Saturday, September 13, 2014

Review: Juliette et Justine : A Rabid Rabbit Collection

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to receive a bit of an items haul and with it my Juliette et Justine Cadre du Lapin in Bleu Fume. This is my third favorite dress I own by them [ Un manage robe and Robe de la Danse being first and second ] and I was pretty torn between the rose dragee and blue fume. I took a bit of a gamble on it seeing as how they had not released the colorway as a sample photo; but my friends that attended Anime North where JetJ had showcased these new colorways said that both were astounding. Juliette Justine also ended up releasing a skirt version in a slightly brighter pink. You can view all the colorways of the jsk releases here.

Here is the packaging which with every shipment they also include a little slip which has your order and additional information about the specific item you purchased. The dress itself is double wrapped. It is first encased in a sealed plastic bag and then again in tissue paper and pressed with a small seal sticker and ribbon to look like a little badge or rosette on the tissue paper. It's a nice additional touch that they've done with every release I have purchased with them and I'm a sucker for small details like that. 





 The fabric of the dress has the look of shantung or dupioni silk ( though its listed as polyester from the website ) so it has a bit of a textured look overall. The print is crisp and pretty colorful. I already own the black version of this dress so it was a bit surprising to see the trim after first laying it out. Instead of being a warm cream its more of an ecru / tea dye. The print looks really different in a lighter colorway, and in my opinion stands alone from the original albeit being the same print. In the last photo is both colorways side by side.






 There are a few breaks in the print alignment with the cameos but they try to keep it as minimal as possible. If you check in the front of the bodice you can also see that they lined the front with the material that matches the sash, another nice touch.

The dress is a back zip instead of a side zip and the print also continues over the back bodice. As you can also notice in the photo is that there is no shirring. To be truly honest one of the reasons its my favorite brand is because of this. On a personal level I really would prefer a dress to be fitted to me than to have shirring and they are one of the few brands that offer this. When reserving an item with Juliette et Justine they also offer limited custom alterations to your item give or take 3 to 4cm. I am fortunate enough to be within their fitting sizes but its nice to know that I can get a brand dress fitted to my specific measurements, that way I don't have to worry about corset lacing or waist ties.

 But for you ladies and gents that do not fit, there are also other options! Some of their dresses offer a design that includes partial shirring and fully shirred; there has even been a release that included a size 4 which goes up to 100cm bust and 80cm waist. The designer, Miss Nakamura, has expressed in quite a few of her interviews that she was interested in expanding and making more sizing options so I feel even in the near future more sizes will be made to accommodate which is awfully awesome.





I actually had a bit of a hard time finding the seam of this dress which makes me ridiculously happy. It follows down right through the middle of one of the cameos and they did a great job of lining up the print. You can also see how clean the lines are on the underside in the second photo with minimal stray threads. I think I found two? This sort of construction and attention to detail gives an overall seamless look which I always look for in a dress. Lack of print alignment can sometimes make a good cute dress look really sloppy when you see one half of a rabbit face poking out at one end and half of another on the other end. 





Now here are some photos of the slip as well as the bottom hem. There is an additional layer of nylon lining added right above the bottom hem of the dress almost like a built in petticoat but only sewn in along the bottom and not the whole dress. I think it was just made to have the bottom look a bit more full.




Last but not least are photos of the sash. It's the print repeated twice on both sides and can be used as an accessory or not at all with this piece. It also carries the same corresponding hem color as the dress. I sort of find the sash to be a bit much with the dress and have been trying to find new ways to incorporate it into the coord instead of wearing it as the actual sash.



Overall Construction : 5 Straight seams, clean lines through out, a lot of thought and detail is put forth and it shows.

Design: 4.5 I think this cut is a little on the plain side though still very flattering as with the previous release. I was a little put off by the tea dyed / Ecru trim since it didn't look this dark in the stock photos. I love the included sash accessory even though, I myself, suck at using it.
Quality: 5 Everything is very soft, and fabric used gives it a very luxurious oppulent look.
Print, crispness and placement: 5 On point all the way. Why doesn't one of the rabbit have a top hat? I would really like a top hat and monocle..haha


 All in all I'm actually pretty happy I ended up getting the blue since it suits my wardrobe palate more. I originally wanted the pink thinking the color hems would be pretty close to the original black colorways so I could use the black sash with the pink dress and  vice cersa and have them correspond with one another. Seeing the difference in person I'm glad I went with my gut. Maybe one day I'll try to hunt down the pink.




I hope you guys stay tuned, Rufflecon is mere weeks away and I can't wait to get started on my first experience to New York and visting BTSSBNYC. At Rufflecon I am going to see Triple Fortune again and Enchantlic Enchantilly! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading.


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