Man Meet

You might think that something like Man Meet would be isolating for those who have no interest in Ouji or Aristocrat fashions. But a good comm makes sure that everyone is welcome to attend and will find a way that works for everyone – in this case, this was by providing an opportunity for matching by asking the Oujis what will they wear and the Lolitas to dress in a similar colour scheme or theme. It’s the Ouji accessory thing, but with you matching them rather than the other way around.

Arrr, parrots are overrated!

I knew about my Ouji match since the Cardigan Meet, as the topic of Man Meet came up whilst we were crafting, so as soon as I heard “navy” I knew that this would be the easiest colour for me to match with. And despite having no interest in that style previously, I really got into Pirate Lolita, although I didn’t find as many truly outstanding, polished perfection cords as I had hoped to when I looked for inspiration (though I’m sure that at Under the Sea in Amsterdam there were more fabulous Pirates, I just didn’t have the energy to browse through so many photos from this long ago). Luckily for me I only needed two bits: the hat and the necklace, the rest I already had at home (the replica gun was my Dad’s 30th birthday present). I must say, I’m pretty happy with this, it only goes to show that my wardrobe really is at the point where I genuinely could do pretty much anything without having to buy loads of expensive bits. There were some really epic pictures taken of my matching Ouji and myself, we had a blast of a photoshoot and the replica gun proved very popular, but I don’t have these yet so this will have to do.

We spent the day at Kirkstall Abbey, which was actually two parts: the abbey ruins themselves, which are almost a park and free of charge, and the Abbey House Museum, which is where we started. The museum has an absolutely wonderful lower section which is a rebuilt Victorian era street with as many items from the local area as they could find. You could wander inside the shops, learn about Victorian lifestyle in mostly rural but growingly urbanised and industrialised Yorkshire and get a feel of town life of ordinary people. Shame that it was so dark inside because the photos would’ve been absolutely incredible!

What every Lolita would be in Victorian England: an
Importer of Foreign Fancy Goods! Currently known
as Taobao resellers.

Upstairs the museum had an exhibition on fairy tales, mainly their origins and meanings, which developed into displays of toys throughout history. Although our favourite parts of that side of the museum were the old automata, which were both the first moving stories and the first arcade games, in a way. Some were creepy (the fortune teller was a creepy little doll), some were fascinating (the oldest one they had was over a hundred years old and looked a good as new), some were funny (the haunted house was kind of Scooby Doo level by our standards) and some kept us quite captivated (like the murder mystery one). You had to exchange a 10p coin to obtain a vintage penny the machines needed to operate, but the experience was totally worth it. The museum staff seemed to like us quite a lot, so they even opened one up to show us the insides as the machine was working! (As well as totally stood by us when we had a bit of your typical photos-taken-without-asking incident, they were absolutely wonderful, supportive and understanding!)

After a quick lunch we then moved to Kirkstall Abbey itself where there was some sort of an art trail event going on with lots of artists displaying their sculptures, paintings, works for sale etc. And where better for a bunch of Oujis and a few Lolitas to take some epic photos than in medieval ruins? Though let me say, as soon as I was done with photos I rushed to change my shoes – the AP boots are gorgeous, but not made for walking, I was really grateful to my past self for bringing a change with me. However, for London I shall double up by both putting gel insoles into these AND bringing a change of shoes to spare my feet the pain at the tea party.

After getting enough photos, but still not feeling quite like parting ways, we made our way to the local pub for some refreshments and more chatter. Since we were quite a small group, it was really easy to talk to everyone and feel like you’ve had sufficient opportunity to catch up with people. We even somehow got not one, not two, but three “slip of the tongue” cheeky insights into Dreamy Masquerade Carnival from one of the organisers (I can’t say details, but one was about things we could buy, one about an as-of-yet unannounced vendor and one about who one person in our group will model for – all very exciting!).

And then we drifted apart as time came for us to catch our trains home. It was such a fun day out, I was really tired from working all week before and a delayed return from a work trip the night before, but I’ve absolutely no regrets – in fact, I would’ve regretted not going to the meet far more! Except that now my next meet will be the tea party in London, unless something happens or I change my mind about something, so I better find a way to keep the hunger for dressing up satiated.

Have you ever done Ouji or any other kind of Boystyle? Or if you haven’t, would you? What’s your favourite of the lesser Lolita substyles?