The WGT brings fans from all over Europe together for lavish and spectacular costumes
This weekend, the German city of Leipzig hosts the largest concentration of followers of the gothic, steampunk and baroque movements in Europe during the 29th edition of the «Wave Gotik Treffen» (WGT) which lasts until Easter Monday. After two years of forced hiatus due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Saxon metropolis is overflowing with people dressed in lavish suits and spectacular makeup, who love to visit cemeteries and listen to sinister music. Representatives of all ages of the so-called black scene, dark hippies, fans of vampirism also attend the rally, which has a program of more than 50 events, such as performances in cemeteries with titles such as «Funeral Poetry, whispers from beyond the grave and music haunting ”, open days in morgues and crematoria or night excursions to discover the hiding places of local bats.
Among the 200 planned musical events are the open-air concert in the gigantic Monument to the Battle of the Nations «The Prophecy» with music from the series «Game of Thrones» or the film «The Hobbit» and the interpretation by the choir of the internationally renowned music theater Gewandhaus from the oratorio “End of the World – Last Judgment” by Joachim Raff, while the Opéra Comique of Leipzig performs the “Masquerade” by Carl Nielsen.
Theater plays such as “El Revisor” by Nicolas Gogol and variety shows such as “Cuestión de Nerves” by the group “Adrenalin & Comedy”, as well as film screenings, including the Austrian film “Luzifer”, seminars and conferences, exhibitions and parties in clubs and in the open air round out the program that opened this Monday with a “Victorian Picnic” in Clara Zetkin Park, in which extravagant clothing and very elaborate costumes were worn.
“It’s about seeing and being seen,” explains Sabine, who is visiting the WGT with her husband for the seventh time, both dressed in tailor-made baroque suits and wigs and in which they acknowledge having invested several thousand euros. Isabel remarks that “I can let my inner fantasy run wild once a year here” and confess that she traveled from Regensburg with seven suitcases to carry a different model every day, so lavish and intricate that she enlisted the help of her man needs to get dressed.
The oldest contestant is Luis Felipe de Orleans, an 87-year-old German who imitates and dazzles the Sun King’s brother with an elegant period costume on his twelfth participation in the Eccentric Concentration. Enjoy their costumes every week as members of the Dresden Baroque Association, which hold balls set in the 17th century. The gathering in the East German city first took place in 1992, three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with some 2,000 people and eight music bands. Now thousands of fans come from all over the world.
Source: La Verdad
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