Cock Robin by Alice and the Pirates

Notice about Monday- Due to a very hectic weekend, there is a chance that Monday's post may be late.

Today I will be taking a look at Cock Robin by Alice and the Pirates. This series includes 2 dresses, a skirt, a barrette, a headpiece, a vest, pants, 2 blouses, tights and accessories.

This is JSK I. The bodice looks very well fitted. Overall, the bodice shape is nice, although I think it could have been a bit more imaginative. The bodice has this strange piping running vertically up it. It is not immediately obvious, as it blends in quite a bit. I don't think it looks particularly pretty or really adds anything to the dress. It's just sitting there, not doing much. I wouldn't have bothered with this detail, to be honest. The lace along the neckline looks pretty and of a good quality. It is a nice width and doesn't look too itchy. The neckline is finished off with a ribbon bow, placed to one side. I think the bow is a nice shape and size. It compliments the dress well and is placed nicely. The ribbon is a bit on the shiny side, but not too bad. I think the straps are a bit on the thin side. Maybe if they were a tiny bit wider it would help, although I don't think they should be too much wider, as that wouldn't suit the style of dress. The back has a panel of shirring which is concealed by a ribbon corset. The ribbon corset is spaced out very well and looks very neat. Because of the style of print, the shirring doesn't stick out too much either, and sort of blends in a bit. I am not a fan of the skirt shape for this dress. In my opinion, it looks a bit too rounded and I don't think it would look that flattering. I understand that the shape is probably affected by the gathering on the skirt, but I think the execution could have been done a lot better. There have been other dresses by AatP which have done this sort of gathering a lot better and the skirt shape has been prettier. Another complaint I have is how the layers hiding beneath the gathering look very bunched up together. This just makes the overall shape look much worse.

I was also a bit surprised by the material used for the bottom hem. I wasn't expecting it to be all sparkly and glittery. I guess what I don't understand is why such a glitzy looking material has been paired with such a dull print? I don't think this series really works with added glitter and it all seems a bit mismatched.

 This is JSK II. The bodice looks well fitted and a nice shape. The waist is tucked in nicely by a line of ribbon around the waist. I like the stripy ribbon and the bow looks pretty. Although I do think the ribbon tails could maybe end a bit higher up, as they do look a bit long. The neckline has 2 lines of very wide lace running along it. In the close-up shots, the lace itself does look very pretty. However, I do think it looks far too wide and there are 2 rows, which only emphasises this further. I also think that the lace looks very droopy and sits very limply. I think if there had been just one row of this lace, it would be a vast improvement. The straps are again a bit on the thin side and could possibly benefit from being slightly wider. The back has a panel of shirring, which runs the whole way across. It is a bit exposed and not as tidy as the other JSK, but it is more flexible size-wise. The skirt shape is lovely. It has got a lovely, rounded bell shape to it. It looks very full and plump. It will hold a decent amount of petticoat too. The only slight niggle I have, is it appears to get a bit narrower towards the very bottom and so it sort of tucks in a bit. The bottom hem is finished off with more of that sparkly material used on the other JSK. I still think it looks out of place. The width of the material does match up with the wide lace on the bodice, but I still think it needs to be narrower. This bottom hem material also appears a bit limp and lifeless, which is disappointing.

And here is part of the print close-up. This print is available in bordeaux, navy and black. To be honest, I don't see much difference between the three colours. They are all dark and deep colours. When the colours are so similar, it is difficult to pick out a favourite. I guess I like the black the best, but I am not too fussed. The print itself is nice enough. When I first saw it, I thought it looked a bit like one of those generic, typical Alice and the Pirates prints. It is pretty enough, but it looks like a lot of other AatP prints. There is nothing about this print that really makes it stand out. It is drawn beautifully though. I do like the frames surrounding the pieces of text. The frames are very ornate with a lot of detail to them. I think my favourite is the one with the griffin heads and the crown. But overall, this print doesn't amaze me.

One item I do like from the series is this headdress. It does look similar to a lot of other AatP headdresses, but it looks so beautiful. I love the combination of roses and feathers. The pearls are lovely and I love the veil part too. It all comes together well and it executed brilliantly. This is definitely my top pick from this series.

So overall, I am hugely underwhelmed by this series. It looks very dull in comparison to a lot of other AatP prints and nothing about it really stands out. I also have my doubts about both of the dress designs. Unfortunately the skirt design (not shown here) is not much better, in my opinion. I get the impression that this is a bit of a 'filler' series before AatP bring out a really beautiful, must-have series. And having seen the next AatP series (Called Gloria. I am really looking forward to discussing this series!), it looks like I may be right.