[Review] My very first Taobao dress

Hello everyone,

Today I have decided to post about my recent shopping experience. It was the very first time I have ever gotten a dress made by a chinese company via taobao.

There's only one reason why I did not do it earlier which is Portuguese customs. I tried (a very long time ago) to order a very small package, i think it was like 5 pairs of tights which came to the total of 30ish euros. Because of such a small amount and the issues customs posed it ended up with me sending papers twice and the items still not arriving to my home. I just gave up and never saw the things I paid for ever. That made me completely ignore everything taobao related and just admire the pieces from afar.

But, lately, I've been in a facebook group for a spanish community in which people just talk about new taobao based releases and one of my greatest friends, miss Christina, is a very active member of it. I then decided to ask her if she could add a dress to one of her orders and she said yes. So unfortunately I have nothing to say about the purchase process.

When the dress arrived it was folded and inside a transparent plastic bag, the sort that makes a lot of noise when touched. 

The first thing i noticed was the fabric. It was decent but since I'm used to the light chiffonesque fabric used by japanese brands, usually Moitié I must admit I was a bit disappointed... and then I remembered the price tag and it went away.

The other thing I notices was the store tag, it was simple and thin like the sort you'd get when you buy clothes in a regular chinese store here. Then I remembered it'll be detached from the item and it was ok.

After that seeing it layed down on the bed it looks fabulous. The dress is well made, the cut is perfect and the whole thing has two layers and therefore lining. 

Dress out of the package,

The actual print is very good, perfect and no issues with it at all. Might be a bit harsh for those who are not into macabre stuff though.

As you can see it is double layered because the part where the print is places is a bit see through.

Seams. The outside ones look perfect the inside do look like they need some work, loose threads etc. But it looks sturdy enough.

Back shirring, the shirring stretches a lot and looks sturdy, i am not a big fan of the ribbon type chosen but that can be replaced if one wants to.

lining on the bodice, it looks very well made. no issues there.

The store tags, the placement is good, the tag is easy to detach and keep. Of course the tag design isn't the most good looking and the paper tag is thin but that's ok, its all about the dress right?

Overall I am happy with my purchase. There are only 2 things that I am not as happy with which are:
- the thickness of the fabric -
Because it is very light and since i'm bulky and well plus sized when worn if i tie the back as I want to, the bodice does not stay straight like a thicker or corseted top would, it just lets you see every single bump and imperfection of one's body so I do not recommend it for plus sized girls who might have an issue with that.

- the durability -
I had an incident with this dress. I wore it for some shots which i'll share next and took it off fine. When i was pulling up the zipper to hang it, it got slightly stuck in the fabric which is rare but happens. I pulled it up more while holding the fabric which is the only thing one can do... it left not only a hole but also the color went from black to white meaning that the fabric quality is not the best, as we expected of course. So now my dress is ruined and needs mending. Not what I was wanting from a new piece regardless of who made it and the price tag.

Outfit info:

Half bonnet: triple fortune

Headbow: Moi-même-Moitié

Shirt: Mille Fleurs

Jsk: Taobao (Dark Box)

Socks: Primark

Shoes: C&A

Accessories: Claire's, taobao, Moi-même-Moitié

That's it for today, I hope you liked reading about my experience and that it was somehow helpful. I am not very good at writing reviews I suppose.

Love,

Jo

Day three - Wigs live (Monday, 20th dec 2010)

Hi guys!

So I need to write about these days otherwise everything will be very messy in my head and I won't be able to follow through and write about every single event. Argh this is hard to keep up with!


Anyway I woke up super late, at 4pm or something and we both got very mad because we're suppose to be making the most of this but can't manage to wake up! So there wasn't much time to make big plans. Seeing as we could only go to one direction before heading to our final destination for the day we decided to visit a store that I wanted to go to but is located a bit apart from all the others: Cyperous. I was thinking I was going there to get a gyaru wig but I was wrong.
I decided to wear something casual for the day as we would walk a bit (like every other day) and my most confortable dress here for sure is that new meta white cross empire waist dress. I also only brought one black shirt and only have one pair of shoes so there wasn't much thinking left to do.

We quickly left the house and took the bus and then the train to Osaka.
On the train we took advantage of the gigantic amount of vending machines in Japan and got ourselfs cold cofee (boss rainbow cofee) to help us stay awake.

We finally arrived to our destination stop: Kujo station. After leaving we used our map and quickly found the place.



We got in and there was this office in the bottom floor filled with boxes and desks with people working and looking very busy. We were a bit lost wondering if we should start looking inside the boxes around the place but then someone told us the store was on the second flood and we headed up. There were some odd pictures of half naked (but wearing wigs) girls in the walls on the stairs and Britney Spears posters all over the downstairs office for some reason and that was quite odd. haha
Reaching the second floor there was a white room with shelves all over the walls and wigs every where. All colors (not many black) and all styles including several popular animated series styles as their store is very famous amongst japanese cosplayers.

There were two other customers trying wigs on and a clerk with us brushing the display wigs. You can try on every single wig you want but not take pictures of them. There are plenty of mirrors, brushes, net caps and everything you will need to just stay there as long as you want and pick the right style and color for you. For an extra fee they will also adjust a wig to your needs.

I ended up buying not so realistic style wigs and hope i don't regret it later. I paid for two and T loved the other two so much that he said he had to get them for me so it was wig fiesta right there and then.


Long straight white wig


Long wavy light blonde wig


Long wavy natural dark brown wig

Dark blue long straight wig (no photo because apparently I didn't take any.

So they're all pretty regular and wearable. Tried on the gyaru ones and hated them, so damn ott and so un-natural. Not for me 100% sure of it. Also thought that the double colored ones are more Ap people and the short that its not a good value for your money thing because they cost the same. My friend Vânia later insisted I got a short one in the future! haha

Anyway after the wig shop it was already time to meet my older sister in law who was going to start the Fandango night at the Osaka Fandango bar. When we got there we still had time to eat 3 euro bowls of Udon in a standing restaurant right on the train platform. We rushed to the meeting point and were there right on time as we had to wait little than 3minutes and there she was with her recognizable huge smile and happy spirit. Such a pleasure to be around that woman, such a great personality.
Anyway we headed over to the bar because artists can't be late.

When we got there we were positively surprised, the venue was a lot bigger and cooler looking than the previous one we had seen her perform in. It was very punk looking actually, with paint and messages on the walls, posters everywhere and just a great atmosphere. Price for the show was a bit expensive, about 25 euros a person and they offer just one drink per ticket. Shows in Japan (well almost everything in japan) are expensive so that wasn't un-expected. Yoko headed up to the artists preparation area and we ordered a couple of beers and just chatted for a bit.

I won't talk too much about the performances because quite frankly I'm beat and also I don't remember the names of all the performers either (he does but he's sleeping which is what i should be doing) so I'll just leave you with the info that the place was reasonably filled and that the whole thing went very well and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.


The only full picture i got with the drummer. There were 4 acts, 3 solos and 1 band. In the end of the show they all performed a song together hence me having all of them in just one picture to save up blog space as well. :P

After the show, Yoko took us to the main road and she was just wearing a tshirt even though it was cold because of the hype. We said goodbye, teary eyes and all that jazz and headed back home.

We were so tired that we decided to take this super expensive train back because it was empty, fast and already there. The normal ticket price as you can see is 540yen from Osaka to Oji but the ticket had a plus cost of 300 something so it was something like 7 euros each! Yikes.

But we were just glad that we were home, as we got soooo very tired! When we got home mom had prepared something for us to eat.

This is a sort of cream soup or stew, that's what they called in in their typical way of pronouncing english words... shitshou or something like that haha. It was great, I know it doesn't look like much but what wouldn't I give for a bowl of that right now! <3
Hope you enjoyed reading this, only a few know just how long it really takes me to write these entries so please comment for encouragement :D haha

Love,
Jo