A Lady Who Launches (but also Goes Out for Dinner)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes that you have left in your comments to my last post. They surely had some effect because my birthday was a perfect day from start to end. First, I had free unlimited babysitting (thanks to my mother in law who is still here) and that's really a luxury for me as we normally don't have our families around here to help. Second, I got to launch with my girlfriends in a nice restaurant in the neighborhood and to dress for the occasion. Third, one of my girlfriends had a gift for me, which I didn't expect, and it was a JCrew jewelry box (after years of spreading the word and hoping that someone would give me JCrew as a present, someone finally did)! Fourth, I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping with the same girlfriend (while I generally shop alone or worst. And you know what worst is.) and it was a lot of fun, even if I didn't buy anything myself (just exchanged something). And last but not least I went out for dinner with my husband and our friends whom I hadn't the chance to see in a very long time and it was just the perfect ending to a beautiful day.

Planning my outfit was part of the fun. When I was organizing the lunch with my girlfriends I had just bought the Embroided Ikat Pencil Skirt. To me, pencil skirts are for the "ladies who launch" and I don't wear them enough to justify a FP purchase but when this one went down to $69 plus 20% off in stores I couldn't resist. It's one wonderfully made pencil skirt, the fabric is just amazing and I love the color and the embroidery, it's very summery (actually more than it shows on the website)without being gaudy. Because I was going to be a lady who launches for one day, I thought that it would be the perfect occasion to wear it.

Someone on the JCA asked me how I was going to style this skirt so I am going to share some ideas here. I must say that the picture on the website isn't very inspirational (just how many times have we seen the "a pencil skirt and a plain tee look" this season? It looks like someone is out of styling ideas at JCrew so I had to go through a styling session myself and see what would work with it. Please note that it was 100 degrees here yesterday so my choices were partially dictated by my personal comfort (I didn't even attempt to put a cardigan on)!

Besides the two colors that are already in it (orange and natural/ivory), this skirt looks very nice with a dark color on top, like shadow, navy or faded black. I get the idea of a wearing a tee with a pencil skirt, but just not a plain one, this skirt deserves better. I tried two combinations, with the sequin necklace tank and the sunray tee (I believe that this was the name and it's now very cheap). I apologize for the messy background in the pics: my daughter had decided to play with her doll just behind me and she wouldn't move.





With another tee, in the same tones:



I really wanted to try it with last year contrast-stitches perfect shirt, so I braced myself and wore a long-sleeved shirt for a few minutes, just to take the pics (and trust me, I was already sweating). I would totally wear it like this when the temperature cools off (I would wear this with pumps instead of my espadrilles):




It looks nice with a fitted jacket in a natural color for work (even if I probably wouldn't wear it like this myself). Hey, it's a pencil skirt after all:



And the last outfit is the one that I wore yesterday. To create this outfit I followed the "JCrew styling rule number one" (now don't look for it everywhere, I am making it up): take two pieces that normally don't go together, say a pencil skirt and a peasant blouse, put them together and belt everything. And if you are supposed to wear heels, wear flats (and viceversa):



The top is the Fiesta embroided tunic which is still FP on the website, but on sale in stores:



I got a compliment from pretty much everyone when I walked in the Collection store like that. The lady at the door, who is usually very nice with my daughter and speaks French, even told me that I was "toute belle", which made smile because it is usually a compliment that I only hear from my husband.

Anyway I told you that after lunch I went shopping with my girlfriend. Actually we checked out the new JCrew wedding store where I hadn't been yet. Because I knew a couple of SAs from the Collection store who now work there, we had a special treatment and we could go downstairs where they keep the wedding gowns and it's normally by appointment only. The store is beautiful and they have special items that you can't find anywhere else (especially very expensive jewelry but also party clutches, stoles and even belts. Oh and I saw the famous sequins pants that Jenna Lyons was sporting in one of the videos). My girlfriend tried an occasion dress and ended up buying it and because she was with me she had free overnight shipping (you can't buy any dress in the store, they only have a sample in each color for try-ons and they have to order everything for you). There was a "Breakfast at Tiffany" or "Women" feeling to the whole experience because it's a wedding store and now I regret not trying on something, just for the sake of it.

For my birthday dinner with hubby and friends I had booked a table at a Greek restaurant because two of the guests were Greek and I know that they love to eat Greek food (and so do I). The restaurant is known for the food, but is kind of low-key so I didn't go over the top. I was actually dying to wear this top from last year that I found at the last sample sale. I had bought it as soon as it came out (in fact I have even a post on it), then returned it to buy something else because I thought that I would find it on sale, then missed it when it went on sale (it never popped back). It was one of my biggest regrets and I have looked for it everywhere ever since (ebay, weekly exchange). When I saw it at the sample sale I almost fainted! The skirt and necklace are also from last year (the clutch is a neighborhood find):





My birthday present has shipped and it will be here tomorrow. Stay tuned to see what I got!