About A Dress: Angelic Pretty's Belle Epoque Rose

I'd like to introduce a small little series of blog posts I'd been thinking about writing. If you're interested in reading my thoughts about a specific piece from my wardrobe, please let me know and I'll put it to the top of the queue. The photos may be a bit of a mix, but here go's it.

Belle Epoque Rose was one of my first purchases last year. I ordered through Tenshi Shop as soon as the first tiny shots showed up in Kera, though I probably didn't need to as it took some hours for it to sell out online. I did score the candle with it too though! And though I couldn't get the post card, my dear friend Lizzy was able to get it for me from the France pop up.

BER is part of AP's lavender label line, and was a bit more expensive than the usual release at ¥32,184. With shopping service fees and EMS postage to Australia, this dress comes second in price in my wardrobe only to Cats Tea Party.

Stock Photo

Print: Belle Epoque Rose

Brand: Angelic Pretty

Colour: Pink

Release Year: 2015

Fabric: Printed Satin (100% polyester)

Condition: New

Arrived: April 2015
Stock Photo Accuracy: You tried

 

A lot of what I like about BER is in it's overall feeling, which is probably a bit sad to say with the section coming below. The print photographs well, has a lovely sweet feeling and is a little bit princess-y. The chiffon bustle back is the perfect detail (and will never require ironing!). Print wise, I love the delicate look of the lace overlay over what would otherwise be bare solid coloured parts of the print.
 

The mix of white lace and cream in the print can make coordinating with either a bit of a nightmare (my usual trick is to just do both together). It photographs best with white, since the cream tone can be easily eliminated, but in person it is definitely there. If you're a purist, you'll want nothing to do with this.

On the bodice there are two rows of ribbon lacing down the seams. If you look carefully you can see one is thinner than the other at the top, causing a small bubble in the fabric. The pink ribbon in the 'lacing', the three satin ribbons on the front are a warm pink, whereas the detachable ribbon atop the bodice is a similar cool pink tone to the prints colour, but is almost wildly fluro compared to it. 

The print. I've read before that people were upset with it's quality. And I have to admit, when I took my dress from it's box, I was a bit too. It's not an easy thing to photograph, and I think it contributes in the end to how well the garment does photograph but, it definitely lacks any crisp feeling. I'm not sure if its a design choice on behalf of AP, but it was a little bit of a let down to start with. In the end though I stopped putting my nose up to the fabric and stood back to appreciate it. I mention this more for anyone considering buying it's sake, as it might be a sore point for some people. I'm pretty unphased by it now though.

Another very small thing is that I think the lace is all rather generic? There's nothing special about the embroidery, which is okay just not very exciting.

 Click to see bigger!

Coordination Suggestions

For simple tastes; pink, white, cream, roses, ribbons, gold.

For something a little more interesting; dark green, mint, navy, black, dark pink. Vintage clocks, rocking horses and perfume bottles feature in the print and could be drawn in as a smaller motif for jewellery, or as an ambitious Marie Antoinette style hair piece for more OTT looks.

More of my Belle Epoque Rose coordinates here.

Care level

Delicate fabric, delicate trims. Take care with sharp jewellery, walks over rougher terrain and unkempt park benches.  I have only hand washed this piece so far. You'll want a clothes airer that you can lay the dress on to dry (in the shade), as hanging by the straps when wet will likely damage the garment.


Final Thoughts
I love this dress. It may seem a little silly given the large negative section above, but I really do. I'm not even upset about what I paid but it's definitely not a dress for everyone!

 

Magical Etoile for Animaga Sunday

Last month was Animaga, and our group 'Petite Style Society' had a very large booth! We used it the space to host a number of different brands, most were local but we had a couple send from overseas! It was very exciting, and I had a lot of fun- though of course it too was a bit stressful.... 

For Saturday I dressed to represent the style I was assigned, 'otome'. I didn't really like my outfit, which was a bit rushed so I hope no photos ever surface, haha. I wrote a little flyer for the booth to hand out to those interested, it will probably appear on the PSS blog eventually.

On Sunday I paired Magical Etoile with yellow details and finally found a way to wear my ridiculous yellow heart bag!

Angelic Pretty Magical Etoile Jumperskirt, Tokimeki Dot Heart Bag and Tea Party Shoes

Innocent World Long Hem Blouse - Tukoni Tribe Pink Bunny Brooch

Moon Bunny Rabbit Hair Clip - Handmade Neck Tie and Bow Pin - Offbrand Tights (not pictured)

I was a flatlay once

 This was the coordinate I took as a flatlay. I wanted to show off the cardigan and the MILK bag, but I've already worn them both a lot recently- strange how just one or two new pieces can make you feel refereshed?

For the first time in forever, the chocomint bunny rosette matches something. I bought it because bunny. I have a feeling I originally did this with a white blouse, but who really knows? Anyway, you can see the cute little flower detail on the cardigan here~ 

 

Belle Epoque Rose with Mint

Just because I like playing with the accent colours in things. I actually for some reason expected the accent on this to be sax, but I was wrong. I really like the green details, I want to try bringing them out a bit more. 

Sweetie Chandelier with Mint

Whelp all my photos were bad, so I took some instead on the mannequin. I changed out the blouse though- originally I wore a white one which just didn't work. This coordinate also features two new items! A cardigan that Thali and I are 'sharing' and my very own MILK heart bag. It popped up in my most desired colour (combination?) and a friend was able to secure it for me! Thank you so much Lizzy ♥ I have some of the best friends.

I wanted to bring out some of the mint details in Sweetie Chandelier, so I wore the cardigan together with mint/green tights. I was happy with it, it was cute and comfortable and really that's all I want in life.

AVCon Haul

My little AVCon haul! I was, I think, very modest in my spending. I picked up some cute little bits and pieces in the artist alley and then also some exhibitors loot; a. ETC cardigan and Jewelry Jelly ring from Dapper Doe, Sylveon pokedoll thanks to Christine and one of the best rings in the world from Mascarateer. 

Thali saw the cardigan and told me to run over and look. It matches really well with my wardrobe, though is quite a dark cream, I'm really glad I grabbed it and the ribbon details are so cute. I just love cardigans so much. 

I was intending to pair it with a number of my dresses to show it off, but I ran out of light so here it is with my current favourite (it would seem) Sweetie Chandelier.

About AVCon, it was interesting. The convention centre has finished being renovated on a side that was formerly closed, so the venue was significantly bigger. I heard that there was also a significantly larger number of attendees through the door. It's a shame we apparently didn't see many of them.

The weekend was relatively stress free though. I managed to not be up too late most nights, and did my best to try and prevent con plague... it didn't happen. Australia recently was hit with a nice Antarctic cold snap. Coupled with a couple of 10 hour bus trips, when we finally rolled home I rolled right into bed and didn't leave for the rest of the day.

I was able to see many of my friends over the course of the weekend, some of them allowed us to stay with them (thank you Bear and Riana!) so we graciously took them out for dessert. Others I saw throughout the weekend. Each year I get to know the Adelaide girls a little better. Not many people are still in the comm from since I left, so it can be a bit intimidating. Thankfully there are some lovely girls, and I was really glad to get to have a good chat with them (the bonus of a quiet weekend I suppose!).

The parade this year, that I talked a bit about earlier, was much improved from previous years! A pair of videos were shown, which I thought was a nice touch to help people understand what they were watching. I ended up having to go first, which was intimidating as hell and forgot to go back and sit down causing a rabble behind the curtains as the first few girls came down off the stage. There were so many beautifully dressed girls, and there was a lot of creativity. I was really impressed.

Other than making my way down the AA, and going from table to the Dapper Doe booth to the food area that contained tea, I don't really know what else was going on in the convention. So that was AVCon, over again for another year. I'm now just hoping we will be able to try this time to make the trip back to Adelaide again before the next one rolls around!

Winter International Lolita Day 2015

Well it is a bit late, but back in June our community celebrated  the Winter International Lolita Day by um.. having a tea party by the sea. The tea was hosted by a little group my friends and I have started, called Petite Style. As our first event, I think it went well! And we're preparing now for the next one!

Since our theme was 'tea by the sea' we invited people to dress up. I had a long thing and decided I would go with the theme 'Jewelery Jelly Fish'!

This outfit is a little altered with the accessories, since I was playing around with things today and had taken many photos, haha. I made some little puffy side saddles? from a crystal organza and adorned them with pearls. To match, I made a ruffled head piece, with lots of little perals and diamantes. I really liked it's overall effect. My hair for the day didn't go the way I wanted. I had intended to cut a very fluffy bob into a very fluffy wig, but I hadn't the time so instead I pinned everything up. It was well received if nothing else.

I pinched the bows from those organza sleeves I took off the DDC OP- they matched well I thought.

The Lolita Parade and the Belle Epoque Hat

 Another AVCon has come and passed us by! We took Peppermint Fox again to sell in the artist alley with our friends. It was a bitter sweet weekend, I'm not sure if we'll be going back again soon.

I entered the Lolita Fashion Parade this year in the Best Coordinate category, but I didn't manage to place. But I do get to come away with a gorgeous hat, and a bunch of new skills learned from making it!

This post is mostly going to be about the outfit and hat, I might write more about the weekend in my little haul post.

I did a (very) little embroidery on some tights, but I don't have them to show- and it wasn't as interesting as I had hoped to make them anyway. I think it would have been better to wear the BER socks, but I was a bit over ambitious I suppose. 

I paired the dress with the cream blouse again, and made sure everything else was cream or off white to minimise how stark the dress can look. I made a pair of ribbon and rose shoe clips, that would probably also look good as hair clips (I will have to buy some more of the roses I used). I do not have a photo for you here, but I had used my dreamholic bob and twin tails to creat a high, curly hair style. I really liked it- but I also was so tired on Sunday that once the parade was over I threw off my hat and hair before I could take a picture!

Below is a few paragraphs about the making of the hat. If you'd like to skip it, then you can finish the post here without worry! Thank you so much as always for reading and looking at my photos ♥♥♥

Belle Epoque Rose is a strange creature. She photographs quite white, but in reality is probably a 40/60 mix of cream to white. When picking my hat's base colours, I put both cream and white materials up next to it- but it was all too stark. In the end I used a dark cream with a white dot net overlay to best effect, I think! I wanted to include a feather but I think I am a bit of an opulent minimalist. I like things in theory but couldn't find a way for the feather to work without covering everything else up. It was probably better to travel with in any case. 

For some reason, I started snapping progress photos quite late. The hat base was made from buckram. I reinforced the brim a little with two rounds of a probably a little too soft wire and covered the top of the hat with felt before applying any of the covering. I made a mistake with the pattern, and had my notches on the wrong piece (the brand of the crown, instead of the interior of the brim) but I made do, I think I definitely made things more difficult for myself than I needed to. 

The cream fabric I used was a little thin, so I doubled it up. The brim was pinned down first, followed by the top of the crown. I pinned the crowns band down and then sewed around the top of the crown. I secured the base of the crown a bit more lightly, because of the afformentioned mistake. I covered this later with a length of chiffon (as seen in the third to last picture above). I then gathered the netting for the underside and secured it. I got a bit worried part way through, since I had used a straight rectangle without a curve. I'm not sure if it really had any adverse effect in the end though. I watched through most of Outlander while making this hat...

Finally I started on the bias binding for the edge. I cut this myself from the same cream fabric. I elected not to use the tulle with it to preserve my sanity. Sewing it down went fine- until I got to the end and realised I had forgotten to cut an end at the right angle.... I was mostly upset at this point because it had all been looking so neat and now it was less so. Things to remember next time. 

It took me a bit of time after this point to sit down and finish off the interior of the crown. I think I really need to start including a band but the major problem was that I hadn't included much in the way of things to- oh I don't know- affix it to your head. You know. Just little things. That you don't really realise till the day before you leave because you never did your test outfit.

Finally I got to decorate my beast. I repurposed a bow from a cravat Thali had made some time ago. Actually I ended up using most of the thing for this- the chiffon tails are from the same thing. A little bow centre sewed on, some of the dot netting mixed in to tie in the materials better and create a cute tail. The roses are in the case of the velveteen/flocked ones, from Okadaya in Japan. I did not buy enough of them when I was there. And I will be dammned if I don't leave with at least ten of each flower I like next time I visit. One of the roses is from the chest decoration of the BER dress. The leaves I made by hand using some double sided satin ribbon. I was very grateful to find a tutorial for them, though I appear to have lost the link... The little white flowers dotted throughout were made by heavily starching a piece of the dot netting. It allowed me to cut some small flower shapes which were then gathered and sewn with a little pearl bead. A final splash with the pink ribbon tied it together for me~

It was a long process, from start to finish and it was mostly done in the late evening hours after work was done. I don't remember when I started it, but that's probably for the best. I will be investing soon in some more efficient needles (thank you WSM!) and embarking on a pair (or more) of bonnets! The cream fabric I bought was actually from a place called Silk Trader, here in Melbourne. Last visit, I came away with a number of beautiful poly-silk look fabrics at a good price (remnants are perfect for these kinds of projects!) and they are waiting to be something. I will report on them as they come together!

Thank you to you again, if you managed to read through that block of text! ♥

I will have a further report on AVCon a bit later~

Melbourne Swap Meet Loot

 We were lucky enough this last month to have a swap meet! It's been some time since we've had one, in fact I think we've only had one since I've been a part of the community. I don't actually think it was a bad thing though, since the quality of the goods on offer was off the charts, over all I think it was incredibly successful and I can't wait for the next one!

In addition to the AP Rose Last Note hat and candy bag, I also traded a friend for Musee low waist- but that's another blog post altogether in the future!

I didn't come home with too much in the end, but I think I'm really happy with what I got. The bag has some small damage, but I think it's fixable (and it was a steal!).

(Thank you so much Bonnie, this ones for you *^*♥)

Rose last note hat paired with an IW blouse that we bought from Jordi! I still do hope to make my own very over the top hat to match Belle Epoque Rose in the future, but I do so adore this one and it will be much, much more versatile! I cannot wait to pretty much wear it with everything ♥

Belle Epoque Rose for Easter 2015 Picnic

Happy Easter~! We spent the long weekend with friends, ending with a fantastic picnic meet up! Easter is always a popular event, so there were a lot of lovely Melbourne people. I was really happy to be able to catch up with some people, as the comm hasn't been very active over the hot summer months (with good reason! hehe).

 Photo from Bonnie!

Also a shout out to the girl I never caught the name of that made the meringues- thank you for pretty much feeding me! They were amazing~

Dress smush~ ♥