Tricolour of Boleros

Probably all Classic lolitas know that the ultimate of all boleros is the one from Innocent World. I will let you in on a little secret: they’re not all one and the same. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise and truth be told, I have learnt that only recently myself, after getting two more of these. Because they are good enough to get them in other colours!

For a while I had wanted this bolero in navy. It was tricky to find another navy bolero that would be as dressy and as flattering as this one, although at the same time I genuinely just wanted this one. Unfortunately, Innocent World has only ever released this bolero in navy with gold lace three times (once it was all navy and once it was navy with gold lace, but chiffon sleeves), so hunting it down second hand took time. And as soon as a friend linked me to the Lacemarket listing, the ivory one popped up on Wunderwelt for a price too good to pass up on! Only then, when trying to identify the release years, I realised that they were all slightly different.  

In the most lolita way possible, the lace was a dead giveaway. I mean, even the listings distinguish the Millefeuille bolero by the type of lace used! Hence we have here the rose lace bolero (wine, 2016 release), the ribbon lace (navy, 2015 release) and the tulle one (ivory, 2011 release).

 

Once they all arrived, I also noticed how the ivory bolero had shorter lace at the sleeves, making it seem as if there was less of it. There isn’t, it still has two layers, however, it is shorter and sewn on differently, showing the seam above it instead of hiding it under the top layer of lace.

On the other side, the wine and navy releases have only a singular layer of lace along the front, whereas the tulle lace one has two layers and of two slightly different patterns (still custom made and with the same flowers though).

Another thing I noticed whilst ironing the boleros was that the newer releases attach the lace at the neckline with one stitch on the side, which the older design doesn’t have. This ensures that the lace stays in place, displayed nicely, instead of folding in on itself.

Last difference is actually not noticeable, but quite crucial: the care tags. Whilst the ivory bolero’s washing tag happily welcomed me with reassurances that it can be washed on delicate in 30°C, the two coloured ones have the ‘do not wash wet’ sign on. It can’t be to do with fabric, as they’re all 100% cotton, so it’s either to do with colour (although neither of the coloured ones bled when handwashed in warm water) or year of release and washing preferences then. Needless to say, the ivory one survived its washing machine treatment and from now on I will throw the coloured ones in there too, although always on a cold cycle and in mesh bags for extra protection.

Now I’m missing the black, brown, pink and pure white ones to complete my collection. If I wanted to be really pedantic about collecting everything, also the original, shell and cross lace (although from what I can tell on Lolibrary, the original lace looks exactly the same as the ribbon lace?), as well as the pure smooth bolero, which doesn’t state which lace it’s using, but which is different from the other ones. And I’m not going to lie, the prospect of gathering them all is pretty tempting!