Angelic Pretty's French Cafe

This is probably going to be my last print review of 2010! Here is the latest from Angelic Pretty (and once again please excuse the picture I have used. You can view this picture on the Japanese AP website) and it is inspired by France. French themes seem to have been popular recently in both mainstream and lolita fashion. I have spotted Eiffel Towers everywhere in shops and it doesn't seem that long ago that I was reviewing AP's Fantastic Dolly. So AP have now done a print inspired by French Cafe culture.

After Holy Night Story I predicted that Angelic Pretty would soon be back to the sugary pastels, so the colours used here were a pleasant surprise (but it is not Spring yet which will inevitably see the pastels return en masse). I think this set has an Emily Temple Cute feel to it, especially in blue and red.

The OP (shown in pink in the picture) has a line of lace running across the bodice which has ribbon threaded through. I am not sure what this lace is called but I heard it being called ladder lace somewhere so that is what I will call it! I think ladder lace is very pretty and on this dress we have one simple line of it with some red ribbon threaded through. There is a tiny bow sat upon this line of lace which I think is pointless. I dislike the bodice because there are 2 lines running up it (which is more visible on the red and blue dresses) and it sort of looks divided in to two parts. It doesn't work well with the print and there is a bit of a harsh break. It doesn't flow very well. There is a large bow on the waist which would probably look better if it was disguising the break in the bodice instead. The skirt part looks very puffed up as if it can hold a large petticoat. All of the dresses look as though they can be puffed up a lot but this dress looks like it can puff out the most.

My favourite dress is the one shown in red, the most simple of the dresses. Unlike the OP shown in pink, there is no awkward break in the print on the bodice. There is a large bow on the bodice. The bow looks a little too big but I think this dress needs this bow because otherwise the dress would be too plain. The top half appears to fit well and once again the skirt is roomy.

Finally, there is the dress shown in blue. Like the pink OP, this dress has a line of ladder lace and the small bow. Usually I don't like bib style details on the bodice but on this dress it is a bit less obvious. Bibs can look young and childish and whilst I still dislike the bib used, I think it is an improvement. The straps are a little too thin in my opinion. Once again, the skirt is spacious.

On first glance I thought the black item in the picture was another dress but it is a skirt with an apron. I suppose this is very appropriate for a cafe theme. Sadly I think if I wore this I would be too aware of the fact I was wearing an apron. This apron almost fits the theme a bit too well. The other skirt is too casual and short for my personal taste.

The socks are simple with just a few pictures dotted around the bottom part. What I don't like is the stripes around the foot area. There are no stripes featured in the print. The stripes are only going to get hidden by shoes so it was a bit pointless including them. I still think they are cute though.

As you would expect with a cafe theme, the print features cute little cakes, biscuits and crockery. I like the strawberry jam pot the most. The strangest part of the print is probably the egg cup because the rest of the items have a sweet theme.

The set is very pretty and I love the dress shown in red. I think the set works best with the red or blue colour. I am a little bit bored of cafe themes right now. AP only recently released Little Bear's Cafe but I think French Cafe is better. This series has a lot of strong points with just a few details here and there that I am a bit unsure of. Would I buy it? Probably not, but I still like it.