Pride & Prejudice at Cheney Hall

Date Night at the Little Theater of Manchester

It has always been my intention to wear elegant lolita fashion pretty much any time I feel like getting dressed and going out. It didn't matter if I had a boyfriend or not. It didn't matter if my other friends I was meeting with were dressed up or not.  I just have this thing about being a bit eccentric and standing out (in a good way). It just sort of worked out that Pahl feels the same way about his "costume" collection. [We call them costumes for other people, but to us they are just extensions of our regular clothing collection]. 

Pahl has been collecting Regency fashion for at least 20 years and is a fond admirer of all things written by Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters. When we found out that there was a live production of Pride & Prejudice at the Little Theater of Manchester this past spring, we had to jump on that opportunity.

Pahl claims that his look is early Regency. He said that he was inspired more by Lord Byron than that of Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingham. He is wearing a white blouse,  black trousers, a black corduroy waist coat (with suspenders underneath), and a long black tail coat, with I believe a fall collar. He also pairs his look with a white cravat and black leather riding boots.  

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I'm wearing the French Rose Elegant Lolita JSK Dress from Miss Point in the black color way.  The listing says this is a JSK, but it's much better worn without a blouse underneath. I wore a 78cm daily petticoat underneath (which peeked out a bit) as well as the Miss Point Rhine Riverside Summer Bow Lolita Top Hat in black.  I love the headpieces that Miss Point comes out with, but I always feel it's best to mix and match them with other designs. This one went particularly well with the lacing on the black color way of the French Rose dress. I also paired it with slightly heeled black oxfords, real pearls, and gem fishnet gloves for a fun embellishment. I chose a classic smoky eye and natural looking makeup. 

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The production of Pride & Prejudice was over 3 hours in length and it covered everything except for meeting Mr. Darcy's sister. The costumes were superb and the choreographed dancing was pretty darn good for English Country Dancing of the era. The actors, especially Mr. Bennett and Mr. Darcy's aunt played their roles particularly well. I received many compliments from other theater attendees for my outfit. No one said anything to Pahl about his. 

Detail of the top of the hat and my makeup. This pose reminded me of the close-ups we used to do when I was in dance school. I love how the highlighter captures my excitement!

All in all I would definitely wear this piece again for any spring time or early summer activity. I think I'm drawn to Miss Point as a brand in general, because a lot of their pieces can be used in various costume contexts. However, other people in the fashion will say that Miss Point is more..."lolita adjacent" as they tend to choose eclectic cuts or patterns for some of their pieces. For instance they even have an entire empire waist line that they claim is a lolita dress...but is much closer to Regency period in my opinion. Will you be seeing more Miss Point designs in these blog posts? Absolutely! You can count on it!