Hey lovely readers! Today I wanted to talk to you about a dress I recently acquired. I would like to post-face this blog with the fact that I know the replica debate is never ending, I know why people hate replicas, etc etc. Please waste someone else's time trying to fight them over replicas. Inflammatory comments will just be deleted honestly.
Now on to the post!
Chess Chocolate in mint has been my holy grail dress since I first started lolita. I love it. I love everything about it. I wasn't 100% a fan of the cuts offered though and have never been a size that would allow me to wear the actual Angelic Pretty dress. I waited years and years for it to turn up on the second hand market in my size and it never did. I finally caved and ordered it straight from Oo Jia. Now, we all know Oo Jia I assume, but in case you don't, she is well known for making custom sized replicas of popular lolita prints (mostly Angelic Pretty).
My experience with her was not great honestly. She was VERY slow to respond to my messages, took much longer than promised to make my items (though, in her defense, she was making me a custom hat in a style she had never tried before and apparently had some difficulty with it), took much longer than promised to ship my items, and honestly, they aren't exactly what I wanted. I did a custom style of JSK that doesn't exactly match any of the options AP had. I asked for a beret and a head bow. The beret sits a little strangely? I have a weird shaped head though and it could very well be a result of my head and not the hat itself. I'm really not positive. The dress is MUCH too short and I'm not really sure how that happened. In order to wear it as proper lolita I will have to invest in an underskirt at some point. In the mean time I have worn it a few times in more casual outfits that are much more "inspired" by lolita than....actual lolita. I can't put a petticoat under the skirt because it is so short (I probably could if I had a short petti but my petti is the size of most of my skirts, i.e. slightly below my knee.) It fits a little strangely around the arms and in the chest as well. Other than those details I am pretty happy with it, it just isn't what I wanted.
Now that the rant is over let me show you some close up details of the dress and accessories!
The actual print is fairly crisp, though the gold is smeared in many places. It isn't hugely noticeable however. The bow near the top is not removable. There is this gold lace around the sleeves that is quite itchy if not worn with a full coverage under-shirt.
The lace is beautiful, though obviously not true to the original design.
There is a SMALL built in petti underneath. It doesn't give much poof at all but it does allow for a nicer shape than it would have otherwise.
Here are the accessories I ordered as well! The beret had the small bow attached to it but it looked strange and the bow is not nicely shaped so I took it off. I tend to wear it with star clips or pins instead.
I went out with some friends of mine in this dress and tried to make a more "proper" lolita outfit for the occasion. This was the sole time I tried with a full coordinate (minus the petti) and, while I was happy with how the outfit looked, it still didn't feel right to me. I prefer this dress worn more casually because I really CAN'T do a full coord.
A bonus photo featuring my friends and I at the Tridge in Midland, MI.
Overall I would give my experience working with Oo Jia 2/5 for communication, 3/5 for speed, and 4/5 for execution. I hope this review will be helpful to someone, though I really really do recommend buying replicas second hand if you are going to purchase them at all.
Have a wonderful September and I will update you all again next month!
-Kayla <3
Now on to the post!
Chess Chocolate in mint has been my holy grail dress since I first started lolita. I love it. I love everything about it. I wasn't 100% a fan of the cuts offered though and have never been a size that would allow me to wear the actual Angelic Pretty dress. I waited years and years for it to turn up on the second hand market in my size and it never did. I finally caved and ordered it straight from Oo Jia. Now, we all know Oo Jia I assume, but in case you don't, she is well known for making custom sized replicas of popular lolita prints (mostly Angelic Pretty).
My experience with her was not great honestly. She was VERY slow to respond to my messages, took much longer than promised to make my items (though, in her defense, she was making me a custom hat in a style she had never tried before and apparently had some difficulty with it), took much longer than promised to ship my items, and honestly, they aren't exactly what I wanted. I did a custom style of JSK that doesn't exactly match any of the options AP had. I asked for a beret and a head bow. The beret sits a little strangely? I have a weird shaped head though and it could very well be a result of my head and not the hat itself. I'm really not positive. The dress is MUCH too short and I'm not really sure how that happened. In order to wear it as proper lolita I will have to invest in an underskirt at some point. In the mean time I have worn it a few times in more casual outfits that are much more "inspired" by lolita than....actual lolita. I can't put a petticoat under the skirt because it is so short (I probably could if I had a short petti but my petti is the size of most of my skirts, i.e. slightly below my knee.) It fits a little strangely around the arms and in the chest as well. Other than those details I am pretty happy with it, it just isn't what I wanted.
Now that the rant is over let me show you some close up details of the dress and accessories!
The actual print is fairly crisp, though the gold is smeared in many places. It isn't hugely noticeable however. The bow near the top is not removable. There is this gold lace around the sleeves that is quite itchy if not worn with a full coverage under-shirt.
The lace is beautiful, though obviously not true to the original design.
There is a SMALL built in petti underneath. It doesn't give much poof at all but it does allow for a nicer shape than it would have otherwise.
Here are the accessories I ordered as well! The beret had the small bow attached to it but it looked strange and the bow is not nicely shaped so I took it off. I tend to wear it with star clips or pins instead.
I went out with some friends of mine in this dress and tried to make a more "proper" lolita outfit for the occasion. This was the sole time I tried with a full coordinate (minus the petti) and, while I was happy with how the outfit looked, it still didn't feel right to me. I prefer this dress worn more casually because I really CAN'T do a full coord.
A bonus photo featuring my friends and I at the Tridge in Midland, MI.
Overall I would give my experience working with Oo Jia 2/5 for communication, 3/5 for speed, and 4/5 for execution. I hope this review will be helpful to someone, though I really really do recommend buying replicas second hand if you are going to purchase them at all.
Have a wonderful September and I will update you all again next month!
-Kayla <3
