JCrew September New Arrivals (Blazers and Minis)

Hello everybody! I know that some of you were expecting a post on the Gap but I have been "distracted" by JCrew this morning. I went in to make a return and miraculously I could try some of the new arrivals on while my daughter was reading (can you believe that they keep children's books at the Collection store so the moms can shop?)
I knew that I wouldn't have the time to try everything on so I selected just a few items, that is some of the new blazers and a cute pair of minis.

I think that they totally nailed the velvet blazer this year with the Velvet schoolboy blazer. I tried the deep plum one and I loved it, and if you follow my blog you know that purple is not one of my favorite colors (in fact I have a very few things purple). The color is very rich in person and the cut is just fantastic. Totally worth the $148 IMO.
I tried a 2 which is my size in this kind of blazers (the 0 is typically too short-waisted on me and snug in the shoulders):



Next I tried the plaid wool blazer that was featured in Marie Claire some times ago (refer to this post), with the golden buttons. I didn't like this one on me (especially for the $325 price tag), it was boxy and too classic-looking but looked better on some other (taller) customers. I am trying a 0:




Because many JCAs had loved it, I tried the Donegal tweed schoolboy blazer that I had already seen but never tried on because I thought that the Donegal tweed looked itchy (not to mention that I don't need a blazer like this one). Well, I was wrong and the JCAs were right: the tweed is very soft and the fit just great. Trying a 2 as well in the aluminium color (that I liked more IRL than the moss color):



That's one of the two minis that I tried on. You wanted color for fall? JCrew listened to you ;-). This one runs definitively small. I tried both the 0 and the 2 and the 0 was not only too short but also too tight (I was still able to close it but felt uncomfortable in it). This is the 2 (even sizing up it will still be too short for many of you):



The fabric has mohair in it, so there is piling risk. It zips up in the front and has front vents and side pockets. The belt is the wild calf-hair belt in a size S:



The next one is the tweed mini that was mentioned by some JCAs in the weekly review post. This one comes also in 00 and runs TTS. The SA convinced me to try the 2 because it's short but it looked better in my regular 0 (there wasn't a big difference in terms of length. The first pic is the 0 and the second one is the 2):





Close-up on the fabric (beautiful colors and has golden threads in it). But I couldn't get past the ugly zippers:



Both the minis retail for $120, which I find a little bit steep, especially for the orange one. That's almost $140 with tax for a mini. However, I do think that they are really cute if you can pull them off and if the second one didn't have the zippers I would have probably bought it (it is kind of growing on me though, even with the zippers).

What do you think? Do you like any of these new arrivals? Any question, let me know. I have the feeling that I am going back soon ...

I'm planning to go to the Gap later in the afternoon and I hope that I will be able to post pics still today for those who have the 40% off coupons. Stay tuned!

Let's forget about Paris ... (more JCrew)

Are you still there? I hope so, even if I'm sure that you haven't missed me nearly as much as I did. As you have guessed, I'm back from my trip to Europe but I'm not ready to show you the pictures yet or undertake what in my jet lagged mind looks like the impossibly difficult task of a post on the "European latest fashion trends" (nothing less) or the fabulous shopping in Paris that I could have done but didn't do because 1) I was completely sick and 2) I was all the time with my husband and mother in law, ie the opposite of shopping fun. Let's just say that I didn't buy ANYTHING in Paris (besides a tee for my daughter) but I made up a little bit for the Parisian non-shopping in Milan where I was alone with my daughter (my husband stayed in France for work). Not that going shopping with my daughter is the best (she wouldn't stay with my parents so I had to take her with me everywhere) but is definitively better than shopping with my mother in law (at least she doesn't tell me just yet that I have plenty of clothes and I don't need anything).
OK, I'm being a little bit negative. In reality more than the absence of shopping it was the fact of being sick in Paris that really bummed me. I got the classic "flight virus" that started as soon as I arrived with a sore throat, then transformed in a very bad cold (actually I think that it was the WORST cold that I ever had and I couldn't smell anything for more than a week. In Paris! No need to say that we didn't waste our money dining at expensive "restaurants gastronomiques").
So let's forget about Paris for the time of a few posts (but I promise that you'll have your Paris post in the next few days. Besides from the cold and the frustration of being unable to shop we had a good time and actually when I left I was a little bit nostalgic because Paris was simply gorgeous. Plus seeing my daughter go completely crazy for the Eiffel Tower - especially at night when it sparkles and she saw the "stars" was worth the trip).

In the meanwhile I have more Jcrew to post about (and this I can do even jet lagged). We got back yesterday afternoon and I found on my doorstep a familiar envelope. It was the Jcrew package with the order that I had placed a couple of days before leaving and that I have missed for a couple of hours. I was really nervous about this package waiting for me for two weeks, not because I was afraid that someone else could pick it up (it couldn't possibly happen here) but because I had so many problems with my Jcrew orders recently, with items missing or wrongly sent to me, that I was almost sure that even this time I would have a (bad) surprise. And I would have to explain it to a SA two weeks after the delivery of the package. But, incredibly, everything that I had ordered was there, even the Monterey striped skirt that I snagged on a popback after much stalking and I couldn't believe that could actually ship.

I didn't want to try everything on immediately with my suitcase still unopened but I couldn't resist and tried the Monterey skirt with the Imperial tee (someone, ina or mrs.anketell asked to see more outfits with this tee, so here you go):



I really hope that it will be warm enough in September because I absolutely want to wear this outfit this year. But I also have an alternative outfit if I need more warmth, with the perfect stitch shirt and the Gap schoolboy blazer (still, my legs need to be bare with this skirt):



I love the crispness of this look and I'm planning to wear it for my daughter's first day of nursery school next week. What do you think?
The blazer is the Gap schoolboy blazer that I have posted about a while ago. I ended up buying it with the 40% off coupon and I'm very happy that I did. I'm not sure that it comes across in the pictures because the position of the arm that holds the camera makes the side of the jacket to fly away from the body, but this blazer fits me perfectly (I bought a size 2) and for $56 it's a great buy (it's $98 FP). When I bought it I took a few pictures that I never got around to show you, so I'm posting them here. Casual, with jeans and a tank:



And with the Imperial tee and white pants, for a more sophisticated nautical look:



I will post about the other items in my package in the next post. I just wanted to let you know that I'm back. I'm also trying to catch up on reading everybody else's blogs and I'm sorry that I haven't commented back in the last two posts but I was a little bit overwhelmed with the packing. I promise that I will go back in the next days!

Look-Alike of the Week: the JCrew Wool Schoolboy Blazer and the Gap Shrunken Schoolboy Blazer

The weather today (more October than July) inspired me to write this post, that I meant to write since I saw the Gap Shrunken Schoolboy Blazer (picture on the left) in store two weeks ago.
It immediately reminded me of the JCrew Wool Flannel Blazer (right) which, as I just read on the JCA blog, is also featured as a Jenna's pick in the August catalog, due in store July 25th.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the schoolboy blazer, it's not something that I would usually wear (as a rule I stay away from any piece of clothing that has the word "school" in its name), so I never considered spending the $188 of the Jcrew version.
However, I have to say that when I saw the Gap version I had to try it on for the blog because it looked like a very well-made alternative to the Jcrew one.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I can't show you IRL pics, but I tried a size 2 (I couldn't try a 0 as it was already sold-out in that store) and it looked really nice (just the sleeves were a little bit long). I haven't seen or tried the Jcrew one, but for half the price (it retails for $98), the Gap is a much cheaper option if you're looking for something similar or you like the Jcrew one but don't feel like shelling out $200 for it.

As you can see in the side to side pics above, the Gap blazer looks almost 100% like the Jcrew one, from the cut (the Gap description uses the term "shrunken" while the Jcrew one reads "fitted", but the fit is the same), to the pockets, down to the metal buttons. The only difference is in the fabric: the Gap fabric composition is 50% Wool, 48% Polyester, 2% Spandex while the Jcrew one is 100% (flannel) wool.

It looks like the only color available now on the Jcrew website is the pearl gray pictured above but I'm pretty sure that they also had a navy or charchoal (while the Gap only comes in the color pictured above, called "dark indigo") which appears to be already sold-out.

Do you like or own the Jcrew schoolboy blazer? What do you think of the Gap alternative? Do you like the "schoolboy blazer" look in general? Have you been to the Gap recently and did you like the current offerings?