June Tea Meet

Despite all predictions, last week ended up pretty manic for me, particularly towards the end. I was (and still am) lacking a little sleep and feeling tired, so as much as I was looking forward to going to another Manchester meet, I felt the need to be comfortable during the day. So with a bit of luck and a speedy parcel from Paris, I changed my plans last minute and did not regret a single thing!

| Angelic Pretty British Crown OP | Innocent
World Millefeuille bolero | Angelic Pretty
Crown Ribbon OTKs | Cutie Creator headbow |
offbrand shoes and ring |

I have an unboxing video on the backburner, which will show a few more details and review the dress a little bit more, but I am so, so happy to own it. After resigning myself to having to wait years for this cut and colour to appear second hand and probably costing over retail anyway, AP Paris came to tempt me and I said yes. This is such a simple coord, but it meant that I could enjoy the whole day of being frilly without pain or discomfort. And I’m really looking forward to discovering more ways of styling this OP, I’m not used to coording long sleeve OP’s so it’ll be a good challenge to stretch my skills a little bit.

The meet was meant to focus on a little exhibition of feminist art at the Portico Library and afternoon tea later on at Richmond Tea Rooms. Although our afternoon tea reservation was quite late (5:45pm), due to awful public transport complications and delays we managed to fit both activities in with a bit of spare time in between.

The “Cut Cloth: Contemporary Textiles and Feminism” exhibition proved a total hit with everyone. It wasn’t big, the library itself is rather small, but every piece of art there was really noteworthy. And how rebelliously Lolita is it to admire a piece of embroidery work depicting fabulously dressed Victorian/Edwardian women be modern feminists? I would’ve very happily taken some of these embroidery art works and hung them on my wall somewhere, they were as beautiful as they were thought provoking. We also got special access to the reading room, normally reserved for members and researchers, as the librarian was very impressed with our frills and wanted to photograph such fabulous visitors (and he was very patient when we then asked him to do the same with a few of our own cameras, bless him).

Unfortunately, by the time everyone arrived at the meeting place (we set off nearly an hour after the original meeting time due to public transport issues) and got to the library, it was just before it shut down. Most of us hid in the Manchester Art Gallery just next door to chill – quite literally, as we just sat in the café and chatted. Had I not been so tired I probably would’ve gone to explore the gallery a little bit more, I really liked it when I went there before, but I simply didn’t have the energy for that.

My energy returned when we got to Richmond Tea Rooms. If you’ve never been before and would like to go, I highly recommend going with someone who either has been or who knows Manchester very well. It’s not that it’s hard to find, but if you don’t know where you’re going you’re very likely to doubt yourself during the way because it’s essentially in an alley between the back of some clubs and the back of some student-looking accommodation, in the middle of Manchester’s Gay Village. The tea rooms are decorated in Alice in Wonderland theme and it was truly, truly magical! The staff were lovely too and accommodated our various wishes, from someone’s request for no cream on their milkshake to my asking to swap the scone for a slice of cake in their cheapest afternoon tea option. Nobody got charged extra, everyone got what they wanted and the food and drinks were simply delicious. I didn’t even ask for my cake to be this big, they just gave me this giant slice (average female hand of mine for scale), that’s how lovely they were.

Look at the size of that cake!

This was such a lovely, lovely day. Even though, as we observed with a fellow Leeds comm Lolita, we get so much more attention, questions and unwanted photographs in Manchester than in Leeds (honestly, the number of people who got telling off for taking photos of us without asking is ridiculous, when in Leeds I’ve only had a situation like this maybe once), it was great to hang out with everyone, catch up with people I had met before and make some new friends. I also got to feel the CLAM comm love, albeit in rather unpleasant circumstances, as my issues with public transport continued and ended up on the wrong train on the way back. Even though they could only stay with me online, being able to share my panic and feel all the support via Facebook from them, ranging from simple “stay safe” to offers of crashing for the night, I felt very loved and taken care of, a true comm member and not just a casual visitor. And that was priceless – but I still don’t wish my stressful journey home upon anyone!

Does your comm look after each other like true mother hens? What is your local area like in terms of how people interact with Lolitas? Any go-to outfits or solutions for when you still want to wear Lolita/go to the meet, but are battling tiredness?