Strike a Pose Day 2

Then came the tea party, the more relaxed day, the one which usually allows you to sleep in. However, as the tea party venue, Kaastel Maurick, was in another town and Sunday bus service was less frequent, I still woke up at the break of dawn to get ready. Especially as on Sunday I really went for it with my outfit.

| Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn Switching JSK | Infanta Swan Lake blouse | AatP Arabesque OTKs | offbrand shoes, tights, cape and feather | handmade hat, chain of office and Henry VIII brooch | vintage belt and brooches | Axes Femme fur collar | Ebony and Ivory hair clip | AatP The Mouse Kind medal pin | Dalao Home wig |

I am coming for your waifus.

Here is a detail shot because I did have a lot of brooches. Meet Little Henry ;)

Initially the event theme, Strike a Pose, had me stumped because all I could think of was Madonna. There are certainly people out there who could do that 80’s inspired lolita well, but that’s not me. And then it hit me - pose! I already had an outfit that was a nod to one of the most famous poses in history - my Henry VIII coord. It went through an update since its inception, I made a chain of office and a Tudor cap (which looks absolutely awful up close, since I’m not the best at using a sewing machine and did it all over like 2 evenings prior to setting off for Holland) and while I forgot to pack any rings, I’m still very proud of how it came out. As soon as I put this on, I felt regal and kingly, although also way too giddy for a monarch thanks to being able to swish that cape around. This outfit has had such a positive response that I’m sure it will get another outing some day, by which point it will likely go through another update - or maybe it will even morph into a proper Tudor ouji? We’ll have to wait and see!

Sadly, the weather did not hold up as well as it did on Saturday. On the way there we were lucky to get there with only minor need for umbrellas (and even managed to snap a few pictures before going inside), but that’s as far as our luck got us. It made little difference for most of the day as we were indoors, though it’s a shame since the castle grounds had more nice-looking places which we didn’t get a chance to explore.

Babi and Kaie are pros at selfies, this was the only take and everyone was happy with how it came out. A lolita miracle!

As we were going in, Babi and Kaie from Triple Fortune were greeting those arriving along with the event organisers, which was a very nice touch. They recognised me from the day before and I managed to accomplish my first mission: make sure that they understood what my outfit was referencing. As it was them selecting the best dressed on that day, I didn’t want anything in my outfit to be misunderstood. Usually I’m not fussed about the best dressed thing, however, this time I have put a lot of effort and thought into my outfit, so I was treating my shot at it that little bit more seriously.

People were ready for more shopping, though thankfully there were some areas to chill and socialise too.

We entered into the vendors’ hall, where all the vendors from the day before (except Angelic Pretty) continued to sell their bits. This time I almost bought a Triple Fortune bonnet, as I found a wine one, which wasn’t there the day before. However, as I counted my cash, not only have I realised that I didn’t quite have enough, I was also very aware that I’d struggle to pack it into my limited luggage. That and once I saw the colour in daylight, I noticed the wine had purple undertones instead of more true red ones. So in the end I resisted, since it wouldn’t match anything, I’d only worry about transporting it and it would’ve used up all my cash. Instead I had a very close look at Summer Tales Boutique’s new collection, which I really liked and might try to buy once they’re out, and bought a pair of tights from Violet Fane as I had big regrets from the day before. (The pair I actually wanted wasn’t for sale at this event at all, I remembered it from Myths of Our Own, so I assume that design sold out entirely, but I think the one I got will still match nicely with what I have.)

The first wife and queen, Catherine of Aragon (here: @sahakiel) was a strong and religious Spanish woman. Her people loved her and her family in Spain was powerful - truth be told, it seems like a miracle that England avoided war with the Spanish Empire given how great an offence the divorce was.

Then enters Anne Boleyn (here: @josinemaaike), the love for whom convinced Henry to separate from the Catholic Church. It is likely that without her there would be no other wives (at least until Catherine’s death). It is of some consolation that her daughter, Elizabeth, went on to follow in her father’s footsteps as one of the greatest monarchs in English history - although the Tudor dynasty died with her, so maybe not as much consolation after all.

It is said that the death of Jane Seymour (here: @livlotte) was heavily grieved by Henry. I mean, whole three years have passed before Henry married next, which is almost as long as his last marriage. Jane was the only one who bore him a legitimate male heir, and here she is an angelic ghost reunited with her husband.

Do not let anyone fool you into thinking that Anne of Cleves (here: @borelely) was ugly. She was not! Her contemporaries have described her as pretty and not only she lived to become the king’s friend, she outlived all of Henry’s wives as well as him. Serves him well.

And then we come to Catherine Howard (here: @filosophilia), the youngest of all the wives, having married young and been executed young for adultery. I mean, she was about 16-17 when she married Henry, who was almost 50 at the time, I’m sure you’d look for an affair with someone closer to your age if you were her.

Bonus waifu because she had an amazing ruff. Or is it a mistress? We'll never know,
she's dead now and a gentleman never tells!

As we were one of the first ones to get in, we were done fairly quickly and had plenty of time to mingle. One of my missions as King Henry VIII was to find me some waifus. The original plan was to get all six, or even more, but in the end I stopped at five. Why? As you may or may not remember, the wives were: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. The sixth wife, Catherine Parr, survived because of Henry’s death - and I didn’t want to die. Over the course of the day I have wooed some beautiful wives, none of whom were harmed in the process. I personally believe that Henry VIII loved all of his wives, if not at the beginning of their relationship then later, though of course his treatment of them and of women in general leaves much to be desired.

The place mats were such a lovely touch, I made sure to carefully preserve mine and it lives on my coffee table now.

Behold - a sausage roll. To be honest, Greggs has some competition there.

Who needs cutlery when you have hands? If that was good enough for a king, it's good enough for me!

I literally forgot that we also got soup until I was browsing through my photos. It was nice,
but the glass was not the most practical vessel as it was too hot to handle and the soup was
too chunky to just sip it easily. Still good soup (leek and potato, if I remember correctly).

The  cake we got later: deceptively pretty to hide its ugly taste. I would not eat again, I hate coffee and coffee flavoured stuff.

My ‘being in character’ continued during lunch as well. Our first course, so to speak, was a Dutch sausage roll and it seemed a little weird to eat it with a knife and fork, so I did what Henry would do - grabbed it and ate with my hands. The rest of the lunch was sandwiches, which you can’t grab quite so dramatically. I’m very grateful that this was lunch and not your typical afternoon tea spread - this made for a much more satisfying meal, which lasted me a bit longer. I certainly wasn’t starving by the end of the day like I was on Saturday! Later on dessert was brought out, which was a small piece of coffee cake and since I hate the taste of coffee, this was a very bitter disappointment and I gave mine to a friend.

Immediately after lunch we took a group photo, then mingled for a bit, as the room was being cleared and prepared for the next big thing: a dancing workshop. And boy, THAT was super fun! The gentleman running it had done one at a previous event, which was more historical dances. This time, with the event theme being Strike a Pose, he taught us a menuet meets vogueing routine to Madonna’s Vogue. It was so much fun and while I personally would’ve been more interested in more of the historical dance side, I enjoyed the whole workshop just as much. If you’ve ever done anything like ceilidh (or polonaise if you’re Polish), then the historical parts were quite easy to pick up and for everyone to participate. The best thing was that this was definitely an activity for fun, it didn’t matter if you messed up or not because at the end what mattered was that we all had a laugh. Absolute 10/10 part of the programme for that day, I would do more activities like this in a heartbeat and I want to find more things like this in the UK now! As I was too busy dancing, there are no pictures, though again, keep an eye out on Wunderwelt Libre in case I manage to add any there.

Best dressed winner and Triple Fortune designers explaining their choice.

The other organisers had a surprise thank-you gifts for Katie, the owner and designer of Summer Tales Boutique.

The first was a booklet of all of Summer Tales Boutique painting prints as worn by various lolitas.

The second was a big printout of the event organisers wearing those prints in a photoshoot. It was incredibly thoughtful, sweet and touching.

All the dancers were rewarded with a drink (very much needed), which left us a bit of time as the room was rearranged once more for the final part: the best dressed prize, raffle and closing bits. Sadly, I did not win - I realise that my not wearing any Triple Fortune pieces that day did not help. Oddly enough, whilst usually I agree with Triple Fortune’s decisions and know that they pay attention to everyone’s outfits before making a selection, this time I was underwhelmed with their choice. Nonetheless, this is all personal tastes and congratulations to the winner. My lack of luck in the raffle continued from Saturday and soon we were back to packing up to leave.

Given that my feet were tired from the previous day and all that walking on Sunday, part of me really welcomed the end of the event. I needed some physical rest because I was wiped out. Having said this, the event was genuinely fantastic, I have enjoyed Sunday from the beginning to the end. My calendar for next year is already filling up with international events, so I’m not sure if I’ll manage another trip to the Netherlands, particularly if the event sticks to being in a smaller town (the limited infrastructure for a tourist was a pain on occasions). However, if you can, I wholeheartedly recommend it, as you will have a good time. The Netherlands is easy to navigate by public transport and the majority of people speak very good English, so it is very easy mode travelling.

At the end I will leave you with some group photos of our small but strong Polish team. I am particularly enjoying how against my friends’ dark and gothy aesthetic I look ridiculously gay. I am that quirky basist living in the land of the fairies that every Visual-kei band needs!

Nothing will stop me from being a shiny king amongst my goth friend, weeeee!