The prized item on my wishlist was the Jesters of the Moon Clown Hat by Alice and the Pirates. As a lolita committed to the circus & carnival aesthetic, I absolutely had to have this hat. At first, I put off ordering it because it was still directly available for purchase online but when I checked online one day, it marked the hat as Sold Out. I immediately panicked, thinking I missed my chance, and posted about it in sales groups hoping someone would sell it to me secondhand. There, I got a tip that the BABY store in Sendai still had some on display. With that in mind, I first tried a shopping service to no success and then looked through BABY’s website for any information on how I might still order the hat.

The interesting part about BABYSSB Overseas is that even when an object is “Sold Out” online, it’s entirely possible that stock might exist somewhere in a physical store location so they have a form set up where people can email them with a product order inquiry and they’ll check for the object. If it’s in stock, they’ll immediately fulfill the order. They don’t just check the stock, this inquiry can only be made with the intent to buy the item so people don’t just email them to constantly check.

I sent them an email on June 10. They responded back on June 12 to confirm my order! I was so excited that I was just a few days away from owning it! I made payment on the 12th. They confirmed they received my payment on the 14th. My hat was shipped on June 16th! A delivery attempt was made on June 20 and I officially picked it up from the post office on June 21.

Consensus?

This is the best thing I’ve ever bought!!! XD

It’s so cute and fluffy and large~ All of the worries & concerns I had of it instantly vanished as soon as I put it on! I’m so glad I didn’t miss my opportunity to buy it!

They also sent me a very cute shopping bag with a pirate-themed illustration on it!

Because I’m new to lolita, there’s a lot of things that I’m unaware about, but apparently the hat had a lot of controversy when it was first announced due to the design being on the borderline of “costume,” as well as the price. But for me, I think it’s the perfect choice for an Over The Top lolita coordinate. I absolutely adore it and can’t wait to wear it out in a coordinate!

Edit 2/10/18

I got back some of my pictures from RuffleCon! Wearing this hat is a dream! I’m very happy that I bought it, I can’t wait to coordinate it more ^_^ More pictures of my coord can be seen on my Coordinate Photos 2017 page!