Rosa, Rosae ... Rosette (like in Rosette Tee)

Yesterday I bought myself two rosette tees. Yes, bought like "in-store-bought", not like "I-bought-on-ebay-for-twice-the-original-price". If you subscribed to this post on the JCA blog, you might have already heard the story (I know that Francesca did!), but I will tell it again here with more details. It's pretty instructive!

So, I was reading the JCA blog late at nigh Tuesday when a comment of an anon who said that she had spotted a few rosette tees on a table in the back of a store, that she named "Rock center store", caught my eye. I immediately went online in the store locator section, trying to find out where this "Rock Center" store could possibly be. Nothing, no locations called "Rock" and no "Rock Center" (maybe she meant "mall"?) in all the USA. I was about to give up when it hit me that she was talking about the Rockerfeller Center in Manhattan.

So, the morning after (ie yesterday) I called the store at 10 (I was in a hurry because I was bidding on one on ebay and the bid was about to end) and asked the SA who picked up the phone about the rosette tee. She said that they had them in the back and went checking for my size. Fifteen minutes after I was still waiting, so I hung up and called again. Another SA answered and this time the answer was a firm "no, we don't have those, they are sold out". I insisted because the first SA seemed pretty positive, but she fetched an annoyed sigh, like I didn't understand English (OK, sometimes it's true, particularly if I'm speaking with someone with a strong Southern accent, but I understand the Manhattan accent pretty well). I called again, had a third SA who told me the same thing and said that the first SA probably had mistaken it with the new dupioni-silk rosette tank that retails for $185 and it's a Collection piece. What could I say? But you know what, I pretty much trust more the people who give hints on the JCA blog than the avarage SA, so I didn't give up and went looking for the "Lauren Hutton" catalog (hoping that my husband hadn't thrown it away, which he always do when he finds a JCrew catalog around - can you believe that I have to hide them?) So here I am with the style number in one hand and the telephone in the other hand. Forth SA, I don't even explain that I've called before, I just ask if she can check on a style number and size. She looks in the computer and asks me to wait a moment. No more than three minutes later she picks up the phone again, asks if I'm the one waiting on the rosette tee. Yes. Shell? Yes. Size S? Yes (here my hopes fly really high). We have it, she says, I will put it on hold for you at the register. Like that. After four calls and 3 crewless SAs (HeidiG, I hope that you don't mind if I borrow the term, it's so appropriate!) calls. So, ladies, when you call a store and you're pretty sure that they have what you're looking for, just don't give up at the first crewless SA.

I was so excited that I HAD to go and pick it up (in case someone spotted it behind the register and pretended to be me, you never know) even if it was sure that it was going to rain and my daughter was ready for playground fun with shovel and bucket in her hands. Don't you want to take the bus instead, sweetie? It's so much fun! She didn't, she wanted to go and play in the sandbox, so we had to go. After ten minutes in the sand she was done with it, now she wanted to go to the zoo and watch the seahorses (or "otaries", that she has just learned to say in French). I liked that, because the zoo is merely 10 blocks away from the Jcrew store, so we went but we couldn't see the seahorses (from outside the zoo) because they had just fed them and they were (what is that seahorses do when they are not entertaining the visitors at the zoo? Swim?) sleeping in their pool. My daughter was so disappointed that I forgot for a second my tee and bought us two tickets so that we could at least see the penguins. She was delighted by the penguins (and so was I), and then she quietly falled asleep in the stroller, which is like a big green light for me to go shopping, when it's not raining like hell and I'm not 40 blocks far from home. But she was sleeping and well protected under the rain cover and it shouldn't take long because I only have to go to register and pay, right?, so here I'm, strolling down Fifth Avenue against the rain and the tourists.

Once arrived at the store, I, obviously, don't go straight to the register but take in the new arrivals, that I see for the first time. I'm a little bit overwhelmed, so I head to the back where the JCA spotted the rosette tees and in fact they are there. Two piles. Shell and (surprise) white (not natural, but white white). The first temptation is to buy the whole stock just for the sake of it, then I calm down and pick one of each in S and XS and head to the fitting rooms where I realize that not only I was about to pay much more fore the same thing on ebay but also buy the wrong size, because clearly I have to size down and take an XS in this.

This is more or less the end of the story (unless you want to hear how we managed to get home); I bought both the colors because I didn't want to change my mind and regret it after and here are some IRL pics, just because I want to share my happiness with you and in case someone is interested in seeing the white one.



I forgot to mention that I also picked up a cotton glass bottons cardi in shell to wear with the shell tee, because I don't have anything else in that color. Here is the entire outfit with the Cate slingbacks:



And this is the white one. I think I prefer the shell because the roses come out more on the shell and I can achieve the same look with any white tee:



And this is the last one that I want to share, with my daughter taking a nap on the floor:



Do you own the rosette tee? Which one do you prefer? Any episode involving crewless SAs that you want to share?