So at a request put to me by my good friend Michael, I've put together a list of producers of which I do, or would like to purchase clothes from.
Fanplusfriend : A gothic-lolita online store that dabbles in both men and women's fashions, ranging from traditional victorian gothic, lolita, punk, steampunk, baroque and pretty much whatever your little laternative heart desires. I purchase quite a large number of things from this site for a few reasons;
Firstly because they're rediculously CHEAP. The don;t know how they get away with those prices, especially when pretty much all items on there are available for custom sizes for sometimes no extra cost, but generally a very little fee (I think the most I've seen them ask extra is $10!). For all those ladies and gents like me out there who couldn't fit into asian sizing if they're life depended on it, it's a great option.
Secondly, their quality is FANTASTIC. I've had my gothic lolita black mourning dress now for 3 years, and it stills looks as new as the day I brought it home from the post office. My grandmother even said to me at the time that a lot of it's intricacies were hand-sewn. HAND-SEWN, can you believe it? I admit, I was sceptical when I first saw their clothing online for the prices they were asking, but I would never bad-mouth their quality. EVER.
Gallery Serpentine : Gallery Serpentine was probably my first real life exposure to truely beautiful gothic victorian clothing. I still remember the day I first walked into their shop. I'm fairly sure the year was 2007 (or possibly 2006) and I bought myself on layby my first corset; a bottle green victorian overbust with black lace trim. It's still probably the prettiest one I own, however I like to wear corsets often and I'm just not as comfortable in overbusts as I am in underbusts.
Despite that their clothes are gorgeous and if I could I would own everything they sell, that's just the problem; there's no way in hell anyone could ever do that because they're brutally over-priced. They're corsets aren't really the problem, because I expect to pay $200+ for a good one, but the reat of their clothes on the other hand, ca-ching!
Not only that but I have a small beef with Gallery Serpentine because of a small issue with a corset I bought last year. Late last year, as some may know, Gallery Serpentine released their range of LIMITED EDITION steampunk corsets, as you would with the popularity of steampunk rising like the cost of petrol. Anyway, I purchased myself this beauty with Kruddy Ruddy's economic stimulus package we all recieved last year as a budding attempt to win back everyone's praise after his lovely display of incompetence some would called his term in parliment.
Anyway, all politics aside, the crux of the matter was that this corset was supposed to be LIMITED EDITION, hem...With some emphasis on LIMITED. So for those of you who don't know what that means exactly, Gallery Serpentine introduced a new line of corsets every 2 months or so and would only be made to order for those months. So after the Steampunk month came and went, suddenly, these LIMITED EDITION corsets were back for sale in their own nice little 'steampunk' category on the Gallery Serpentine website. As you can imagine, I was PISSED OFF. So the greedy little mongrels started producing them again, obviously because they were popular, all so that they could make some more money, of which they CERTAINLY won't making enough of already on their other overpriced items.
And so ends my rant about how Gallery Serpentine give me the shits. However, all grudges aside, it doesn't impact on my love of their products.
Next up is..
Clockwork Couture : So when I first came across clockwork couture, you can imagine I was smitten. Their clothes and accessories are broad ranging and awesome and I was heartbroken to discover one day that none of their clothes from what I can gather are actually made by them. Yes, in fact Clockwork Couture is just a redistributer (and an expensive one too from what I can gather). Although, if you like the stuff on the website and you're too lazy to go searching around for the original place it's from and probably get it at a better price, then Clockwork Couture is for you. I on the other hand relish in searching the interwebz as finding things is a specialty of mine of which I get great satisfcation from succeeding at.
Steampunk Couture : So I actually mentioned this site only a few days ago, and I'm quite obsessed with it's stuff at the moment so don't be surprised that if and when I get myself a job that doesn't mind the grass-green hair, I will be posting pics here, there and everywhere about the new clothes I just got from Steampunk Couture.
Retroscope Fashions : So I've never actually bought anything from Retroscope Fashions, however the forever saucy, who I'd like to consider to be the Frontman of the Steampunk subculture, Mr G.D Falksen has;
Falksen is what us fans of this style like to call the ultimate Victorian Gentlemen Hottie. And as it happens, this sexy history major has great influence over my opinion of clothing brands.
Baroque and Roll : I probably won't ever be able to justifying spending $120 of this awesome facinator from Baroque and Roll;
However it's unfortunate that all their clothes for the same profile as this lime green squid hair accessory: they're gorgeous and ridiculously expensive. However if you've got the cash to burn, I suggest you buy some of their stuff, I have a feeling having something so unique would pay off in you being the best looking proverbial bell at the gothic ball.
That's about all I have for today, because unfortunatly I lost my links earlier in the year due to a computer failure. But hopefully there'll be lots of new ones for me to run across in the future.
Signing off,
Steffles xx
