Product Review: The Short-Sleeve Selvedge Chambray Shirt

So last week when we had that awesome free shipping with no minimum code, I decided to use it to order the Short-sleeved selvedge chambray shirt which was high on my wishlist and the other item from the Spring lookbook that I was really eager to see IRL. I could have waited and tried it in store but what decided me to order was that according to the measurements provided by CS I really needed a XXS in this one and more often then not the XXS isn't carried in stores (I saw a XS in store the other day and I couldn't believe my eyes, it looked HUGE).

It arrived yesterday and I immediately tried it on. The XXS is still a little bit roomy in the shoulders (which NEVER happens to me: I am fairly broad-shouldered and when I size down I usually have the problem of a garment being OK everywhere else but snug in the shoulders) but not overly big. This is not a fitted style as the description hints ("slouchy fit") and in fact it goes down pretty straight, but I knew that so no disappointments here:

The fabric is the selvedge chambray of their long-sleeved shirt and it is pretty substantial. I love the color (note that the pockets are symmetrical, yay!):

I like it best tucked in a pencil skirt (that's how I had planned to wear it and the main reason for me to buy it. I usually wear the perfect stitch one to achieve this look but in the summer it is bothersome to rollup the sleeves):

All in all it is how I expected it to be and it is really something that I was missing (I have very few short-sleeved cotton shirts and no denim ones). Actually I can't believe that it took them so long to come out witha a short-sleeve denim shirt. It is probably a little bit overpriced for what it is and there are problably cheaper versions out there so if you don't really need it I would wait for it to go on sale. But to me it is worth full price because I know that I will get a lot of wear out of it and it is pefect for my lifestyle. I know it is going to be a staple in my closet and it seems sturdy enough to last several years.
In case you decide to order it, call CS for measurements. I reccomend to size one down at least and if you are very small chested, even two sizes.

Are you conidering this shirt? What do you think?

Celebrating Spring in Winter Ochre

All of a sudden it is HOT here (not that I am complaining). After a pretty muddy morning, the sun came out yesterday afternoon with temperatures in the high 70s. Is it only me or now that spring is finally here I have the feeling that I have nothing to wear (and believe me, I have an army of summer clothes just waiting to be worn)? It must be a side effect of the sudden change of season: we aren't used to the sight of our bare skin yet and it also seems a little bit shocking to go from cashmere turtlenecks to tanks. Not to mention that my closet is currently a no men's land where summer clothes and winter clothes are fighting for the last free spot. Must spring clean!

In any case in the end I decided to break out what had been my first purchase of the season back in January, the stripe button-back tee (granted, I could have waited on this one and got it for much cheaper as it went on sale in stores, but c'est la vie) with my Scout chinos (from two years ago) and a little cardigan that I bought at the Gap during their Family and Friends in March (the only thing that I bought at the Gap this year, actually).
The cardigan is still available on the Gap website here and for the price I really reccomend it, especially if you have this tee in this color, as it is almost a perfect match. It is called "winter ochre" and it reads like a real caramel brown IRL (not so much ochre). It is a little bit like a cotton version of the Jenna cardigan, but not as cropped as the Jenna. I am wearing a XS (fits TTS, the model must be wearing two sizes bigger):

On my feet I had the matching patent tortoise ballet flats and the outfit was very cute but my feet were hurting from only walking a block from home to pickup my daughter at her nursery school. I thought about selling them but how could I let these beauties go?

It is going to be 80 today and if the sight of my pale (but waxed!) legs doesn't discourage me I am planning to wear a little Calypso silk shirtdress. Have a great one!

Easter Outfit and Pics

Good morning! I hope that you all spent a great (and dry) Easter.

I had an outfit planned for Easter but I had almost abandoned the idea of wearing it because of the forecasts and all the rain that poured here on Saturday. However, when we woke up yesterday morning the sun was out and I couldn't wait to wear my newly acquired surf tweed mini from last year. Thank you to The Chic Chauffeur for selling me this skirt on the JCA a few weeks back (I love her blog, check it out!)
I had never tried this skirt when it came out (I was turned off by the price and some negative reviews and sold out pretty quickly in my size) and then I could never catch it on sale for a decent price. I would have missed on a great addiction to my closet if it weren't for the JCA Exchange. I was a little bit nervous that the 0 would be too small (as I gained some pound since last spring) but it fits perfectly (it is actually a little bit loose in the waist) and it is longer than this past fall minis. Double yay!
I had the perfect sweater to wear with the skirt (a short-sleeved cashmere cardigan by Ralph Lauren in a candy shade) but I washed it on Friday evening and it didn't dry by Easter because of the humidity that we had, so this is actually a backup outfit that turned out to be great. Instead of pairing two candy shades, I went tonal with the Cecelia cami in seaweed and the lumiere ruffle cardi in natural:

I ended up wearing it with the cardigan closed and belted but later in the day it got really too warm for the mohair cardigan:

We had planned to have Easter brunch in the neighborhood with the family of one of my daughter's girlfriends from school. We were 7 with 4 kids all under age 4 so it crossed my mind that maybe I would be better off in jeans or other stain-proof clothes but after all I don't have many occasions to dress up a bit so I crossed my fingers that no meatball or other flying food would land on my skirt. I was lucky!
Here we are on our way to the restaurant. I know, my sweater is longer than my jacket but it was the ideal weather for the ruffle-collar trench and also the skirt looks too cute with that jacket, so pardon me for this fashion misfit:

After brunch we wanted to catch the Easter bunny at the Carl Shultze park, which was a 20-minute walk from the restaurant, so we stopped by the apartment for a quick change (it got also incredibly hot). And when I say quick change I mean that I had literally two minutes to take my skirt and stockings off and grab the first bottom that happened into my hands. Which in this case was the vintage slim jean in rustic wash. I really like this pair of jean but the belt loops are really giant and give it a worker look, especially if you wear it with a jean belt like I did. I wanted to wear my tortoise shell belt and matching flats but impossible to find either of them in the time slot allowed by my husband (but I did take a pic when we came back home):

Halas, by the time we got there the Easter bunny was gone but they had planted gorgeous tulips and we took some pics since my daughter was all decked out in her Easter outfit. She looked adorable, a flower herself:

And with mommy:

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the park, hiding and seeking our own Easter eggs. My daughter was running around like a little bunny and it was a pleasure to watch her looking for the eggs. At some point she wanted to hide the eggs for mommy and daddy but then instead of letting us find them, she went and "found" them herself (it was hilarious and so genuine because she didn't mean to cheat. I loooove this age, they can engage in a conversation but they are still innocent).

What did you wear on Easter?

Happy Easter!

xoxo,
Ema

The Romper

I went to the Collection store to get the Casbah perfect shirt after spending almost my entire morning trying to decide between the shirt and the tunic (and losing another coveted item in my undecision).

When I arrived I was taken aback by the view of the romper, that they had received in the meanwhile. Since I was there and I was going to try the shirt in my real size, I told myself "Why not?" So are you ready for IRL pics of the Casbah romper?

Admittedly it is better than I thought, more flattering than the dress on me and I didn't feel too old to wear it, probably because I can still wear shorts. But for the life of me I can't figure out when I would wear a silk romper, it seems very umpractical for everyday life (with a back zipper to make things more complicated) and not dressy enough to be an occasion ...romper (if such a thing exists). Going out in a romper: do people do that?

This is the 0. The fit is TTS but depending on the size of your hips you might need to size up to get it on, because of the seaming at the waist (unlike a dress you can't pull it down through your head. A thing that you have probably forgotten about rompers if you haven't a toddler around). The shorts portion is not too short (it's a 4" inseam) and not too clingy, which makes it a little bit more sophisticated :

I went with the perfect shirt instead. The whole outfit below, actually, which is much more weareable (the shorts are the Oxford shorts in island aqua, which is greener IRL than on my monitor, in a 0 and I am totally in love):

Any romper lovers out there?

A MacKenzie and Some Stripes

We have a very short season here in NY to go out and about in a wool blazer, so as soon as the weather warms up (but not too much) I try to wear mine out, especially those in spring-y colors (not that I have many). Last Friday I took advantage of a few hours of break from winter temperatures to wear my MacKenzie blazer from last year in the lovely (bronzed? warm?) clay color.

I love this blazer, I really do. I like that it is unstructured and can be easily dressed up and down. That day I had to make a quick change and go from casual to "professionally polished" and it worked very well. Demonstration.

In the morning I went out for errands with my daughter, so I dressed it down with jeans. It was still pretty cold so I wore a cashmere cardigan under it (the cashmere crewneck in rose dust from last Fall) and my pastiche scarf:

After dropoff I had a meeting with the Director of the nursery school (to talk kindergarten applications), so I had to change into something more polished, almost professional. This is as professional as I can get these days (I haven't bought work attire in years but these pinstripe pants from Zara still fit from my pre-baby days, even if they are a little bit tighter than back then). I felt very comfortable and appropriate in this outfit:

After the meeting, I changed into my jeans again to pickup my daughter but instead of the jacket I wore the cardigan open over a Zara striped tee that has the same pink in it. I know, I probably didn't need another striped tee but this one was inexpensive and the colors are quite original:

It also works wonderfully with the blazer, that I tyically wear with a white tee or shirt. Here I was trying an outfit with Zara chino pants and the MacKenzie:

I love these pants. I have been looking for a pair of not-too-dark navy casual pants forever and when I saw these I had to get them (also love the golden button detail, sort of a twist on the classic chinos). They come in an array of saturated colors to play colorblock this spring and I might buy another pair in emerald green or bright blue. They retail for $59.99 in case you are interested.
In the pics above you can't see the real color (they are lighter, almost an admiral blue) but here is another pic with my other staple this spring, the Gap striped breton that I bought around the holidays (better than Saint James, IMO and for only $19):

How do you wear you wool blazers this spring?

Off to die eggs now... Have a great Easter weekend!

The Casbah Paisley Collection Is Here

You probably remember the green paisley romper from the JCrew Spring Lookbook. As many of you I was eagerly awaiting to see that print in stores, as to me it was the highlight of the summer Collection.
Well, it is finally here. It is called "Casbah Paisley" and so far has been made into a perfect shirt, a short-sleeved blouse, a strapless dress, a cotton tunic, a couple of swimsuits and a scarf. I previewed some of these items yesterday at the Collection store and except they are all available on the website as of this morning. Quite strangely the romper, that was showcased as the highlight of the collection, wasn't in store (but it is available online here.

I had high hopes for the dress (featured in the new May Catalog) because I have an occasion to wear it this summer but it was disappointing. I usually do well with strapless styles but the fit of this one was off and gave me the pregnant look (and I don't need a $198 dress that makes me look pregnant, thank you very much). This is the 0:

You can already see that it wasn't extremily flattering from the front but wait for the side pic. I look 6 month pregnant:

Now you know why in the Catalog they show it with a belt under the bodice. But I really don't know how anyone could wear a belt around the ribcage in real life. I hope that it works for someone else, because it is such a beautiful print for a dress. Now that the dress is out of the question, I could actually go with that romper!

The perfect shirt was much better. It is the typical silk-cotton lawn blend of their summer perfect shirts and it is particularly suited to this striking print, it looked very breezy. I usually don't buy the summer perfect shirts because it gets too warm here to wear something silk and long-sleeved but I might go with this one or the blouse as I want something in this print (I was joking about the romper, I think I have exceeded the expiration date for wearing rompers). This is a size 2 (I am usually a 0 and it fits a little bit "relaxed" so I would say TTS):

The cotton tunic looks promising, even if a little bit overpriced at $88 (this is catalog only, so I couldn't see it IRL):

As I said before, they also made a beautiful swimsuit collection and scarf in this print. I saw the scarf in the store and I thought it was linen but I see on the website that it is actually wool (boo!):

I also tried some other stuff but I wanted to share this first. Stay tuned for more new arrivals pics!

What do you think? Are you shopping the Casbah Collection?

JCrew Misc Try-Ons

Good morning! I wanted to post very quickly a few pics that I took on two recent trips to the B&M in case you want to order any of these during the MUSTHAVE promo (many of these items are not on sale yet but you can always add them as ride-alongs).

First, an item from the April catalog that I hadn't seen in store yet, the lovely and ultra-feminine Silk Sophie blouse. It fits TTS. This is the muslim color (ivory) and it is very sheer, as you can see (granted, I was wearing a black bra which isn't the best):

I love the gold buttons, they are very Tory Burch-esque. I saw the dark slate color and it is pretty too (wih the advantage of not being sheer), it is a grey with a hint of green (the swatch is pretty much true to the color IRL).

Next, another new arrival, the Schoolboy blazer in summer stripe. It is very lightweight and kind of shiny. Personally I didn't like the fit and style, but here it is (it fits bigger than the otherschoolboy blazers IMO, this is a 0 while I am usually a 2 in schoolboy blazers):

I tried again the Shrunken fisherman sweater but in the white colorway. It was a little bit sheer and more beach-y. All in all I prefer the bleechwood color but here is the white, in case you were wondering how it looks on:

In all these pics I am wearing the awesome Cropped white matchstick jean. I don't have a white pair of cropped jean and the fit of these was so great that I had to buy them (with 20% off). This is a size 26 with a tee that is not online (expensive, like $45 maybe, and sheer):

And now a few items from the sale section. The Delaney eyelet top, that went on sale on the website this morning and is $29.99 in store is very cute, not sheer (it has a double layer of cotton, something quite unseen before) but runs big. This is a 0 and it was very low-cut:

The Stripe mandarin tee fits TTS but I went one down because I liked the length of the XXS better (it is less pajama-y):

In case you were wondering like me where in the world the picture on the Sequin postcard tank had been taken, mystery solved: per receipt it's Santorini, Greece (even if it doesn't look like Greece to me). I had been eyeing this since it came out as I have few tanks and $13.99 is a price good enough for me. This is the XXS:

That's it for today. I tried a very cute linen top (the linen version of the Tulip cami) but it isn't online yet so I will probably post the pics in the next fitting room post as new arrivals are due next week.
Any question, let me know. Have a good weekend!

Two OOTD (Tatum Jacket and a Graphic Tee)

I am a busy, busy bee this week so please pardon my lack of comments (I wll try to catch up later, but thank you for your sweet comments to my last post. I feel better now about splurging on the dress).
I just wanted to post the two outfits that I wore yesterday, because they are so very different but I felt good wearing both of them.

Yesterday morning we toured an ongoing school in the neighborhood (we are applying for kindergarten in the fall and we are starting to prospect). I absolutely wanted to wear a BR dress (from maybe three years ago) that I think is perfect for this kind of occasions because of its understated elegance. This school in particular is an all-girl catholic school and I find the dress to be particularly fitting in that it is very chast:

The problem: it's a short-sleeve knit dress meant to be worn on its own but it was still too cold for that (even if spring is definitively here)and I had a hard time to find a jacket to wear over it (cardigans don't work with this dress). It's a particular shade of navy and none of my navy jackets/blazers matched. I tried at least ten jackets, while my husband was rolling his eyes and singing the Husband's International Anthem "With all the money that you spend in clothes you can't have anything better?".
In the end I wore my Tatum tweed blazer and we were both satisfied with the result:

Change of outfit in the afternoon. We had offered my daughter's nursery school to give a few French classes to the kids in my her class as a sort of an afterschool program (my husband's idea). The first class was yesterday and I worked very hard to prepare it. I was terribly stressed because I am not a teacher and to keep a bunch of 4 years old entarttained for 45 minutes while teaching them a few words in French is not an easy task, but it went pretty well (they were especially amused by my version of "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in French).
In any case my outfit was meant to be amusing, even if I didn't get to teach them the "things that move" part of the lesson. At least I was amused by my tee (that I found for a bargain at Urban Outfitters a while ago and actually bought to wear on Bastille Day, when I never know what to wear), which is actually grammatically incorrect in French (it says "Francais tour a velo" and I am not sure if "Francais" is meant to be part of the sentence or not. In any case, they can't read):

The pants are Zara chinos (more on these in another post) and the cardigan is a Loft (from January). The funny thing is that when I weny grocery shopping later I caught people staring at me like I knew something that they didn't know (like that it was some French national day or there was actually a French bike tour in NY).

OK, I will try to post a few fitting room pics before the end of the weekend (not guaranteed). In the meanwhile I wish you a happy one.

Love at First Sight (The Rebecca Taylor Nouveau Ballet Dress)

You know that I love shopping and I love clothes in general, but every once in a while a garment comes along that calls my name like it were my other half looking to find me. When I first saw the Rebecca Taylor Nouveau Ballet dress at Bloomingdale's (now sold-out) I tried to resist its siren song because of that big price tag that was attached to it but the love only grew stronger. And when I saw it again last week, hanging lonely and in my size, truly calling my name as I had to save it from some tourist who would only buy it to toss it in a suitcase and show it home as a trophy from a foreign land, I had to come up with a plan. Because, well, I didn't have the money to come to the rescue.
What does it take to get your true love? First, drop the other lovers you were just flirting with (bye-bye Cecilia dress, bye bye Lilly Pulitzer one-shoulder dress, I can live without both of you), return whatever it is that you bought on a whim and can provide some cash (like that ATL popover that was so cheap but too big), ultimately rob a bank ((in this case my husband's bank account, which is also mine, mind you) and hope that the police will find out as late as possible so you can come up with some good excuse (like that wedding that we are planning to attend in the Caribbean this summer).

I will recit all the qualities that make you so special, that particular shade of green, the darling-but-not-so-dainty tulip print that I won't find anywhere else and will never go out of style, the fact that you fit my body like a glove, like in fact you were made for me and, most importantly, the fact that you remind me of my younger self:

You are now mine, my love and I promise I will take good care of you. I will wear you hot summer day after hot summer day day, year after year. Each spring, I will be happy to find you again in my closet. I will never forget that you exist. And if, as I grow older, you should become "inappropriate" or too small, I will lovingly put you to sleep in a plastic bag until my daughter will be old enough to bring you back to life again. Because you are timeless, like eternal love.

What do you think of the Nouveau Ballet dress? Worth the splurge?