The Banquet of Hexen and Menschenfresser Event Report

God, to think that it’s been three solid years since the last in-person big lolita event I attended… The itch has been constant and I am beyond grateful (and still very much ecstatic) that I was able to scratch it. Bear with me if I’m out of practice with event reports, I’ll do my best to not make this one too rambly. And if it still is too rambly for your liking, I vlogged the event and you’ll find the vlog at the end of this post.

Official event logo

The Banquet of Hexen and Menschenfresser (or in English, The Banquet of Witches and Cannibals) was lovingly organised by @meli_loves_japan and the Stuttgart community with support from Aya, who runs Trip in the Dream, who helped bring so many Japanese indie brands as remote vendors to the event. The tea party took place in Ludwigsburg in Germany, home to Europe’s largest Baroque palace, on Saturday October 28th. Specifically, day 1 took place at Ratskeller Ludwigsburg, a vintage-style restaurant not too far from the gorgeous historic city centre square.

Since I volunteered to model in the fashion show, I was at the venue early for the rehearsal. Even though as a VIP ticket holder I was still eligible for early entry with a dedicated VIP shopping hour, having that extra bit of time to observe the set up probably gave me a slight advantage with the shopping since I already had an idea of the layout. It was also a great opportunity to admire the decorations before they got messed up by the entropy that comes with these events. And let me tell you, the decorations were absolutely on point! Each table had a unique centrepiece and every one was as detailed and meticulously put together as the next, offering something to admire from every angle.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Eventually though we got shooed away to enter the event properly and I mostly spent that time chatting with my friends. There was a photo booth outside, which I took advantage of later - for now I was happy to observe everyone’s amazing coordinates and soak in the atmosphere of joyful anticipation that is unique to events and cons. It’s been so long that this excited buzz alone was enough to get one a touch drunk.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

All VIP ticket holders were welcomed with a magic potion: a homemade colour-changing lemonade. Let me tell you, it took all my willpower to not down that - not just because by that point my sugar levels were dropping and it was still a while before the food, but also because it was utterly divine! I keep meaning to ask for the recipe and then forget, distracted by something else, but one day I’ll make myself a whole jug. Each attendee also received a goodie bag in a canvas tote with the event’s logo. The most unique item in there was by far the shower gel made specifically for the event, which sadly I had to leave behind as it exceeds the max allowance for liquids on board a plane. It will eventually get to me by post, it’s not like I’m in a hurry, nonetheless this is the most original event exclusive goodie bag gift I’ve ever gotten and I think it’s a fantastic idea.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

It’s not really a lolita event without some good ol’fashioned shopping and I was very determined to make the most of my VIP shopping hour. I managed to combine my no-buy rules with vlogging duties by doing a round one way with the camera, seeing what was where, and then switching the camera off and throwing money at these amazing vendors. Over the course of the pandemic I managed to accrue a respectable pile of euros thanks to my Grandmother who sends me cash for birthdays etc., so there was more than ample means for splurging. Though as excited as I was about those unknown-to-me Japanese indie brands, I threw most of my money at the European sellers. However, I am keeping many of those new discoveries bookmarked and followed - you can find a list of all the vendors on the event’s Instagram page. Regardless of your style, you are bound to discover some incredible creators, so I highly recommend going through it. But I also warn you right now that the lineup truly is stellar and please, don’t hold me responsible if your hand slips a bit too hard buying.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

The rest of the event was more of the typical things that tea parties like this feature: a welcome speech, some food, a raffle, best dressed prizes, the fashion show… Whilst I could write a bit more about each of those, the truth is that those things are much more fun to experience than to read about. So let it be said that luck did not favour me in the raffle, though I was happy to see my friends win big and exciting things. Similarly, whilst I never anticipated to even be considered for the best dressed prize (knowing that I was going to model, I kept my outfit on the simpler side to make getting changed easier), I was cheering my friends on, many of whom got the recognition they deserved for the effort they put in. And as for the fashion show itself, I can only really tell you that everyone looked amazing as far as I could tell in the cramped backstage room we had for a changing room and that I am very grateful to Amastacia and Lady Sloth for picking me because I enjoyed modelling for them both (maybe ever so slightly more for Amastacia because their clothes are so different from what I typically wear and it was ace to live that “buried my fourth husband in as many years” rich widow fantasy!). It’s not like my commentary would add anything that you can’t see on the photos below or on the vlog at the end, so just enjoy.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Lady Sloth team with their Best Dressed Winners.
Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Best Dressed Winners as chosen by Yamada-san.
Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Best Dressed Winners in the Couples/Groups category.
Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Yamada-san.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

One other thing that was different was a brief talk by one of the invited guests, a lolita curator and the organiser of the Gothic and Lolita Market in Tokyo, Yamada-san. It’s unfortunate that due to events being what they are (i.e. running over) her talk had to be postponed because by that point most of the attendees had grown a little bit tired. Judging by what I saw of the slides, Yamada-san had plenty of very interesting things to say about the Japanese lolita community, how they define brands and indie brands, what Western brands they are familiar with, the Gothic and Lolita Market event, and many more - however, for how much information was contained on the slides, only a fraction of it was translated and a lot of the text was too small to read from afar. I learnt more from the scraps that I heard from Yamada-san herself, as a lot was missed out in translation that seemed interesting. Thankfully, she shared her slides along with her photos from the event, so I plan on reviewing them in more detail later to get more of an insight into that fascinating side of lolita fashion. Of what I have heard though was that, for example, with the demise of printed lolita fashion-exclusive media, it became harder for the Japanese lolita community to decide on what constitutes “a brand”, as up until then they relied on the distinction between what was featured in GLB or KERA and what didn’t. There was also a slide that listed Western/non-Japanese lolita brands with how many Japanese lolitas surveyed were familiar with them and the takeout that I got from that was that availability for purchase in Japan made a huge impact as Lief and Violet Fane got the most votes, whereas brands like Lady Sloth were hardly heard of in Japan. That Atelier Pierrot endorsement clearly goes very far for a community that is outside of the English-speaking circle. Yamada-san herself was very lovely, as well as stylish in an oldschool gothic way, so go give her a follow too!

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Lastly, the biggest raffle winners, other than their raffle goodies, also won an opportunity to take part in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony hosted by @kythanalolita, who, bless them, had to change super quickly after the fashion show into a kimono to host that. This was a very lovely touch which allowed for an extra layer of winding down for the day, as well as an opportunity to enjoy/observe a truly iconic piece of Japanese culture. Even as a bystander I learnt quite a lot. Although again, this was all towards the end of the day, so weariness was taking over, as was the desire to squeeze as much shopping and socialising as I could from what remained of the event.

Although there was a second day, that was more like a very big meetup for third party activities (a palace tour and Pumpkin Festival in the palace gardens), rather than an event put on exclusively for us, so I won’t talk about that - just watch the vlog. For everything that was put on just for the banquet, I can hand on heart say that every bit of hard work and love towards the community really shone through the whole experience. From the moment I entered until the time for goodbyes arrived, I felt incredibly welcomed. Between the chance to hang out with friends and to make new ones, between shopping my favourite indie brands and discovering amazing new creators, between stuffing my face with good food and walking it all off around the event, I had an absolute blast. I mean, I did spend that whole four-day weekend having very early starts and pretty late ends and I regret nothing, which says a lot. The event would certainly benefit from having Saturday’s activities split into two days so that each segment got the attention that it deserved instead of falling victim to shopping distractions or fatigue. Not unlike Myths of Our Own back in 2018, actually - even though that had a break in the middle of the day and the two halves were still somewhat separated, lolita events are intense and tiring, so packing too much into one day rarely works out. Extra special shoutout goes to @meli_loves_japan for all the hard work she put into making it as exquisite as it was and a massive hug to @lena_golita for being the best hostess for those four days and letting me crash on her air mattress.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

My favourite from the photo booth, courtesy of Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

Photo by Pipparazzi_Cosplay.

If you want to see more of what I wore on both days, you will find the full coord rundowns in October’s coord roundup post and as promised, below is the vlog that I put together from the various bits of footage I took over the course of the weekend. My haul and the goodie bag contents are also included at the end of video, and I did my best to tag all the vendors featured in the shopping footage.