Maritime Aquarium

Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk

K,Sarah, Danielle, Blake, Mina, and Becca outside of the Aquarium entrance. Photo credit to PIxie.

At the beginning of September, I attended my first fashion meeting since June 2024. This was a meeting that K hosted at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT.  The Maritime Aquarium has over 75 exhibits with over 7500 animals. The journey begins with a freshwater river into a salt marsh and then moves deeper and deeper into the open ocean. This aquarium is great for families as well as adults. They must have three of four different touch tanks where you can touch sting rays, jelly fish, and even sturgeons! The second floor also has a lot of little blocked off areas for kids to relax and play. 

This was a meeting of many firsts. This was the first time I have ever been to this aquarium. This was the first time I've attended a meeting in Fairfield County. And it was the first time my friend Sarah attended a meeting with me!

Sarah and Danielle decked out for the aquarium

When K made the meeting, she said folks could wear anything they wanted, or could try for a sea/ ocean theme. Sarah and I decided to go all out for the theme. 

Sarah tucked a white with green and blue nautical symbol print blouse into a white vintage hand stitched cotton skirt. She is wearing a white waist belt with a silver whale tail belt buckle. For accessories she had this elaborately beaded white head piece (that came from G.Fox) that evokes the idea of a starfish resting on her head. She also has a white bag, white socks with pink ribbon design and is wearing white sandals because she can't wear heels. She also wore a silver lobster pin, a spiral shell bracelet, and a couple of mermaid clips that matched the colors in her outfit. 

I'm wearing my purr-maid dress. This was one of the first EGL pieces I ever purchased. The last time I wore it was more than two years ago at the first fashion club meeting I ever hosted!  I honestly don't even know the brand name and the tag doesn't give me any information as it's a white label. But it's adorable from the pink top and bows on the bodice to the skirt print of purr-maids, kitten jellyfish, and cat-shoe crabs resting in their shells. There's also a tulle detail with silver dots where the bodice meets the skirt that evokes the idea of sea foam as it also has pearls sewn into it at various points and is lined with white lace. I'm wearing a white short sleeve peter pan collar blouse with the dress. For accessories, I decided to focus on the sax (light blue) and pink tones in the dress. I wore a gray-blue head bow, abalone and spiral shell earrings, a peachy ammonite necklace, white and pink wrist cuffs, other pastel colored bracelets, a few rings, white, sax, and pink cotton ribbon socks, and Bubble Cat low heel bow shoes in sax that have an ultraviolet shift in sunny lighting. My purse is a large pink and white heart that echoes the pink and white in my coordinate. 

Detail of the purrmaids Photo credit to Pixie.

This printed banner of the shark looks so real it is popping out in the photograph that Pixie took of me!

Pixie with her themed outfit in front of the shark tank

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Pixie's outfit that she sewed for the Aquarium meeting. She is wearing a dark blue long sleeve stand collar blouse with a black pleated skirt. She sewed an overskirt made out of an old turtle batik skirt from her childhood and added deep blue ruffles to the edges and secured it with pin that looks like an old coin from a buried treasure chest. She is also wearing a patch that says "All Bodies Are Beautiful". Additional accessories include turtle earrings, a couple of rings, and a shark cross body bag. It's almost like the shark bag is looking up to its mother in the tank. She is also carrying a camera. She has both a passion for fashion and a good eye for unique and captivating photos. I must admit, I'm always extra excited when she can make a meeting for this reason. 

Sea turtle that was very excited about my outfit. Photo credit to Sarah

While our fashion tends to evoke lots of nice compliments from humans that happen to be in our general vicinity, I noticed that the more intelligent animals also seemed to be completely fascinated with it as well. Deep sea animals that normally hide or ignore humans came out for a look. This sea turtle was really into my outfit. I don't know what exactly about it that captured its attention, but it literally kept banging against the wall of the tank where I was standing. Maybe it thought I looked like a shiny snack...if anyone knows anything about sea turtles behavior, please share your knowledge in the comments. We also managed to get the elusive octopus to come out of its hiding place and do a little dance. So now I have a theory that EGL fashion is enrichment for both humans and animals. 

I'm not kidding it kept coming back! Photo credit to Pixie.

Group photo: Becca, Blake, Danielle, Mina. Photo credit to Pixie

K and I at the faux seafood cafe, where classic EGL meets Sweet EGL Photo credit to Sarah

The seal feeding we had the pleasure of witnessing. Photo credit to Pixie

Believe me-even though the shark looks ominous behind me, it wasn't half as interested as the sea turtle. Photo credit to Pixie

I loved the aquarium meeting! It was neat seeing so many different kinds of animals in one place. It was also fun to wear this dress again, especially after acquiring more accessories that match it better. And it's always fun to go out with friends!!