Old School Acquisition: Meta Music Note Skirt

Today I got in the mail an old school piece from Metamorphose, a music note skirt in sax from 2003.

 The skirt was being sold as a set with the matching headdress, which is in excellent condition, and the matching bag which is very heavily stained.  The bag was included for free since it is in such poor condition.  I will try to spruce it up, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  At any rate, the skirt was listed as being in very good condition, but in reality it is quite faded.  This is especially noticeable when compared to the headdress, but especially when compared with the fabric sample (which the seller still had, somehow!), as seen below.

 I was really disappointed by the fading, but I really didn't spend that much on this set, and I still think the price was fair given it came with the headdress in such nice condition, and given that it is 14 years old.

The reasons behind why I wanted this set are somewhat personal.  This is now the oldest piece I own, trumping my Innocent World music notes embroidery JSK by about 4 years.  I am an older lolita, and I just got into the fashion last year.  However, I am a hardcore otaku, and I have known about the fashion for many years, since high school or maybe junior high.  Had I gotten into lolita when I first found out about it, this set may have been one of the things I would have worn.  It came out around the time when I think I would have been ready to start buying brand.  I was starting my first part-time work and getting started with my first credit card and checking account.  I think this is the kind of coord I would have worn as a high schooler.  I am the same size as I was then, and my hair is the same too, so with my face blocked out, it's not hard to imagine that this is about how it would have looked.

The shoes may not be accurate for the time.  I have a pair of rocking horse shoes, but they are black, so they wouldn't match.  The skirt is on the shorter side on me, and also includes a built-in hard tulle petti which I think looks like the right amount of poof for a street fashion lolita piece of the era!

In reality, I didn't have many cute clothes as a teen.  I had no means of transportation to get to conventions, so I had no need to cosplay or dress up.  Perhaps me buying this set is me trying to make up for lost time, but regardless, I love these pieces and even with the fading, the skirt is wearable.