Violet Fane Charming Town Skirt Unboxing and Review

Violet Fane is one of those indie brands that I have been aware of for a while, but not had the chance to buy much from. A lot of what they do isn’t quite my style, so while I bought a brooch last year in Dublin, that is the extent of it. And then they announced their Charming Town series, which has absolutely captured my heart!

Let’s get the boring bits of the review out of the way. I placed my order just before the pre-order period finished, on June 4^th. On June 13^th I received a shipment notification and I collected it from the drop off point June 20^th. (It would’ve been much smoother had UPS not been utter shite, but that’s a story for another time.) So I went from placing a pre-order to receiving my product in just over 2 weeks – that’s madness! In the best possible way, that is.

I had resisted all the amazing brooches and only bought the skirt. The simple cut really lets the print shine and it is much more flattering for my figure than the JSK would have been. The simple A-line hits me right at knee-height and works really well without a petticoat (I haven’t tried it with a petti yet, though there certainly is room for a small one). The skirt has a flat waistband at the front and partial shirring at the back, as well as a side zip. The advertised measurements for it were 60-90cm, if I recall correctly, and this certainly feels true to that. My own waist measurement reaches 80cm at its maximum and the skirt sits comfortably, with a little bit of room to spare, but not that much. It’s very easy to wear and whether it’s just a day at the office or a large meal, it holds up well and remains comfortable.

The inner tag is super adorable.

That button above the side zip is really cute!

But we’re here for the print, aren’t we? And that is absolutely gorgeous! I love the feel of the art style, it’s quite nostalgic and adds to the charm of the theme in a Victorian sort of way. The print is really crisp and clear, although with this art style some of the smaller/finer details disappear a little bit. Still, there is enough that is clear and every time I look at this print, I find something new. Honestly, if they ever did that Post Office brooch, I would be sold instantly. They could probably keep releasing new jewellery with the unused shop signs and that would keep them going for a while.

Even now I'm noticing new details that escaped me before!

This as a brooch I would buy in a heartbeat!

I believe this one was released as a brooch - and it was so tempting!

Whilst the skirt is 100% polyester, the outer layer has a nice weight to it. It’s light enough to float gracefully and be great for hot weather, yet remains mostly opaque, with a nice texture and enough hold to maintain the pleats. It will be quite easy to maintain and even though the care tag says to handwash it, I will do a test and it may be fine on a cold, gentle machine cycle. The fabric doesn’t wrinkle very easily, making it great for daily wear, although it’s also not completely wrinkle-proof. All the storage wrinkles that were there when the skirt arrived came out very quickly with some gentle steaming and the care tag does say the fabric is safe to iron at low temperature.

I adore this perfume bottle hiding amidst the pleat.

What shocked me the most, however, is the lining. It’s also 100% polyester, although slightly lighter and silkier type. And, as I discovered to my great surprise, it’s printed! At first I thought that I was seeing things, but no – there is an actual pattern, with vines, insects and the VF logo all across the lining. This is a very nice tough and whilst most of the time the lining remains invisible, it’s nice to know that it’s a part of the whole design and not an afterthought. It’s exactly this sort of attention to detail that we seek out from indie designers and which we don’t get from mainstream lolita brands.

The surprise lining print.

At €70, plus €5 for postage, this skirt was definitely worth the money. While the greige (grey-ish beige) colour of the fabric can be a little tricky to match, there are plenty of other colours (mostly dusty tones) in the illustrations to make this incredibly versatile. As such, I anticipate myself wearing this skirt often and in various ways. It’s also very comfortable and easy to wear thanks to the partial shirring and side zip combination. The whole ordering process, as far as Violet Fane can control it, was smooth and efficient, as well as way faster than I expected (my experience with months of wait for a Taobao preorder definitely played a part here). I would wholeheartedly recommend Violet Fane as a brand and will be keeping a closer eye on them myself.

If you want to see some first look reactions (or if you’re curious about my UPS drama details), then check out the unboxing video that goes with this:

Chill Weekend of Frills

So, this weekend ended up being a lot more frilly than I had originally planned. All thanks to the weather improving – bloody finally!

| Alice and the Pirates Sheherazade ~ One Thousand and One Nights ~ JSK I | Lady Sloth Glitter Mesh blouse | Angelic Pretty Brigitte Regiment OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | After Midnight Beret | Wicked and Whimsy ring | Star Glazed Delights Brand Whore ring | Innocent World Moon and Star Pearl necklace | vintage brooch | offbrand earrings |

I have new blush and highlighter sticks from Colourpop and am obsessed with them (particularly the highlighter, which shows absolutely not at all on any of my pictures).

I'm enjoying doing more detail shots so that you can actually see my accessories.

Those rings are everything!

 

On Saturday I went out to see Toy Story 4. In the absence of a toy inspired coord, I finally wore this number that I put together in the last Lolidrobe Reassessment post – I really liked that idea and didn’t want it to go to waste. The weather was also just about ideal for it, so I didn’t need any additional layers. I kept makeup very bare, basically just concealer, blush and highlight, because I knew that I’d be crying a lot at the film.

And cry I did! I absolutely enjoyed the film, it was fantastic and gave me all the feels that I needed. Bo Peep is a disabled, feminist icon, her plotline got me very excited, though the whole film was thoroughly enjoyable. I’d definitely recommend that.

After the film I met up with my Mum and we did some shopping. I had changed the boots into more practical shoes, given how much walking we’d be doing, though have no pictures of that. We both needed to get some bits in town and I’m surprised at how efficient we managed to be at getting them. Normally, while I only go in for what I need, since I don’t like shopping centres, my Mum has a tendency to meander, so it was nice that this time we did it my style. Her doing some shopping before meeting up with me might have had something to do with that though…

We grabbed some lunch at McDonalds, like the classy gals that we are. They are having their annual Great Tastes of America limited edition burgers right now and we both went for the Kansas City Stack, which was very nice. Of course, I like barbecue sauce, so I’m biased, but it was genuinely enjoyable and if this was on the menu permanently, I might even consider changing my go-to for this.

Isn't this the quality content that you come here for? 

*~*~*

And then on Sunday a friend organised a lolita meetup in lieu of the International Pink Day. So of course the theme was Make It Pink and thanks to the weather warming up I was able to actually do a pink outfit (my previous plan was to go with red, since pink is just a shade of red).

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | Metamorphose/Crown Label cutsew | Alice and the Pirates Poison de l'Amour OTKs | Metamorphose shoes | Angelic Pretty Logo Ribbon Charm wrist cuffs | Angelic Pretty Milky Candy brooch | Angelic Pretty Fancy Soda ring | BtSSB Merry Sweet Cake ring | Star Glazed Delights Brand Whore ring | Cutie Craze Cafe ice cream ring | Twinkle Kitty Boutique ring | Sel et Sucre whipped cream barette | Sweet Dolly House Cookie Bear hairpins | Claire's accessories clips | X Kawaii Cutie X whipped cream earrings | Dalao Home Eudora wig |

There was even more highlighter in this look and yet again none can be seen. At least you can sort of make out my aegyo sal makeup.

The JSK pattern actually showed up through the cutsew ever so slightly. However, a friend just thought that I was incredibly well coordinated and wore a bra that matched my skirt!

Other people struggle to match their pinks. Mine somehow just ended up matching without me trying.

But then again, I had like seven different shades of pink in my rings alone!

 

This time I remembered outfit no 3 from the 26th edition of the 1 Dress 4 Looks. However, since I wear this skirt a lot (and also could not be bothered to iron it), I swapped it for the JSK. Wearing the cutsew on top of the JSK worked really well and I thought that since I’m wearing pink, I might as well go all out and pulled out almost all the pink things I own. This was also my first time doing the aegyo sal style makeup, which I really enjoyed, and first time wearing one of my new Dalao Home wigs. I can now confirm that these are very comfortable, I wore it all day without any problems and whatever got a little messy from the wind brushed out easily at the end of the day back into its silky smooth glory.

The meet took place in York and we went for lunch at Ippuku. There were more of us than I anticipated, 11 in total, so most of us preordered some food to help the staff at the restaurant. I got a Mapo Aubergine Donburi because I’m a twit and I forget that donburi is actually way more filling than the set, despite being cheaper. So I ended up not finishing it, because I really wanted those fluffy pancakes for dessert. It was all lovely though, as always!

Yet more of that quality food content that all lolitas share, whether it's kawaii or not.

The pancake was genuinely worth it and I am glad that I have finally managed to have one. 10/10 would eat again (if I had the room)!

We spent most of the day at Ippuku, given how long it took for them to serve such a large group. Afterwards we stopped very briefly at the Yorkshire Soap Co and Imaginarium – because are you even in York for a meet if you don’t? – before heading to the park to see the owls and take some pictures. I ended up not taking any over there – or any in general, besides the outfit pics and the food. I was fairly tired and we’ve been replacing the boiler at home, so was just dreaming of getting a hot bath. In the end I opted to leave a bit earlier, even though many stayed in York for some drinks, so that I could chill a bit at home before having to go back to work on Monday.

Still, I had loads of fun, as always, York remains my favourite place ever and I’m glad that I got to catch up with some friends I’ve not seen in a while, as well as meet some new faces. And I enjoyed being very pink – every typically sweet outfit draws me closer to embracing sweet more fully/openly/pastel-y. I reckon we’re not far off from me buying a pink main piece. :P

Dalao Home: Wig Unboxing, Try-on and Review

Not that long ago I was in a very strong mood to spend. Have you ever had that? When your wallet is itching so much and you really want to buy something (even though you probably shouldn’t)? Despite trawling through literally all pages of AP and Metamorphose on Mercari that day, I did not find a single thing to buy. Up until a thread in one of my comms reminded me about this wig shop I kind of wanted to check out.

My intention was only to look through, maybe get one or two wigs. I’d seen them two people were theirs, so knew that they would look lovely. But upon seeing how lovely all the designs were – and crucially, how cheap they were – I indulged and impulse bought five. I also used a new (to me) shopping service, so let’s start off with a quick review of that.

Shopping Service: Superbuy

I have not heard of them at all up until someone on the Lolita Amino mentioned them. The key phrase that piqued my interest was that Superbuy does not charge any shopping service fees – you only pay for your items and postage. It seemed too good to be true, so I had to try it out.

And it was true. I placed and paid for my order on May 29^th, paying only for the items and domestic postage. On Saturday June 1^st I received notification that everything arrived at their warehouse and Superbuy provided me with quick pictures of my items to confirm. I paid that same evening (which would’ve been June 2^nd in China) for international postage and received my order on Friday June 7^th. Which I did not expect because: a) the postage option I picked said up to 15 working days delivery; and b) I never received notification that the order was shipped.

This is the only negative thing I have to say about Superbuy. While I was fully expecting this order to arrive much later than it did, a quick update to say that it was posted would’ve been nice. I’m not sure whether that’s a mistake on their part or a conscious decision – though I imagine that if I messaged them to ask, they’d tell me, as otherwise their communication was very prompt.

As such I would rate Superbuy at 4.5/5 – I am absolutely delighted with the service I got and intend to continue using them in the future (every saving helps!). If in the future they start to issue shipment notifications, this will probably jump up to full marks.

Dalao Home wigs

Now let’s get onto the wigs themselves. They all arrived packaged in standard wig boxes with a little see-through window in the corner. Dalao Home’s branding is subtle, just gold lettering on a white box, which I quite appreciate. It creates an aura of luxury – which is what you’re about to get, to be honest!

Simple and practical design.

Starting off with the half-wig. I bought it with lazy days in mind or potentially to tease it into a hime bump. It was available in natural black, brown black or mocha brown and I ordered the latter. The colour in real life looks darker than on the stock photo, though it’s still a natural-looking lovely warm shade of dark brown. While it’s darker than my natural hair colour, it matches my Brightlele clip-on fringe pretty well (and that in turn always gets mistaken for my own hair), so I’m optimistic about being able to make it work. The hair fibres are silky smooth, which makes you want to stroke them forever – only my Lockshop wig ever made me feel this way. The half wig arrived with two spare comb wefts in case you needed a replacement. Some instructions on how to wear a half wig would’ve been nice, although there are some pictures on the listing page. It will take me a little while to figure out how to do that, but I think it won’t be too hard to figure out. The worn picture here is with my clip-on fringe and you can see my unsuccessful attempt at hiding the wig-line, though as far as the hair itself goes, it looks really natural. FYI, all of the pictures were taken indoors with additional lighting from a ring light.

This is the more accurate colour representation, although it probably is a little darker than that.

Even up close with lighting the wig doesn't look very shiny.

Plenty of wefts to securely attach it and they included some spares.

This is what it looks like with my clip-on fringe. While not a 100% exact colour match, the
two look like they belong together. Once I figure out a better way of  attaching this to my
head, I think it will be a great addition and will make many other styles possible.

Next is Miss Becky, a long wavy black wig with centre parting. I thought that a black wig would be good when doing gothic, as well as for some other looks, plus I know what I look like with black hair. Again, the hair fibres are incredibly soft and silky smooth, they brushed as easily as real hair would without catching or tangling. The colour is natural black, by which they mean natural for someone of East Asian heritage. There is no black sheen, like some black dyes can leave, nor a brown one, like some South Asian hair can have, it’s just black. This style does not have a fringe, although there are a few slightly shorter strands that could frame the face. This wig, and all of Dalao Home’s full wigs, have this fake scalp where the parting is, which makes them more realistic-looking. The wig cap itself is also pretty comfortable, it stretched easily and I think I could comfortably wear it all day without a headache (though that remains to be tested).

True black, it's incredibly elegant.

Though of course sometimes the lighting does affect it a little.

It's been a long time since I had black hair, so this will take some getting used to.
And possibly extra styling.

Next wig, Eudora, might actually be my favourite. It’s a cute and playful short style, which I bought for lazy days: a literal put it on and go. It comes in several colours: linen grey, honey pudding, natural black, rose ash and deep chestnut, of which black and rose ash are sold out now. Mine is the honey pudding one and it’s a lovely warm-toned brown, slightly on the lighter side. This one feels very similar to my Lockshop Daisy wig – it’s super soft and really bouncy, you can brush through the curls and brush and they spring back to life. Unlike Daisy, however, this one (and all the other Dalao Home wigs I got) has a thinner fringe. I’ve noticed that a less thick fringe is quite a popular look in East Asia at the moment, so it could just be reflecting that, although it also looks a little bit more natural, in my opinion. At first I thought that the fringe length might actually be perfect as it was, but when I put it on, it was firmly in my eyes, so it will need a trim (on the worn photo I pulled it as far back as I needed to achieve the look). Still, it’s super cute and I absolutely love it!

The colour definitely is a honey brown kind, it's really pretty.

Look at that fake scalp. It's such a tiny detail, yet makes such a big difference.

These are some of the softest curls ever!

This is easily my favourite of the lot and once I trim the fringe, I think it will get a lot of wear.

Anlya was one of the wigs I sort of anticipated myself buying. The only blonde wig I have is the Brightlele one, but not every look requires such tight, fluffy curls (plus after being worn last it needs some TLC). This one is much more elegant and princessy almost. It comes in flax/linen white, soft powder (pink), bordeaux red and platinum, and I got the flax one. It’s always hard to decide whether a shade of blonde will flatter you or not, at least I really struggle with that, so I’m happy to report that I like myself in this colour. The first thing I noticed when taking it out is that this shade is achieved by mixing a few different shades, from basically white to quite peachy blonde. It results in a very natural look, which I really like. Again, we have the fake scalp, the wispy fringe (it only looks thicker because the colour blends in with my skin in this lighting) and the desire to never stop touching and brushing this wig because it feels this nice.

Anlya is a long wig, so it was awkward to get a good picture of her.

This is probably a bit more flattering and a good representation of the colour.

Again, that fake scalp.

Here you can see the individual colours a little bit better.

I did not expect such a light shade to look this well on me, I really like it.

Last but not least is this ringlet wig, which is the girl/lolita/princess one in this his and hers set. They both come in the same colour, linen white gold, so the only difference is masculine or feminine hairstyle. It’s a really cute idea and a great way to get couple’s costumes to match! As I’m not massively into oldschool lolita, I didn’t anticipate myself getting a ringlet wig, though at Dalao Home’s price I gave in just in case I do ever need that. Plus, you can use a blonde ringlet hairstyle in other looks too. The ringlets on this one are much softer, not quite as tight and high up as your typical oldschool ringlet wigs are, but a bit more modern, softer and looser. This is the only wig I did not dare to brush out for the photo either. The curls are lovely and bouncy and the colour is again a mixture of a few different shades to create a more natural look. Although it is a little bit more yellow-toned than Anlya, it’s not quite as yellow as it looks on the worn photo – that’s more to do with my lighting and the colours I was wearing. This one also felt like it had the longest fringe, I had to pull the wig really far back and even then it was annoyingly in my eyes, so this one will have to be trimmed.

Of the three wigs with fringes, this one is probably the longest, it needs a trim. 

The curls are soft and bouncy. I didn't dare to brush them here, although maybe if I brushed
them individually, it would be alright? Opinions/suggestions welcome.

The more yellow-toned hue will probably work better on me with different makeup and coord.

Final words

I am in love with the quality of all of these wigs. Dalao Home truly delivered some wonderful styles and colours, and even though I do like using my natural hair in lolita, their wigs inspire me to get more and to play around with wigs a bit more too. And the best thing about them is that you get all of that gorgeousness, which again I would compare to Lockshop, for a fraction of the price. For all of these wigs (plus a wig stand and domestic postage) I paid just shy of £40. Except for the half-wig and Anlya, they were all 58.80 CNY, which at the time was approximately £6 and some change. Anlya was the most expensive one of the lot at 62.80 CNY (nearer to £7 and some change), while the half wig was 42.80 CNY (just under £5). At that price it’s very hard to say no to more. While I personally am yet to wear these out, they were very comfortable when tried on and from friends who already own some I heard that these don’t tangle as easily as some other wigs, making them easier to maintain. And if that’s the case, then I have found my own holy grail of wigs.

I’ve put basically the same information into an unboxing/review video, which you can check out here. There you can see these wigs a bit more in action, how they move and look in a bit more natural lighting, so do give it a watch.

I hope that this review was useful and that many more of you wig-wearing people will now see the light and support the amazing store that is Dalao Home.

1 Dress 4 Looks Take 27

No, you are not seeing double. This was posted before - by accident. It was scheduled for this time, but as I tinkered with some of the posts, the scheduled date must’ve changed. So if you’re seeing this again, my apologies.

It took me until after I got this dress to realise that Royal Unicorn was on display at Angelic Pretty Kanazawa when I started my study abroad year there. And other people’s pictures and closeups to make me want to get it myself. I remember that it wasn’t even that long between me deciding to add this release to my wishlist and actually getting it. So far I’ve only worn it once, because I saved it for Myths of Our Own, but I definitely can’t wait to do more with this dress and had fun trying to come up with some looks for it now.

Look 1: Soft

| New Look blouse | BtSSB Forever Enchanted Midnight Spell bolero | Angelic Pretty Romantic Angel OTKs | Dreamy Bows headband | offbrand shoes and brooch |

This blouse, bolero and socks combo is a bit of my pink go-to. The very soft tones of the dress lend themselves well to pairing with pinks for that slightly more feminine look. I also like how the pattern on the OTKs and the bolero work with the pattern on the JSK’s skirt.

Look 2: OTT

| Millefleurs Georgette blouse | Angelic Pretty Harlequinade OtKs | Triple Fortune bonnet | indie necklace | vintage belt | Irregular Choice Total Freedom heels |

A slightly updated/different take on my outfit from Myths, although it may be hard to tell. That’s because in Dublin I wore a bolero all day, hiding this gorgeous blouse and how perfectly it matches the sax on the dress (as well as I had the collar lace tucked in). Although the sax on the bonnet is more saturated than on the blouse, I’m hoping that with the socks and necklace it’s enough to justify it being there.

Look 3: Chocolate

| Axes Femme blouse | Innocent World Lauretta OTKs | Sosic Shop heels | Angelic Pretty Chess Emblem brooch | Wonderbox Designs rosette | offbrand beret |

It’s a fact that ivory and brown work really well together – especially this one because it is a very brown-toned shade of ivory. The dark shade of the blouse really makes all the gold accents pop more. A simple outfit like this would be great for a relaxed meetup or maybe even a solo outing somewhere.

Look 4: Royal Unicorn

| Infanta overblouse | Innocent World Origa OTKs | Innocent World shoes | Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn headbow | Ebony and Ivory clip | Puvithel necklace | Angelic Pretty Royal Unicorn necklace | Wicked and Whimsy ring | Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival ring | 4 Aces ring |

Lastly is another look somewhat inspired by what I wore in Dublin – this time taking the reds as a feature instead of the blues. I am very fond of ivory/cream outfits with pops of red as an accent colour. Whilst more mature style of heels would’ve worked better, that Puvithel necklace is so shiny and sparkly that I end up looking at that instead of the shoes.

Four more outfits and still I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I could do with this dress. Although having said this, most of my ideas revolved around pretty much the same colour schemes (sax, wine and ivory), just with different pieces. Maybe I should’ve pushed myself a bit more to try something new here – maybe see if I could work some navy into this? Let’s leave that for the future!

My Formative Lolita Years

Every lolita has a year (or several) that has really shaped their style. For most people that’s the time when they first discovered the fashion and started looking into it more – with exceptions, of course. As others started reminiscing about their ‘lolita youth’ and the ‘back in my days’, I started thinking about what my formative years and nostalgia time might be. And I think I’ve finally hit the nail on the head.

Whilst I bought my first lolita dresses back in 2011, I have in fact missed the OTT Sweet craze altogether. My awareness of the fashion back then was very poor, I was happy with the two Bodyline dresses I had and didn’t bother looking into it more. Although I have a vague recollection of a friend trying on a lolita dress during my first study abroad trip which probably fitted that OTT Sweet mould*, my own personal nostalgia time frame is 2013-2015.

* All I remember is that it was yellow, very possibly printed, expensive and in a shop upstairs somewhere in Sannomiya, Kobe. Trying to retrace it with Lolibrary’s help, it may have been either Honey Cake or Milky Planet – and given exact release dates and my trip dates, Honey Cake sounds more plausible.

From 2013 to 2014 I was on my second study abroad trip in Japan. By that point my interest in lolita fashion was much stonger than in 2011 and both that and my knowledge of the fashion continued growing over those 12 months. I had finally gained some understanding of brands, as well as learned more about the fashion and the elements needed to make an actual coord rather than just wearing the dresses. It was also when I had bought my first brand items, both dresses and smaller bits. And then, from 2014 to 2015, throughout my final year of university and by the first month of working full-time, I had learnt enough to actually know what I’m doing and began seriously building my collection.

At the moment releases from 2014 and 2015 are the most numerous in my collection – I currently own 5 from each year and also had 1 from each year that I had sold since. That makes 10 dresses out of my current total of 42, just under a quarter. As for 2013, I have only 3 main pieces from that year at the moment. Having said this, 2016 releases are represented in exactly the same proportions as 2014 and 2015 in my collection (5 kept and 1 sold), while at the moment I have 6 main pieces from 2018 in my possession. So why am I not talking about those years as crucial for me?

Screenshot of the spreadsheet where I keep all my dress information. Here you have all the main pieces I own that were released between 2013 and 2015, including those I have since sold.

Because it’s about more than just what I own – it’s also about what I want(ed) to have. 2018 was only last year, so I remember that very few new releases really excited me and most of what did I bought pretty much straight away. Having already gotten all my dream dresses allowed me to focus my energy and funds on getting new things I liked instead of hunting older releases. The situation is a little bit more complicated with 2016: I was still very new to the idea of having disposable income and preferred to concentrate on getting those dream dresses. However, whilst there were some releases in 2016 that have caught my eye and even made it to my wishlist at some point or another, they don’t evoke those same nostalgic feelings that 2013-2015 things do.

What did I want then, back in those 2014-ish days? My style was still mostly developing, so my wishlist was all over the place. Majority of it was, of course, Angelic Pretty and I still remember those final year of university days when AP sent e-mail updates of new releases and I pined over almost every one of them. Not all of the dresses below were my wishlist items when they were first released, but they all were on it at least at some point between 2013 and 2015. For the purpose of brevity, I will single out only a few of these that deserve a special mention. 

Roughly sorted by brand and then colour. All stock images from Lolibrary.org, I do not own.

• Labyrinth of Rose is so much nicer in person than the stock photos make it out to be. It was genuinely so lovely that I struggled whether to spend my hard-earned and saved cash on Fantasy Theater or this. (Fantasy Theater won by virtue of being more unique – Labyrinth of Rose feels like something vintage reproduction companies do a lot of.)
• Soirée of the Beginning of My Memories was also something I had seen in person and it reminded me of Gone with the Wind so hard. It was on my wishlist for a long time, before I decided that everything I had was tricolour and what on Earth would I do with something green. I still wouldn’t mind having it though…
• It’s a bit of a stretch to call Ball at Versailles a wishlist dress. However, the first time I went to Innocent World in Kanazawa, this print stood out to me. I remember the colourways and I feel like the high waist cut was the one I was looking at, but later it faded from my memory. Still, I thought it deserved an honourable mention.
• Pastoral in the Grass Green captured me upon release and I remember even putting it on my Christmas wishlist in vain hope that someone would actually drop this kind of money for me. It later shared the same fate as Soirée of the Beginning of My Memories (i.e. I don’t have any other green, what the hell you thinking) and just like that one I wouldn’t mind having it now. Though won’t go out of my way to get it.
• Wonder Carousel and Royal Ornament were the releases that finally made me notice Meta as a brand. Up until then they were just that weird one that was much cheaper second hand on Closet Child etc. and their designs seemed too much for me then. I have since seen the light and wholeheartedly love Meta now – all thanks to these two lovelies.
• Oh, how I pined over Krad’s The Venice Carnival! However, it seemed stupidly expensive at the time (for a brand I hadn’t heard of) and even the largest size was a bit too small for me then, so I had to say no. That and it was so OTT that I thought I wouldn’t wear it anywhere – because where would you wear it? Not a problem now, definitely a problem back then.

What’s more, looking at my current wishlist, there are still some releases from those 2013-2015 years. Those I covet the most right now, which I would buy in a heartbeat, are Meta’s Gold Braid Tuck Pinafore (a 2013 release), Mary Magdalene’s Arabesque Rose (a 2014 release) and Marchen die Prinzessin’s Nutcracker (a 2014 release). As much as I’d love to get Sleepless Masquerade, the cut I want is not shirred, so this is a forever unattainable dream dress. Well, and Meta's Bubble Bath is something I really want right now, however, somehow I feel more likely to find that than the three below, which puts them at more dream dress level.

My current top tier wishlist dresses are all 2013/2014 releases (and, coincidentally, all wine red-based).
Stock pictures from Lolibrary.org, I do not own.

And even now, as I looked through all the releases from those years in order to find the right pictures, there were many others that piqued my interest. Some were double takes at releases that I remember from that time, but decided against them. Some (especially the non-printed things) were completely new discoveries that would fit my current style. And some were pieces that I have had on my wishlist or thought of getting at one point or another and simply did not realise that they were released in that time frame.

I can see the influences of those 2013-2015 years on my style in lolita too. Like I said, I had missed out on the OTT Sweet thing entirely. But 2013-2014 were the years of sweet prints in jewel tones (Crystal Dream Carnival, Mercator Antique Shop, Elisabeth Unicorn etc.) and a bridge to OTT Classic (which, while I never went down the gazillion underskirts route, I do admire and love). From some other ‘serious research’ that I’ve done we can pinpoint 2013-ish as the time when sweet-classic started to become a thing of its own, blending the two styles versus them existing as separate entities. And if you follow this blog, then you know that I’m all about those sweet-classic vibes, especially via sweet prints in not-so-sweet colourways.

If I had to sum up that period of lolita fashion in one dress, it would be through Crystal Dream Carnival. It's a sweet print in a non-typical sweet colourway, with detachable parts that blended the boundary between OTT Sweet and OTT Classic.

Thinking about what the future might bring, my gut tells me that I will continue to return to pieces from 2013-2015, adding them to my wishlist and wardrobe. With the current trend for high waist and sack cuts in sweet lolita, which I dislike, fewer new releases grab my attention. Compared to those years, when every e-mail from AP about new releases brought with it that ‘oooh!’ sensation of excitement, I am not getting that so much these days. Certainly not from AP at least. But even though Meta continues to deliver it for me and BtSSB has its moments, it’s not quite to the same intensity as AP in 2013-2015 days. Right now I might think that some of those releases are not for me – this might change in a year, two or five, as the fashion develops and changes. Maybe one day I too will be one of those lolitas grumpily muttering about ‘back in my day’. Hopefully not. Yet at the same time, I’m not holding my breath that those trends that I’m nostalgic about will come back. And that’s ok too. I will simply cherish the memories – and see you all on the second hand market.