Gala Nocturna 2016 - The Age of Redemption

Same procedure as every year...
Beginning of March means it's time for Gala Nocturna! This year it moved to Ghent, a welcome change from Brussels last year (such a hideous city!) and Antwerp (didn't really need to go there for a third time...).

I was not too enthusiastic when the motto was announced some time late last year. "The Age of Redemption" just didn't evoke any ideas or pictures whatsoever. The moodboards didn't help either. The women's outfits were either boring or impossible to achieve (at least for me) haute couture outfits, while the inspiration for the men's outfits could probably best be described as "homeless Hipster Jedi-Priest". Oh well, at least everybody would be able to recycle their halo headdresses from 3 years ago ("The Pope's Daughter").
Nevertheless, I didn't cancel my pre-booked hotel room. After all, decent goth-dark-romantic parties are rare up here, I wanted to see Ghent and there would at least be some friends from back home and all around Germany coming. And so far I've never stuck to the Gala's theme anyway.

Turns out, Ghent is really lovely, almost as pretty as Amsterdam (but a lot smaller). Over the centuries they seem to have filled the city with as many churches, chapels, cathedrals and monasteries as possible, and it's rather impressive to turn a corner and find yet another gothic cathedral when walking through the city. Several rivers flow through the city centre and the waterside cafes invite to indulge in the holy trinity of belgian guilty pleasures: Mussels, Frietjes, Waffels. Preferably sitting outside in the sun, of which we luckily got to see quite a lot during the weekend.

Gravensteen castle, major tourist attraction

In the end I decided to wear the Victorian Mourning Dress that I had made just before last year's WGT. I had only worn it only on one day for a photoshoot and apart from that mostly spent said day sitting in Cafés and in our appartment sipping wine, so that dress definitely needed to be taken out again. I did want  at least one new piece though, so I made at least a quick new headdress and a matching boutonniere-like thing to pin onto my boyfriends jacket (I think this is the closest we've ever come to matching outfits).


Befitting the theme, the location for the Gala this year was the Augustijnenklooster in Ghent, an old monastery, where monks are still living and working and apparently also brewing beer. Long hallways with ancient paintings, wooden furniture and antique chandeliers created quite a noble atmosphere, but also made me anxious to walk around with a drink in my hand (what if I stumble and spill it onto the painting?!). Having seen pictures of the monastery before, I just found it a pity that the library was not open.

The largest of the monastery's halls was dedicated to the dance floor, however, the room was carpeted and quite badly ventilated so that towards the end of the evening the air got sweaty, humid and stale, ugh. Dancing was not much fun. Also, the historical dance instructor was missing this year, I guess that also had to do with everything being focused on Redemption *yawn*

FOOD!

Other than the Concert Noble in Brussels last year, the place was not crammed with vendor stalls and there was plenty of seating space to rest weary feet. The buffet was stocked with mostly simple items, bread, various cheese, apples and grapes and was constantly refilled during the evening. I definitely prefer a simple but full buffet over a fancy but scarce one...

The other two halls were dedicated to a video installation, "Casting Jesus", that I didn't watch because... well, I wanted to go to a ball and not an art show and to an "interactive praying installation" that I did not really understand. I guess everybody else felt the same, because I never saw more than a handful of people in any of these rooms. Most guests remained in the hallways talking to friends or gathered around the buffet.

All in all I have to say, the Gala Nocturna this year did not feel like a ball at all. It ranged somewhere between a cocktail reception and an art show, but the dancing and all the rest of the programme was definitely missing. I would even say it was simply boring, nothing new happened all night long. Where were the living statues, the ballet dancing, stage combat and all the other little diversions that created such a fascinating atmosphere during the last editions?

The organisation however was immaculate. No queues at the entry, the wardrobe, the bars, or the buffet, professional security personnel (not that you would need much security on this sort of event). No confusion with QR codes on your printed ticket and ticket order numbers. Organisation-wise, the Gala has definitely grown up.
Only too bad that this was the last event under the name of Gala Nocturna. Viona, the organiser, announced several weeks ago that after 10 years it would be time for something new. It remains to be seen what this "something new" will be. I myself hope for a summer ball - why do these sort of things always have to happen when it's cold?

London Calling - The Cumberbitch Dress

In the beginning, there was a First-World-Problem

and a piece of fabric from the Lapjesmarkt.

Fortunately, the internet is a seemingly bottomless resource for free sewing patterns, and while looking for more vintage fashion patterns in the style of the dresses in Masters of Sex (as I wrote earlier - my new addiction, thanks to my friend Rebecca), I found this awesome blog with lots of free 30s-50s inspired sewing patterns. Among them was a this cute 1950s inspired cocktail dress that was a perfect fit for the coupon of fabric I had picked up on the fabric market some weeks ago.

The pattern itself was around 1 size too large for me, this time I adjusted the size directly on the cut fabric pieces (I like to live dangerously!), which worked out quite well, although I feel that I could have taken it in a little more. The pattern is very well explained with an A4 page of instructions. Almost too much for my taste, since I daresay I know my stuff and I'm too impatient to read longer texts, but it will probably be a great help for less proficient (and less impatient) seamstresses.

Please note the pattern matching in the front and in the back - the zipper in the back spoiled my efforts a little, but if you don't look too closely it's okay I guess.

Overall cost: 1€ for the fabric, 2€ for the zipper.

In the end, things worked out a little differently than planned: We arrived in London on saturday morning and were greeted by sunshine and warm weather, so we spent the afternoon in Camden town, which was rather busy, given that it was holiday season and a weekend.

Mad Tea party in Camden

Camden Lock

 Canals, boats, biertje - we instantly felt at home. Shopping on the famous Camden Market however wasnt much fun, the exchange rate for the British Pound isn't exactly favourable at the moment. Towards the evening, we met up with our friends and then went for dinner somewhere near our hotel. Followed by another beer, in a pub nearby. Once we had settled down with our drinks at a table, who walks in? 

None other than Benedict Cumberbatch.

I'm proud, we girls were well-behaved and did not jump into full fangirl-mode, let the guy have his after-show pint and just found it incredibly cool to breathe the same air ;) After all, we would see him on stage on Monday evening.

One of the few sunny spells - Walkie-Talkie, Tower Bridge and The Shard

The rest of our stay in London was completely rainy, so we spent most of the time in Museums. I went to see the Shoes - Pleasure and Pain Exhibition in the V&A and now would like a copy of the high-heeled victorian leather boots they had on display *sigh* We also went to the Science Museum (always worth a visit, even if its just for seeing Charles Babbage's brain floating in a jar) and to the Tate Modern.

No pictures allowed inside :(

Mandatory book haul at Waterstones Piccadilly Circus

All in all I have to say, living in Amsterdam really spoils other cities for you. London seemed dirty, loud and noisy in comparison, and not exactly pretty either, with its inhomogeneous architecture (Old church next to steel-and-glass-skyscraper next to ugly 1960s concrete block...) and so much traffic. My last visits to London always gave me this adrenaline rush of finally being in a metropolis again, but now that I'm living in the prettiest capital of them all, I just don't feel it anymore.

And to conclude this post: Hamlet was simply divine! Probably my favorite theatre moment so far: the whole cast was amazing (after all, the Royal Shakespeare Company should know their stuff), the stage design placed the story in a hauntingly beautiful castle, and even the Shakespeare-novice and theatre-agnostic in our midst was well-entertained. I have to admit, I cannot really judge the quality of the production itself, since it has been more than 10 years since I thoroughly read Hamlet, but that may be for the better (I tend to over-criticize).

Super-bad interval selfie with champagne!

Elfia - Elf Fantasy Fair in Haarzuilens

Phew, so last weekend was super-busy! My feet are only slowly recovering from everything we did, my head was fortunately a little faster, also thanks to Aspirin and Paracetamol!

Everything started on saturday, when we went to Haarzuilens, a town close to Utrecht, for Elfia. Also called the Elf Fantasy Fair, it is apparently Europe's largest Fantasy event and attracts up to 12 000 visitors per day - quite impressive.
When I came across it some months ago I didn't really know what it was, but it seems to be quite well-known actually, at least several friends expressed their envy when they heard that I kinda-sorta-maybe intended to go.

All in all, Elfia is probably best described as a mixture between a renaissance faire, a comic convention and a goth festival: You can get the typical medieval market food, can do archery or watch swordfights and jousting (which we missed, but we saw the pretty horsies!). A games room is installed, talks and workshops take place in several tents or in the castle itself, take part in a Quidditch tournament or get autographs from the guests of honour. This year, some (minor) actor from Game of Thrones was a guest, including a replica of the Iron Throne. Previously, apparently Terry Pratchett or Robert Jordan had been guests, wow!

We took the train from Amsterdam Centraal to Utrecht, took then a sprinter train to Vleuten, from where the shuttle bus to Kasteel de Haar in Haarzuilens left. In costume on public transport - after having a car for the past several years, that was quite a setback!
But it showed me yet another reason why I love Amsterdam so much: While back home in Karlsruhe I got weird comments and catcalls as soon as I was wearing a dress and lipstick, in Amsterdam I can be out in broad daylight in a victorian ballgown without anyone batting an eye. What a relief!

The area where the Elf Fantasy Fair takes place is really gorgeous: A watercastle and its surrounding gardens, with little bridges, cultivated parks, romantic ponds and even a hedge labyrinth (the latter wasn't much of a challenge due to lack of leaves at this time of the year).
Sadly, the weather was not exactly optimal for an outside event and was mostly coldish, grey and drizzly, but towards the late afternoon we caught at least a glimpse of the sun. Who schedules this sort of event for April in the Netherlands anyway?!.

We somehow missed most of the official program. As first time visitors, it was rather overwhelming and we took hours just to see the whole area. We tried ALL TEH FOOD though!

I made a new friend - he's a buzzard!

The costumes were really remarkable, even for someone who has been to the WGT and Gala Nocturna - We saw princesses & knights, TARDISes & Doctors, fairies & fauns, zombies and cowboys, and all sorts of other curiosities like a gender-bent steampunk Darth Vader or an elf who had brought her parrot along as part of her costume. Nearly everyone there, except for the photographers, was costumed!

In the evening, Abney Park played on one of the stages: not as much fun as when I saw them last time, which I attribute to one of their singers having left the band, but it was a very cozy setting and the audience was all in all a lot more open in showing their enthusiasm than the German audience in Leipzig was some years ago. By the end of the concert, my feet were mostly dead and I was glad when we could board the Party-Shuttlebus back to the train station. Already looking forward to Castlefest in summer!

Gala Nocturna - The Swan Princess

Well, of course I did not sew the dress from my last post without the prospect of an occasion to wear it! Just like the last two years, we went to the Gala Nocturna, a dark-romantic costume ball in Belgium. This year, it not only moved to a new venue, but also to a new city: After having taken place in a baroque church in Antwerp for several years, the Gala had moved last year to a beautiful 19th century hall and an adjacent orangery in the Antwerp Zoo and this year to the Concert Noble in Brussels - an 18th century ballroom and therefore probably the most 'conventional' venue for the Gala so far.
But conventional does by no means mean it was boring: several grand halls in Louis XIV style, connected by brocade-curtain adorned doorways, stuccoed ceilings, antique portrait paintings on the walls and the grand ballroom sported the largest crystal chandeliers I have ever seen. In short, everything you would imagine for a fairytale ballroom.

Only too bad I'm not into fairytales - but we'll set that aside for the moment.

The motto this year was The Swan Princess, mostly inspired by Swan Lake, and so most female and some of the male guests showed up adorned in gazillions of white and/or black feathers, many ballerinas and some rather creative dark swans could be spotted as well. Last year ("La belle et la bête"), everyone had horns, this year everyone had wings.

When we arrived, the historical dance lesson had already started and we joined in for one or two dances, until I got a little bored and a slightly annoyed, since people kept randomly entering the dance lesson without knowing the steps that had been taught before - chaos ensued, and off to the absinthe bar we went!
I was rather glad that the bars were a lot better organized than during the last years - one absinthe bar and two regular bars, both with incredibly fast and efficient staff. A direly needed improvement! The main bars served several themed longdrinks of which I only tried the White Swan, Prosecco with elder syrup, Not exactly exotic as a combination but nevertheless a nice addition to the drinks list.

Apart from the dance lesson, the program also featured an opening dance of the swan princess and the evil sorcerer - ballet, of course and a swan buffet, "for true swans only". We kept on making jokes what that might mean beforehand and we were right: It was a buffet featuring grasshoppers, maggots, worms, and other niceties of that sort. I did not bother to queue for the buffet, but I was told that the grasshoppers were deliciously crispy and comparable to chips.

What else happened? We chatted with friends and strangers, had a look at the little market that was set up between the entrance and the ballroom (not much temptation there, except maybe for the stall with gorgeous copper jewelry) and had our picture taken in the picture corner:

Don't we look elegant?  I think this is the prettiest picture I have of us two so far! I'm wearing my Victorian Oriental gown, my dashing partner is wearing a frock coat I found for him at a theatre sale last year. I really need to make a cravat for his outfit though...

Oh, and we danced! Someone took a video of the dancefloor, beautifully capturing the general splendour of the room, and you can see us waltzing by several times, looking very professional. If you're in Germany, you will probably not be able to see the video (Hallo GEMA!), but there's another version of it here on Facebook

All in all, I think the word "nice" applied best to the Gala Nocturna this year. I did have a good time, but I missed all the little surprises that made the last 2 years so special: the walking acts, the living statues, the spontaneous sword-fight shows...
The organisation has definitely improved since last year and I did not have the feeling of spending half of the evening in a queue. You still needed to exchange your money for drink tokens before buying anything at the bar, which is probably a lot easier for the bar personnel, but the fact that you weren't able to change leftover tokens back to "real" money at the end of the night was slightly annoying. Although, at least this year it was clearly communicated that they wouldn't be taken back anymore: I remember standing next to a poor girl 2 years ago, who still had 50€ in tokens at the end of the evening and Viona at the cashier station simply refused to exchange them again.

Also, the motto and the venue this year weren't quite my cup of tea. As I said, too much cliché  fairytale, too one-dimensional (hey, lets take a goth dress and glue some feathers on!), not historical enough. I guess this is owed to the Gala having grown rather big by now: a motto like this is just easier to relate to for a wider audience than "The Pope's daughter". Still, next year I'd like a proper historically inspired motto again, please!

But I'm not really complaining, my expectations got fulfilled: I got to wear my pretty new dress, met friends, danced until my feet hurt and got a little drunk on absinthe and prosecco. Let's see what the 2016 edition holds, after all it will be the 10-year-anniversary!