How Did Meta Become My Favourite Brand

Those of you who know me now will be aware that Metamorphose is my favourite brand. However, there are still plenty of bits online, both blog posts and videos, back from when that spot was occupied by Angelic Pretty. It’s perfectly natural for our preferences and tastes to change, but it’s very rarely something that changes overnight. So I thought that I’d try to retrace that journey and see what things led to my changing my opinion.

1. Cuts over prints

The more I wore lolita, the more I started paying attention to the cuts. Whilst I always did to an extent, this was usually in the context of pure preference in terms of looks, i.e. liking one over another. Over time I began to want to wear more cuts that are flattering to my body shape, as well as ones that offer more comfort. This coincided with Angelic Pretty’s growing reliance on high waisted JSK cuts, which for an hourglass like me is pretty far from ideal. No matter how much I liked a print, if it didn’t came in a cut that would look nice on me or that would even fit me (*cough* unshirred OPs *cough*), then there was really no point in trying. Meta, on the other hand, continues to release a variety of cuts with each of their releases and very rarely do you find pieces without any shirring whatsoever.

The last 3 printed AP releases vs the last 3 non-rerelease designs from Meta. Notice the variation in skirt shapes, waist placement, collars, sleeve styles, hem deorations. Compared to that, the AP dresses look practically the same (there are differences, but not major ones).
All photos taken from Lolibrary.org.

2. Aesthetic shift

When I started in lolita properly, I was a sweet lolita. However, even back then I gravitated more towards true and jewel tones than I ever did to pastels, so I guess my shift towards classic was inevitable from the start. Although between 2016 and now Angelic Pretty’s aesthetic has also changed significantly, maturing and leaning more towards all-over prints than border ones, a lot of the times their choices weren’t quite my cup of tea. It’s a matter of small details, e.g. the choice of colourway, the kind of secondary motifs (remember when AP put crosses on everything?), the levels of contrast between the print and the background etc. When you’re paying £150-200 for a dress, you have the right to be picky about what you want. Meanwhile, although not every release that Meta was putting out was my cup of tea, more and more of them were. Fewer releases than AP over the same amount of time felt like Meta designers were putting more thought into making each design unique and complete, and although I hardly bought any, I could’ve easily imagined myself wearing almost all of them.

The last AP release that I genuinely fell in love with and wanted to buy was this Sweet Capuccino skirt, which is from 2019. Meanwhile, Meta tugged at my wallet and tempted my credit card only last month with their re-release of Magical Artefact (not that I'd ever decide on a colourway to begin with).
All images taken from Lolibrary.org.

3. Style sweet spot

Although I have moved away from sweet in comparison to my early days, I haven’t abandoned it completely. Right now my wardrobe is a happy mix of a bit of everything, dominated by classic, with a healthy dose of sweet, enough darkness to accommodate gothic and a growing selection of ouji pieces. And truth be told, this is bang on what Meta are doing, although we could argue about their exact ratio of sweet to classic releases. Whilst not every Meta release is something I immediately want to own, even those pieces that I’m happy to admire from afar - I still do actually admire. On the other hand, the number of Angelic Pretty pieces in the last few years that I have genuinely liked and/or admired has definitely gone down. The days of 2013-2015 were AP’s highlight for me and I still love plenty of their pieces from that time - but the recent ones, say, from 2017 to now? Not so much. Even if we only consider the releases from 2020 exclusively, I can count the ones I liked from AP on a single hand out of the 40-odd so far (not including rereleases without any new colourways/changes), whereas with Meta, although there were only 14, I liked about half of them enough to have considered buying them. The design choices that Angelic Pretty is making simply stopped fitting into what I like and what I look for, whereas Meta quietly kept doing their thing, releasing some absolute bangers, confident in what they were putting out.

In 2014 Angelic Pretty genuinely owned my soul. But over the last 3-4 years each year Meta is the one who has been consistently tempting me very hard.
All photos taken from Lolibrary.org

4. It feels like they care

Ok, everything in this post is subjective, but this point feels even more so. When I look at how Meta runs their brand, I get an overall sense that they simply care about their customers more. Between new releases every week, the gradual limiting of cut options and this year the gradual reduction of shirring (seriously, the last printed release with full back shirring from AP was in May), Angelic Pretty’s business practices give off a ‘we’re here for your money’ kind of vibe. Although the Western community has asked for a Honey Cake re-release, which they got with increased sizing, it seems as if that was some sort of benevolent appeasement to the plus size lolitas given to them so that they’d stop asking, because surely all those re-releases and MTOs should be enough for everyone, right? I’m exaggerating, but I know several people in my group of friends who have felt the same way. At the same time Meta not only keeps their releases slower, allowing people a chance to save up (as well as the reservation options with some restocks, so fewer bloodbaths!), but are doing more to support the Western community. Despite their shirring being generous already, they have been making pieces specifically in plus sizes, exclusive to their customers outside of Japan. (Yes, Japanese customers should also have the option if we are to be truly inclusive, but since the demand seems to be coming mostly from outside of Japan, I get why they did that.) Moreover, Meta appears to be listening to what people want. People say that they like their kimono prints - then they do more kimono prints. The community is saying how we want more typical sweet prints - we get things like Sweet Berry Gingham and My Dear Friends. We ask for more fabrics besides polyester - they give us the cotton releases and the velvet ones, so many of them with a gazillion detachable parts. The only thing that Meta are yet to give to us are pockets in their dresses and if/when they do, what could possibly stop them from ascending into godhood?

The way Meta handled the re-release and the preorder of Magical Artefact has been pretty much exemplary. And they have been rewarded for it with the series selling out in all sizes and all colourways available this time round. Just like AP have when they re-released Honey Cake or Cats Tea Party, but the efforts on their part come in drips and drabs, as and when they feel like it.
Screenshots taken from Meta's website.

5. Consistency

The thing with the above four points is that none of them are actually that exclusive to Meta. All brands fluctuate with their styles, e.g. there was a point when Innocent World took a direction that I was worried would lead to their demise before they returned to what they do best this year. Whilst every brand reuses cut patterns to make some savings, every other one besides AP seems to have a good handful in circulation that they adapt to the prints. Between the way BtSSB started handling reservations from overseas customers this year, Moitie’s virtual tea parties for the global community during the pandemic and many brands’ willingness to hold orders until they were safe to ship, so many of them showed that they care about us. And style and aesthetic preferences are such subjective things that there will always be things that simply aren’t our cup of tea. What to me sets Meta apart from the other ones is that over the last 5 years or so (which is when I have been paying attention to them), they were the only one that remained consistent in that. Meta has a history of looking after its Western customers as the first brand to offer direct orders overseas. And however much we may mock some of their design choices, they have always been consistent in their offering of all substyles, the quality of their pieces and the overall direction of their designs. Their consistency means that I can order without worrying whether there will be another factory mishap or that the stock photos have been wildly inaccurate in reflecting the true colours. (It has happened with one Meta release to my knowledge, compared to several from other brands.) Especially when times are so uncertain, like now, having at least one thing that I know I can rely on is an invaluable quality for a brand to have.

Experimenting is what keeps this fashion from stagnating and moves it forward. But you can have some consistency in your experimentation. With Meta I know that 2/3 of the above would fit me and I can be optimistic about the third one, but with AP I'm hopeful only of one and have no certainty if it would be flatring on me. When spending brand money, I want at least a chance of my risks paying off.
All photos taken from Lolibrary.org.

And that is how Meta became my favourite lolita brand, knocking Angelic Pretty off that spot and claiming it with pride.