Category: Special Features

My adventures in the wonderful world of lolita fashion lucky packs have continued. Like I mentioned in my Innocent World Lucky Pack Post, the end of the year is the time when brands tend to clear out their old stock and offer special sets. They’re an awesome way to get some great items at a similarly great price, and as a “smart shopper” (cheapskate), it’s generally the only way to get me to spend money on brand items.

A few weeks ago Enchantlic Enchantilly (formerly just “Chantilly”), a brand I hadn’t really been aware of until recently, posted on their Facebook page that they were going to be offering lucky packs to overseas customers. While I can’t find a whole lot of historical info of the brand, from the items I’ve seen I’d say that the dresses, skirts, and accessories are focused on projecting a more whimsical, carnival-like atmosphere and feature a more relaxed fit than a lot of lolita items (many of their items are fully shirred at the waist and bust). The dresses all seem to have built-in petticoats; they don’t replace a petticoat that you wear, but they provide some more dramatic “poof” that defines lolita fashion. I already own a skirt from their brand; I bought it secondhand from someone on Lace Market. It was a special skirt that they offered when the designer, Fumiko Kawamura, was a guest at Anime Central in 2013 (although the one I own is the green and gold colorway which apparently wasn’t one of the “special” ones? It’s complicated and I don’t understand). In any case, I was curious and figured that there wouldn’t be a problem with fit on my body, so I gave it a shot.

I didn’t have much of a clue of what to expect, though on the face book page (as well as the image above), they alluded to a dress with a rose theme, so I (correctly, as it turned out) guessed that it would include a play on their “Little Briar Rose OP.” Black and red, just in time for Valentine’s Day! How perfect. This post also includes a couple of miscellaneous items that arrived at the same time and didn’t seem worth making a separate post about.

Fair warning, this post is photo heavy and most of the photos are TRULY AWFUL. I may have mentioned previously that the lighting in my bedroom is garbage, and by the time I get home from work it’s dark outside, so there’s not a whole lot I can do. Hopefully I’ll have some time soon to go out in the daylight and get some good photographs, but for right now this will have to do.

Fan Plus Friend Machine Birdcage Waistcoat

When I received my Innocent World lucky pack a few weeks ago, one of the big items was the Rozen Maiden Kanaria set that came with shorts/knickers/whatever you call them and an overdress/bolero thing. The outfit as a whole was a little too over-the-top for me to feel comfortable wearing, but I thought taking the big pieces apart and wearing them separately in order to tone it down and started looking for a vest or waistcoat to give it a more refined feel. I quickly settled on the Fan Plus Friend Machine Birdcage Vest in the brown color as the price was decent and it was a simple, elegant design with a slight steampunk feel (but not overly so, steampunk is not really my “style”).

I ordered the vest in the “Lady 80” (or “medium”) size, even though I was a little bit worried that I’d be right at the top of the size chart (for whatever reason, even though my measurements have changed several times, I always seem to be in-between sizes). This was the correct decision as it fit me pretty much perfectly in both the bust and the waist. Hooray for good guessing! I didn’t get a good picture, but the buttons are wooden and look like little cogs. the texture makes it a little difficult to button and unbutton since the edges tend to get caught on the holes, but it’s not a huge deal. There’s also corset lacing up the back, and one thing I really appreciate is that the ribbon is actually long enough to tie even when the lacing isn’t drawn in tightly. You wouldn’t believe some of the Japanese brand items I have where that isn’t the case and I have to either take the ribbon out of the bottom set of holes, or replace the ribbon entirely. Thank you, China, for being more forgiving.

One thing that I really love about Fan Plus Friend lately is that they’ve been sending really cute reusable bags with their orders. They’re brown, recycled (?) material with a drawstring. I have two of them and they’re great, much more practical than just a plain plastic bag. Here are my personal photos of the items:

One other thing worth mentioning is that, when the items are in-stock, the shipping is SUPER FAST. I think I got this vest, shipped from China, within a week’s time.

ReStyle Brown Embroidered Violin Purse

I’ve been wanting an Innocent World violin bag for a really long time, but it seems like every time they restock it, I’m off in la-la land and miss it. A while back, I noticed that Restyle, a Polish alternative fashion store, had a similar bag for sale at a decent price. But of course I sat on it, and by the time I thought of it again they were sold out. I ended up finding the bag for sale on Ebay from someplace in London and bought it that way. Slightly pricier, but I wanted it. It arrived at about the same time as the other things, so I included it here:

It has both handles and a detachable shoulder strap. I’m more of a shoulder strap kind of gal, so this suits me well. Here are some full outfit shots including my Kanaria pants and headband, beige Innocent World socks and blouse (of indeterminate style), some Antaina boots that don’t really match that well but were the only brown shoes I had on hand at the moment, and a jabot off of another Innocent World blouse I own:

I like how the outfit is still fancy but also restrained and more elegant. I have some brown Bodyline rocking horse shoes coming at some point (I chose the free shipping so they could get here any time within the next three months (though according to my tracking email it has been sent out from Tokyo now so we’ll see if it gets caught up in customs or anything), so I’ll post some updated photos with that and the short wig I’ve also ordered from them when they arrive.

Enchantlic Enchantilly Lucky Pack

Okay, now for the main event! I didn’t know what to expect from this lucky pack since I’d never directly ordered from this brand before and had never seen anyone else online post their lucky pack “results,” so I was really curious to see what items were included. I paid $250 for the lucky pack and was told that the value of the items inside would equal approximately 55,000 yen (about $465). In my opinion, that was a vastly underestimated amount, because this came with a bunch of items and I thought they were definitely worth more money than that. The “theme” of this lucky pack was essentially being very pleasantly surprised, and I was very happy (and occasionally amused) by the items I received.

Packaging

The lucky pack came in a big cardboard box as they tend to do. The box itself was a little bit worse for wear and had some dents, but since lucky packs seem to be mostly textiles and it didn’t seem like the box had actually been opened or torn, I wasn’t worried. The invoice listed the included items with few details and prices that I suspected were not entirely accurate to their actual worth. Inside the box on top of the items were a couple of cute mini posters.

The contents were inside a large clear plastic bag sealed with a really cute bow sticker, and inside were three more bags: a clear bag with a couple of envelopes/documents, a medium red plastic shopping bag that I suspected held the accessories, and a large blue plastic shopping bag that contained the garments. The larger bags were sealed with really cute kitty stickers, though the one of the blue bag had torn in half already. Poor kitty!

The blue bag had a super cute “Thank You” message from Kawamura-san taped to it. Just one of the really cute details in this lucky pack!

Document Bag

The smallest bag had a mini poster inside of a princess and some animals, as well as a mystery envelope. The bag was sealed with a sticker that had a picture of a kitty paw on it!

The envelope was suprisingly heavy and thick, and I had no idea what was inside. As it turned out, it was a set of several very cute postcards! I doubt I’ll end up using them for their intended purpose, but I’ve been thinking about starting a lolita scrapbook with these kinds of items in it, so I’m sure I’ll find some way to make use of them.

Accessories

The medium bag contained a set of various accessories. These included both wearable and non-wearable items:

That is roughly how the items were stacked within the bag, and as you can see there are a nice variety. I’ll go through them one-by-one.

First were a pair of over-the-knee black and white striped socks (I’m pretty sure that they’re these socks) with a gold-printed brand logo. Let me tell you about how nice these socks are. They’re quite thick and sturdy, which is what I would expect from brand socks obviously. But what’s nice about them is that I don’t feel like they’re pinching my thighs. I’m not the skinniest person out there, but I’m also not that large, and I find that some brand socks are a bit too tight at the cuffs and have a strong tendency to roll. I would probably still use some sock glue with these for security, but I don’t think it would be a requirement. They’re really comfortable!

Next, something unexpected: stickers! I received a sheet of five stickers, each a bow in a different color. I’m not a huge sticker person, so I’m not sure what to do with these yet. I’ve also got a couple of Alice and the Pirates stickers that I’ve received in past orders, so maybe I can figure out something to do with all of those together. Or I can just keep them and never use them, which is probably more likely.

I also received a really beautiful pair of black and red tights. I’ve never owned a pair of brand tights before, primarily because I could never truly be sure that they would fit me. I’m an average-sized American person, but that makes me taller than a lot of lolita fashion is made to fit. I’m also curvaceous in the hip area, and sometimes even have trouble with tights made in this country. Luckily I tried these on and they fit great! They’re fairly thick (80 denier) printed tights that have just enough stretch to accommodate me and feel snug and sturdy. I imagine the print would be more dramatic looking on someone with more slender legs, but they still looked okay on me!

There were two pins/brooches in the package, one a very simple black ribbon pin with a silver chess piece printed on it, and a very fancy cat brooch with a black ribbon detail encircled by some gray cotton eyelet lace. The black ribbon is pretty versatile and it could be attached to many different clothing and accessory items to add a little extra bit of flair. The eyelet lace on the cat brooch makes it slightly more difficult to coord, but I actually have a couple of casual items that I plan to wear it with. The only bummer about either of these items is that they’re both pins rather than alligator clips, so I can’t attach them directly to my hair or a wig (or to a clothing collar without puncturing the fabric). I might think about seeing if I can slip the ribbon onto a headband to wear it that way.

There was one other brooch that I really can’t even with, though. It’s a very large fork and spoon with a wine colored ribbon. It’s too big to go directly on a garment, but I do have a kitchen-themed jumperskirt from a random TaoBao brand that this might work with if I just attach it to a bag to wear with it. I’m really loathe to get rid of this kind of thing even if it’s kind of goofy, though; I just love that they exist in the first place and I think it makes my collection just that much more quirky and fun.

I’m more likely to use the next item, which is a super cute cat printed hand towel. It’s a cat in a bonnet atop pillows, and the caption says “Happy.” I think the designer was thinking specifically of me when this was designed, haha.

The only real head or hair accessory in the pack was this very cute cream colored beret with a pink castle applique on it. The applique is encircled by gold threaded ric rac border and there’s a white satin ribbon as well. It’s a very sweet piece that will go well with a couple of pink Baby, the Stars Shine Bright JSKs I have. I’m also bringing it with me on my trip to Texas coming this next week to wear along with a very casual Innocent World knit OP I got earlier in the year, so I’ll try and get some proper outdoor photos of that if I wear it.

Lastly, there were two really cute bags. One of them is a small canvas bag with a print of a rabbit and some mini ribbons which has handles as well as a drawstring closure. The other is a larger, thicker black canvas bag with handles and a gold spoon and fork print with the brand logo beneath. I really love these canvas bags and have a similar one from Innocent World that I use a lot when I’m at conventions. They’re just convenient and can take more of a beating than a brand lolita purse.

Garments

Okay, here’s the part that everyone has been patiently waiting for, the big items! I have to be honest, in my opinion I think this pack would have been worthwhile even if it only contained the skirt and OP I received. Both are very beautiful pieces that really exemplify the style of this brand and differentiate themselves from the typical “look” that lolita fashion tends to have. I really can’t wait to wear either of them outside and get some actual photographs that properly show how pretty they are.

The skirt is made of black fabric with a really nice texture. There is a print of a castle on it in silver metallic ink (the pattern is printed on the fabric three times, with one of the repeats directly on the front). The detail shot is more accurate to the actual color of the print, and shows the brand logo. The skirt is fully shirred around the waist and would fit a wide variety of sizes (my waist is around 72cm nowadays, and there’s room for it to stretch much wider than that). There is a ruffle on the bottom of the same fabric (rather than lace or chiffon), and inside is a stiff tulle built-in petticoat that provides a little bit extra “oomph” in addition to whatever your petticoat provides. This gives it a bit of a shape even without a petti, but I still think it needs an additional one to look right. The length hits me right around the knee. I have a Fan Plus Friend chiffon underskirt that I would probably wear with this to provide a little extra length, since I’m a bit taller than the lolita “average.”

The “piece de resistance” as they say is this OP, which is probably one of the most gorgeous items I now own. The fabric of the dress is I think the same as the skirt (I really don’t know a whole lot about specific fabrics, so I’m sorry this description is basically useless). The shape and fit is pretty typical for this brand from what I can tell, with a fully-shirred bodice and waist, as well as forgiving elastic around the sleeves. This makes it really forgiving for a wide range of sizes (in general, it seems like their dresses are designed to accommodate up to 110cm in both bust and waist according to official measurements). This also makes the dress really snug and comfortable. There are detachable neck ribbons held inside the neck with buttons. There is also a rope-style waist tie made of silver thread that has pom poms at the end.

The print on this dress is absolutely beautiful. It features a field full of red and pink roses against the black backdrop of the dress. The flowers look as though they’re giving off an ethereal glow and the varying colors give a lot of interest to the dress. The hem features a simple ruffle that really helps to feature the print. I really fell in love as soon as I unpacked this. And it goes perfectly with the tights that came with the lucky pack!

Worn Photos

What I like to do when I receive packages like these is to try and coordinate as many items together as I can. I may not have been THAT successful, but I think the pieces in general will be easy to incorporate into my wardrobe pretty easily. Again, I truly apologize for these photos, especially since the items are really dark colors and can’t be seen well. I’ll try to amend this post (or make a new post later on) with better photos.

Here are my attempts at wearing the skirt, OTK socks, and the black canvas bag. I’m also wearing them with a black Atelier Pierrot blouse, a bonnet from Mystery Garden, and shoes from Bodyline. The gold in the bag and the silver on the skirt don’t match, but this should give a decent idea of the look and fit. I’m not wearing a petticoat in these pictures (too lazy). The socks are so comfortable!

Here are photos of me wearing the OP, first with the same blouse, and then without a blouse. I’m also wearing the tights in all of the photographs, as well as the same bodyline shoes. Please try to believe me when I say that the OP looks really cute both with and without a blouse, making it versatile for multiple seasons.

Lastly, here are some rather silly photos of me wearing some of the accessories. I think the hat in particular will be really cute for the remainder of the winter (I live in Minnesota, so that probably means at least another three months at this point, possibly longer. Spring doesn’t exist here). The cat brooch, likewise, is really cute (it was also the only item to arrive with the tag still attached – I’ve since clipped it off).

As you can see, the fork and spoon brooch is ridiculously big. There are actually two pins in the back – one in the middle behind the red ribbons, and another one at the upper end of the fork. I’m guessing that this is for stability, since without the extra pin the pieces would probably flop all over the place and probably get caught on everything (it’s made of what feels like stiff felt fabric, so while it’s kind of sturdy, it also has a likelihood of getting bent of caught the wrong way). Like I said, I’m still trying to decide if/how I want to wear this, or if it’s even possible to wear this on anything like a regular basis. But it’s just so uncommon and weird, I can’t let it go (and I doubt I could really sell it, either).

Final Thoughts

So that’s it! my verdict is that this was really an awesome purchase, and I’m really happy I took the plunge. In comparison to some of my other lucky pack experiences, there were pros and cons as you might expect. One negative was that there were no hangers included for the garments, so storage meant digging around in my closet for free hangers (spoiler – I never have any and my closet is too full). In comparison, my Innocent World garments have always come with hangers, which is awesome. On the plus side, I would say all the items in this pack were really nice quality and beautiful, whereas there are times where some of the items I’ve received from other places truly seem like odds and ends. This is one of the chances you take when you don’t know what you’re getting, of course.

I really have to say that I appreciate Enchantlic Enchantilly for offering lucky packs to overseas customers, and I hope that some of you who have read this and liked what you’ve seen will consider taking the plunge in the future!