An Evening of Burlesque

When I started wearing lolita, going to my local burlesque night was my main occasion to dress up. Yes, by lolita standards I was very ita, but I was also a lone (lol)ita and it was between like 2011 and 2013, so I feel like I got away with it. I still go to that same burlesque show, however now I take pride in dressing in proper lolita, just with a retro spin on it.

You can sort of see my beehive bump. Practicing for that hime lolita hairdo!

When putting this outfit together I realised that I’ve paired it with red a few times already. I gotta try some of my more experimental looks with this print, though for a burlesque night and retro vibes, red was the best choice. Since the weather was absolutely awful, I skipped my go-to curly hairstyle for an attempt at a more 60’s style beehive, which can withstand strong winds a little bit better.

For the first time in my entire history of going to The Wet Spot Leeds I had a ride both ways – no public transport with other peasants, I could be a classy lady! All as I was actually introducing a good friend of mine to the joy that is the world of burlesque and she offered to drive us both ways.

Our first stop was actually a quick dinner at a Thai place in Leeds called Mommy Thai. I sort of noticed it, but not well enough to remember what it was called and certainly never tried it until that night. However, I am now hopelessly in love with their coconut rice. Oh my, delicious does not even cover it, it was utterly divine! 10/10 would eat again and I would love to eat there more often as well!

Loved the decor with all the famous film posters in Thai, it gave it a very street food joint vibe.

The Thai restaurant near my house has a much better green curry, but that coconut rice was to die for!

Then we headed for our night out. The Wet Spot is genuinely one of the best burlesque shows in the country, if not the world. Even if you don’t know the acts, you are guaranteed that they’ll be world class, often award-winning and fan favourites. I was ecstatic that one of my ultimate favourite acts, Fancy Chance, was back as I hadn’t seen her since, oh wow, one of the first few shows I’ve ever seen? I like funny performers and her sense of humour has me cracking every time – if you’re curious, just do yourself a favour and YouTube some of her numbers, you won’t regret it (Alice in Wonderland or Star Trek ones are particularly great and very quintessential of her style).

The show is going back to its roots of doing one show every three months, having been a
monthly thing for a long time. As long as it carries on though, I'm happy!

There is a great sense of satisfaction to know both that this little tradition of me dressing up in lolita to burlesque continues. A full circle, from ita to lolita, with more dress up opportunities still to come. Do you have a place that you dressed up for or to at the beginning of your journey in this fashion? Do you still go there, is it even still there? If you don’t, would you go back there in frills for nostalgia’s sake?