Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Stocking Infatuation: Loliable Tights

So far I have covered lolita only brands, indie brands and now we come to a big chunk of my collection loliable brands. There are a lot of really artistic and amazing artists out there manufacturing tights, but whats great about loliable brands is that they don't cater to just lolita they cater to all types of fashion. I hope today by reading this you get to hear about a new brand or artist you have never heard of or rekindle some appreciation for and old favorite. Please feel free to tag or share this with other people and please by all means comment questions about any of the brands I review. I am happy to help as best I can.

My review is  made on a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the best, in regards to: 
Construction
Quality
Elasticity
How well the print holds up stretched
Print placement, Crispness, Alignment

I will also list :
Tights inseam to toe
Cost
Denier
Tall or Petite friendly

For reference in regards to size, I am 5'9"  / 175 cm and my inseam all the way to bottom of heel is 31.5" /  81 cm, hips 40" / 102 cm. The thickest part of my thigh is 23" / 60 cm and calf at  14.76 " / 37.5cm. I wear size a 10 to 10.5 in womens or 27 cm. In the visualization of the tights stretched I used a glass growler which is approx  15.5" / 39cm around.

For my original review My reference for petite was 5'0" but  one of my smaller petite friends was so kind to relay some additional info regarding her experience with the lengths of some of the tights as well. She is 4'10" leg inseam 25 "/66cm and shoes size 3.5 / 21cm.



Merry Go Round  Candy Stripe Tights


These tights came in a little cellophane wrapping with a small sleeve with the Merry Go Round logo on them. I purchased this particular pair through a shopping service and didn't get all the little extra ads and bag but when I visited Japan this last April I purchased another pair at the store Dangerous Nude in Shinjuku, Tokyo. [ Shout out to the Tokyo International lolita comm for being the most hospitable and sweet girls ever for bring me there <3 ]


  • Construction: 4.5 A good well rounded good quality tight. Thicker fibers, good color albeit darker than normal, and they are stretchy and not stiff.
  • Quality: 4 I really like these tights. They are pliable, soft and the print is unique. The red was a lot more of a bordeaux than red when I received them so that was a little disappointing. The beige looked a little weird against my skin tone because I'm very not white but that is no ones fault. No smells or curious odors when taken out of the package.
  • Elasticity: 5 These are pretty stretchy. As these are not really made to fit someone of my size I did pull off wearing these to a meet and walking around Tokyo all day. They are not stiff at all but the waist band probably hit maybe two inches above my pelvic shave line so they sat pretty low and my hip measurement was not lending any favors.
  • How well the print holds up stretched: 3.5 / 4 I'm on the fence about this because I feel if I were a shorter person the print would not have looked so faded when stretched out. My size was not so much an issue as much it was my height. There was a noticeable amount of discoloration as the print went past my mid thigh.
  • Print placement, Crispness, Alignment: 5 The side view shows the alignment of the pattern matching back to front. The overall design is on point and crisp. On par with brand tights.
  • Tight inseam to toe: 26.5" / 67.31cm
  • Cost: 3500 yen
  • Denier: 80?? To be honest it was never listed anywhere and I also can't find it on their website or blog if you can confirm the weight I'mm change it accordingly.
  • Tall or Petite friendly: Petite friendly! These tights are not made for tall girls at all. I would  strongly suggest the otks if you are interested in trying them out.
All in all these were good tights and I would recommend these for girls shorter than me. They're super cute and especially for someone into sweet or creepy cute, these are right up your alley. I am in the process of obtaining a pair of their otks and will update if these will be an option for taller girls seeing as how for otks l getting them over your whole legs is not so much an issue.






MAM Avant Garde Drop Tights



I purchased these tights at their brick and mortar shop in Harajuku Tokyo Japan in April. It was downstairs of a building and really super niche. I think its places like this that make me love their culture. The tights are wrapped in a cardboard cover with a snazzy design and then covered again cellophane. I even kept the receipt andyou can see I got these on sale.


Construction: 5 These are incredibly well made. They have a soft shimmer to them and they feel like silk on your skin. Print dye job is bright and vibrant, no smell when opening the package.
Quality: 5 Super soft texture and feel like you're wearing breathable velvet .
Elasticity: 5 Super super super stretchy. I actually kind of thought these might be too big on me before I put them on. I think I'm so used to wearing high denier tights that I almost ripped these putting them on thinking I would have to pull them taught as I go.. which you don't, they slide like a dream. 
How well the print holds up stretched: 5 They looked beautiful.
Print placement, Crispness, Alignment: 5 There isn't really an overlapping or aligning issues but I would have to check if I got any of their more lined vivid tights. Drops looked crisp when worn but sort of bled into my tattoos since the denier was so low.
Inseam to toe: 26" / 66cm but it varies. They carry different sizes for their tights so I would imagine the inseam would be different.
Cost: These are originally 2500 but I got them on sale. On their website prices range from 1000 to 540000 yen. For the special edition collaborations like the EVA x MAMAvantGarde are around 4100 yen and the 540000 Swarovski collaborations 80 denier tights can be found here.
Denier: Varies. This particular pair is only 20, but they ranges from 10 to 80
Tall or Petite friendly: Both! They accommodate for all sizes.

This is by far my favorite loliable brand. I chose to use a lower denier for this review because I have been mostly posting a lot of my thicker tights and felt I needed to balance this a little more.  I wish they would do more asymmetrical prints but I really enjoy the fact they just have some really creative prints ranging from paintings to color block to furry socks. They ship internationally and are really easy to work with if you have trouble.









Sakizo with Daughter of the Circus Tights

These tights were purchased after the Triple Fortune and Brilliant Star Event in Tokyo. This is technically a re-release but I was still pretty excited to add these to my collection. They come in a cellophane slip with artwork from Sakizo on the front.

  •  Construction: 4 These are pretty well put together. The waistband itself is pretty accommodating and the print is pretty and eye pleasing. The colors said red though and the packaging says bordeaux.. honestly in real life its more purple brown red chutney.. or a brown merlot, if that makes sense.
  • Quality: 3.9 The fabric is soft but it feels off and a bit scratchy in comparison to others I own. The double sided printing of the tights is really good and the tights colors are pretty vivid, but the black isn't as dark as it should be and the bordeaux doesn't look like.. bordeaux.. No odors or smells from the tights.
  • Elasticity: 3.6 Snug fit. The elastic comes about and inch and a half from navel but the tights themselves are a bit on the stiff side everywhere else. Not a lot of roominess on the butt end. Sort of up in the air of how they will hold up in the long term like they might want to roll down if wearing over the course of the day. 
  • How well the print holds up stretched: 5  Around the calves and thighs they were fine, a bit snug in the bum area and there was some slight fading. Pretty opaque throughout the legs though. Not going to knock off points for an area where people can't see.
  • Print placement, Crispness, Alignment: 5 Placement is perfect, Crispness throughout and alignment on point. 
  • Inseam to toe: 29" / 73.66cm
  • Cost: 3333 Yen
  • Denier:80
  • Tall or Petite friendly: Petite to a tee. Above mentioned friend wanted to mention at 4'9" had an issue with the tights being baggy and bunching around her ankles as she wore them through out the day. I am on the fence as to recommend these to taller lolita. They're just a bit too stiff to my liking and I'm afraid that even at 5'7" it might not be a good idea to wear these. I would be cautious if you are a taller lolita considering these.
All in all not a bad pair of tights for the price. I probably would shell out the extra 700 yen for brand tights though if given the choice between the two. They're really colorful but not a lot of options colorwise. And not a lot of people can work brown merlot into a coord or brown tights with red and pink strawberries.. but to each their own.








These are Grimoire Une bibliothèque secrète and La Fee dans le Mounde du Verre Tights 








  • Construction: 4.5 (My only gripe) Why don't these guys just settle on one uniform length for tights? I have 8 pairs of tights from them and they are all different lengths. ALL of them. Why? The world may never know. Other than that the prints are always beautiful, always super soft and they make a lot of different deniers so that's always a plus for variety.
  • Quality 4.5 Great craftsmenship, attention to detail, and I've never had a pair of tights that smelled off. The fading in the black irks me with some of their prints though.
  • Elasticity: 5 they are amazing and I've never had a waistband or stiffness issue.
  • How well the print holds up stretched:  3.5 if its black and heavier denier / 4 if it is any other color honestly. I have no idea why, but Grimoire's black always looks  distorted / stretched out and mildly faded even on smaller people in my opinion. With cream or red and even green this is not the case. There is some small fading on the other colors but never as noticeable as it is with the black.
  • Print placement, Crispness, Alignment: 4.5 I really love the creativeness behind the tights and the prints are almost always clear. Alignment is sometimes an issue on the sides.
  • inseam to toe: drastic differences... 
  • Cost: varies, Library was 3990, Fairy 3360, but usually not more than 4400
  • Denier:  varies, secret library are 80 and Fairy Butterfly is 20
  • Tall or Petite friendly: both! The sizes are pretty random in length as you can see in the first photo. Almost each pair I own are a different length which is kind of queer but there has never been a pair I could not fit comfortably.

This brand was the first place I bought printed tights from and still continue to. From when I started collecting they have always had intentional shipping so you can always order direct from them and there is no need for an SS. I was so sad I did not get to visit their shop when I visited this year and it's one of the first places to go to on my agenda when I go again. I highly recommend these  tights to people of all shapes and sizes.








Thank you for reading this segment and I hope this was useful for you as it was fun for me to do. I still have a few other pairs of tights to review and coming in the mail but I want to wait until I fully assess them before making any recommendations.

Waiting to review: Poposhop Boom Deisgn Replicas, Merona
Coming in the mail: Yoh tights, Btssb, Kira Imai, PielPie
When money allows next que: Kira Imai, Madame Chocolate, JetJ, Triple Fortune











Until next time happy stocking hunting!

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