Vintage Fair and Cinema

How could I miss an opportunity to attend a vintage fair? I couldn’t, especially if it’s only a short tram ride away basically from my doorstep, as opposed to a trek to another city.

| Bodyline L262 JSK | AatP Poison de l'Amour OTKs | Bodyline shoes | After Midnigh sakura clips | Peppermint Fox brooch | everything else is offbrand or vintage |

Here you can even see a glimpse of my earrings, as well as proof that the blouse was indeed pink.

When will my husband return from the war? vibe is strong here.

It was a mystery even to me what I’d wear up until the night before when the idea crystallised. I knew I wanted to wear this dress, then thought that a red x pink look might be cute – and then thought about adding this haori to it. The rest was only a matter of putting those finishing touches. For a very first attempt at Wa lolita, this is not too shabby if I may say so myself. Somehow I thought that I’d feel very self-conscious in Wa and yet I did not, not even one bit. I enjoyed how this outfit felt and would love to explore this look more, ideally taking it in the direction of Shōwa period fashion – both with lolita and non-lolita clothes. Oh, and this haori was also a wonderful way of hiding the ugliest bow at the back. Damn on-detachable waist ties when you live alone!

Initially I was going to go to the fair with my Mum, however, things happened and she couldn’t make it anymore. This led to a very relaxed and slow getting ready in the morning, which I must say I am not used to at all. Usually when I dress in lolita it’s for a meetup or something else that requires me to be ready by a specific time. Not having that just felt odd. I actually had to keep reminding myself that I’m not running late because it doesn’t matter what time I’ll get there, there’s no way I could be late (I’d have to be there past 4pm and I wasn’t that slow getting ready). What’s even weirder about this whole thing is that having all the time in the world to get ready and not having to wake up early should be great – yet somehow I found myself not enjoying that. Maybe if I didn’t have to keep reminding myself that I’m not late it would’ve been better.

The fair took place at Manchester Cathedral, which is basically next door to Victoria Station. The fair entrance wasn’t marked very well from that side – there were signs near the actual fair entrance, but not other ones. As the fair was separated from the rest of the cathedral, I had to walk out, having gone in via the main door, just to go in again, which was a little annoying.

The cathedral is small and has some gorgeously vibrant stained glass windows.

Almost everything (like 95%) on sale that day was either clothes or accessories.

But once inside, everything was lovely, as it usually is at events like this. I remember from past fairs run by this particular group that there were lots of homeware sellers. As I’m still settling in, I made myself a ‘shopping list’ of things I definitely wanted to get. Life had other plans and there was precisely one homeware dealer this time, with everything else being fashion. There was even a kimono dealer, but I know that I can get better deals shopping in Japan, so only browsed there. In the end the only thing I got from my ‘shopping list’ was a tacky Christmas jumper. The other two bits were brooches because no matter how many ‘no more brooches’ ban I impose on myself, I clearly have no self-control.

Not nearly as tacky as I really wanted, but it's a good size and length. And still pretty tacky.

Granted, I was after a Christmas brooch and you can't really pull me away from snowflakes as a motif.
I guess you can say that I'm ready for Christmas (at least fashion wise).

I decided to have a quick tea and cake break. Usually I don’t go for these at vintage fairs, mostly because the eating areas tend to be overcrowded and a bit pricy for what you get, but this time I thought that a sweet treat would keep me going until a proper meal later. After careful consideration I went with a slice of apple and blackberry cake and a blueberry and elderflower white tea to match, both of which were lovely. More blackberries – or less buttercream – on the cake would’ve been nice, as towards the end the buttercream got overwhelmingly sweet and needed something sharp to cut through it, but other than this it was a great cake.

The tea and cake went really well together. Kinda wish there was more tea for the price (at least an individual teapot).

To take full advantage of already being out, I went to the cinema next. For maybe 3 months or so prior to my moving I had a cinema membership, which I actually really miss. I’m not in a position to get a membership now, plus my nearest cinema is considerably further than before, but I enjoyed seeing all the new films first and even going to films I otherwise may not have watched in cinemas. It feels weird to go back to my previous mode of only seeing very select films at the cinema. However, I was not going to miss Joker and I am very glad that I saw it. It was an incredible film from the beginning to the end. In fact, it was so captivating that at some point I noticed how quiet the entire – big and packed – cinema room was, not even a distant crunching of popcorn. I can’t remember the last time I’d hear such an intense silence of everyone paying their full attention to the film. This film certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and without giving anything away, there are moments that were hard to stomach – both visually and just in terms of the topics it dealt with. Joker could easily be completely unrelated to any comic book franchises with but a few cosmetic changes, which I think is further proof of how great of a film it is. If you like either comic book universes or intense psychological stories, then you’ll enjoy this one.

My last stop was in the same building as the cinema – a Polish restaurant called Platzki. I stumbled upon it by complete accident and was intrigued by the whole ‘Polish food with a modern twist’ thing, so I wanted to try it. Inside looks homely yet modern, very cosy and inviting. The restaurant changes their menu monthly, I believe, with certain items being switched up more often (like soup or fish dishes) depending on what they get. And, still pretty unusually for a Polish restaurant, they have vegan and gluten free options on their menu all the time. Polish cuisine is very meat based, as are often attitudes towards food, so to have a place not only include those, but make them sound just as delicious as the other ones – I respect that. Having said this, after much thought I went with the soup, which that day was pea soup. It’s something that I wouldn’t make myself (particularly as I don’t know how to make soups for one, I was only ever told how to make a big pot for a family of three for two days) and I wanted to try something with fewer twists to establish how good their food was. And it was a solid 10/10 – the soup was amazing, it tasted homemade, was well spiced and full of sausage slices and potato chunks. Together with the staff being really friendly, the cosy décor and the mini pumpkins as table decorations, it warmed me up from inside and made me feel very autumnal.

I loved the open kitchen vibe, the chefs looked like two people genuinely passionate about what they're doing.

I also want all of those glasses to come home with me, this is totally what I want for my home decor!

Grochówka, or pea soup. She's not a looker, but she's hearty and will warm you up from the inside.
Fun fact: this is (or was) a common dish in the army because it's cheap and filling. Some places
will advertise themselves as having a field kitchen and some of the best grochówka were from there.

If I wasn't impressed enough, Platzki totally won be over with this. We call these cream fudge
krówki, which means little cows, and I honestly love them.

Which also prompted me to go home asap, so that I could change into proper cosy clothes and finish the evening with a hot drink, some candles and relaxing. As I navigate my new life in Manchester, I keep discovering new positives and negatives. Last week in particular was quite packed: between being busy at work, taking on a translation task and having my wardrobe replaced, I found myself not enjoying living on my own as there’s no-one to share any responsibilities with. Yet that weekend trip reminded me that I’m also right on the outskirts of city centre of a major city, that there’s tonnes of things to use as an excuse to dress up and that while my frills will still stand out, there are enough alternative people in the city to not make me that big a deal. And that is a side that I genuinely enjoyed a lot and that I really wanted to have. So I’m not sure when or what for, but hopefully there will be more little weekend excursions happening in the future.