But the sizing is not inclusive and the product is inconsistent. For instance, I'll never know how I went from being a Large to an XL within a few years but can still wear my older Large size garments without a problem. But if they have a sale on sale merchandise, and they actually have your size, check it out. You might get something great!

Black Spiderweb Beret & Black Fanny Pack: Sourpuss Clothing (RIP)
Half black half purple tartan zipper dress & Black Combat Boots: Killstar
Sparkle reptile skin gray tights: Snag Tights
Choker: Offbrand
Purple Coffin Earrings: Crafty As Ari

I didn't even redo my makeup or anything from the Alice Tea. I literally just put black eyeliner over the look I already had. Bravo! Later on I added a Killstar "Corporate Goth" jacket over my dress for warmth (Pictured in first photo in post) After all, it was still the first week in April, and it was still quite cool at night.  Looking back, I could have gone for a much more flamboyant look, but I was still relatively unfamiliar with new wave fashion, and still recovering from my cracked rib injury. The simpler the better--especially after the Alice tea. 

Heilung is an experimental folk music band made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Their music is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic people's of the Iron Age and Viking Age. Heilung describes their music as "amplified history from early medieval Northern Europe". Their music is usually about Germanic deities, the Jotnar, and the Valkyries. The word Heilung is a German noun meaning "healing" in English. 

Back during the pandemic, I taught myself all of the Elder Futhark by illustrating them in my Norse Rune Zine. A little before that, I had read all of the myths and tales associated with Norse mythology and the Eddas and the Sagas. I also listened to Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology on Audiobook. I had seen Heilung once before, but the experience was so transformative for me, when I knew they were coming to Hartford, CT (even on a Monday night), I ABSOLUTELY had to attend. Their show is like no other show you've ever attended. It's like witnessing an ancient ritual of the past through a forest clearing. They use mostly natural instruments and supposedly have a skull from one of their friends on stage with them.  

At the last Heilung concert I attended, some people wore all black, while some other people had access to natural fibers and furs, and incorporated bones and horns into their outfits for the show. Leaning more toward the former, Pahl and I decided to construct some basic all black looks for the show. 

Pahl's base outfit is a pair of linen pants and blouse that he would likely wear when "dressing as a pirate or to a renaissance festival" to stay cool. He's wearing leather motorcycle boots, as well as a waist belt with a sea god belt buckle. A variety of large statement rings and a metal necklace compliment his look. He is wearing a lightweight great coat over his whole ensemble. He's also wearing transition sunglasses where one lens is square while the other is round. 

I am wearing a tunic blouse, arm guards, and boots from Killstar. My pinafore is a wonderful jersey knit (with pockets!) that has metal chains as straps. The tights are a patterned knit wear from Me Moi. I am wearing silver and abalone planet earrings and necklace. My hair is tied back in a simple pony tail and I am wearing very basic makeup (as I went to work that day and then went to the show). I love everything about this outfit, except for the fact that I kept setting off the metal detector when we tried to get into the show. I took off my long sweatshirt coat (not pictured) and after that they had to pull me aside and waved a wand at me. I was mentally preparing myself to have to remove my pinafore...but I made it through the second level of metal detection. Note to self: Don't wear outfits with too much metal components in them to a show. 

Ah, finally a true all goth show. Goth music and goth fashion unite in full form! I've been a big fan of Voltaire for years.  I think the first live show I saw him perform in was about 20 years ago. He's hilarious, he writes goth parody songs as well as very personal songs about growing up different and embracing the darker aspects of life. When Voltaire ascends the stage, it's just him, the microphone and an acoustic guitar. But he's so funny and the time goes by so fast, it's just a treat to catch him when he's in town every year or so. 

The other bands, honestly I had no idea what to expect, but they were all very good despite all being different kinds of gothic music. It was the cheapest but longest concert I have attended in a long time. And it was standing room only. The only thing I would change about my outfit for this particular concert was to put some very good insoles in my boots to save my feet from the pain I felt from standing in one spot for 4.5 hours. But it was worth it to be so close to the stage and see basically everything from the bands equipment, to the set lists and even their personal style and tattoos and such. 

One of the things I went all out on for the Voltaire show, which I did not for the others, was my makeup. I used a cushion foundation that was a few shades lighter than my normal skin tone, and a couple of different eyeshadow palettes that I received in a Gothic Beauty Box to layer light, medium, and dark gray tones with some sparkle. I also took a black eyeliner pen and made both a large wing and a graphic liner back into my crease. Minimal blush, opalescent highlighter, and black matte lipstick complement my look. I also filled in my brows pretty heavily. I'm not quite Siouxsie, but somewhere in the middle between basic and over the top goth makeup. 

All in all every concert was amazing. I had a newfound appreciation for Adam Ant after seeing him live. Heilung was just as great as ever, but I got to bring new people to experience them for the first time. And Voltaire was just as great as always, but seeing all the other bands was great too!  Always support live music when you can! It's sometimes the only way musicians can make money nowadays. And if you don't know what to wear---go with black!

One of the activities that my fashion club loves to participate in is any sort of Afternoon Tea. I've made a database about the different places that offer Afternoon Tea in Connecticut, which includes the location, type of reservation, cost, days of the week offered, as well as if they can make vegan or gluten free accommodations. I'm always a little overwhelmed collecting money for reservations in advance, so I prefer to plan meetings around places that folks can reserve and pay for on their own, at a specific time and location. The group hadn't been to the Old Lyme Inn yet for their themed Saturday afternoon teas, so Pahl and I made it a reconnaissance mission (and a cute little date for ourselves!). 

Every Saturday in April, the Old Lyme Inn offered an Alice in Wonderland themed Afternoon Tea. Now the way it works is that they set up their menu offerings ahead of time and make EVERYTHING in house (so it's super fresh). It is definitely one of the pricier Afternoon Teas, topping off at $45.00 per person, (before tax and gratuity), but it's honestly one of the best ones we've ever had (in Connecticut). Unfortunately they cannot change their Afternoon Tea menu to accommodate  vegan or gluten-free dietary needs, BUT you can email them and ask in advance if they have anything on their regular lunch menu or if there's ANYTHING on the tea menu that works for your dietary needs. 

Reservations must be made in advance on Open Table at the time of day you expect to arrive. (You need a credit card to reserve, but it's only charged if you have an unexpected cancellation without 48 hours notice). Then you just show up at your time. The Inn offers Afternoon Tea between 11:30am-2pm, but it's not a private event like other tea rooms, so people will filter through, enjoy their tea service, and move on with their lives, like a regular restaurant. You will also get a bill like a regular restaurant. (Other tea rooms will charge the host EVERYTHING UP FRONT before the event including the tea service, tax, and gratuity a week or two before the scheduled event, and then if someone can't make it...oh well :-( !)

The tables were nicely decorated with flowers and playing cards with Alice and other characters from Alice in Wonderland on them. Cream and honey with lemon were already on our table paired with our tea cups. The inn staff was great at making sure our tea cups didn't stay empty, and our food service was available right away. 

Pahl really got into being the Mad Hatter. Alice in Wonderland is actually one of his favorite books, so this was a really big theme for him. He is wearing striped pants with the green waistcoat I got him for Christmas, a white shirt underneath with a green ALICE IN WONDERLAND bow tie (that he tied so that you can see both Alice and the Mad Hatter in it), a reddish purple tail coat, his tigers eye skull pocket watch holder, gray and black pinstripe spats, and black oxfords.  His hat is also black but a little uneven with it being bigger in the front than the back (purposely as he is the Mad Hatter), with a cream and black pinstripe hat band and a piece of paper with some fractional nonsense tucked into it. Everything cleverly matches in color and design.

 While Pahl's outfit was very complementary and full of vibrant colors, I decided to focus on pattern and color within the blue and white scheme. In Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland, Alice was wearing a blue dress with a white apron, so I wanted to take a nod to that concept, but in a more mature and elegant way.  First I pulled out the 100% cotton NyaNya Opera Theatre JSK in Navy that I had purchased last year. This was a pre-order that I purchased in April 2023 and received in September 2023.  By the time it arrived, it was kind of too cold outside to comfortably wear it. This piece is absolutely gorgeous though and it has pockets too! I also got the matching headband that I ordered at the same time. The blouse that you can order with this set is a beautiful off-white tulle, but since I was going for white and blue, I swapped it out for the Yilia Princess Sleeves Slim Lolita Blouse. For tights, I wore the antique blue lace printed tights from Red Maria, and for shoes, the Angelic Imprint~Elegant Princess Lolita Heel Shoes in Dark Blue. I also paired it with a key necklace, that falls below the waist. I wore rings and earrings that either had blue, silver, or pearl accents in them as well. 

We finished our tea around 12:45pm and wanted to explore the area for a little bit. Old Lyme is known as an artsy town, and just across the street from the Inn is the Academy of Fine Art Gallery, Old Lyme Art Gallery, and the Florence Griswold Museum. The Florence Griswold Museum has beautiful grounds, walking trails, gardens, and the Florence Griswold House is an iconic landmark...all of these things you can visit and walk around in on the outside FOR FREE. 

Right next to the parking lot there's an old building with stone steps. Did you catch my outfit change? I changed to my stone colored oxfords for walking around the trails and avoiding goose poop. I'm also wearing my wool Unideer coat as it was pretty windy that day. 

Overall it was the perfect date and we had so much fun at the tea and our impromptu photo shoot. I decided after all to host a meeting for the Wizard of Oz theme Afternoon tea in June, so if you think Pahl was feeling green in this particular outfit, wait till you see him as OZ! 

March 2024 quickly flew by for me...not because I was going to events left and right, but because I finally caught COVID (after four years of evading it). I spent most of March after the Bridgerton Brunch laid up in bed with a very bad headache for about a week. Then I spent a lot of time coughing and even cracked a rib from coughing! It was not a good scene and it took approximately 3.5 weeks to start feeling better enough to start going out and dressing up again. 

This outfit I had planned to wear to a special hooked rugs exhibit with a fairy tale theme the weekend I was super sick. Luckily, Easter Sunday was on March 31 this year, so I got a chance to wear one more March outfit before April. 

You might be wondering what is open on Easter Sunday in CT, and I can tell you---not all that much. Churches of many Christian denominations are open for church service, but most restaurants and other businesses, including grocery stores are closed. Easter is an interesting holiday because if you're not a Christian...it just turns into another Sunday or a paid day off if you normally work on Sundays. For me, I don't celebrate Easter in the Christian sense, (I'm more about the spring aspects of rebirth and renewal, Eostre if you will) and now that I'm dating someone who never celebrated it before (because they were raised in a religion that doesn't celebrate it), it opens a lot of interpretations of how to celebrate Easter. 

The plan was to walk around downtown Branford and take some photographs, and get food somewhere if we were lucky. We got lucky because an Indian restaurant was open and serving a delicious lunch buffet!!

Here I am modeling an essentially Sweet style EGL outfit. The pieces are from all different parts of my wardrobe that I noticed work together (even though I did not purchase them at the same time). The JSK is from the Chinese Indie Brand Yilia and is called Dream Elf ~Chiffon Lolita Dress.  I liked this dress from the first time I saw it, and it comes in many colorways for your unique needs and choices, but I fell in love with the mauve pink. (But please don't be fooled by the Plus Size description tag in the listing if you're a western sized person...I could wear the 2XL or if I wanted a slightly more room, the 3XL, nothing less). 

The blouse is the Sakurada Fawn Short Sleeve Cotton Blouse in Navy. This shirt IS actually plus size and could fit a variety of people. It's a lightweight cotton and the navy is opaque. It was pretty roomy for me, but I found it kind of short in length. It was fine under a JSK, but it would be too short for a regular skirt. The cardigan is from Little Dipper and it is in the shade light pea green. If this looks oddly familiar it's because I own this cardigan in 5 colors. It's the best cotton cardigan and helps get the right shape with many JSK looks. The flowers with pearls on the cardigan is actually an elaborate fake collar from Infanta.

Lastly, the bonnet is from Miss Point, the Rose Silhouette Elegant Lolita Flat Hat in dark cyan. I have the matching OP for this bonnet, but I haven't worn it yet. Every time Miss Point comes out with a coordinate I like, I try to buy the matching head piece(s), so that I can make my outfit look as cohesive as possible, but also to wear the headpieces with completely different dresses as well. The over the knee socks are off-brand and the shoes were one of my very first buys...off of AMAZON. I don't recommend buying shoes off of Amazon, but these aren't terrible...but when they wear out I will upgrade to a different brand with more support in the insole for sure!!

The bag is a white heart bag from Loris. They are very large and affordable bags and come in many sweet colors. I purchased white x white because it goes with everything when I'm at a loss for the right bag. I'm still looking for a classic style crossbody or strap bag like this in beige or off-white with some flower and or pearl accents. It seems difficult to find classic style bags outside of something that looks like a picnic basket, and that's not quite the vibe I am generally looking for. 

Back in March, I saw an event on Facebook for a modest brunch with a Bridgerton theme at a restaurant in the middle of a golf course in Middlefield, CT. It was something like $35 a person for the brunch, and they encouraged you to come in costume. Sign me up! The location was weird, but the event sounded promising.

If you have Netflix, and don't live under a rock, Bridgerton is a fantasy romance drama about the Bridgerton family, set roughly in the Regency Period. It has completed two seasons, with a third on the way.  The whole show is actually based on a series of 8 historical fiction novels by author Julia Quinn. 

Now, Pahl and I had neither read nor actually SEEN Bridgerton yet, but we knew from many stills and memes, and talking to people at the Jane Austen Festival, that it was definitely based on Regency fashion. So... it was a great opportunity to bring out our official historical Regency Period outfits. And it was the right weather to boot. Early March? It's cold--perfect for layers of wool, satin, and lace. 

Since this was my second time wearing this gown, I was able to quickly put on my makeup and even put a nice braid bun in my hair; so I did actually take off my bonnet in public this time.  As a result, you can actually see my choker, the Rose of Sharon London Afternoon Tea Daily Choker.  Chokers were pretty common in Regency Fashion. This one is a quality costume piece, that I originally purchased to wear with a completely different classic EGL style dress, but it works. So it's always good to have accessories that you can use on multiple occasions. Always think outside the box! You never know what you can put together!

Pahl's outfit is nearly exactly the same, except that he chose a green based waist coat that he "hadn't worn in awhile". The green is just as nice of a complement to my deep red dress as the original red and black waistcoat was. You can always compare what we wore in my original post here. 

The whole event was very classy. Whoever planned it was a huge Bridgerton fan and had nicely decorated the tables with Lady Whistledown's papers, flowers and folded cloth napkins, while official classical music from the show was playing in the background. Some of the menu was a nod to delicacies eaten in the show and even the waitresses were instructed to wear empire waist dresses. The attention to detail in the way it was all executed was superb!

I really enjoyed getting dressed up for this little event. It was fun to wear my Regency outfit again and have a low-key brunch morning with other people quietly dining nearby either really into the show, and or really into costuming. 

Since the event, I've managed to watch the first two episodes of Season 1, and I recognized the music played at the brunch and the nod to Lady Whistledown (who's kind of like the town crier in the show. Her opinions make or break people's lives, even though no one knows who she actually is).  I realized that my outfit was definitely not as fantastical as the womens elaborate dresses in the show. They tend to have these elaborate empire waist pieces that are always short sleeve that they pair with super long gloves. 

Pahl's outfit I'm not sure. When we watched the episodes, we noticed they mixed mens fashion from different time periods...some earlier and some later than Regency period. But you'd have to really know about the height of top hats, appropriate shirt collars and the way people tied their cravats, to really be able to notice that. 

The whole show is a fantasy Regency period. It's beautiful and engaging and I look forward to seeing more episodes!