The hunt for wild Dabuwawa – part 1

So. It’s true. I am OCD. Usually about the wrong things, or the things I’m not supposed to be doing.

“Not doing something I’m supposed to do. Doing something I’m not supposed to do”, a lyric from an obscure Violent Femmes song, which hold true, well, for most of my life.

And a while back, this picture of this coat popped up on the net. Frequently on Pinterest etc, and I thought maybe it was a one-off or vintage or something I could never ever buy.

It’s like Mrs Claus got jizzed all over. Seriously, I would sell my soul for this coat, well- providing I knew if this coat really looks like the photographs (and if I hadn’t already sold my soul for a donut).

And then this coat kept appearing in my Facebook sidebar ads, at the seemingly low prices of $40/$50. Sounds awesome? Not sure.

A bit of research (well a whole day of Internet hunting) revealed that the actual brand was “Dabuwawa” also called “pink doll” ( which I think is a sub brand geared towards a younger clientele).

A bit of hunting found Dabuwawa’s website and several authorized retailers (some on sites that sell knock offs too).

My hunch about the authorized retailers is that they’re legit, because they don’t carry this particular coat, seeing as they have new stuff and not this item, which I think has been around a few years.

Which makes sense, as you figure it would take some time for the copies and the knock off factories to get around to making their cheap versions.

And before anyone thinks I’m about to launch into a borderline racist rant about “Chinese knockoffs”, well Dabuwawa IS a Chinese brand, and it seems to be fairly original and pretty legit. From what I’ve found out, this is Asian fashion, so trying to tell the Chinese originals from the Chinese knockoffs is going to be… challenging.

Pictures if this coat appear on super cheap websites like tidebuy and sammydress, and on slightly more open markets like Alibaba and aliexpress.com. on those last two sites its a bit vague who the retailers are, and what they’re selling. Some actually list the materials as “cony fox faux fur”, as if fox and faux are the same, and coney I’m guessing as a misspelling if coney (rabbit). Actually I don’t care if its good quality faux fur or real fur, I just want to feel and touch the original and if its of an acceptable quality, i want the original coat, even if its not a bargain.

I just went through hell buying a house and have been eating tamer for a while, I deserve to get myself a reward.

So I start my search. A few inquiries..

i found this coat on aoisis.com and asked them the brand of the coat. They didn’t say Dabuwawa or Pink Doll and that didn’t bode well (esp considering they charged $200). In fact they said the brand was “Aoisis”, which either means its a copy or they didn’t understand my question.

And it shows up a lot on various websites, usually with the same 4 or 5 pictures (often without pictures showing the label, hmmm), and I’m so hesitant to take the plunge..

My big fear is this: as awesome as it would be to get a $200 coat for $50, I’m far more worried of paying $200 for a $50 imitation of the original. That would realllllly suck. For even $50 I’d expect a certain amount of quality, but I’m getting the impression from a lot of these sites that the quality of the knockoffs is Halloween costume quality -at best. Ick.

I used to put this sort of stuff on my wish list, but too often got burned by cheap unusable lingerie that bore only a passing resemblance to what was in the photos. So as much as I’d love to say “Minions! Buy me this!!”, I really don’t want my fans blowing their money on the wrong thing.

So today, ironically Cyber Monday, I’m off to the brick and mortar stores to see if I can find a single article of anything Dabuwawa makes.

Oh, Btw- i could literally own anything they make. Like this one. Yum. It’s equestrian meets steampunk Lolita. Okay, I know I’m mixing my genres, but that’s what it looks like to me.

And here’s me, off to the Natuck Collection. The biggest mall in New England and maybe a good starting point.

Yeah, I know I look ridiculous. Like I’m seriously going to act my age.

And sadly no, this is not my car, but I have been telling myself that my next car would be Italian…

I’ll take a Quattroporte in cranberry red with a white leather interior. Actually I sat in one at a Maserati dealership, and that’s prolly as close as I’m going to get to one..

So I’m off!!

-Tara