Beggin for Thread

Posted Ms Shallot

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To shop for many things:
For shoes–and clothes–and accessories–
For lipstick–and wigs–“

Yes, it’s almost Hong Kong Rugby Sevens time again so outfits are being discussed and tickets sourced.

It’s not just another excuse to dress up. It’s a whole other level of dress-ups and event. It’s discussed at work and at most social gatherings in the lead up to the end of March. From “what are you going as?” to “have you got tickets yet?” through to discussing past outfits, what worked, what didn’t and sometimes, who won the final last year. Not many remember the previous winner, unless it was their team…

Friday night is a mild evening and not very raucous in order to ease into the hard core Saturday silliness (including a half-time band which is always a surprise and part of the fun is trying to guess who it will be), then Sunday is generally a little more serious since that’s the finals so more attention is paid to the games. It’s a busy weekend and most typically only dress up on the Saturday. The ultra-hardcore (or the ones that don’t make it home), also turn up on Sunday in outfits. These ones are best not to sit next to.

In my group’s case, this year we have been a little more organised than we have in a long time. In fairness, this is because our last tailoring effort wasn’t as good as previous years and we had to find a new provider.

Otherwise, I’m pretty sure we’d still be discussing it.

The best outfits tend to fall in one or sometimes a few of the following categories:

  • they are funny either because their slightly rude but if looked at with innocent eyes, you’d be none the wiser (this is how this group still manages to get through the gates) or just because you have to laugh when you see these outfits e.g. the spacemen complete with air tanks and helmets who walk as though they are in space (everything is funnier when the character is wholly embraced)
  • clever e.g. the Scrabble tiles that can spell out various words throughout the day or the jelly fish that came complete with tentacles that glowed in the evening
  • some effort e.g. the Barbie and Ken dolls complete with packaging
  • topical / in the news
Every year there are always:
  • some Wallys / Waldos (I’m referring to the costumes…)
  • an Australian cricket team or just multiple Mervs
  • various onesies, mainly animals
  • German bar-girls
  • Bondi Beach Crew (or similar)
  • at least one gorilla
  • Smurfs
  • Star Wars characters
  • a superhero of some sort, generally whatever has been at the movies in the past year or coming soon
The challenge is to be in the first category rather than the latter because I like some originality. The other challenge is to have a well made outfit that will last the entire day and a night out in Lan Kwai Fong followed by Wan Chai. It’s a big day/night and it can be tough on poorly made clothing.
The other challenge is having a handbag that can fit in the obligatory jug of Pimms that we’re not meant to take into the stadium, that everyone does. That is, those that aren’t taking in jugs of beer. This is why some of the guys go as superheroes as they can hide it under their capes. I’m not normally a rule breaker but this is one where I don’t mind so much since it is a little on the ridiculous side. 
The past few years have seen me dressed as:
  • a female jockey (that means we wore skirts rather than trousers)
  • Pan Am flight attendant
  • 50 Shades of Grey (there is bound – excuse the pun – to be a few of these this year now that the movie is out)
  • Cathay Flight attendant
And I’m sure there’s a few others too that have slipped my mind! 
The common accessory over this time has been a whip. Easy to get in as these outfits are also accessorised with knee high boots. Makes for an entertaining day all around and at the very least, it has been a good talking point between the rugby.
There is always an impact in going with a group and to be all dressed the same or you all have the same thing that is different. For the jockeys, we had different coloured shirts, just like real jockeys, the flight attendants, we were identical and 50 Shades of Grey had slightly different dresses. All impactful and all good outfits, if I do say so myself.
This year, we’ve gone to Shenzhen to have our outfits tailor made. The plus side is that if they don’t fit properly when we are sent them back, we have time to have them adjusted. It’s also considerably cheaper than having them done in Hong Kong and we’re guaranteed that no-one else will look the same as us which is the risk when you buy from one of the dress-up stores here. 
I’m expecting to see a lot of Frozen princesses this year.
The other thing to consider is the weather tends to be unpredictable at this time. There have been years where we’ve been cooking ourselves and others where we’ve huddled together to share body heat. Sometimes this happens on the same day / night but that is rare. Rain can also be an issue but that is negated by choosing your seating wisely. The cold and heat, that’s another story though one side of the stand is better than the other for this. 
Now that the outfit is sorted, it’s time to work out how we’re going to manage to get some tickets. This is actually the biggest challenge for someone residing in Hong Kong that isn’t a member of one of the rugby clubs or other clubs here as they tend to have first preference. Then there’s a ballot. I’ve never been successful in the ballot so I just have to get lucky through other means.
There’s still plenty of time…



* Thanks to Lewis Carroll for one of the best books around so I could rip off The Jabberwocky; also thanks to BANKS for the title to this post.