Weekly Hot Buys 2: Gothic Lolita

After reviewing the latest edition of the weekly Hot Buys, I've surmised that a Gothic Lolita theme has definitely been in contemplation, not only with the Hot Buys, but with the latest Sunny Bunny collection, as well. However, I am a total sucker for Sunny Bunny, and my inner 10-year old little girl is telling me to truly enjoy this week's Hot Buys collection.

I thought I'd start on a good note with the Gothic Lolita Top. Honestly, I really thought it was a blast from the past in regards to overall composition, and it was certainly versatile enough to be paired with something as mundane as a pair of colored skinny jeans to a fitted pencil skirt. The only part of it I didn't find too appealing were the peplum ruffles. Personally, I was never a real fan of that trend, but the shading on that addition was definitely reminisce of something I'd have seen in an earlier Hot Buys collection, which is always a good thing. The creases and wrinkles in the puffed sleeves also deserved honorable mention, just because I loved the classic way they worked with the lace on the front. 

The next item, the Teal Tutu Skirt, was a bit of a far cry from anything as decent as the aforementioned piece. I found it a little awkward, composition-wise, with the shape reminding me of a lamp shade. The teal undertones weren't too awful in the color combination, but again, the translucent black and teal tulle underneath the skirt itself looked like tissue paper to me. Overall, not too attractive, although I'm sure you could cover up it's mediocrity by pairing or layering it. 

The Gothic Lolita Tights were, again, not one of my personal favorites. My dislike for them stems from the fact that I can't stand the color purple, so make of it what you might in your own circumstances. However, I will say that the design is simplistic enough, but the color makes it rather difficult to create subtlety or pair it with an ensemble. "Stand-alone" pieces like these are the wild cards in a Hot Buys collection.

And finally, to sum everything up, I'll finish with the Strappy Platforms, and there is really only one word that I'd use to describe them: fabulous. Do my eyes deceive me? Are those shadows that I'm seeing underneath the straps? And the light reflections on the front of the shoe itself were lovely. Although they aren't anything special design-wise, considering there have been a few items in the Starplaza that looked practically the same, I'd still give them an A+ for composition.

Taking everything into consideration, I'd probably give it a B- total. 

I'm glad to see that Stardoll has been taking a few steps in the right direction with this week's release. It certainly gave me some hope and raised the bar for next week! Until then, dollies.