Saturday Outfits

Yesterday morning I broke out my sweatshirt dress to go to the playground (my husband is travelling and this is the second weekend in a row that I am alone with my daughter).
It was supposed to be 75 but in fact it was much cooler than that and I was happy to have my puffer vest with me:




I changed outfit in the afternoon as it didn't get any warmer (and also I dropped olive oil on my dress while eating my tomato salad). I decided to break out my carmichael popover and I wore it with my cargo pants (or I should say that I wanted to wear my cargo pants and I decided to pair them with my carmichael popover):





I liked the outfit but I felt a little bit like I was coming from the mountains and I had lost myself on Madison Avenue. My daughter fell asleep in the stroller (which doesn't happen very often these days) so I went into the Collection store to try a few things on (I didn't have my camera with me and anyway they didn't have any of the newest arrivals). One of the SAs looked at me and said "Oh, I have never seen anybody wear that shirt with those pants. They look cute". Not sure what she meant, as the pants are JBrand and not JCrew. I am still allowed to wear JCrew with other brands, right? Good. I will give her the benefit of the doubt saying that she probably meant the color as the shirt has blue in it and it was an unexpected pairing.

I didn't buy anything as I am waiting for three packages, from the 30% off and sweaters promos, and I am sure that I will have some returns to do before putting money out of pocket to buy new stuff (I am eyeing a couple of items but one of them is very expensive). BTW, I have an amazing CS experience to share. The first of my packages, the one from the 30% off promo, hadn't shipped after a week, so I called them and asked what was going on. They assured me that everything would ship but as a matter of fact I had a cancellation on one of the items the day after. Now, I know that this can happen but I don't understand why it took them a week to find out and let me know, especially when the same item popped back a few days after (and obviously I didn't jump on it because I thought I already had). So I sent them an email explaining that I was upset and they are sending me a $30 gift card for the inconvenience. Isn't that awesome? I was expecting free shipping on my next order at the best (and I also got that). I find that generally sending them an email works better than explaining things on the phone (that can be even more usetting if you happen upon a CSR who doesn't have a clue).

Have a great Sunday!

Two Looks Inspired by the August Catalog

I have tried to recreate my favorite looks form the August catalog mixing new pieces with old ones that I already have in my closet. At this point I have accumulated enough Jcrew clothes that some of them are interchangeable.

The first look is the look on page 52, featuring the Carmichael popover and the double serge pencil skirt in bronzed ochre:



I immediately liked the Carmichael popover when I saw it online and in the catalog and it didn't disappoint me when I saw it IRL and tried it on. I like everything about it: the relaxed but still feminine fit, the colors and the fact that I don't have anything plaid in my closet. But I waited for a % off before buying it. This season I am trying to stick to two simple rules: never buy FP (because things get marked down so quickly these days that it seems silly to buy something full price) and buy only stuff that I can make work with things that I already have.
In this case I don't have the bronzed ochre pencil skirt (and I don't plan to buy it until it goes on FS) but I have last year perfect pencil skirt in dusty blossom. The popover has a hint of dusty rose in it so the dusty blossom of the skirt is a very good match (better than the ochre in the catalog IMO). Instead of the wide calf hair belt, I'm wearing the equestrian belt:




The look also work with the Yoga dream sweater for more warmth:



The second look from the catalog that I wanted to recreate is the one on page 23, with the model on the bycicle:



I am quite lucky with this one as I own a substitute for each piece of the outfit and I don't need to buy anything. Instead of the toothpick jeans in smoke wash I have last year surplus matchstick in a very similar color (I don't remember how it was called); instead of the cashmere crewneck in heather cobblestone that the model is wearing I have the choice between the Corinne sweater (from HO08) in a similar color (it's more brownish IRL but you will see that it doesn't make a big difference) and my Yoga sweater in the same heather cobblestone. And instead of the flower sketch tee in irish moss, I have my new Loft tee in fall olive (any tee in a brownish-olive color will work).
This is the first option, with the Corinne sweater:



Striking the model's pose (but without the bycicle):


And this is the second option, with the Yoga sweater (sorry for the blurred picture), even if I think that the Corinne cardigan works better with these pants:



What do you think of my personal interpretation of the two catalog looks? What's your favorite look from the August catalog?