JCrew New Arrivals Fitting Room Pics: May, Part 1 (Dresses)

First of all, thank you for your sweet comments to my Mother's Day post, I really appreciate the time that you take to leave comments and even if sometimes I am slow to reply or don't get around to it, I want you to know that I read and enjoy every and each of them.

Remember the giant pinata for my daughter's bday that I had schlepped home from downtown? Well, I had to schlep it back on Monday because the gym didn't allowed hitting pinatas (liability issues, I had to buy a pull-on one), so since the party supply store wasn't far from the JCrew store on Fifth Avenue, I rewarded myself with a little try-on session after. They had just received the new collection, the one featured in the May catalog, and everything looked brand new in the store. In any case you are in for a treat because I could try on a lot of new arrivals (and some not-so-new that I hadn't the chance to try before) so I will break it down in two posts. Most of this stuff isn't online yet but I picked up a catalog and I will note the style number when available.

Let's start from the cover ;-). I was really looking forward to seeing the Ella dress in porcelain paisley (#77196). For some reason I was not excited by the pencil skirt (which is beautiful BTW), probably because I have waaaay too many pencil skirts for my lifestyle, but the dress seemed very special in the previews and I can do strapless so I had high hopes.
The dress is absolutely beautiful. It is made in the same fabric than the pencil and the print is even more stunning than on the pencil because it continues on the bodice. It fits TTS, I tried my regular 0 which was perfect (but if you are more busty than a 34C you will need to size up, I think. It "just" hold my ladies in without being uncomfortable):

Side view (no pregnant look):

Detail of the fabric and waist seam (it has pockets!):

As I said it is really a beautiful dress and I really wanted to get it when I saw the price tag. I was expecting $198 or $228, not $298. Now, I have nowhere to wear this dress, I can't even conjure up a fantasy where I am wearing it, lol! The fact is that it isn't an easy-breezy dress for the summer, it has the inside boning of the occasion dresses and I couldn't zip it up by myself. Now, if you need help to wear a dress, you are not going to wear it to stroll down the street, let me tell you. This is not a criticism of the dress (quite the opposite, actually, it is very well made) I just don't think I am going to wear it if nothing changes in my summer plans (there is a remore possibility that I have somewhere fancy to go but it is still up in the air). But for those of you who have an occasion and can do strapless, it is certainly stunning.

The next dress feautured in the May Catalog is the Dree dress in deck stripe (#85741X, retails for $148). When I saw this dress in the catalog I was under the impression that it was a knit, but it is a silk dress. In fact it is similar to the blouson dress but instead of spaghetti straps it has a sheat-style top. This is a shorter dress but very flattering on and quite cool, I really liked it. I am questioning the poly lining because in the dog days of summer you don't want poly against your skin (although is lightweight poly lining, so to speak, like in the blouson dress). That and the price make it a "sale wishlisted" dress for me. This is the 0, fits TTS:

On page 7 of the Catalog we have the Lucille dress in cotton-silk faille. I tried this one for the blog, but ended up taking it home with me, this color is too flattering and cheerful and I have actually a few cocktail parties coming up where I can wear it. I didn't try the dressed down version that is showed in the Catalog (with a tee shirt underneath) yet but I doubt that it works in real life, since the skirt is a bit poufy. It is lined in poly (the heavy, unbreatheable type) and I am probably going to take it to a tailor (or give it to my MIL who is arriving next week) to have the lining removed (after all it is a summer dress and I don't need a lining. This is the 0, fits TTS to slightly big (I could have squeezed in a 00 but it would have compressed my chest. If you are small chested, you can probably go down a size). I like that the simple shape, that makes it versatile:

The Lucille also comes in a lace version (#83887X, retails for $188). This is the bright sun in a 00 (they didn't have a 0 to try):

If I am not wrong the lining in this one is cotton or acetate, which makes it less poufy than the cotton-silk faille version. It is a beautiful dress but too occasion-y for me, I can't see myself wearing it.

Another occasion dress (this time labeled with the Occasions and Parties label) is the Cha cha dress, that I thought some of you would be interested in seeing (I tried it only for the blog). This dress is 100% linen (it is lined in acetate, I checked) and it is HEAVY. It was a hassle to put it on with all the fabric, the peplum and the peekaboo on the back (too many holes!) and I almost gave up but I perseverated and here it is. Again, this is the 0, fits TTS. It is a beautiful dress if you have an occasion and it is cheaper than the Ella:

The next one is more weareable. It's called the Back-bow dress (#84356). It is a simple sheath with a bow detail in the back. You can easily cover up the back cleaveage with a cardigan and wear it to the office, the length is appropriate. It is a blend of cotton and linen but it is lined in poly (bummer). Fits TTS, this is the 0:

Here I wanted to show you the bow detail in the back but it is probably better if you look it up in the catalog:

Let's move on to an easy-breezy dress that I can see myself wearing ;-). This one is not in the Catalog and it also comes in stripes (you can see the striped version on ajc here). I really liked this one, I find the pattern and colors interesting, but it is very overpriced at $68. I am pretty sure it is rayon or a blend of cotton/rayon and would cost between $12.95 and $17.95 at F21 (same exact fabric/quality). It is also very thin so it has probably some sheerness to it in the natural light. This is the XS:

If it weren't so overpriced I would have bought this one. Instead I bought the Altuzarra for JCrew Patricia dress (by the way, if you are looking for one try to call the Fifth Avenue store, they had it in all the sizes). At least it is overpriced for a reason, the name that comes with it. I tried the XS first but it was a bit shapeless, the XXS was a great fit. I liked everything in this dress (like the patches on the shoulders that make it a little bit more interesting) and how it holds its shape. I wore it with a blazer to a breakfast organized by the kindergarten school that my daughter will attend next year and it looked very polished. The only thing is that it has superskinny sleeves, I hope that they stretch out a bit as they were borderline uncomfortable (especially at the elbow seam). In any case it is very flattering on and I plan to to take it with me to Paris at the end of the summer. The perfect dress for Paris, methink!
I honestly can't remember if these are the pics of the XS or XXS (I think XXS):

The last dress that I tried is the Garment-dyed neon shirtdress. I tried the 00 but if I had to get it I would go with the 0, it was very tight in the sleeves. It is made of the same fabric than the garmednt-dyed toothpicks, so a bit heavy for our summer. The color is much more neon-y IRL than in the pic:

Since I am grouping all the dresses in this post, I am going to include the pics of the Scatter dot (#85792X) and the Nili Lotan Striped dress that I had tried quite a while ago and never got around to posting.

The Scatter dot dress was very comfortable and swirly on, in a child-ish way. At this point I am dotted out but if it came in a beautiful solid color (like a neon azalea) I would consider it on sale (by the way, I think that it is already on sale in stores). This is a 00 but I would probably go with a 0. There was a lot of static clingy-ness due to the poly lining, but I still liked it. The pockets on this dress are awesome:

The Nil Lotan stripe dress was a big disappointment. It fits very small, for starters, and it is completely sheer. Not sure where one is supposed to wear this dress besides a beach setting, I don't think you can wear a slip under it. I still love the stripes and the fabric. If I am not wrong this is the S:

All in all I think there are some beautiful dresses in this rollout. Do you like any of these? Any question let me know.
I am going to reply to the questions that some of you left in my previous posts, so be sure to check back. I will be back soon (probably tonight already) with the second part of this new arrivals post so that tomorrow morning when the new arrivals are on the website you will have more info to decide if you want to pull the trigger on something.