7 Mar 2016

Innocent World Rose Lace Millefeuille bolero review



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

 
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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