Monday 7 July 2014

Juicy Basket by Metamorphose

Today I am looking at the latest series from Metamorphose. It is called Juicy basket and the series includes 3 dresses, socks, 3 hair accessories and a handkerchief. I was a bit surprised there isn't a skirt, but maybe Meta will release one later on.


This is the Short Sleeve OP. The bodice is a bit hard to define but the shape looks pretty cute. Compared to some Angelic Pretty "sack dresses" this dress does have some obvious shape to it and you can actually see a waist line. The sleeves are a good length and have a nice amount of puff. I think a thin ruffle along the edges could have livened them up a little bit though, as they are quite plain. The square neckline could have also been a cuter shape. The bodice has a line of ribbon, which gives the illusion of the dress having a yoke. Quite honestly, I wouldn't have bothered with it as I feel it looks messy. It probably doesn't help that the ribbon line looks quite wonky in the stock photos! The ribbon line is topped with a ribbon bow and inside the "yoke" there is a further 3 bow ribbons. That is quite a few bows for such a small area, but I think Meta have gotten the sizing right. They are spaced out well and have a simple, but cute, shape. The lowest bow on the ribbon line is detachable but I would personally leave it attached to help conceal that awful line of ribbon. The neckline has a detachable chiffon ruffle running along it. Whilst I feel the ruffle is needed to soften the harsh neckline, I am unsure about the use of chiffon on this dress. If you look at the print it is very bold, and I don't feel that softer, floaty materials such as chiffon pair up well with it. I think the material needs to be a bit less sheer. The back has a panel of shirring which is topped with a bright ribbon corset. For a high-waisted dress, the skirt shape is quite pretty. It has lots of volume and flares outwards well. The A-line shape suits the dress well. The skirt is kept simple and the print is displayed beautifully. The bottom hem is finished off with a wide ruffle of chiffon. As I mentioned above, I don't feel chiffon is the best material to use here.


This is the Lace-up Pinafore JSK. The bodice is very well fitted and has a simple, but lovely shape. The straps have a good width to them and look very supportive. Both the straps and neckline are lined with cute thin lace, which helps to soften them. The waist area has a bow, which is a good size and shape. It also sits quite well on the dress and the listing suggests it is detachable if you don't like it. My main issue with the waist bow is the fact that the print makes it blend in to the background quite a lot. If you glance quickly you may not even notice it is there at all. The bodice has a ribbon corset design. The ribbon is attached with a button hole design, which isn't the most attractive looking of designs, but does look very strong and will hold the ribbon well. The ribbon is spaced out well and doesn't look too bunched up. However, I do feel the ribbon used is a bit too shiny and gaudy. The ribbon is very bright and really stands out. I think it would have been better if the ribbon was used elsewhere on the dress to help balance it out or a less bold ribbon should have been used. Both sides of the ribbon corset are lined with the same lace as the neckline, which fits in quite well. The back is fully shirred, although doesn't look too bad with the style of print. Also, if the ribbon on the front is anything to go by, I wouldn't want a ribbon corset on the back anyway. The stock photos show the skirt has a pretty bell shape to it. It is a very full skirt with the potential to get lots of volume. It flares out well. The skirt is kept simple in design, so the print is displayed quite well, although the amount of gathering used obscures it slightly in places. It needs a good petticoat to fully show if off I think. The bottom hem is then finished off with the same lace as the rest of the dress.



This is the High Waist Pinafore JSK. The bodice looks well fitted and the simple shape is quite cute. The straps have a decent width to them and look very supportive. If anything, they are verging on the bulky side. The straps are lined with lace, giving them a softer appearance, which I think looks cuter. The solid coloured waist bow on this dress is far too big. The shape is nice, but the size and the way the bow sits on the dress makes it stick out too much. Unfortunately, the site listing seems to suggest that you can't detach this bow. I think this is a real shame, because I believe the dress would look much better without that waist bow there at all. The majority of the bodice is kept simple, with just 2 lines of thin lace running up it. The detailed neckline more than makes up for this though. The neckline has 2 chiffon ruffles. The chiffon is gathered well and sits nicely on the dress. It is a good width and layered well. It helps to liven up what is otherwise a very simple, straight neckline. I actually don't think the chiffon looks too bad here. Maybe it isn't the use of chiffon I dislike about the OP after all, but the use of red chiffon on the cream colour way? I do feel this JSK uses the chiffon better than the OP does though. To one side, there is a detachable printed bow brooch. The bow is a good size with a simple, but cute shape. I adore the fake cherries hanging from the bow as well! It is nice to have a detachable clip that you can use any way that you want. The back is fully shirred, with nothing to help conceal the shirring. The main thing I dislike about the back though, is the way the chiffon from the neckline ends abruptly on either side of the shirring panel. I would have ended the chiffon at the arm pits instead so you couldn't see where it ended when worn. As it is, I think the chiffon ends a bit messily. The stock photos show the skirt has lots of volume and flares outwards loads. It has more than enough room to accommodate lots of petticoat. I think I would have liked the skirt to be slightly more rounded, but overall I think the wearer will be able to create a very cute shape. The majority of the skirt is kept simple in design. The print is displayed fairly well, although is slightly obscured by the amount of gathering. A good petticoat should help fix that though. The bottom hem is then finished off with 2 chiffon ruffles, which are layered well and gives the bottom a nice, floaty finish. I also like how the chiffon is topped with a line of ribbon to keep things looking neat, although it is a shame the ribbon is a bit too shiny. The ribbon line is topped with 2 small bows, which finish things off very cutely without being too much of a distraction.


And finally, here we have the the print close up. This series is available in white, black, pink and blue. The colour choices are very interesting, but I think the blue is probably my favourite as I like the contrast of blue with the cherries in the print. I am slightly put off the cream colour way, knowing it is teamed with that red chiffon. As for the print itself. I applaud Meta for doing a fruit print that actually looks quite different! And there is not a single strawberry in sight. The way the print is set out in boxes and the colours used reminds me vaguely of Emily Temple Cute. The fruit in the print is drawn well and looks fairly realistic. My favourite part is the way the lemon slices are shaped like hearts. I thought that was a very cute touch! The colours are so vibrant and eye catching. Meta have also managed to include their swan logo in some of the boxes too, without it being too dominant. I love the daisy chains and ribbons. They are such a cute way to frame some of the fruits.

I actually really like this series and I think Meta have done a good job. There are things I would change about every dress design, but I still think this is a strong effort. The print is vibrant and a bit different. It is a shame that Meta didn't bring out a skirt for this print though (or at least not at the time of writing this post) because I think a skirt would have looked great. Would I buy this series? Possibly. It wont be going on my wishlist, but I do admire the print a lot. If I did buy this series I would go for the High Waist Pinafore JSK in blue and then detach the waist bow. Waist bow aside, I think that dress is the cutest. Alternatively, I would choose the Lace-up JSK and just switch out the ribbon. 

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