Dream Masquerade Carnival

Dream Masquerade Carnival - Day 2

winjaffe Mart 04, 2021

The long Saturday of DMC has passed, as much sleep as was possible to get in a hot and noisy room was had and then preparation for the Sunday DMC tea party began. This is usually your chill day, the time to socialise, take an absurd amount of photos, stuff your face with gorgeous food and tea, catch the special guests in a more relaxed manner and just generally have a good time without having to commit to an awful amount of walking. This will be another long and picture heavy post, so another cuppa is highly recommended, especially if you’re reading the two posts back to back (are you sure that your last cuppa hasn’t gone cold?).

This coord is far more up my usual street of blending Sweet and Classic than the Saturday coordinate. On the other hand, I feel like compared to Saturday’s outfit this one is far less OTT than I had thought it to be (by the sheer virtue of its size Saturday’s straw would turn the OTT dial quite far up). Nonetheless, I really enjoyed how it turned out. I almost swapped the bonnet for my newly acquired Triple Fortune one, but I’m glad I didn’t because that one is far too Classic for this royal circus-y kind of coord and this one has tassels that really complimented the dress (after a whole year since buying it at Wicked and Whimsy, I finally was able to do this Jeshii Doll bonnet justice, I hope she makes more <3).

The tea party took place in the same venue as last year, The Royal Horseguards Hotel, although this year it was in the rooms below ground level rather than at the top due to a wedding taking place at the same time. The difference was marginal, as the rooms looked almost exactly the same, although we had more struggles with finding good photo light this year than last. I was slightly disappointed that there were no refreshments available as we waited – last year we were provided with water and juices, which on a hot day that it was would’ve been much appreciated indeed. Having said that, this year the wait to get in felt much shorter (I remember that last year there was a delay of some sort), so it probably wasn’t quite as necessary, it could’ve just been me who got really warm and needed a sip to avoid passing out.

Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

Compared to last year’s tea party, there were improvements in some areas that weren’t so great then and shortcomings in those that weren’t an issue before. The service at the venue has certainly improved: the waiters were much quicker with bringing the food and tea refills and the floor manager was very efficient in providing alternatives for people with dietary requirements once they knew what to look out for. Also, the freebie gifts were far better: a badge, AP transfer tattoos and the most beautiful and simultaneously most useful fan of all that had ‘I saidNO photos!’ written on it. The money was definitely well spent there! On the other hand, the tea party suffered from overcrowding just as much as the main event on Saturday, to the point where the waiters struggled to navigate past and in between the chairs and tables – let alone a Lolita with extreme poof just trying to socialise! Also, changing the layout from head table being in the middle (like it was last year) to being at the end really affected how much the guests interacted. Maki and Asuka were swiftly whisked away to a separate room for various photos, Imai Kira was mainly selling her last few bits and couldn’t really leave her table unmanned and I didn’t see Ayumi until I made my way towards the head table. Only Babi and Kaie made effort to wander round – not only that, they made it a point to stop at every single table, take photos and chat for a little bit (partly because Babi is writing a report for KERA Online and partly because they are just awesome people). Because of this I felt that Triple Fortune’s best dressed pick later on was the most fair as they genuinely did see everyone’s coord and had a chance to get a closer look as they chatted. I do feel that had the head table been in the middle and had there been fewer people in attendance, mingling would’ve been a lot easier for everyone.

Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

I also enjoyed the food a lot more this year. Although we were all served regular black tea by default, whereas last year there were choices, I have managed to have more sandwiches and more sweets this year than last (and later discovered that if you asked, there were other tea flavours available, but as individual sachets rather than pots). After learning my lesson that, no matter how much I love clotted cream, the scones always make me too full for my own good, I avoided them, allowing myself to stuff my face with more cakes and sandwiches. They were really delicious and I would’ve happily had the entire tray and then probably some extra just to myself because I’m that greedy.

Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

You totally didn't ask me, but the sandwiches are
(from lightest to darkest coloured): chicken, egg,
cucumber and cream cheese, ham and mustard and
salmon.
Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

My only criticism, and I can’t remember how this has been last year, would be to have more than one official photographer present. I couldn’t see any other official photographer (though granted that even on Saturday not all of them wore their photographer sashes) and the one that was there was constantly somewhere else. In the crowd trying to squeeze past the tiny gaps between chairs and tables and whilst everyone was on the move I simply could not catch her and ended up having no posed photos taken by a pro. Given that the time constraints on Saturday meant that I struggled to get some pro photos and only by chance managed to grab Emily Valentine (who is a total sweetheart with incredible talent), it would’ve helped to have another person there to document the event and so that they could split their time evenly between taking photos for AP and for the attendees. And if there was another official photographer there, then the organisers should’ve been stricter about making them wear the sashes that they had prepared for them, that was the whole point of them: to make the photographers easier to spot!

Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

The Northern Lolitas plus one. One of the few times I managed to get past
people and socialise.
Photo by Jatzu of Freefall Creation.

Before we knew it, it was time for picking the best dressed, the final thank you speech and the raffle. At one point during the thank you’s one person stood up and proposed to their girlfriend to the wild cheers of everyone else in the room. It was a sweet thing to witness, although the cheers started before the fiancée-to-be even had a chance to respond – would’ve been very awkward had she said no after all that cheering, but that’s just the salty bitch in me talking. And then the TPC organiser team made The Announcement. The room went really quiet, pretty much everyone was too shocked to speak and many had hoped for someone to jump out and shout ‘just kidding!’, but nothing like this happened. I know at least one person at my table teared up, something in me teared up too, but the shock and denial was much more overwhelming for me at that stafe. After such an announcement, especially when you were one of those people for whom it was out of the blue (some people had predicted or figured this out, even if they weren’t in the loop themselves), you can’t simply make it all better with a cheery raffle announcement. Though having said that, the prizes were tonnes better than the previous day, bigger, which was a good distraction. Who wouldn’t get distracted for at least a moment if the prizes included such beauties as two Usakumya bags donated by Chibi Tenshi, two full outfit sets from Long Ears and Sharp Ears, a melty chocolate bag from Angelic Pretty and, the best of all, a Mr Yan body pillow, amongst many other fabulous items big and small? I think everyone really wanted that Mr Yan pillow, but only one person could leave with it to live happily ever after.

And then, just like that, the event was over. We were asked to leave the room, but could still enjoy other rooms that weren’t taken by the wedding, so many people went there for more photos. I stuck with a group who went outside and we made the most out of the last of the natural lighting before the sun set. I had probably done more socialising outside the hotel in the hour or so that we stood there than during the rest of the day, excluding other Poverty Chans with whom I shared the table. It was so much fun to chat to people, old friends and new ones alike, especially as DMC really has attracted people from all over the place, the UK, Europe and beyond.

Photo by @tinker_tale

Again, despite the few glitches I have really enjoyed the tea party and that weekend in general! I know that many who attended are involved in Street Fashion Europe one way or another, so I hope that they made similar observations to mine (or that they will read this post – at least a few other friends whom I spoke to shared my comments) and will use that to make their future events even better. Now that SFE is the only big Lolita event that I have left that I know how to follow, I am clinging onto it as much as I can. I know that there are other events in other countries, something at the back of my mind tells me that this year’s HalloWien is the Austrian community’s annual event and I know about Hellocon in Helsinki, but I’m not sure how well I’d find myself with my non-existed German in Vienna and at the moment Helsinki can be a little awkward for me to get to (not impossible, I’d just need a lot of advance notice), so SFE is simply easier to do.

If we met at the DMC on either day, please, say hello and make yourself known! I had a real taste of how much people can change once they put a different wig on and I’m sure I must’ve missed someone in the crowd. I’d love to connect with you and tighten our friendship so that next time we see each other it would be a reunion rather than a first meeting. I must say, I’m still recovering emotionally from that weekend, it was too high a high to just get back to reality after!

How are you coping with the post-event hype and getting back to normality? Is there anything that helps you find your routine again? How do balance wanting to stay on that high and keep being involved in Lolita fashion with having to return to your regular duties and all that boring stuff?