Stocking Shock review

Recently there has been a lot of talk about the old-school style of lolita and how the fashion used to look. It seems some people dream about a return of the older trends. However, there is one item that still appears to divide a lot of people- the rectangle headdress.

Some people associate rectangle headdresses with cosplay or itas. They are big and bulky, they make you look like a maid and they usually have a lot of OTT lace and frills. Admittedly, a lot of cosplay lolitas do wear this style of headdress but I personally don't like to automatically categorise every single one of these items as ita. A lot of thinner styles of rectangle headdress have been spotted recently and because a lot of lolitas are wearing bows right now, this sort of style makes a nice change. Despite being a bow sort of girl, I have always wanted just one rectangle headdress. So when Christmas came my husband purchased a pink rectangle headdress for me. I will leave it up to you to decide how good my husband's choice was.

My husband used an English based company called Stocking Shock. www.stockingshock.co.uk He purchased the Daisy headdress which costs £7 in the pink colour with white lace. Sadly, I cannot personally rate the Stocking Shock ordering process but my husband seemed to be happy with the process. The website is easy to follow and you can pay using Paypal. It would perhaps be more helpful if there were some more photos showing more of the colour options. Over December the UK was hit with very heavy snow and the headdress still arrived without any problems. When you consider how much a big company like Amazon struggled to get their items out (people were still waiting for orders on Christmas Eve), it is good to see such a small company providing a decent service.

And now for the headdress itself. I apologise for this very dodgy worn photo. I was using the bathroom mirror to see what angle to position the camera and my husband was at work.

As you can see the headdress is quite wide but it sits on my head quite well. To help balance out the width of the headdress, I will probably have to add some volume to the back of my hair. The main part of the headdress has slight padding which I am guessing is interfacing material. This makes a lot of difference because it means the headdress is not floppy which in turn, helps to keep the headdress in place.

Once I give it a little ironing, I think it will look quite good. Although it is white lace and not off-white lace, it is not too bright and I am also pleased to say that the ribbons are not that shiny. There is a lot of lace here. If there was any more lace, it would definitely be too much for me.

A little close-up of one of the ends and a bow. You can see the daisies on the lace here.

And the store label on the back.

My main criticism is there are a few areas where the lace is untidy as if it has been roughly cut. They are not too noticeable unless you are looking very close-up but it gives the impression that the headdress was rushed slightly. I also noticed a few loose threads. The rest of the stitching is very neat and well hidden. The seamstress seems to know what she is doing but there is still a little room for improvement.

Overall, the headdress is good with a few minor faults. I was very pleased that the bows are not shiny and it is definitely better quality than some Ebay costume seller items. The product you get is worth the £7 price but it is not the best rectangle headdress I have seen. I don't regret asking for this headdress. There will be some people who dislike it but it is worth having a look on the website because there is also a selection of bows available. This headdress will probably not become one of my most worn items but as I said above, sometimes it makes a nice change to wearing a bow. I do not intend to buy any further rectangle headdresses but I am happy with the item I received.