Sometime last week I was on Twitter, tweeting about some older Metamorphose pieces that I loved when a couple other Lolitas joined in and we exchanged a few tweets about how elegant the older Meta pieces used to be. Metamorphose used to be my number one favorite brand, but a lot of their releases in recent years have sort of made me ask myself "Wait, why do I love them so much?" Not that their newer pieces aren't often lovely, they are simply quite a bit different from the older pieces that I fell in love with, and it seems like they changed so gradually that it was hard to notice when I started to fall out of love with them.Older Metamorphose pieces, and I'm talking early to mid 2000's, even late 90's in some cases, have such an air of Victorian elegance that their newer pieces usually don't have. The lush floral prints, bonnets, great big bell sleeves, rich velvets, stark black and whites, and excessive use of lace were my ideal Lolita for years, and honestly, still is, even if it is a bit outdated.
I usually like to use GLB scans and "official" brand photoshoots and ads for examples, but instead, here are some of my favorite real life coordinates based around older Metamorphose pieces. These are all from Flickr, so credit goes to the photographers and models in each of the photos, click on the thumbnails to get to the original photo!
What makes older Meta pieces so special, to me at least?
Floral prints- I am a big fan of floral prints, if you couldn't tell! Even the grandma's-sofa-and-curtains-matching-set sort of florals make my heart flutter. I think a big part of it has to do with the nostalgia factor for me, since a lot of Lolita dresses when I first got into the style were made with floral fabrics, seeing just about anything in a pretty floral print instantly reminds of of the elegance of Lolita.
Bold colors- While nowadays Meta is fond of using bold colors in their custom prints, before the days that nearly every release was a print, Meta often used bold color solid pieces, as seen above in the jewel toned velvet dresses and richly colored floral prints. Rarely does Meta ever come out with a dress in a soft baby pastel!
Lots of lace- Older Meta pieces were known for having tons of lace, many of them were even made with complete lace overlays! But more often, they happened to have lots of lace details, either criss-crossing around a skirt or an extra wide ruffle of it about mid-skirt or even on hems. Believe it or not, much of lace Meta used back then was actually raschel lace, not all raschel lace is created equal!
Bold colors- While nowadays Meta is fond of using bold colors in their custom prints, before the days that nearly every release was a print, Meta often used bold color solid pieces, as seen above in the jewel toned velvet dresses and richly colored floral prints. Rarely does Meta ever come out with a dress in a soft baby pastel!
Lots of lace- Older Meta pieces were known for having tons of lace, many of them were even made with complete lace overlays! But more often, they happened to have lots of lace details, either criss-crossing around a skirt or an extra wide ruffle of it about mid-skirt or even on hems. Believe it or not, much of lace Meta used back then was actually raschel lace, not all raschel lace is created equal!
Detail overload- I've talked about this a bit in my older post, Angelically Sweet, but I am sort of a sucker for detail overloaded Lolita dresses. Not necessarily accessory and print overload, but dresses that contain rows and rows of lace ruffles, extra wide bell sleeves, bows at every corner, and pin tucks all over the lace. Even a plain colored cotton dress gets kicked up to a sort of insane level of decadence when all of these are added to one dress.
Simplicity- I know, I just said I loved the overloaded details in the point above this! But on the opposite end of the Old School Meta scale is a much simpler elegance. Relatively plain jumper skirts with a bit of elegant embroidery, pleated minimum-poof skirts, and even simply styled hair and accessorizing.
Old School headwear- Big floppy bonnets and extra ruffly headdresses were seen a lot in older Meta coordinates, and while they took a bit of working to look right, they really do look stunning.
With the apparent decline in OTT Sweet and rising interest in Classic Lolita I can easily see styles like this coming back in an updated version, maybe details will be a bit more refined, the lace won't be so ruffly, the headdresses and bonnets will be neater, and the colors might be a bit more muted. I think that this sort of elegance, whether it comes directly from Metamorphose or elsewhere, is just the sort of thing to add a little bit of both Classic and Old School flair to a wardrobe. It's a style that really helped define Lolita for a lot of people, not just for myself, and I think it still can still hold itself up to today's trends!
Metamorphose is sort of an in-the-middle brand for some people, it seems like you either love them, hate them, or tend to forget about them completely. So, what do you think of these older Metamorphose pieces? Do you think styles like this, extra wide raschel lace ruffles and all, could make a comeback? Or are you pretty happy with it staying in the past?
Old School headwear- Big floppy bonnets and extra ruffly headdresses were seen a lot in older Meta coordinates, and while they took a bit of working to look right, they really do look stunning.
With the apparent decline in OTT Sweet and rising interest in Classic Lolita I can easily see styles like this coming back in an updated version, maybe details will be a bit more refined, the lace won't be so ruffly, the headdresses and bonnets will be neater, and the colors might be a bit more muted. I think that this sort of elegance, whether it comes directly from Metamorphose or elsewhere, is just the sort of thing to add a little bit of both Classic and Old School flair to a wardrobe. It's a style that really helped define Lolita for a lot of people, not just for myself, and I think it still can still hold itself up to today's trends!
Metamorphose is sort of an in-the-middle brand for some people, it seems like you either love them, hate them, or tend to forget about them completely. So, what do you think of these older Metamorphose pieces? Do you think styles like this, extra wide raschel lace ruffles and all, could make a comeback? Or are you pretty happy with it staying in the past?
I have to admit I'm a sucker for old school meta cords because they really capture the elegant part of lolita in a way more of the OTT and sweeter styles popular now simply don't. They're more cute than simply elegant, and truthfully I feel like this style needs to come back. I think if more elegant and in some ways mature styles were available then older lolitas would find it easier to stay in the community and the opportunity for the fashion to grow would be awesome.
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