OOTD: Winter Wonderland

Hello everybody, I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and that you found some fantastic deals for you or your loved ones yesterday. Traditionally (I mean, in the last two years) the only store that we hit on Black Friday is Best Buy, where both my husband and I can have some fun. This year he bought a new DVD/Blue Ray player for $59.99 (it was about time to change it as the old one was acting moody and would play only some DVDs, not to mention that we can now download movies from Netflix and watch them without waiting fot them to arrive in the mail) and I bought the first three seasons of Mad Man for $9.99 each. Awesome deal!

Today we are headed to Chinatown for lunch and some more shopping (my husband's idea). It's pretty cold outside and I am going to wear a warm and festive outfit: my Fair Isle BR sweater-jacket with the factory bistro mini in ivory (size 0) and some bling:




I love wearing white in winter. I have white tights somewhere but for the life of me I couldn't found them this morning. My husband rolled his eyes when he saw me. Oh well, he doesn't have to like every outfit (my daughter loved the sweater though and that's enough for me).

Happy Saturday!

Thanksgiving Outfit and Who Won The Clash of the Tartans

I am stealing a few minutes before my husband comes home from work and we start the long Thanksgiving weekend to post the outfit that I plan to wear tomorrow. As last year and the year before, we are spending Thanksgiving with the family of an ex-collegue and friend of mine, whose parents host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner every year and have "adopted" the three of us as part of the family, even if we don't see my friend as often as we used to. My friend's sister has two kids (6 and 10) and my daughter is very excited to see them and play with them (they are very nice with her even if she is younger).

Anyway, the tone of this family gathering is traditionally casual and low-key (with the exception of the food) so it isn't inappropriate to wear jeans. Actually it is the perfect occasion to wear the Jcrew tartan boy shirt that I ended up buying with the recent 25% off promo (in store). I really, really, like this shirt but I wouldn't have paid $72 for it because of the limited seasonal wear. Waiting for a sale on this shirt is not a good plan (unless you want to buy it for next year) as not only is selling out but you are going to miss the holiday season, which is probably the only time of the year when you are going to wear it. With the 25% the price came down to $54 which is much better and most importantly I can start to wear it now. I must say that the SA gave me some sood advice when he said that it is a shirt that can come across as very masculine so it needs some bling to make it more feminine. I know that many of you found it pretty plain but I believe that it can be versatile with the right accessories and I am going to try it with the crystal symphony necklace. Even not accessorized, I like how it looks under a blazer, both a navy and a black one (more elegant):




Tomorrow I am not wearing a blazer though, nor a bling-y necklace. The Dulphine bling-button cardigan with its jeweled buttons is a perfect way to add some bling (duh!) to an outfit without wearing jewelry. I am in love with the black pine color and I must admit that I bought the cardigan mostly because of the color, as the knit isn't that great (let alone "heavenly"). Again, I wouldn't have bought it for $69.50 but $44 something is a price that I am willing to pay. It fits perfectly (in my regular XS size) and I like this year's v-neck version much more than last year's crewneck. The color goes perfectly with the tartan shirt and there is enough room in the sleeves to wear it over the shirt:




I can also wear it with the Talbots taffeta tartan skirt of my previous post, that I have ordered in a size P0. I am not sure about the ruffled tartan top yet, it could be too much tartan for me. In the meanwhile I am going to wear it with a JCrew cashmere shell (size XXS, to be fitted) and the bling cardigan:




If I don't buy the Talbots tartan top, the Clash of the Tartans ends with an ex-equo for me, as I got the Jcrew tartan boy shirt and the Talbots skirt.

I will be back after the holidays. I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Clash of the Tartans: JCrew versus Talbots

After what I told you in my last post you probably weren't expecting me to come back this soon but as a matter of fact this week I have time to blog guilt-free in the evening as my husband is on (another) business travel (and DD is sleeping tight and doesn't need me).

As many of you, yesterday I received in the mail both the JCrew and the Talbots holiday catalogs. As you probably remember I had decided to swear off Talbots after trying really hard to fit into their clothes. Well, I have to say that after browsing both the catalogs I was much more excited to go to a Talbots store than to Jcrew (where I went in any case to make yet another return). It takes more than a red background to make a holiday catalog look appealing and I think that Jcrew really missed this one. The holiday season is when you want to stock up on party clothes and feel elegant and pretty even if you have nowhere to go (just in case an invitation comes at the last minute). You don't want to be reminded that even if you buy those tartan tuxedo pants you will end up wearing them at home with your slouchy sweatwhirt (that is, in case you still have a sweatshirt not covered in sequins that you can still wear doing sweats). I am really tired of this styling and you know that I love JCrew. I still find individual pieces that I like but between the prices that seem really all over the places (seriously, who wants to buy a $265 sash?) and the same styles offered over and over I am ready for a break from the Crew.
There is actually only one item that I would buy in the entire Jcrew catalog and it's the tartan boy shirt. I tried it today in my regular size (0) and really liked it:




But it's a pretty casual cotton shirt and I am not sure if I want to invest in this one. Maybe I am just not preppy enough for wearing tartan in the daylight. In any case I hold off because I wanted to checkout the holiday collection at Talbots before making any purchase.

I went into Talbots with very little trust that I would actually like the clothes when I would see them in the store, let alone try them on. And in fact, as usual, Talbots greeted me with its retirement-club vibe. At first I had the impulse to take the exit without trying anything on as verything seemed bo-ring, even the most showy sequin top; but because I went there with the purpose of trying things on, I started to look through the racks and picked up a few things that had caught my eye in the catalog.
Now, what's surprising this time around is that I liked the items more once I put them on than on the hangers. I think it's an effect from Crewlade overdose.

My first pick is the Plaid pinch-pleat ruffle top. To be honest I would have preferred a non-ruffled neckline, but I really like the fit (it's flattering) and the fact that it's silk taffeta. I am trying a 2 (regular):



In the same spririt JCrew is offering the Eliza plaid tee. I would have been all over it (especially since I missed on the Phoebe blouse in 2006) but they cheapened it with the beading at the neckline and I didn't even try it on.

Next, these wool plaid pants that I don't see on the website, but are the same fabric than the Kate Fit Plaid jacket. They are fully lined and if I am not wrong they retail for $119. This kind of pants is too classic for me, but they are nice quality per se (even if not incredibly flattering). I am trying a 2P (I am typically a P in bottoms and a regular size in tops at Talbots) and I am not sure if they are supposed to be cropped or "ankle":



JCrew is offering the Cropped plaid tuxedo pants. These are nice and fully lined and more young-looking than the Talbots ones, even if some may dislike the cropped style. My store was out of my size so I couldn't try them on but they feel nice at the touch.

The ivory sweater that I'm trying with the Talbots pants is the Cashmere ballet-neck sweater. It is very plush (it must be a 7-gauge cashmere) and feminine. Personally I tend to buy cashmere turtlenecks and cardigans as opposed to pullovers but this is a nice one, even if a bit on the expensive side.

The next one is the one that I was most curious about. I liked it in the catalog but not when I saw it in the store (I thought "not for me"). And surprisingly LOVED it when I tried it on. It's the Plaid taffeta skirt. This also comes in 0P on the website but they only had the 2P in store (as a general rule they don't have 0s in store), which I think is my size anyway. I dared the combo plaid shirt/plaid skirt and actually liked it. It would look great with a black sash and a black cropped jacket and of course heels are de rigeur with a full knee-lenght skirt like this one:




Now, my holiday calendar is very busy this year. Not only my mother in law is coming for the holidays (which means more nights out for my husband and I) but I have four parties/occasions to attend already and they are all pretty formal. I am thinking that this skirt would be perfect for two of them at least, but I also have the JCrew marveille taffeta mini that needs to be worn (even if that one doesn't need a formal occasion and I can just wear it to go out for dinner). So for the time being both the top and the skirt are on hold for me at the store and starting tomorrow I can use the 25% off coupon that I found in the catalog to buy both. I am VERY tempted, especially because it's a classic skirt and I can wear it for years to come. I am afraid to say that JCrew isn't offering anything like this this season.

So, who do you think wins the clash of the tartans? JCrew or Talbots? Would you wear a tartan skirt with a tartan top?

The Elena Dress Goes to a Party

I am so sorry for disappearing for almost two weeks without notice. The first week I was just busy with regular stuff and couldn't squeeze the blogging into my schedule and last week something happened at my daughter's school that I had to take care of and took out all the energy from me (nothing extremely serious, but upsetting nonetheless). Also, a bulb went off in my head and I this revelation that I was letting my daughter watch too much TV so I could blog (the two hours and a half that I have for me while she is at school are not enough to get everything done and blog on top of that), so I decided that I had to stop because it can have consequences on her and this is an age where I can really make a difference on her development. As much as I like blogging, I love my daughter more as you can all understand. That means that I will keep blogging but won't put as much energy and time into it as before and I will blog when I have the time (as opposed to making time in my schedule to blog). First my life, then the blog. I hope that you are going to stick around even if I blog less frequently (I hope to be able to write a post or two every week).

To go back to less serious stuff like clothes, it's about time that I update you on my nude shoe dilemma. I really enjoyed reading all your comments to my post and appreciated all the good advice that you gave me. Inthe end I decided to return the shoes and I have already received the payment from Amex, so that's a closed chapter. The reason why I ultimately went ahead is that if it weren't for the dress I would have returned the shoes because there was something about them that bothered me, probably the fact that as someone said they were a little matronly or the fact that I could have used a higher heel (they didn't elongate my legs as a pair of nude pumps are supposed to). In any case I think that I made the right choice because I wore the Elena dress this past Saturday to my best friend birthday party and I didn't regret them at all.

I have to say, I had a hard time to find something to wear over the Elena dress. I literally tried every black or ivory (or even colored) cardigan that I have in my closet and only one worked. If you are eyeing this dress and plan on buying it when it goes on sale, keep in my mind that it's probably meant to be worn alone. First of all, the cardigan must be embellishment and ruffle free because those tend to find with the lace pattern. Second, the sleeves tend to bunch up and create a bulk under a cardigan and it's probably why the only one that worked is a dream sweater from HO07 that has pretty loose sleeves being a size S (I was pregnant and I had bought it for New Year's Eve, even if I wasn't really showing, and at that time JCrew cardigans didn't suffer from tight sleeves disorder yet) and a very delicate ruffled trim that is barely noticeable.
The other option that I found working well with the dress is a boyfriend/unstructured blazer. I think it enhances the "cool" factor of the dress. Here is a try-on pic taken on Saturday afternoon. I decided not to wear it because I know that my husband doesn't like this blazer (which is more than 20 years old), but I wanted to show you that you can wear it this way (especially if you dare wearing it with motorcycle boots instead of pumps):



Instead, I wore it like this:





I have to say that when wearing the dress alone (sans cardigan) I really like it without a necklace (or with the Cartier Trinity pendent that I wear everyday and it's very understated), because the lace suffices to itself and a necklace can be distracting. But the outfit with the cardigan definitively needs some light, if not sparkle. I am growing a little bit tired of all the sparkly and bling-y Jcrew necklaces and I found that the knotty pearl necklace complemented perfectly the dress (it's a little bit more cream-y than it looks on the pics):




Not only my husband loved the dress (which was my biggest fear after putting so much money into a dress) but I felt VERY comfortable and we danced the night away (my husband is a very good dancer when he is in the mood).

Well, that felt good to be back to blogging. I have a couple of posts in mind for you because if took a break from blogging I didn't take a break from shopping and there are a few new purchases that I want to share, especially one from Ralph Lauren that I bought at the new Madison Avenue Flagship store. So stay tuned and please be patient. I promise I will come back soon.

Orange Tuesday (and Today's Outfit)

Sorry for the quite long iatus. I had planned to post some pictures of our Halloween party (we had a blast) on Monday but I have deleted ALL. The. Pictures. by mistake (before saving them on the computer, of course). I am still in shock, especially because there were a few good ones of my husband as Napoleon. I guess that the official party photographer has a client...

Anyway, you would think that this was one of my Halloween weekend outfit, but I actually wore it yesterday to a playdate:





Last year cinnamon spice color is the most perfect shade of warm orange (this is the boatneck cashmere sweater). The toothpick cords (last year as well) are navy even if they probably read as black in the pics. The flats are the tortoise patent flats, a recent sample sale find. I have stalked these flats for so long on the website and on ebay before finding them at the sample sale and you know what? They are the most uncomfortable shoes that I have ever owned (and I include my highest heels). They are almost impossible to walk in so until I find a solution or sell them on ebay I am using them only for very short walks. They are terribly cute though and when I look at them I tell myself that I can suffer a little bit:



It is very cold here (in the low forties yesterday), so I put my winter gear in full rotation. Yesterday I wore my cloud puffer in glazed pecan:



I am glad that I bought this last year (even if I didn't "need" it), the color is to die for and I always get a lots of compliments when I wear it.

Today's outfit was more casual (not that yesterday's one was particularly dressy but you know what I mean) and you have seen a variant of it before but I want to show it anyway because 1) I bought the tissue turtleneck in dark rosewood when it went on sale to wear with the Dream draped v-neck sweater (aka "yoga" sweater), which, by the way, is incredibly cheap right now, and it's a perfect pairing for the cobblestone color, even if a little bit more dark or "plum" that I expected and 2) I want you to see how cute is the factory enamel critter charm necklace IRL (I bought the elephant one).
So here you go, the dream draped v-neck sweater in heather cobblestone with the dark rosewood tissue turtleneck and the elephant charm necklace:




A caveat about the elephant necklace is that it hits me right in the middle of the cleavage, so if you don't want to draw attention there you need to wear it over a turtleneck or a not too low cut top. It is even cuter than I thought though and the only problem that I have with it is that I can't wear it when my daughter is around, as she wants it for herself (in fact when I received it and tried it on she said "You can't wear it, it's mine!").
I also want to apologize if my mirror is dirty but "someone" loves to come and put her little fingers (which are always dirty) on it when I take pics, no matter how many times I clean it:



Have a great week!