This is one of those „finally!” moments.
Not only because I waited so long to physically get the order, but also because
I was hunting for a bolero like this for a while. However, there are no boleros
like this – it has to be the real deal.
This was my first reservation order;
as I said, I looked long and hard for something like that, but it’s ridiculously
difficult to do, so as soon as Innocent World announced they had these on
reservation, I just went for it.
Price and shipping
Again, it’s a brand new piece of
pre-order burando, so not expecting
much there. Having said that, it came to ¥15’624, and that’s with shipping (PayPal charged me £97.92).
Compared to AP’s Twinkle Glitter Knit cardigan, which I had to get via Tenso,
this actually came out cheaper, and in fact was a good ¥2000 cheaper just on
its own. Win for Innocent World there!
I ordered directly with them, and as
always, the standard of Japanese customer service makes you want to cry when
you then have to deal with customer service in your own country. A quick
breakdown of how things went:
-
Order placed on February 6th;
-
Invoice issued on February 10th (and
promptly paid);
-
Order sent on February 17th;
-
Arrived in the UK on February 19th,
but only delivered on March 7th!
Again, all my issues and woes were
with Parcelforce, who this time decided to point blank refuse to accept my
redelivery request (which I placed twice) after an unsuccessful first delivery
attempt. Honestly, how that company continues to exist is beyond me, but let’s
not dwell on the unpleasant bits, since we all know these guys are shit.
Parcel and item itself
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I ordered the bolero in wine, size
L. If you’re like me, then you’ve probably seen dozens of these not just on
stock photos, but also on people’s outfit snaps, so you know it’s as gorgeous
as they make it to be, but please, let me say it: it is as gorgeous as they
make it to be!
People at Innocent World did a
fabulous job at wrapping it carefully in a plastic bag, then in the plastic
carrier bag with their logo, and finally in an EMS shipping bag. They also
added a handwritten thank you note, which I thought was sweet. It’s little
touches like that which totally make you want to keep buying from brands! Well,
that and the quality of their clothes. ^^
Speaking of which… Oh, it is
gorgeous, there’s no way around it! The cotton it’s made out of is so soft and
pettable, you just want to keep stroking it lovingly and feel the luxury that
it offers. The lace is very delicate and highly detailed, looking a bit ruffly
from afar, but up close you can see the tiny individual roses. I love how the
sleeves are a bit wider at the wrists, it’s both elegant and practical,
providing you with room for wider blouse sleeves. Whilst I realise that my room is quite dark, the bolero is a bit darker than on the stock photo, closer to true wine/bordeaux rather than red, as the stock photo may suggest. But that's all great with me, that's what I wanted!
As far as measurements are
concerned: the official table says that size L would fit up to an 89cm bust. I’m
more like 94cm, but wouldn’t say that I had any issues putting it on. Yes,
ribbon fastening does help a lot. You can probably see there’s a slight gaping
on the worn photo (excuse civvies, I really don’t have the energy to put on a
coord after work just for the blog, and also didn’t want to wait any longer
with trying the bolero on), but an elegantly tied ribbon will hide most of
that. What’s more, the material has a tiny bit of stretch (though I wouldn’t
pull it too much), so if I had an extra hand to hold the ribbon in place as I
was tying it, I could’ve done it up completely, without the gap. Big, big plus
for you, Innocent World!
Overall
Price: 5/5 – considering that I gave
AP’s cardigan a 4/5, and this was cheaper as well as included shipping, it’s
earned that extra mark
Shipping: 5/5 for what Innocent
World and Japanese Post were responsible – 0/5 for Parcelforce
Item quality: 5/5 – so, so lush!
<3
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