At the end of April 2024, my extended family worked together to plan a surprise 80th birthday party for my Aunt Lucille. My Aunt Lucille is a very active community member. In her 80 years so far on this planet, she also ran her own day care for awhile as well as helping organize and run events for various community organizations. You can always depend on her to make a dessert to sell for the bake sale, eggplant parmigiana for the craft fair, or answer all the vendor phone calls for the community tag sale. Any job that seems impossible or too much for other people, Aunt Lucille executes it well and makes lots of friends along the way. Not only was I able to see most of my extended cousins at this gathering, but also I caught up with many of the people who's children she helped raise, and neighbors and friends that were still living in the area.  My role at the party was simply to KEEP IT A SECRET and attend.  

Knowing that I didn't have to do anything except show up, I made sure I wore a lot of pink. When I think of my Aunt Lucille, I think of the color pink, so I wanted to incorporate it into my outfit for the day. I am wearing a black heart button down off white shirt with a frilly peter pan collar that also has a black velvet tie around the neck, a black denim studded mini skirt (you can see the matte black studs around the pockets), black and pink diamond tights, a pink long sleeve button down cardigan, pink and black platform creeper style sneakers, and a big light pink and white heart shaped bag. The heart bag repeats the heart shaped buttons, even though they are different colors, just as the diamond pattern on the shoes reflects back at the diamond pattern on the tights and the studs on the skirt. Even the ribbon design on the bag reflects the ribbon and frills on the shirt.  

My coworker always says that I always put soooo much thought into my outfits, as if not everyone did that. I guess that's why I'm writing about my fashion pursuits on my fine art website. Because fashion in every form is an art to me. 

Now, come to find out, I wasn't the ONLY one who thought black and pink were the right colors for the occasion. Here's a candid photo of my mom and I. She also wore a pink blouse with silver bling around the neckline, black slacks and shoes, and matching jewelry and makeup. I think our lipstick colors almost completely match too!  We didn't even plan it. It just worked!

My cousin Susan and her partner Vera made all the flower arrangements at the tables. We were instructed that the winner of the vase arrangement at each table was whoever's birthday was closest to Aunt Lucille's. I guess at my mom's table it was her, but she didn't want to deal with taking a vase home I think. The flowers worked really well with the different pinks in my outfit too! Luckily I brought Pahl with me, and he was very good at holding the vase with flowers on the car ride home. 

Pahl stands at the ready showcasing a little of his "normie" style clothing and holding all my things so I can open the door. Even without any pink in his outfit, the flowers and bag work harmoniously with the green of the lawn and the rhododendron to the right. 

I think for some people my day to day fashion wouldn't be considered normal, but it's the closest thing to normal outside of my fantastical and awesome historically inspired alt EGL fashion pursuits. Funny enough, my extended family was a little disappointed that I didn't wear one of my EGL outfits to the birthday party. It's nice to know that my family now expects me to be eccentric, and I'll be sure to pick out an official EGL outfit to any parties going forward. 

Now I've known for a long time that the Historic Wooster Square neighborhood in New Haven, Connecticut has a cherry blossom festival every year. It's even listed in a National Geographic article about "Best places in the United States to view cherry blossoms". The park itself isn't even 20 minutes from my house. But when this festival happens, traffic stops and it's very challenging to get in or around the festival. You might as well plan to park at IKEA and walk eight minutes under the overpass to get to the park, as parking is VERY LIMITED and often zoned for residents only. Luckily some of Pahl's family are residents of the neighborhood, and they were able to lend us a parking pass so we didn't have to walk too far. 

Most of the cherry blossoms this year were at peak bloom during the festival. The weather was sunny for a bit, but then it became overcast, and even rained a little. There were HUNDREDS of people at the park, surrounding the park and on side streets taking photos with the blossoms. There was also a blocked off street filled with 14 different food trucks, with lines wrapping around each truck onto the sidewalk. There were different bands playing about every hour of the festival in a staged area with fold out plastic chairs near the center of the park. There were also lots of info tables set up in different areas of the park to educate visitors about the different ways they could get involved with the community and giving out free swag like tote bags and pens. 

Pahl's family and some of our mutual friends brought picnic blankets and snacks to share. We sat out on the grass together. It wasn't exactly like a traditional hanami or cherry blossom viewing because of all the extra stuff going on with the food trucks, the band, the info tables, and the hundreds of people walking around. (When I studied in Japan almost 20 years ago, I did attend hanami at an ancient Buddhist temple--and it was much quieter and people were mostly sitting with small groups drinking canned cocktails and eating snacks). 

Since I had the luxury of close parking and a protective escort, I went really over the top with my look for the festivities. I chose to wear the Alice Girl ~ Bloody Rose Gothic Lolita Dress JSK set in the light pink. I've been slowly adding more pink goth or shiro (white) goth looks to my alt wardrobe as sometimes I still want to be goth, but not all in black. What makes this particular set gothic as opposed to sweet is the cut of the bodice (which unfortunately you can't see in my photo because it was too cold for me to wear it with the matching bolero yet), the type of pink (it's more of a mauve pink--not saccharine at all), the skirt is a short tiered ruffle with the texture of brocade roses on it with an additional train that looks kind of like trailing gauze with wine red roses attached to it. Ethereal looking "petals" uniquely fit around the waist adding an air of mystery.

I decided to repeat the pale pink and the wine red colors in the rest of my accessories to put the look together. The Red Maria ~ Lace Printed Bow 80D tights in Wine Red are definitely a bold move that helps move the eye from my rose head dress to the roses on the skirt then to the legs and back again. The pale pink platform shoes are actually the very first pair of shoes I I ever bought for this fashion. They are probably 3 inches high but fairly comfortable. They have pink bat wings with heart rivets around them on the top. If you could see the bodice of my outfit, you would know there were also pale pink bat wings on it as well. Any print or design with bats is a sure sign it is a gothic outfit.  

But here's a curveball. The cardigan is actually a sweet style. Again, it's one of the earlier pieces I purchased for myself before I knew what I really wanted and how to get it. It's a very soft light pink with white hearts between the buttons. And it's insanely warm to boot. It was perfect for the unpredictable weather of the day. 

Lacking a wine red or light pink bag, I opted for my beige violin. I swear this bag gets the most action and is a fan favorite. I will be wearing the most over the top outfit possible and someone will say, "I love your bag!"  I'm not sure if that is because that is all they feel comfortable seeing, or if that's truly the best thing about my outfit whenever I wear it with my coordinate. I'm not going to dwell on this. 

Pahl looks dapper in his green and gray outfit. He is wearing a white shirt, the Regency style waistcoat I got him for Christmas, striped gray and black pants with black shoes and a slightly different striped pattern for his spats which I believe are more Victorian era. He leans on a nice wooden cane with a working metal compass and small range telescope (probably a steampunk accessory), and wears an early American style tailcoat, straw boater, and floral bow tie. He appreciates when others dress fully historical, but he's a well-dressed punk through and through. 

Most people felt much more comfortable approaching Pahl and complimenting us on our outfits together, but there were a few brave people that knew that I was wearing Japanese street fashion and complimented me on my coordinate. 

This outfit took me a long time to put on. The skirt is especially layer heavy and does need to be floofed between each layer to get it to lie correctly. But it was amazing to walk around in it. I felt like Venus, embodying the goddess of Love and Beauty spreading the joy of the coming of Spring around the park and surrounding areas. I look forward to wearing the bodice and skirt and all its pieces again in the warmer months and styling it a little differently. 

Danielle, Bianca, Dizzy, Pahl, Barbara, and Nicole

One of the meetings I longed to plan with my group as soon as I acquired my own chocolate themed dress was to go to a chocolate factory dressed in our chocolate or sweet themed outfits together. Luckily Fascia's chocolate factory in Connecticut not only offers tours, but also make your own bar and chocolate tasting experiences right in Waterbury! 

​We planned our meeting the second Saturday of April 2024. We booked the "Sweeten Your Spirits" tour and tasting, which allows for the option to try chocolate pairings with alcoholic beverages (but we skipped the alcohol part). The approximately two hour program led us through each stage of the chocolate process from how cacao beans are harvested, where they come from, how a roasted cacao nib becomes cocoa butter, how the cocoa butter is processed with sugar and eventually becomes the milk, dark, and white chocolate we enjoy as chocolate candy. 

The program included tasting chocolate at different stages of its preparation. Barbara and I found the roasted cacao bean to be quite palatable when paired with dried cranberries, but otherwise while it smells like chocolate, the taste it is pretty bitter on its own.

After we had our official tastings, we also got to make a huge bar (about 1/2 pound) of take home chocolate. They asked us if we wanted dark or milk chocolate (or both) and then brought perfectly melted liquid chocolate with toppings such as rice puffs, sea salt, sea salt with jalapeno seasoning, chopped almonds, and sprinkles. These fresh take home bars were THE BEST. I'm still dreaming about their dark chocolate paired with the jalapeno sea salt. 

As you can see, we have a lot of snacks other than chocolate at our table. The factory encouraged us to bring snacks to not only pair with our chocolate, but also to just eat while enjoying each other's company. The full educational part of the program only lasted about an hour, so we had another hour to socialize.  This was perfect for me, because I didn't really know anyone else from our group yet except for Pahl and Barbara. 

As for my coordinate for the meeting, I went for a combination of milk and white chocolate. My dress is the Musee du Chocolat salopette from Angelic Pretty (the one I had to have altered to fit my chest) . I am wearing a milk chocolate and white striped stand collar blouse from Miss Point, a light brown beret with darker brown trim that 42Lolita accidentally sent me, Yukine's Box Retro Chocolate Color over the knee socks, with some off brand suede brown and off white booties. I am also utilizing a chocolate bar cross body from the chinese indie brand Lovely Lota. I enjoyed making my eye makeup very glam while sticking with warm neutral tones for my blush and lip colors. I am wearing a watch necklace as well as gold hoops to match the gold details on my salopette. 

This coordinate has been at least two years in the making, and it still has room for improvement. I have been searching for a solid brown stand collar blouse that will fit my chest now for 2 years, but I have not yet been successful. So striped it is, for now. 

Pahl used this chocolate factory meeting to create an outfit around the different cinematic versions of Willy Wonka. His outfit I would say is more closely related to Timothee Chalamet's Wonka with the striped pants, green waistcoat, and reddish cravat, but the gray top hat, and deep reddish purple tail coat are similar to Johnny Depp's Wonka. 

Barbara's outfit doesn't quite scream chocolate, but what's wrong with constellations and cats? She just really wanted to wear this beautiful dress and to be honest, I don't blame her. She looks great in this deep teal green and gold star trimmed dress with various celestial and feline imagery in the border print. She tied the gold in again with her rose headdress and the cats in again with her decorative cat earrings. All in all an intersteller coordinate!

Bianca is wearing an Alice in Wonderland themed salopette that utilizes a variety of colors with white as its main color and lilac, grey blue, grey green, rose pink, ivory, and chocolate brown as accent colors, along with various imagery of teacups, glasses, rabbits, Alice, etc. The skirt flares quite a bit at the bottom and an entire scene is revealed as you view the dress from different angles. The matching bunny ear headband is so cute! This is definitely a sweet style and pairs will with the sweet theme of the day. 

While I was basically milk chocolate in my coordinate choices, Dizzy was dark chocolate in their color choices with their dress, blouse, matching head bow, and shoes. (Although Dizzy actually prefers to eat milk chocolate while I prefer to eat dark chocolate). 

Nicole made her dress and some of her accessories from scratch. She utilizes various vintage looking fabrics to great a timeless, springtime feeling with light blue, apricot, and off-white accents to a white textured blouse. She apparently makes all her own clothes and also sometimes sells bloomers made from recycled sheets at Renaissance Faires.  

I'm showing off my Handcrafted Mini Chocolate Sauce Cookie Adjustable Ring in this selfie photo, along with the little chocolate bar pin that came with my blouse.  Observe the severe fluorescent lights of the factory behind me. The tasting and bar making classroom was right next to the factory, so we could watch the chocolate coming off the conveyer belt and the factory workers (which might have been local teenagers), inspect the chocolate for quality control. 

I'm not sure that I'd rather fall in chocolate than in love, especially not while wearing my chocolate themed outfit! Overall it was an excellent program that I learned a lot at! I would definitely recommend the Sweeten Your Spirits tour, even if you don't bother with alcohol because it's just nice to socialize longer and take home a half a pound of artisanal chocolate!!!