Friday 30 January 2015

Maiden Clothing Review

Recently I made an order with Maiden Clothing, a place where you can buy secondhand lolita clothing, very much in the same vein as Closet Child. 

As I was browsing the jumperskirts, one dress in particular caught my eye-- Baby's The World's Most Adorable Dog and the World'd Most Delicious Frappe print! I particularly liked the lace details and seeing as the price was really good, I decided to purchase it.

Ordering Process
To buy from Maiden Clothing without a shopping service, you must use the international order form, the process of which is explained in a clear, and helpful fashion on their website. On 7th January, I sent them a filled out the order form. 

After this, I waited for them to get back to me in order to confirm whether or not I had been successful in bagging the item. I received a response on 9th January, stating that I must pay through the payment processor NICOS, and that I have a week to do so. They responded under the handle "Pure Sound", which I believe is their parent company.

Several hours later I received an e-mail with a link to the NICOS platform where I used my card to pay for my dress, the shipping (for me it was 1800 yen, which I thought was incredibly reasonable) and a credit charge of 200 yen.

One thing to bear in mind is that your card company may charge you a small fee for paying in a different currency. I got a £2.50 transaction fee and a £1 purchase fee. Swell.

Shipping
On 10th January I received an e-mail saying my payment had been accepted and processed, plus I was given a tracking number.

The dress made it into my possession on 20th January, although it made it into the UK several days beforehand and I had to wait for customs to clear it, plus wait for my payment of the import VAT to go through.

Packaging
The package was made of really strong, thick paper/thin card, and whilst battered a bit, arrived very much intact.
To open the package I simply had to manually tear along a perforated strip. I found this very handy as I hate struggling to get into tough boxes. This also meant there was no chance of me inadvertently damaging the dress with scissors.

The dress was folded and securely sealed in a resealable plastic bag. There was no receipt, notes, or any sort of branding from Maiden Clothing. Straight to the point packaging, indeed!

Product
My dress was described as being in 3/5 condition, and that I should expect some signs of wear and tear. I carefully inspected the dress multiple times and was unable to find anything wrong with it at all! It arrived smelling of fresh drycleaning and appeared to me to be in mint condition!

I love this jumperskirt! I simply cannot stop touching the gorgeous lace! It is so thick and soft! I am very pleased to own this dress due to the fact it suits my often "bittersweet" sensibilities, plus the contrast of black with white lace creates a very old school vibe which I love.

Summary
I found ordering from Maiden Clothing to be a straightforward and positive experience. They are quick to respond to e-mail orders, post your order out very fast, and their packaging is great, if rather impersonal. I had no problems whatsoever with the item I received, which was in much better condition than described on their site. I would definitely order from them again!

I hope you found this review helpful! If you have any questions then please feel free to leave a comment! See you next time  

4 comments:

  1. Hello :)
    I really like your reviews, they're so detailed and informative!
    I nominated you for the 'Liebster Blog Award' and I would be glad if you'd like to participate!

    http://thefatflatcat.blogspot.co.at/2015/02/liebster-blog-award.html

    Many greetings!

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    Replies
    1. Oh wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate the nomination and I'd love to participate!
      Thanks for the comment! <3

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  2. Wow, I didn't knew about this service, sounds pretty good. I'll check the store out. Congrats on your new dress.

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    1. I only found out about them very recently and I'm glad I did! It's nice to have an alternative to other secondhand lolita platforms :)
      Thank you for your comment! <3

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