On Being Lolita: The Luckiest Lucky Pack

On Being Lolita: The Luckiest Lucky Pack

My relationship with lucky packs hasn’t been a good one. I love the concept of lucky packs, because I can always appreciate the opportunity to save. Lucky packs can be a fantastic way to add pieces to your wardrobe without paying full price. If you don’t get things that work with your clothing, sometimes you can still break even by selling the pieces you’ve received. I’ve never been very good at this. All of the lucky packs that I’ve purchased have contained garments that don’t match my style or don’t fit my size, and usually it has taken me quite a while to sell what I couldn’t use. I’ve never gotten anything particularly desired by others! In fact, I’ve had items that I simply could not sell and then passed along to friends.

This hasn’t stopped me from buying lucky packs. I like the surprise, I like the deal, and I like the potential. As they say, hope springs eternal! When lucky pack season rolls around at the beginning of the year and the brands are clearing out their old stock, I try to rationalize with myself and avoid temptation. I remind myself of the failed lucky packs of purchases past. I calculate the odds of getting a really great lucky pack–for me, very, very unlikely. I estimate how much money I won’t be able to get back when I then turn around and sell the things I cannot wear. This year I went through the ritual; I was pretty sure that I was safe from lucky packs.

On January 1st, I was sitting in my office and the Angelic Pretty lucky packs went up for sale on the US website, and I bought one without a second thought. When the confirmation email hit my inbox I felt guilt–not for actually purchasing the lucky pack, but for the eventual explanation to my husband that yes, I had bought another lucky pack, and yes, I knew that I was really unlucky about them, and yes, I didn’t really expect all that much from this one either…but I had to do it.

When the parcel arrived the next week, I was ready for it to be a disappointment. I opened it with excitement, but also with acceptance. Instead of what I expected, I loved every item! I was so happy! It was so perfect!! Finally, I was lucky!!!

I didn’t realize until the next day that I hadn’t actually purchased a lucky pack, but instead a special set!

A lucky pack is a random assortment of overstock at a reduced price. A special set is an assortment of specific items at a reduced price. I received a perfectly-coordinated outfit that fit into my wardrobe seamlessly, because it wasn’t a random collection of things that were being cleared out, but instead an outfit designed to be sold at a special price. It was a very lucky “lucky pack” for me!

Girly Ribbon Set
The Girly Ribbon set contained a hairbow, socks, and a totebag~ I really love the designs of all of these items!
All of the items that I received were a perfect match to the promotional photo used for the sets, even down to the colour, as I bought a pink set. It contained a pink hairbow, pink and white striped socks with a pattern of bows, a dark pink totebag, a white blouse, and a pink jumperskirt. The hairbow and jumperskirt were made from the same fabric and involved the same trims; they’re a perfect match for each other! The shade of pink is the pink that Angelic Pretty typically uses, so the bow and jumperskirt also match my other jumperskirts and accessories featuring that same pink. The socks are adorable; even though I’m not usually a fan of over-the-knee socks, I know I’ll be wearing them–I can’t resist socks with bows on them!

I particularly love the shape of the hairbow! The “ribbon” that the bow is formed from is narrower than most bows. It makes the overall bow take up less depth across one’s head. I also appreciate the positioning; the bow isn’t standing upright on the headband, but instead laying flat against the head. The wider bows that stand upright seem to me to require more volume of hair behind them to avoid a look that is particularly overwhelming. They’re commonly depicted on teased wigs with clip-in pigtails. Although my hair is certainly capable of volume, it tends toward “glam rock”–not a look I want when I’m wearing lolita. I appreciate bows that sit against the head like this. This hairbow is my new best hairbow friend~ ♥

Girly Ribbon Blouse and JSK
I absolutely adore this blouse and jumperskirt! They’re such perfect items to add to my closet!
The blouse was a long-sleeved blouse with a Peter Pan collar. I really prefer rounded collars to stand-up collars or most other shapes. There are little satin bows on the collar, as well. The lace has the image of tiny strawberry layer cakes woven into the design; so cute! ♥ The material is thinner than my other blouses; it would need an undershirt of some kind if it weren’t worn beneath a jumperskirt, as it is fairly sheer. I’m fairly certain that this material was used to save on costs for the special set to sell at the reduced price it was offered at.

The jumperskirt is really wonderful! A friend of mine purchased this same set from the physical store in San Francisco. She commented to me that the dress was very “me,” and when I opened my own pack I understood what she meant. It fits right in with the type of sweet lolita that I love most of all–solid colour fabric, white lace of several types, bows in ribbons, scallops, and ruffles! The back is shirred, so I can slip it on without getting myself (or my hair! ;_;) caught in the zipper. The best feature, in my opinion, are the hidden pockets–one on each side! I love it when dresses have pockets~

I am so glad that I purchased this “lucky pack.” It was certainly worthwhile! I added five adorable things to my closet, all of which I plan to wear again and again~! ♥

On Being Lolita: Lucky Pack Lessons

On Being Lolita: Lucky Pack Lessons


Lucky Pack Anticipation
Originally uploaded by sweetmilktea

Despite my historic lack of success with lucky packs, I couldn’t resist the recent lucky packs offered by BABY. I tried; I really did, but I thought my little sister was going to order one and I just had to get one for myself. We’re always trying to acquire matching items, although we’re not as successful as we’d like to be. I thought that with matching lucky packs we’d have at least some kind of chance for more matching items, but she didn’t end up ordering one.

And, as I actually did anticipate, I don’t care much for the contents of mine! Oh well~ It was still nice to get a package in the mail–especially one that contained something lolita fashion-related–after such a long period of having absolutely no spending money. (I love my job, even though I’ve been working a lot of overtime lately.)

I ordered the Snow Dot set, which was guaranteed to have either a Snow Dot jumperskirt or one-piece, then a random cutsew and random hair accessory.

I thought I would get a t-shirt, since that is the kind of cutsew that most people appear to have received, but that didn’t end up happening. (I was, stupidly, looking forward to a t-shirt to wear with my jeans…) Instead, my cutsew ended being a highly-shirred pink top with rows of lace. It’s cute, but anything with all-around shirring looks incredibly awkward and ill-fitting on me.

My hair accessory ended up being a really cute headband with a ruffle of black eyelet lace. On the right side there are two tiny bows of grosgrain ribbon~ It’s adorable, but I never wear black! I’ll probably pawn it off on my little sister, since she wears black and white almost exclusively.

The final piece was the Snow Dot jumperskirt, which is an absolutely lovely design, in their dark pink “cherry” colorway. I’m torn about this item. I really, really like the jumperskirt itself. The design of the Snow Dot series is why I ordered this lucky pack. However, the color is so dark that I don’t think I’ll really wear it very much. Unless I coordinated it entirely with white, I’d have to buy new items just to match it–and they wouldn’t match anything else I own. I like to keep my things in a general scheme so they coordinate with each other–it makes my wardrobe feel much bigger than it actually is. It’s disappointing to want to wear an outfit and think “Oh, darn–I need something to complete this…”

Maybe I’ve learned my lesson this time around with the lucky packs. …Or maybe I haven’t! I always think about the deals I might receive instead of the disappointments I’ve had in the past~

On Being Lolita: Lucky Pack Madness

On Being Lolita: Lucky Pack Madness

Lucky Pack season is always one of the most hectic times of the lolita calendar year. Until recently, that season was only at the end of the year, when Lucky Packs were offered by Japanese stores than just lolita fashion retailers. This summer, however, that has been far from true–several brands have been releasing Lucky Packs during the summer. BABY, the Stars Shine Bright was the last to offer these secret packages, both online and in their new store in San Francisco, USA.

Lucky Packs have always intrigued me. As a little girl I would often buy a “secret bag” from the Sanrio store–paying a few dollars for a decorated paper shopping bag without knowing what kind of small items I could look forward to. Even now, I get excited about the possible savings to be had from purchasing a Lucky Pack AND the mystery and surprise of not knowing what items will be unwrapped. (A Lucky Pack is a sealed bag full of a certain yen-value of clothing and accessories, purchased at a VASTLY discounted rate because the buyer does not know which items will be in the package!)

Despite how much I love Lucky Packs, Lucky Packs do NOT like me. I purchased a few at the beginning of my involvement in lolita fashion–one from Metamorphose and one from Angelic Pretty.

The Metamorphose pack contained a white short-sleeved blouse, mocha bloomers, and a black velvet skirt. The skirt had an elastic waistband too large for me, and the fabric was SO heavy that it pulled itself right off–even over my petticoat! I kept the blouse, as it was one of the first blouses I owned, but it wasn’t really my style and didn’t really fit properly. The blommers were the one thing I kept–the color doesn’t match anything I own, but they’re super-comfy and have gorgeous mocha lace at the bottom.

I found the Angelic Pretty bag on Yahoo!Japan Auctions. I didn’t worry too much about buying it, because I had seen Lucky Pack contents–which were lovely matching sets of a hairbow, one-piece, socks, and a totebag. I thought I’d be safe…but I wasn’t! My Lucky Pack had a different one-piece in the black x white colorway, two gray tartan hairbows in different styles with different patterns of tartan, and a tan totebag with a pastel blue print. Nothing matched, and nothing really suited me. I ended up giving most items to my little sister; we eventually traded one-pieces and she absolutely ADORES the one she got from me.

Despite this, I found myself really tempted by the Lucky Packs offered by BABY, the Stars Shine Bright. I like the sets they offer, although I worry that my poor luck would strike again, giving me items in a colorway I won’t enjoy wearing. At the same time, there’s a chance to get some really lovely items at a greatly reduced price. I actually have a little bit of spending money again (although I ought to keep saving it up just in case of emergencies), and there’s something so tempting about getting more wardrobe items.