Mom's Night Out Outfit (Plus Another Chanel-esque Outfit with the Tori Factory Cardigan)

I still owe you pics of the outfit that I wore to the Mom's Night Out last Thursday. Before I show you the pics, let me say that it wasn't your regular Mom's Night Out. First of all, the moms of the entire school were invited and second it was held at one of the mom's apartment. Now who can invite the entire school in her apartment? Exactly. Have you seen "The Nanny's Diaries?". I am talking about that kind of apartment.
Knowing that, and knowing that I was going to meet a lot of new people I wanted to look classy without looking like I was trying too hard so I picked a top and a pair of pants that make me feel put together and confident no matter what. The pants are Theory and are maybe the best pants that I own and the top is the lovely Jcrew Olive top from last year:





I actually wore my real pear necklace instead of the one that you see in the pics (a Nordstrom Rack find) because the color didn't go that well with the Olive top IRL. I always feel at ease when I wear this top and/or these pants and the outfit contributed to my enjoying the party and the company without worrying about the appropriateness of my outfit (the other moms were wearing similar outfits. A very few showed up in jeans.)

The following is another outfit that I plan to wear soon to some kind of cocktail party (there are many to come organized by the school). It features the same pants, a blouse by Calypso that I bought recently on sale and the factory version of the Tori cardigan. The general look of the Tori is the same than the retail version; however it is very itchy and not nearly as soft (in the factory dream blend there is only a small percentage of cashmere compared to the retail version). I thought about returning it but it looks good with so many blouses that I am going to suck it up (also it helps that I bought it with the 30% off).
In particular the Calypso blouse is difficult to wear with a cardigan because of the exaggerated collar (as you will see), but it looks good with the Tori and I can even wear it with the cardigan closed and the collar out (the necklace is the knotty pearl necklace, currently in the sale section of the Jcrew website):




This is with the cardigan over the blouse and left open:



And this is the blouse alone, tucked in:



I am off to a curriculum night at school now but I will be back tomorrow with some pics for Halloween.

Some New Arrivals: IRL Pics

I went into Jcrew yesterday to sort out my bubble necklace mess (I'm double bummed because I had to place another order and today is 20% off. GRRR) and I tried some of the new arrivals on. Not many because my daughter was hysterical, but I wanted to share the pics anyway.

First, the much talked about Dream Tori ruffle cardigan. To be honest with you, I didn't recognized it (I mean I thought that I had tried another cardigan but when I came home and looked for it on the website I realized that it was the Tori), it looks completely different IRL, as many JCAs already said on the JCA post about the new arrivals.
Maybe it's the color, I tried the black in XS:



As you can see the taffeta trim is not that ruffled, but personally I liked it more this way, I think it's going to better stand the test of time. Size-wise I would say that it's TTS. I think that it's a really nice cardigan and is going to be a holiday favorite.

Another evening cardigan that I really wanted to try on when I saw it earlier this week, is this tuxedo-like merino cardigan:




This one is retail-only and the price is $118. I have to say that I liked it better on the hanger than on, I found it a little bit somber (there isn't enough contrast between the sateen around the collar and the merino IMO), but maybe with a nice sparkling top and/or bottom is going to look different. The fit is TTS (I have tried a XS) but the sleeves were a little bit long as you can see in the second pic.

The third item wasn't part of the new rollout but I hadn't seen it before and I REALLY liked it. It's the Wool ribbon ravine dress. I wasn't interested in it (I have tried by request of a reader) until I tried it on. This is the rosebud color (more salmon than pinkish IMO) in a 0:



And detail of the neckline:



As the website description says, the edges of the ribbon trim are raw but it doesn't look as they are fraying. The 0 was a little bit loose in the bodice and a little bit longer than on the model but this dress comes in petite (BTW, the crewless SA told me that it didn't), so keep that in mind if you want to order it. I think that the rosebud is a beautiful color for the holidays and I'm definitively going to get this at some point.

The last item that I tried on is another in-store-only cardigan. Ruffles again but quite nice. It's a little bit this year (=ruffled) version of the Lea IMO. I'm sorry for the "ruffles over ribbon" pic but my daughter was throwing stuff in the mirror and I was in a hurry to get out of the fitting room before a SA would come in and ask what was all that noise:



This one came in a plethora of colors (I saw a light berry and a mustard) and the price was $89.50 if I'm not wrong.
I also saw the new Merino watercolor leopard cardigan and if you want to order this one beware of the fact that there is a bright blue component much more pronounced than it shows in the website pics (it's quite beautiful though).

That's it for now. If you have any questions let me know. I have to go back later today or tomorrow for my bubble necklace (they couldn't process the return, triple bummer), so if you are interested in any of the retail-only cardigans I will take note of the style number.

Have a great weekend!