Last Tuesday while my daughter was at school I went to the Collection store to checkout the new arrivals. It's dangerous to try on spring clothes just after a beach vacation because in general everything looks better with a tan (at least on me) and in fact I came home with one item that I probably wouldn't even thinked about buying if my legs had been pale as they usually are in winter.
And because I was still feeling a little bit on vacation, I was immediately drawn to this:
I take back everything I said on JCrew swimwear, I would have bought this beauty in a heartbeat had it come out before my vacation (it's the bikini that the model is wearing on page 62 of the Catalog, under the tunic and, strangely, it isn't featured anywhere else in the Catalog). But my next beach vacation will probably be in July (we are planning to return to the Hamptons) and I'm sure that I can catch it on sale before then.
But you're probably more interested in other more city-appropriate new arrivals, so here are my picks (they hadn't everything at the Collection store and many of the new arrivals have already been reviewed on several blogs, so besides the items that I tried on because I liked them for me, I tried to pick-up items that I haven't seen on others).
First, the
Laporte drape blouse, in the pale lilac and my regular size 0:
It felt big and a little bit messy. The drape didn't fall nicely (in case you haven't noticed on the website it has an elastic band at the hem) and it is clearly a high maintenance top. For the price it was a pass.
Second, the much-talked about
Neapolitan Pencil skirt. This one is beautifully made and the texture is the same than last summer coccodrillo pencil skirt. I think that IRL the print is a little bit more subdued than on the pics (the charcoal is not as predominant) and the violet is really a violet and not "plum".
I'm a 2P in the wool perfect pencil skirts. This one doesn't come in petite but the 0 was perfect in the waist area (it fits a little bit smaller than the wool one and MUCH smaller than the double-serge cotton pencil skirt of the past summer). However it was a bit too long on me and I would need to have it hemmed:
I left it at the store because I don't wear pencil skirts that much to justify the purchase and in compairison I liked the coccodrillo print much better. But if you wear pencil skirts an you like this print, this one is absolutely beautiful and flattering.
As a top in the pics above I was wearing the
Jcrew tissue garland tank in lavender.
I really liked this tank (BTW, the embellishment is made in a different, more substantial, cotton than the rest of the tank, which is why the flowers are not droopy and kind of standup like a bouquet) and my only problem was to decide among the lavender, the coral pink and the sepia, that I'm wearing in the following pic with the
Vintage zebra-stripe broken-in boyfriend chino short:
These shorts were one of the two new arrivals that had really caught my eyes on the website (the other being the vintage boatneck top, that wasn't in store and now is already sold-out in the camel color in XS). However I didn't LOVE them, so I passed.
By the way, I don't know what size the model is wearing in the catalog but if you go with your regular size they are way shorter.
Probably I didn't love them because my heart was already taken by another pair of shorts:
They are in-store only and they retail for $59.50. Here's a close up on the beautiful Liberty print (that by the way, also comes in a perfect-fit shirt. Did you hear me Dinagedeon?):
How cute are these shorts? When I tried them on though my first thought was "Bummer if I were 14, or even 20, I would totally buy them" because they are very short as you can see and the Liberty print adds to the gamine look; but then I walked out of the fitting room to ask for a size 2 (even if the 0 was perfect) and an old (like 70 plus year old) and very chic lady gave the shorts a look that said "Bummer, if I were a little bit younger, say 40, I would totally buy those". So I asked HER, and not the SA, if she thought that they were too short or young-looking for me. And without saying a word, but just shaking her head from side to side, she sold me the shorts, because I just trust a chic old lady on what's appropriate for my age.
So because I brought them home I took a picture with a better light, but still the pics don't do them justice:
Back to the fitting room, I was curious about the
Black blossom jacket, but I didn't like the fit (boxy). This is an XS:
I have to say, I'm not a fan of this print (I didn't care about the cardigan at all when I saw it, even if it looks fabulous on some JCAs), so I didn't try the mini nor the shorts.
Speaking of flowers, the
Iris embroidery tank top was enormous on me (in my size):
I can't recall if it was a pullover of had a side zip but it really felt like a tent. Total pass.
The SA insisted for me to try the new
Denim Minnie pant that I already have in the non-demin version from this fall. I thought that I wouldn't like these in denim but they were very flattering:
While I wear a 00 in the Minnies, I sized up to a 0 in these as they are less stretch than the non denim-version. My only problem with these is the ankle zipper: even if it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would before trying them on, I think that it will soon look a little bit dated. But if I find them in super-duper sale I'm probaby going to get a pair.
The best for the end (I'm joking). They had a "limited edition" tee with a $125 price tag. You're supposed to be wearing a piece of art as each tee is hand-painted by an (unknown) artist and you pay for that. OK, maybe the artist who painted your tee will turn out to be the next Pollock and you will have made the best investment of your life, but in the meanwhile you're going to wear this (or something similar):
Have you seen the movie "My daughter could have painted that" (about the 5-year-old artist Martha something)? That's what I thought when I saw the tee (in fact it has a striking resemblance with one of my daughter's latest art pieces, named "Elephant on the bus". The difference is that I don't allow my daughter to paint on my t-shirts. But maybe I should and I could sell them on the Internet for $125 bucks). Anyway, it also comes in pewter if you are interested ;-).
Btw, I finally went with the sepia in the garland tank, because I was picturing it with chinos. I have tried it at home with my scout chinos, what do you think of this color on me?
I'm probably going to return it anyway because, strangely, this tank is $42.50 online and $45 in store (as I found out once home) and I can keep it as a ride-along for the next order with a free shipping code (I'm not going to wear it well into the spring anyway).
Have you ordered any of the new arrivals yet? Do you think that Jcrew has taken the concept of "art" tee-shirt too far with their Limited Edition tees?
Any questions, let me know!
