Two years in the making, plenty of screaming behind the scenes, and then the weekend has come and gone just like that (very rude, honestly). The Queen is Dead: Long Live Lolita, or TQiD for short, Manchester’s absolutely top tier lolita fashion event, has been the highlight of my life and I hope that this report will do it justice.
Firstly, let me preface this post with the disclaimer that I was quite involved in making the event come to life. Jo and Gee, the brains behind TQiD, got me to join their team in the capacity of a fashion show coordinator and on top of this, given that I am very local, I have also offered my services as and when needed for other things (which ended up mainly stashing a whole bunch of stock for Haenuli behind my couch that I could not breathe a word about to a single soul for a whole month! – extremely painful). Because of this, there was much of the event that I either missed out on due to working or had a very different perspective on compared to a regular attendee. I won’t be revealing too many trade secrets, if that’s what you were hoping for, but if anyone is organising a big event and wants to have a chat, drop me an email or a DM on Instagram, I’ll share what I can. Also, I will only talk about Day 1 of the event in this post since day 2 was as standard a tea party as it gets: get in, eat, take pictures, a few people’s coords got recognised by Haenuli with a portrait, more pictures, a quick raffle, group picture, disperse, and prep for the afterparty. Lastly, as of writing this post, the official photos have not yet been released, so given that my active role in the event took me away from documenting things. Once these are out, I will aim to update the post with more visuals. Hopefully what I’ve been able to scavenge off others/online will give you a clear enough picture.
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| | HeartE Tartan JSK | Summer Tales Boutique Nostalgia Collection: Royal Tartan blouse and headbow | offbrand tights, shoes, backpack, and ribbon | Three Little Pirates earrings | |
Let’s start with the outfit, which in my case was also in the works for as long as the event since I was told about it in its earliest stages. TQiD’s themes of oldschool and punk lolita
aren’t quite my cup of tea – but tartan is and that very much works with both of those! So I decided to be an absolute eyesore clad head to toe in red tartan. The only thing on my person that wasn’t tartan was my petticoat and even though most of these tartans were ever so subtly different from one another, in the clusterfuck of it all the subtleties were entirely lost on the eye, tricking it into believing that everything matched itself perfectly. At this point I would like to extend a big thank you to
@coinoperatedcthullu for lending me her umbrella for the official pictures for one more extra pop of tartan. Get yourself fiends who encourage your unhinged behaviour! The official pictures haven’t been released yet, so once they are, I will do a retrospective update.
The event, or its first day, took place at Victoria Baths, an old municipal swimming pool that is currently managed by a special trust on behalf of Manchester City Council. It is a unique venue, lovingly restored and used for all kinds of events, from trading fairs to picnics in the pool and even a
designer fashion show afterparty. We were incredibly lucky to be able to snag it for TQiD because it fits the vibe perfectly: a restored Victorian building with plenty of natural light for the most amazing pictures, lots of hidden nooks to explore, all of the quirkiness to match the wild energy of lolita fashion. Everyone who attended commented on how incredible the place was and if you stalk the event tag or main account story highlights, you will find plenty of people who ventured beyond the swimming pools or the Turkish baths to find the slightly dilapidated living quarters of the people who were in charge of the baths back in the early 1900s. Eerie oldschool street snaps vibes at their max!
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Event exclusive goodies plus some aesthetic additions. Photo by Gee.
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The event offered three tiers of ticket: Vinyl (most exclusive VVIP), Safety Pin (regular VIP), and Tartan (regular entry), each marked with an appropriate marker on the event tote bags. They differed in how many raffle tickets a person would get, how early one would be able to enter, the colour of the tote bags, refreshments on arrival (only for the VVIPs), and whether people had any time with the photographer set aside for them (more on that in a moment). Knowing that I could not miss the event, but not being interested in most of the vendors, I personally purchased the Safety Pin ticket. I was not about to miss the chance to get some dedicated time with
Zain Zia, the event photographer, and get my offensive outfit photographed properly, but I didn’t need the extra shopping time. And I’m glad that I made a beeline for the photographer’s spot as soon as I was allowed to enter as an attendee because not long after the line started growing to pretty ridiculous lengths. As Zain was only one person, and an incredibly dedicated one to giving everyone the best pictures they could, it meant that not everyone got their outfit pictures taken by him. I don’t know the exact numbers of people who missed out, but it’s certainly one of the things that was already noted for future reference.
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A moment to appreciate the level of branding for TQiD.
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As far as programming went, TQiD was deliberately kept on the chill side. The only scheduled pieces of programming were: the welcome (very brief), the fashion show (1 hour), a Q&A session with the main guests, Atelier Pierrot and Iris Garden x Haenuli (1 hour), and the raffle with a group picture to close. In their love of excess, lolitas can lean towards offering
everything at an event, which is usually to the detriment of everyone: the organisers run themselves thin, the attendees are overwhelmed, not every segment is particularly well attended, and people either sacrifice their shopping time or their rest time (never a good idea to sacrifice the latter, you need to eat and drink!). This format ensured enough time for everything and for everyone. The stage events were in a completely separate room to the vendors’ hall, so if anyone chose to skip those, it was easily done. Equally, the gaps between each segment were large enough that one could reasonably catch a break, get something to eat or drink, shop a little, or get some cool pictures. Even though I personally only spent maybe 20 minutes total on shopping, it’s entirely because I chose to spend my time catching up with people whom I bumped into.
Let’s talk briefly about the shopping, shall we? TQiD was actually pretty selective with the vendors in an attempt to ensure that they all suited the event theme and vibe. This is why I wasn’t so fussed about the shopping because between gothic, oldschool, and punk stuff there really was very little that would suit my style. Haenuli was the only exception, as a later addition to the guest pool, but even their stall had more stuff in line with Atelier Pierrot’s stock than the sweeter and elegant classic things that I would have been after. Ultimately, out of 13 vendors (lucky 13 for me!): Atelier Pierrot, Haenuli, Wirehead, R. R. Memorandum, Summer Tales Boutique, Issis Starlust, I Do Declare, La Spina, Raspberry Mazohyst, Naddine Atelier, Cloudberry Lady, Distant Melody, and Ultra Mimi – only Naddine Atelier actually got my money. I have spotted the bow tops even before the fashion show and then seeing one modelled by @lolahbell sold me on it, so I made sure to come back. In truth, had I spent less time chatting and more time shopping, I probably would’ve dropped some money on La Spina, Summer Tales Boutique, and Ultra Mimi, but all of those were very popular with the event attendees, so by the time I got there later in the afternoon, their stalls had noticeable gaps. Not as noticeable as Wirehead who were absolutely CLEARED OUT! I kid you not, by the time the fashion show was over, which is when I emerged, their table was empty, with Nomeda roaming around somewhere else, enjoying the well deserved break and all those profits that they raked in. I am exceptionally pleased for Wirehead, to have your first international lolita event be not just a success, but this much of one, is truly special and I hope they felt the love.
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Raspberry Mazohyst.
Photo by Dave.
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Atelier Pierrot x Haenuli.
Photo by @nyacinth. |
But of course, I can’t personally talk about TQiD without talking about the fashion show. This was my pride and joy, and even though from the back room I didn’t necessarily see it fully myself, I am still bursting with pride for all of the models who completely smashed that swimming pool runway! I’m proud of myself too, this was something that I’d never done before and had to step up to the challenge on numerous occasions, but it was seeing the models slay in their looks that made it all worth the effort and stress. A particular point of pride for me is that the fashion show was scheduled to start at 2pm and finish at 3pm. It began promptly at 2pm and finished promptly at 3pm. No delays. No slip ups. Even with the one or two hiccups that I don’t think that many people noticed or which were taken in good spirit (like me sending out a volunteer to clear away a chair left by one of the brands and that volunteer happening to look like a sleep paralysis clown demon). The compliments for the fashion show are fully earned by everyone who participated and my little heart was melting with joy every time anyone: a model, a designer, or an audience member, told me that it was a good piece of work on my part. I do absolutely still need to rest from the work that all of that was, but if you are looking for a fashion show coordinator for your future events – hit me up, let’s see what we can do. ;)
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Haenuli Q&A segment.
Photo by Dave.
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Because the fashion show has eaten up about 3 hours in total of my day (1h for the morning rehearsal, 1h for the fitting before, and 1h for the show itself), I did skip the Q&A segment. I wandered into that room towards the end of it, to grab seats for the raffle at the end, so caught a little bit of Connie talking with pride about the criteria that Atelier Pierrot takes into consideration when deciding on which releases to offer in plus sizes. But other than knowing what the questions were, I couldn’t tell you much about it. It seems that it was split in half, one part for Haenuli and one for Atelier Pierrot, which was great planning and an effective split of work on Jo and Gee’s part, so that no-one was spending the full hour on stage when they might not have been needed there.
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Nothing commemorates an event better than a cursed Instax!
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Instead, the remainder of my day was dedicated to more roaming around, more excited reunions, more pictures, and catching a bit of a break (I’m telling you, even in the sensible shoes that I was wearing for most of the day, my feet were
knackered by the end of the day!). The raffle wrapped up the day along with a group picture, and we all started to shuffle out of the venue, with my particular group of friends and guests at Casa Paulina going out to Kaya Malaysian Eatery for dinner. There is something incredibly special about seeing a sea of lolitas, many of whom wearing some form of tartan, waiting on their Ubers and taking the final few pictures before shedding their coords. Even the weather held up, overcast but mostly dry and on the pleasantly mild side, which felt like the ultimate blessing given that Manchester’s weather is literally impossible to predict.
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My event loot!
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To wrap the event report, here is the obligatory picture of my haul, including the One Singular Purchase, the goodie bag contents, and the gifts that I received from various people for various things. Sweets and cosmetics are from friends as thank yous for hosting them or lending them things for the fashion show, whereas the Haenuli art book was a gift from Nunu and Iris themselves for helping them with the fashion show given that they joined the event so late that they had fewer models available to them. The things I do for these events are always coming from a place of love for this community and I expect nothing in return except the love, so to have actual tangible gifts genuinely made me cry. (In fact, I cried throughout the TQiD weekend more than I can count – all tears of joy, of course!)
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End of event raffle. Photo by Dave.
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In the past I have often put a couple of bullet points on my event reports on things that were done well and things that could be improved for next time. Given my direct involvement, I’m not sure if there is much validity to my claims of what went well, there is definitely a whole lot of bias. But also, Jo, Gee, and I are all event veterans – the reason things went this well is precisely because we’ve learnt from other people’s past mistakes (and sometimes our own). I will, however, drop a few things that I feel would have made TQiD even better (which feels impossible, but just think what that means for how amazing the event was if even with these little bits it was the highlight of my life):
- Add at least one more photographer.
This is something that I’ve already mentioned to Jo and Gee, though they knew it already anyway, we’ve all seen Zain run around like mad and try to give everyone the best photos. - Tweak the Q&A.
Just because I personally didn’t attend it doesn’t mean that the whole segment was pointless. However, I think that the ‘submit your questions’ format is a trap for getting the same repetitive things that we have already heard before, which only appeals to newbies and less so to veterans. Instead, I would suggest something more panel-like or pre-planned: give the guest(s) a topic that fits them and let them talk about it for a bit, with room for a Q&A at the end. If people are mostly interested in Atelier Pierrot’s plus size side or in Haenuli’s return from retirement, then let them tell that story instead of bothering with the usual “What inspires you the most in your work?” things. - Include a printed version of the event schedule in the goodie bag.
Going fully digital was great for the environment and great when things may have been changing to the last minute, but it was a bit of a faff to have to keep the Instagram post or screenshot thereof open in the background to remember what was when. This does mean having to settle these things with enough notice to allow for printing and goodie bag assembly, but also makes a nice addition to people’s scrapbooks.
If you attended The Queen is Dead, please, let me know what you thought of the event. As I already said, my bias due to proximity is incredibly obvious here, but I also love experiencing the same event through other people’s perspectives. And if you haven’t been able to go – would you, if given the chance, and what would you look forward to the most? I’m not saying that TQiD2 is in the works… but I’m also not not saying that. I’m not saying anything. I’m just wrapping up the post. Anyway, thank you for reading all the way until the end and stay tuned for one or two spin-off posts based on my behind the scenes experience of the fashion show process.
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