How to Order From Antique Beast
I've noticed a number of people have various Antique Beast items, primarily the Black Cat Headdress, on their wishlist. I've also seen instances where these headdresses are heavily scalped on secondhand websites, so I just wanted to put out a PSA - Please don't buy overpriced secondhand Antique Beast! They still open up their shop regularly, and while it was quite difficult to snag items the first couple of times post-2020 that they reopened their shop, the demand seems to have returned to normal, and it's not nearly as difficult to buy items before they close the shop again.
The way Antique Beast works is they will send email list subscribers an email one day before their shop is set to open. They will also update the website to include any one-offs or new releases. They will then open up the webshop at the scheduled time and close it once they reach their maximum quantity of orders.
The easiest way to make sure you don't miss updates is to subscribe to their mailing list, which you can do here! It's also best to create an account so that your mailing information is saved for faster checkout. To create an account, click here. If you can't read Japanese, Google Translate is sufficient for helping navigate the website.
Buttcape of Stephano.me also has a tutorial on how to order from Antique Beast from 2017, which you can read here. It includes information about signing up for the newsletter and how to register an account.
You might be wondering, "Ok, if there's already a tutorial, why are you making this post?" For one thing, since this tutorial is a few years old, people may not be aware of it if they're a newer lolita! Another reason is because I wanted to add a few notes on faster checkout and customization.
As I noted before, sometimes Antique Beast will post one-off items on their shop. If you fall in love with an item deeply and want to be first in line for checkout, you can enter items into your cart and enter your customer info before the shop opens. Once you reach the shipping selection page, there won't be any options to choose from until the site officially opens, so you can hit refresh until a shipping option appears - from there you can just check out regularly!
Another thing that's not talked about a lot is that Antique Beast offers size customization and fabric customization. To ask for something to be customized, just leave it in the notes section before checking out. For sizing, they can only offer a limited amount of increase or decrease from the original garment, presumably because they're working from one pattern. For fabric options, you can ask for different colors (I've seen multiple colorways of the Cat Headdress) or different types of fabrication! So far I have asked for items to be made in velveteen and organza, and I've also seen pleather variations of items. Since these fabric options aren't available to purchase on the site directly, just add the item that you want customized into your cart, and make a note of what you want changed in the notes section.
According to the FAQ, you can also customize the types of trim or ribbon on an item, or you can ask for things like sleeves to be made like that of another item. You can also do things like ask for skirt versions of dresses, ask for a headband or comb instead of ribbons, etc.
If you make a customization request, the owner will email your back within a few days to confirm your request, as well as the price, since there is typically an extra charge for custom items. She may also email back to verify how you want something to look. For example, when I asked or an organza headdress, she asked for details about how I wanted it constructed and how translucent I wanted the final version to be:
The owner uses translation software to write emails, but I've never had a problem communicating with her in English. She will also include an estimated time of departure for your package, which usually takes around one or two months. The amount of time it takes for the package to reach you depends on the shipping method you choose.
Hope that helps anyone who had questions about how to purchase from Antique Beast!
