Night Parade (Hyakki) skirt Review

My updating habits are absolutely terrible. Every time I think "Oh! I should totally make a blog post about this," I don't and then the window of relevance slams shut. Maybe I just need to pick one day of every month to update... I'm not sure, but I want to work something out.

I reserved a skirt a lonnnnnggg time ago (we're talking early March or so) and I finally got it in. For those that follow me on Facebook, I dropped a preview of this skirt a while back. I really wanted to finally showcase more in-depth photos of the skirt. The print is called Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (or Hyakki) and was made by the Taobao shop, Excalibur Lolita. I just read on Lolibrary that the skirt is actually made from bamboo fabric! That's totally cool. 

Check out the detailed skirt information here.

Stock photo, I do not own!

I got the skirt in the navy colorway, size L-XL. It fits like a dream and looks great with a petticoat. I can't wait to put together a Japanese inspired coord featuring cherry blossoms or a yokai coord, featuring one of the demons in the print.

The print reminds me of a night at a Japanese festival. It also reminds me of the anime Nura: Rise of the Yokai. If you've never heard of that anime/manga, here's a Wiki page that explains a bit about it. I have yet to read the manga, but the show was on Netflix.

Anywho~! On to the review!

My packaged skirt!

Upon opening the package, I was mostly in awe at how well the print stood out against the rich navy fabric. The package came with my skirt, a detachable bow, ribbon ties for the corset lacing at the back of the skirt, as well as a tiny bag to hold... The ribbon? I'm actually not sure.

           Close up of the bag + corset lacing/ribbon.

Waistband of the skirt.

As I said before, the waistband of the skirt has room for corset lacing. I'm not sure if I'd actually want to lace it up, but we'll see. Let's take a look at more pictures. This print is really vivid and gorgeous! 

A handful of the 100 demons.

OMG, so cuttee!

2 spooky 4 me.

An umbrella demon???

Helllloooo nurse, <3

So lovely!

If you take a look at the stock photo, you'll see the use of white lace. Once the piece was released, however, all the lace was changed to a matching color. Customers weren't told about this decision until AFTER the initial deposit was due for the reservation and I won't say it didn't leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Honestly, I was a worried the new lace choice would look awful. Looking at it now, though, I think they made a good decision. The matching lace makes the overall piece look more cohesive. Plus, they used good lace! It's not that tacky, scratchy crap.

Matching lace.

My biggest issue with this skirt is the detachable bow. I have no idea what to use it for because it's ugly as heck and pretty useless. I guess I could use the bow instead of lacing the back, but fareal, yall, this thing looks bad.

Extra bow.

Those ruffles are the thing that gets me the most. I'm just going to put it in a dark corner of my closet now...

Overall, I'm pleased with this piece. I'm a bit concerned that I'll be stuck in a particular niche while trying to coord it, but I can't say I mind the challenge. I'm trying to figure out where and when I'll wear it, so it'll be a while before I can wear it out anywhere.

My skirt!

I give this skirt and this shop a 5 out of 8. I think it's extremely ambitious to make a skirt out of bamboo fabric, but that ugly bow has go to go. I plan to keep an eye out for more releases from Excalibur before I form my full opinion on them. Unlike Das Lied der Elfen or Grove Deer, Excalibur didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Are there any Taobao shops out that there you're head over heels in love with? Sound off in the comment box below!

Stay beautiful, stay true.

~J