Dream Dress review: Sheherazade

Dream dresses – those elusive treasures which plague us in our dreams and haunt our bank accounts, but ultimately bring us the biggest of joys. This is even more the case when all the signs in Heaven and on Earth point to one of the scariest scenarios: that the dream dress will not fit.

Welcome to the saga of Alice and the Pirates’s Sheherazade JSK I. This post was brought to you by this song.

Since dream dresses are an entirely different entity, another level of purchases, I won’t treat this as a regular review. Doesn’t matter what I paid, I was prepared to pay a fair bit more than I actually did (even though I got the JSK, the headdress and the OTKs all new with tags!), and all I can say for the Japonica Market, whom I used to get this on Mbok, is that they are a fabulous team: not only were they meticulous and showed nothing but care in the usual packing and sending things, but they went as far as asking if I was ok with the declared value because, and I quote, “UK customs is very difficult”. If you’re ever wondering whether to use Japonica Market, I say: do it. And, as always, Parcelforce is expensive and sucks.

So, the review-y bits done, now onto the actual story.

I fell in love with this print the moment I saw it, when it was still on reservation on Baby/AatP website. If I remember well, at the time I either still was on the hunt for Crystal Dream Carnival or have only just bought it, plus I had put on a fair bit of weight during the last few months of university and was trying to go back to what I was before. Suffice to say, I knew I had to give it up, but it pained me so, so much. But by the time I managed to overcome that, they restocked it – and I was this close to getting it, but had another look at the listed measurements and doubted myself the last minute. Never stopped looking for it though: I hoped that if someone listed in on Lacemarket, they’d either say whether the official measurements are correct or could ask the seller their opinion.

And finally my patience was rewarded. Someone listed theirs, complete with the matching headdress and socks, on Mbok nearly a month ago now. Again, I had doubts regarding the size, my measurements were only 1-2cm bigger than the top ones provided by AatP – I even messaged other Lolitas who put this JSK in their wardrobes on Lolibrary to ask about this. By the time one responded to me (and it was a very lengthy, detailed email for which I’m still grateful) I had placed the bid and won the auction. That Lolita warned me about some structural flaws of the dress, told me what to look out for/keep in mind, however, her answer regarding the actual size did make me worry that I wouldn’t fit in my dream dress. I did what I could to not think about this as I waited for the package to arrive, but you can’t always help it – I had some cheap, but highly reviewed shapewear bookmarked, hell, even the thought of altering my burando crossed my mind!

And then came the day: Friday, April 15^th. The dream dress arrived.

It sounds cliché, but I genuinely reached slowly inside the plastic bag to feel the material first, to indulge my senses in the slow realisation that what was only an unattainable dream only a few months back was now really in my possession. I marveled at the feel of it, so different to most fabrics used in Lolita, but still soft, just textured to the touch, I adored the border print and then the background print above it, I felt the delicate pearl chain around the neckline and at the front of the headdress, absorbed all the intricacy, the details, the opulence of it all… God, it’s just as beautiful as the photos suggested, if not more.

The care I took when trying it on only prolonged the agony of anticipation. But if the worst came, I didn’t want to face having to sell it back damaged because I rushed into it (I rushed when trying on my Crystal Dream Carnival and one of the buttons keeping the strap in place popped right off).

Oh God, the sigh of relief and squeal of joy when I zipped it up… AND IT FIT!

I lightened the photo as it was very dark, you could
barely see.

Excuse me if I look a little washed out/tired, but after a long day at work I couldn’t be bothered to put some makeup just for trying the dress on. Had I bought this dress in reservation or from the online shop, I never would’ve gone for this headdress, they’re not really my thing and I would’ve picked the headbow instead, but now that I have it, I adore it; I might take the chain off it and wear it without the headdress somehow as well, I think that’d look great. I didn’t try the socks on, since I’m not too fussed about how they fit and I didn’t want to take the metal clips off them just yet, it was only to see if the dress fit, so not much point.

But Lord, I still need to stop myself from screaming with joy that it fits! And it’s not a “just fits” – I’m comfortable and there may even be a teeny tiny room to spare (enough to allow me to eat something). All that’s left for me to do now is make sure that I have plenty of complimenting pieces to go with it. I have one OTT coord in my head already (and I had since what, November last year?), but I want to see ALL the directions that I can take this JSK to.

Dream dress, you’re mine! Now to wait for another dream dress which is in the post right now – a late graduation present from my wonderful, amazing boyfriend! <3