Maison Paradiso: return to the mansion

 

A grade 1 listed mansion, cocktails, burlesque and disco, what’s not to love? We certainly won’t forget our night at Maison Paradiso – Return to the Mansion

Upon arriving to the mansion we were pretty excited to get inside and discover what all the fuss was about. Trotting up the grand steps to the entrance, we made our way through King Weston House’s magnificent vestibule to find ladies and men clad in black, foxy dresses (yes, men too), doused with glitter and flowers in their hair. It was pretty magical in a grand old gothic way, surrounded by taxidermy, old paintings and some amazing costumes. We weren’t quite sure what to expect from the night…

Ambling into the next room we found a unique combination of cocktails and oysters- excellent. This room, the heart of the downstairs mansion, later unfolded as the stage for the event’s burlesque. The central passageway for all guests, hosting the dance here fit in with the tone of the night: the very surreal presented in the most casual of ways, there wasn’t any hype or climactic build up to the performances, it just ‘happened’ as if a normal and standard nightly occurrence.

 

Once watered (with Bellini’s) we made our way through to the second bar area, also decorated with old-fashioned paintings and other pretty hipster-fashioned decorations. We got talking to some other party goers, ogled at the handmade jewellery on display, and the head wear and lighting pictured above.

The night wouldn’t have been complete without some sexy burlesque themed face painting. Resist? We couldn’t.  We got our eyes glammed up with some gold paint and ventured through the party crowd.  What did the party crowd look like? In a word, diverse. From sock and sandal wearing middle aged men and women, ball gown frocks, extremely glamorous drag dress ups, to horse riders in gold-sequin jodhpurs. Eclectic as it sounds (it was), it somehow worked – everyone contributed to the unique disco/burlesque backdrop energy in their own little way.

 

 

We indulged in a bit of disco ourselves. Dancing away, we almost forgot to return to the main room for the burlesque performances. We only managed to catch two of them, but they were impressive and mesmerizing.  Around midnight there was a general word of mouth announcement from the DJ instructing disco-indulgers to head outside for a performance. It was a bit cold but we enjoyed a lights display of shining rectangular shapes projected onto the outside of the building against a techno beat. It was a bit random, but this does appear to be the Maison Paradiso way.

After more dancing, burlesque and cocktails we decided it was time to wipe the glitter off and hang up our dancing shoes. Maison Paradiso promised a world of bohemian decadence and revelry, which I’d say we definitely got.

For a first time experience, it was a pleasant surprise and a lot of fun. We’ll be sure to keep our fingers on the pulse for the next event. Our only piece of advice – make the burlesque show times more known so no-one misses their burlesque watching moment..

Many thanks for the evening guys!