Strawberry Crown by Crown Label (Metamorphose)

Today I will be looking at Strawberry Crown by Crown Label. This series includes 3 dresses and an apron style skirt. Yes, here we have another fruit themed print! You always seem to get massive amounts of fruit prints released at the same time.

This is the OP. The bodice is nicely fitted. I wish the waist was a little bit lower though. I also think the sleeves would look a bit nicer if they were slightly puffier. The waist bow is unfortunately large, and Meta have said that this is not detachable, which is a shame. Not only is it protuberant, the lace also makes it look very OTT. The rest of the bodice is fairly simple, and the little details here look cute. I like the 3 red buttons, although I think Meta missed a trick by not using strawberry shaped buttons. The neckline on this dress is a bit too high for my tastes.

There is this pretty lace detailing going along the sleeves, which I think works well with the rest of the lace on the dress. I am not a fan of OPs, but I do appreciate a bit of detailing on the sleeves, provided it doesn't look too bulky. I dislike the use of ribbons here though.

The back has a large and very exposed panel of shirring, which looks a bit basic. The skirt part has a slightly odd shape to it, although this is possibly down to the way that the skirt is split up in to 2 parts. Also, because the waist on this dress is high, I think Meta had to make the skirt very long so it will hit the knee. The top of the skirt has 2 lines of lace which have ribbon threaded through them. It looks very cute. These bits of lace end when they meet a horizontal line of lace. I think the way the skirt is spaced out would look nicer if the horizontal line of lace was a bit lower down. The bottom hem is finished off with some lace that compliments the lace on the rest of the dress.

This is the high waist pinafore JSK. The bodice is a good shape. It will fit well because the shirring makes this dress more flexible. The waist bow is still big, but it looks a lot better than the OP's waist bow and this time, the bow is detachable. I think this bow looks better because the edges are not covered with fussy lace and the overall shape is more appealing. Despite its size, the bow is very perky and doesn't droop. The base of the straps is decorated with 2 more bows, but these are kept simple, so they blend in well with the dress.

I really dislike the use of shirring on the front of this dress. I appreciate some people need a bit of extra shirring, but I think the shirring panel on the front has been done very messily.

Here is a back view of this dress. The bustle back sticks out quite a lot, so might not be suited to those whose bodies are bottom heavy. The tiers are quite wide and there was probably enough room to add another tier in the bustle part. From the front, the skirt shape is very flared, although the gathering right at the bottom gives the skirt a puffy appearance. If the bottom ruffle wasn't as gathered, the overall skirt shape might have flowed a bit nicer. The bottom hem is finished off with some good quality lace, but the lace is a bit boring.

This is the pinafore JSK. The bodice looks very nicely fitted and the waist is tied in nicely by the ribbon belt. The ribbon for the belt is a bit shiny, but it blends in. The bodice part is plain, some will say it is too plain, but I like it. It makes your attention is drawn to the print and you are not distracted by an overload of detail. The bodice has one simple line of lace running horizontally across it. The lace looks good, but I do think some more interesting looking lace would have been a nice touch, without spoiling the simplicity of the dress. The straps are a nice width and are complimented well by the small cute bows. The back has a panel of shirring and this time it has been concealed by a ribbon corset, which I think looks a lot better. The skirt shape is very rounded, almost a little too round, but it displays the print so well. Therefore, I really like it. The bottom hem is finished off with more of the same lace. Yes, this dress is a lot simpler compared to the other 2 dresses in this series, but I think this is a case of "less is more".

And here is the print close-up. I have always felt that Meta are really good at doing strawberry prints, and I don't see this print as any exception. The strawberries look good enough to eat, although I don't like the inclusion of the white crown and bow placed on top of them. I like the way the strawberries are positioned because they are not in a straight line and that makes it look a bit more natural. The striped part helps the strawberries stand out. The ribbon and bows also look cute. The print comes in black, pink and green. I like how Meta released this print in green because that is one of the things that distinguishes Meta from the other big lolita brands. They use different colours, and I think the green is the best colour way for this series.

Overall, I do like this series. However, there is no denying that this series looks an awful lot like Strawberry Cream, which Meta released some time ago. They even used the same green on this older set.

Strawberry Cream was popular, so maybe Meta was trying to capture that old success again with Strawberry Crown. The main differences is that Strawberry Crown has stripes in it and Strawberry Cream has cakes and pink bows. Strawberry Crown will probably be too similar for some people, but if you struggled to find Strawberry Cream, then maybe this series could be a compromise. I actually think the strawberries look more realistic on Strawberry Crown. Sorry if this last paragraph confused anybody- the names are too similar!

I can actually see this series doing well, especially compared to other recent Meta sets. It is not exactly original, but I don't blame Meta for trying to capture some of the old magic. I would definitely go for the pinafore JSK in green. However, although I do like this print, I don't think I love it enough to buy it. Well, at least not enough to buy it at full retail price. This is one of those dresses that I can picture picking up if I saw it going cheap in a second hand shop. I do hope that this series will sell well though.