Jane Marple Collection

Hello! 

In this post I want to talk about the humble collection of pieces I've gathered in my wardrobe from one of my favorite brands: Jane Marple.

    There will be photos of the items, along with their identifying information, and the (super fun and interesting) stories of how I found them! There will also be pictures of coordinates I have made with the items ;)

FIRST ITEM ♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

    This item is just..SO charming! The curly and adorable music notes make me so happy. Here is the link to the Lolibrary listing: https://lolibrary.org/items/jane-marple-note-lace-jsk . As you can see in that listing, the JSK comes with a belt. For mine, I used the fabric from the belt and added fabric to the sides - widening the both the waist and arm holes. Though I'm an amateur at sewing, it's so comfy now, and I didn't like the belt anyway! Here are the item details:

    Series Name: Note Lace

    Release Date: 2003

    Product Number: J-0348

    As for how I found this dress - it's a crazy story, and a memory I'll treasure forever >u<! This year I went to Tokyo for the first time, for 2 weeks in January and February. For this trip, I knew that I wanted to go to every Closet Child I possibly could. I was staying in a certain place where 3 of the 4 Closet Childs were easy to access, but the 4th one was in Yokohama, about an hour away from my hostel. 

    So I, knowing no Japanese, and not very good at navigation, set out on my
pilgrimage! I transferred from one metro line to the next, and then continued on foot, walking through the cold winter air down the bustling city streets, searching for the notoriously hard to find Closet Child shop. Closet Child shops are not on the street level, meaning you'll have to spot the sign for them, then take an elevator, and the signs are quite small and easy to miss, and the elevators are hard to find as well. 

    But, after about 1h15min, I arrived in the Yokohama Closet Child, which I had heard was both harder to find (true) and had a better/bigger selection then other Closet Childs (also true!). I walked in and it was well-lit, and all the pieces on hangers were organized by brand, and there were also several racks and shelves of shoes and accessories. Of course, I obsessively looked through every rack and all the accessories multiple times. I had travelled more then an hour to get there, so I was committed to spending at least an hour there, even though the whole place was 1/3 the size of a Goodwill or other typical American thrift shop. 

    As soon as I saw this dress, I was like " :O "! I picked it up and tossed it
over my arm as I continued to look around the shop. As I looked around the shop, I didn't find anything else that struck my fancy. After heavily debating the pros and cons of making the purchase, as I always do when I buy clothes, I decided to get it! Despite knowing it probably wouldn't fit without modifications, despite not having much of this shade of gray-beige in my wardrobe, I loved it. And the price was extremely reasonable - the price in yen converted to $36 USD. I walked up to the counter, awkwardly indicated that I wanted to buy the item, awkwardly paid and indicated I didn't need a bag. The shop girls were very sweet despite everything >_<. 

    Then I walked back out, to catch the train back to my hostel! I didn't do anything else in Yokohama, I didn't even eat while I was there. It was totally awesome and I'd do it again. When I bought the dress, I didn't know if I would like it, or if I'd even be able to fit or alter it. But as I type this, I am wearing it, and I grow to love it more every time I wear it!

 

SECOND ITEM ౨ৎ

    This JSK is my most recent lolita fashion purchase! I am planning to pick the bow apart, and add that fabric into the sides - same as I did with the Music Lace JSK. I am glad I got pictures of it before that, but I won't miss the bow - with my style, the bow would be more a nuisance then anything (looking lumpy under cardigans and such). I have not been able to track down the details of this item any further then a ~rough date based on the tag~ (2010ish?). For now just enjoy the story of how I got it :)

    Now, my story of obtaining this item might be ~controversial~ to some people. I got this item off of an England-based secondhand reselling website called DEPOP. Depop is notorious for several poor business practices, and having a very glitchy website. A quick trip to the Depop reddit page will open your eyes to all those issues, and I've faced them as a buyer and a seller on the site. Also, since Depop isn't lolita fashion-centric, scalping and reselling knockoffs is sadly extremely prevalent. There is actually another Jane Marple skirt I wanted to purchase on there, but after a long back and forth with the seller (where I explained everything from the release date of the piece, to the market standard for secondhand JM) where the seller refused to go below $100. I am lucky I have my local comm to support me, because upon asking a more experienced member of my comm about that price, they informed me that it's ridiculous. I realize something like this can happen on any platform, but it's simply much more common on Depop.

    Despite all this, Depop is a very popular and fairly easy to use secondhand clothing platform, and lolita fashion will be listed on it all the time. Because of this easy access, I am not immune to doing my regular dream item / favorite brands searches on the Depop platform as well. That is how I found this dress. I found this dress ages ago, and Depop has a function where you can "like" items and sort and save them for later. So I liked this item, and put it in my Jane Marple folder. Then, spring rolled around. And I began to fantasize about owning a white dress for summer. Well, this dress is perfect for that, so I bought it! I did pay $60 for this item, including shipping and all. A bit steep, but I don't regret it. I look forward to wearing this dress a lot this spring and summer!

THIRD ITEM ♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

 

    This skirt is so versatile. As a violinist, I love music motifs. The cream/off-white/ivory is also a shade I far prefer to "pure white" as it gives a vintage feeling that I really enjoy. Here is a link to a Lolibrary listing of a skirt from the same series, though a slightly different cut: https://lolibrary.org/items/jane-marple-musical-note-gather-skirt . Here are the item details:

    Series Name: Musical Note

    Release Date: 2013

    The story of how I got this piece is a story most lolitas have: I purchased it off LaceMarket. If Closet Child is "Goodwill for lolita fashion" then LaceMarket is "E-Bay for lolita fashion." This skirt is the first Jane Marple clothing item I bought (the first Jane Marple item I ever bought was an accessory - the 30th anniversary necklace). 

    I saw the listing on LaceMarket and the price and item were irresistable, so I took the plunge and bought it! And since then, I've really fallen in love with coordinating this skirt in very traditionally classic ways. 

    That's all of my pieces for now!

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