Post updated July 2011.
Same dress in 2011
Dress in 2008
I received this beautiful dress in the mail today (March 26, 2008) from a friend, a Mary Magdalene St. Claire Mini-length one-piece in gateau chocolate (dark brown). It is absolutely gorgeous and worth every yen it retailed for (27,090 yen, ~$270.63 in 2008, ~$345.36 in 2011). As of current, MM seems to have stopped selling mini-length items all together. I don’t fit in most of their regular-sized items since they’re too big.
The sad part is that I don’t own a petticoat to poof out the dress like you see on MM’s website. I’m really afraid of wearing the dress, actually, since it was so expensive, so I probably won’t get a petticoat anyways.
With the recent addition of a Classical Puppets A-line petticoat, the entire outfit around the dress is nearly complete at this point. I do wear the dress twice a year for a few hours when the weather is warm enough to permit so. I don’t attend any occasions in them. Since receiving the one-piece in 2008, I’ve purchased the matching St. Claire headdress in kinari X gateau chocolate and the matching St. Claire beret in gateau chocolate to go with the dress. The only major item I am lacking now is a pair of suitable shoes, though given how the dress is worn indoors, I haven’t had a compelling reason to do so.
The sizing for the dress is B88cm/W64cm (35″/25″), which means I have to take the waist in a lot with the waist ties and pad my chest to fill out the bust. The biggest problem with the dress is zipping it up in the back. The shoulder and sleeve parts are non-stretchable and form-fitting, so it is difficult to reach behind to zip up. Most of times, a second person has to give me a hand to get the job done.
This MM dress is the first piece of lolita that I’ve ever owned and I highly doubt that I can ever scrap up enough money to get coordinating headdress, socks, and shoes to go with it. A few years and several part-time jobs later, I have nearly all of the pieces and I still love this dress dearly. For the sentimental value (as it is a gift from a friend), it is unlikely that I’ll ever resell it.
The original product image.
{Words of Songs} 
I’d love to get some goth loli clothing, but sadly, it’s a lot more expensive than people think.
Well, actually you can order to make clothes.
It may not be exactly the same, but is more comfortable, and not so expensive.
omigosh don’t tell me your planning to sell that lovely dress away? shoes and stuff can be bought later 🙂
The dress is here to stay until unforeseeable circumstances.
It looks nice! Don’t be afraid to wear it– why shelve something that was meant to be worn? I’m sure an occasion will come up for you to wear it, and with regular weight fluctuation, it’ll probably fit better in a few weeks, too.
I’d love to wear gothloli clothing, but I don’t have the figure for it. Plus Florida weather is so hot and the people so conservative that I’d never hear the end of it unless I did it all in my house!
0_o; I remember seeing your post on /cgl/ I would NEVER get rid of a Mary Magdalene dress, especially one so gorgeous! I’m trying to buy some lolita clothes, but I don’t read Japanese and have no friggin clue on how to buy any of the brand names. Socks and Mary Janes are not that expensive and with this style of a dress, you don’t even need a headdress.
..but if you want to sell it in the future, I’d pay every penny for it.
I love MM… That dress is so cute to. The only real lolita Fashion Line clothing I own is an accessory. Flocky wrist corsets from Mana’s Line (can’t remeber name right now…durg). They recently went up in price from $30 to $80… Sheesh glad I bought them when I did. All of my skirts are handsewn by me… Soooooooooooooo much cheaper. I have a lot of accessories to… ’cause I made them. The secret to being lolita… Learn to sew.
I love MM. Dont sell it. That would be a waste. Its such a hot dress and you can buy it laters and you can where that dress anywhere anytime.
Wow, thats your first piece? It is good to get quality, but not worth it if it is your first piece. I am a devoted Lolita wearer, even though i only have two main pieces. I would suggest scouring thrift stores before looking online, its easier that way, and thrift stores can have some great stuff (I found my sweet lolita blouse there, perfect condition). And even if the thrift stores dont have anything, look into adjusting already existing products that you already have, such as adding lace to the tops of long white socks, or adjusting shoes to look like lolita shoes, if their basic form is generally lolita. But, it would make me incredibly proud to have an MM dress, but i wouldnt do that for my first piece. Try looking into the cheaper, yet still good quality, sites, such as annahousefashion.com . Lolita is, by standard, an expensive style, but it can be made bearable. Although, i am quite jealous^^.
Nah, it’s worth it completely. I’ve owned two or three other OPs since and I’ve gotten rid of them all—this first dress ever is the best dress I’ve ever worn. All others looked funny when I tried them on or were too big (despite being Japanese size M). At this point, I’ve finally realized that it’s because I fit in size S, and hence most brand items end up being overly loose on me.
I ended up purchasing the matching beret and headdress from St. Claire OP set from MM. To this date it’s the only lolita set that I have now and I’m happy with just one set.
O my god, one of the most beautiful dresses i’ve ever seen!!! I’ll probably won’t be able to afford even a tenth of it right now, but o my god WHY WHY WHY do you want to sell it?! You idiot! (sorry)
It’s soooo incredibely pretty!! How much do/did you want to sell it for (dollars of euros please)?
Oh, the dress I wanted to sell is another MM dress that I got and sadly found to be too big.
I’m keeping this brown dress since it holds special meaning to me. It took me a long time to get the matching beret and headdress, too.
Awww that sucks, i want it want it want it 😛 I’m still glad for you though.
I just love that dress! beautiful!
It’s a shame lolita is so expensive, I’d dress lolita every day if I could afford it.
Ohhhh, this dress is so pretty, I never wears a dress (only in my childhood), I wonder if I can wears so pretty cute things @_@ I have the feeling that only cute people can wears cute things xD
The secret is that these clothes (if well fitted and if it’s the right color for you) MAKE you cute 😉
Ahah, it’s an interesting secret to know xD Then I have to search a dress well fitted and in the right color for me. In true, even like that I will be too “tomboy” for the dress è_é”
Thanks for the reply (I was thinking my english was too bad for been understood ^^” I’m french xd)
See you
^^ I´m chilean but I love this dress
^^
Try scouring thirft stores or making your own before you go to the internet.
That dress would look really cute if you added a pair of stockings underneath and a small headband with two bows on the side with some mary-janes.
A lot of lolita stuff is easily do-able if you get some fabric and a pattern, I make my own blouses and jumper dresses.
Scour thrift stores. I cannot emphasize this enough. You don’t have to buy a 200 dollar dress from japan for it to be lolita, I found the cutest thrift-store jumper dress, added some ruffles on the bottom and the straps, a little lace priness-seam style, it looked wow.
I love Gothic Lolita. Right now, I am currently going to stores and searching for fabric so I can try to make a simple dress of it:/ I think it will work out. But, I don’t have any money, and I need a job. >.<
i’m a gothic lolita♥
but i don’t buy online– i get my outfits from old fashioned skirts and stuff from thrift stores. it’s a lot cheaper and one-of-a-kind!
but this dress…omg this dress– it’s almost painful for me not to own it! i want it soooooooo bad!!! when i read that it was sold out i died a little inside. you’re very lucky that you own it. i think you should wear such a beautiful dress. it deserves to be worn 😀
and just buy cheap socks and a poofy skirt from a normal store. put on the knee socks (you can sew on lace or whatever– it’s how i do it!) and put the skirt under the dress, so that it’s got more volume! once again, you are so lucky!! good luck to you and have fun with your dress! 😀
Very very charming!
waah nice ok you probably don’t know me but it’s ok (i think XD)
well i also buy this dress online (well to precisely my mom bought it ^^) and i got it very cheap (since there are sales now :3) the dress self i got it for 43$ + something like 15$ shipment = that’s almost 60$ i really love the design!!! can’t wait for more
btw would you like to exchange links with me?
Mangafanatic~
Please don’t tell me it was Milanoo.
Well, I have 2 lolita dresses. You know, sometimes it`s cheaper to buy things on the second hand forums. Sometimes person even never wore the piece, but sells it because he needs money/ it`s the wrong size/ color and etc. Prices can be very different, but it`s highly possible that you`d buy dresses/shoes/socks/accsessorizes cheaper.
P.S. And what you wear is called classic lolita. Elegant gothic lolita is the style created by Mana, and only dresses from his shop are called that way. And gothic lolita is Black&White outfit with crosses, scools (sometimes) and so on.
I never paid for the dress; it was a gift from a friend who bought it directly from Mary Magdalene online. You might have gone off a tangent here.
Also, I directly labeled the dress as Class Lolita in the very title of the post. The only mention of elegant gothic lolita later in the post is simply referring to an alternative popular name for the fashion, whether it is a misnomer or not.
And, by the way, 270 dollars is a bit too much for the dress. Do you know e-bay? I`ve seen there many dresse like yours (I think even yours itself) and they were cost no more then 80-100 dollars!
I wouldn’t adivise anyone who isn’t VERY aware of all the brand designs and the backgrounds they use for photographs to buy a lolita dress on ebay. Ebay is full of scammers who use pictures from the original brand design to market their own, fake products which are often of much, much poorer quality. 270 dollars is a good price for the quality mary magdalene provides. Yes, there are also companies who sell good quality dresses for less than a hundred dollars, but those are usually not on Ebay, they have their own website. So if you’re looking for GOOD cheap, I’d advise to take a look on the so called “offbrand” companies like Dear Celine and R-series.
You are lacking in knowledge about Chinese fakes and acknowledging the retail price.
I’m actually looking to reserve a coat from MM directly, but it costs so much and I need to know if I could sell it for the same price or more if I don’t like it. Would you be able to help out? The last day to reserve it is Monday, so I am really short on time….!
I’ve rarely seen coats being resold because they’re beyond most people’s budgets. From experience, you are the most likely get your money back if it’s a popular/coveted design. If not, it’s really up to luck and someone having deep pockets.
Thank you for the swift reply!!
Would you know if this is a popular design or not?
http://www.marymagdalene.jp/contents/outwear/232/0401/
it’s the oe I’m loking to purchase, but roughly $750.00 is a lot of money for a “maybe” gamble if something goes wrong.
That’s a very cute coat. Again, I honestly can’t promise it’d sell since MM coats rarely trade hands. You should do some research in lolita sales communities and see what similar items have gone for in the past. Popular MM items that come to mind are their St. Claire OP, Whyteleafe OP, Ekaterina OP, Short Puff Sleeve Yoke Blouse, etc. I honestly can’t recall seeing a single MM coat being sold off the top of my head. MM’s stuff flatters most girls if they fit well, and a coat should be more forgiving than their typical blouses and dresses.