Rendez-vous a Paris

I have a foot out of the door already, so this is a VERY quick post before I leave to let you know about a new graphic tee that just came out in the B&Ms. I haven't blogged about a JCrew tee in a while because as many of you I was teed-out. But this one as an Eiffel Tower on it and I have been wanting a Paris tee forever (or at least since I left Paris):



I can't tell if it's slub or ringpun cotton (it has the appearance of slub cotton and the texture or ringspun). The color is PEA (pearl).
Detail of the graphism (it says "Rendez-vous a Paris, September 1922, Toujours Votre"):



It retails for $36.50 and to be honest I think that it's a little bit expensive because besides 6 tiny rhinestones on the Eiffel Tour is hasn't any embellishment. BUT when I bought it (yesterday) it rung up at $26.50 for a graphic tees promo, that I don't know how long is going to last.
I had a hard time to decide between the XS and the S, as I like my tees a little bit slouchier but the S was very low cut on me. In the end I went with the S hoping that it won't stretch out:



Here is a pic of the tag for those interested:



I am gone. Rendez-vous in September!

A Shorts Weekend

I have been wearing shorts non-stop this past weekend. It was sooo hot and I wanted to be 100% comfortable so I didn't wear dresses.

I really liked my Saturday outfit. I think that it looks quite pulled together for an outfit with shorts:




I am wearing the space-dyed grey tee from JCrew that I scored on final sale. I really loved this tee until my husband on Saturday night made me notice that I had a hole under my underarm. I am pretty sure that it wasn't there when I bought the tee (it wasn't in the sale section but well folded in its pile), so I think that I am a new victim of the "tee that develops a hole after a day of wearing" plague. It's a first for me and when I read on the JCA blog about it I thought that people were exaggerating things. Seriously, this is a $58 tee even if I didn't pay that price, how can it be possible? I will never look at JCrew tees the same way as before.

Unfortunately I had just bought another tee, the vintage cotton v-neck in black (that is on promo in store for $19.50). I love how the black here is not a solid black (not sure if it makes sense if you haven't seen this tee) and I think that the low v-neck of this one (which is an update of last year boyfriend tee) is kind of sexy. So I would probably buy it again, at the risk of developing holes (which hasn't happened with this one).
I wore it with boyfriend shorts and the studded pyramid belt to an outing to the Bronx zoo on Sunday (BTW, we had a blast and if you happen to go there don't miss the Wild Asia Monorail ride. It's the only way to see the elephants and it's totally worth the money):



As if I hadn't enough shorts, I bought a new pair on Saturday. This wasn't a impulsive buy though: I waited forever for these to go on sale and when they finally did this week I almost missed them (I have to thank my daughter who, while we were on our way to the post office on Saturday afternoon and we walked past the Gap, asked me "Mommy, aren't we going inside today?"). Anyway, I am talking about the Chambray boyfriend cutoffs and I just love the light denim color for summer shorts (they are chambray, so extremely soft). These are really casual shorts, to wear to the beach (when they are not rolled-up they are almost a bermuda lenght):




What are your favorite shorts this season?

Back from Seattle and a OOTD

Hello everyone, we are back from Seattle but because our flight to NY had a seven hours delay due to mechanical problems (you know, you get into the plane and make yourself comfortable, then they tell you to get out of the plane and wait, which when you travel a toddler is particularly challenging because toddlers can't "wait") I have been a little bit more tired and jet-lagged than I should have the last two days.

Anyway, we had a great time in Seattle. The weather was as one can expect and actually colder than I thought (I traveled with my Script coat and I was happy that I had decided to take it at the last minute) but at least it didn't rain.
It was my first time in Seattle and my knowledge of the city could be reduced to two movies, "Sleepless in Seattle" (of course) and "Little Buddha" (the first part). So we did all the touristy things and we went up the space needle (my husband really wanted to do that because he had been to Seattle a couple of times before for work and he never had the time). This is one of the few pictures that I have from the trip (we had our camera with us all the time but for some reasons we didn't take a lot of pictures):



My wedding outfits worked very well (in the end I wore the Banana Republic dress at the reception and the beaded ribbon top with jeans at the rehearsal dinner). It was actually a much colorful wedding than the last one that I had attended in NY and I would say that less than half of the guests were wearing black.
My outfit to the church with the Ames dress and the Celosia cardigan (topped by the black script coat) was just perfect and I even got a compliment from someone (a man, I should add) in the bride's side whom I had never met before and who almost cried out, after eyeing me from top to toe, "That's a nice outfit!". It really was.
But I have to say that because it was the wedding of a close friend, the outfits in this case were less important than being witness of our friend's happiness that day and listening to the heartfelt speeches of the two family members (the mother of the groom came from Cameroon and the bride is from a Greek family settled in Seattle so they had jokingly called it their "big fat global wedding").

Back to NY, we slowly went back to our daily routine. Yesterday we celebrated "Mother's day" at school and I wore a casual but cute outfit with the hand-cut flower art tee:




I liked that the color of the cardigan is almost the same color of the applique flowers on the tee. The cardigan is the Featherwight rolled-up sleeves cashmere cardigan in the copper dust color (which is less reddish and more salmony IRL, almost a neutral) and I got it for a real bargain in store a couple of weeks ago (it was $54 but I had 10% off on top of it). It is currently $69 on the website and there are few colors/sizes left but I am sure that they will restock it at some point. Because it is short-sleeved it is perfect to throw on to go out in the morning when the air is still fresh.

While I was at school a friend who regularly reads this blog (and I actually met through this blog) called me from the Jcrew sample sale and asked me if I was still interested in the downtown field jacked (that I was hoping to find at the last sample sale) because they were selling it for $45. At that price I was still interested, of course, and she was so kind to pick up one in black for me. I have to say, I could have used a downtown field jacket in Seattle, my Zara windbreaker (that you can see in the first pic) wasn't heavy enough. So hint to the New Yorkers, there could still be a downtown field jacket waiting for you at the sample sale if you are looking for one. These are from the stock and aren't defective (they only have a black mark on the inner tag to prevent in-store returns).

Coming up a review of the Cozumel tunic and a very unexpected purchase...

OOTD (Gold and Earthy Tones)

This outfif was inspired by the last issue of Harper's Bazaar (that I have just finished "reading") that not only featured the JCrew metallic beach cardigan in metallic camel, but also made the fashion statement that earthy tones are "in" this summer. I was already wearing the scout chinos, golden belt and irish moss tee this morning (and actually I was freezing because it is much colder than yesterday and what the gorgeous shining sun that we are having today would let you think), so I added the metallic beach cardigan that I bought a long time ago and was already half-forgotten in my closet:





I love how this outfit turned out, even if I am not sure that I am actually going outside like this this afternoon as I am taking my daughter to yet another birthday party with danger of chocolate cake ending up on my cardigan.

Thanks to all your comments on the midnight swiss-dot shift dress I have decided to return it and wait for it to go on sale: it is definitively too expensive for what it is and the wear that I am going to get out of it. By the way, I am wondering if "someone" is reading this blog, as the day after I published the post, the dress was back in the right place (under the women's dresses section) on the website...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Stripes again and a ATL find (two, actually)

So I am on a stripe kick and I wore my camel tee again on Tuesday. I feel very elegant in this tee. Actually I feel like a mini-version of Jenna Lyons, who has been seen sporting this tee to parties and events everywhere (I don't get the same feeling with the pink one). I had my dangling disc necklace on from the midnight dress try-on and I really liked it with the tee, so I kept it (plus, it was completely tangled with my hair and I didn't have time to un-tangling it):



Speaking of necklaces, I stopped by ATL yesterday to check their current offerings (as you probably know they are running their F&F event, 30% off now through Sunday). I didn't find anything in the clothes department (I am not feeling the love for ATL this year, it's very deja-crew) but I got two necklaces that I really recommend to anyone.

The first is called Long silvertone paillettes necklace and retails for $39.50 (before the 30% off). It is a great necklace for the summer, very shiny and most of all silver-toned (and you know how difficult it is to find a silver-toned necklace). It is pretty casual and it looks great with a simple tee (but I also see it with a maxi-dress for example):



The tee that I am wearing here is the Linen-cotton soft v-neck tee in irish moss that I had ordered to wear with the Pastiche pencil skirt. I bought it FP as a ride-along but lucky me it went on sale a few days after, so I got it for the sale price (thanks to price adjustment) without the hassle of stalking the website (colors are selling-out quickly). I already have the heather grey one and I plan on buying more colors. I simply love this tee!

The other necklace is more dressy and I don't see it currently on the website. It is in clear Plexiglas and reminds me a little bit of the JCrew "chandelier" necklace from last summer, but without the huge size (and the price tag). I really liked the idea of a clear necklace like the chandelier (it goes with everything, right?) but that one simply didn't work on my frame. This one is VERY pretty on a dress, especially a dress with a bold print like the Lilly Pulitzer or Liberty of London ones where there is already a lot going on with the pattern.
Here is with the Piazza dress from last summer in the beautiful aqua color, bought for a few bucks last winter (which makes think that I should wait for the midnight swiss-dot one to go on super-duper sale):




If you want to call a store, the reference (SKU) for this necklace is 87208023 and it retails for $34.50.

Happy shopping!

JCrew New Arrivals: Pics from the Fitting Room

As promised, a quick post on few new arrivals that I could try on last week. They aren't many partly because you have already seen some of them in other posts but given that my daughter was with me in the fitting room I think that I did a good job already.

The biggest deception of this rollout has been for me the Bazaar tunic dress. The print is stunning (more stunning IRL than in the pics IMO) and this is a style that I love to wear, but the fit was just horrible on me. Overall it was too big and the collar was just weird (plus it was too low cut to be worn without a cami and I just HATE wearing camis). I tried it in my size, a 0 (don't laugh):




I think that this looks much better on tall ladies (it looks divine on Summerilla), so if you are 5'2" like me there are chances that it won't fit you well. I agree that the loafers in the picture aren't the best shoes for this dress (to say the least) but it wasn't a matter of styling, it was really a bad fit on me.

I also tried the beaded shell in the same print, but it was boxy (this is the 0):





Another shell that I have tried is the Watercolor garden shell. This one was beautiful and perfectly cut but at $150 definitively overpriced (it is cotton and unlined but not sheer if I remember correctly). It is a "black label" Collection item and if I had the budget and lifestyle for this I would definitively get it:



This watercolor garden print also comes in a pencil skirt, a cardigan and a dress so you have plenty of option. I haven't tried any of these but I saw both the skirt and the dress and both looked stunning (again, if you have the occasion to wear them).

The PS insisted for me to try the Vintage canvas bow tank in muted grape, that apparently was flying off the shelves. A good price point but it looked deja crew to me and even if it wasn't bad, I had no interest in it. The XS was big around the armpits:



Another shell a little bit deja crew: the Linen-cotton tiered bateau shell. It felt comfortable to wear but how many ruffled/tiered tops one can have?




They had tons of new tees, which is surprising because I was under the impression that tees weren't selling well this season. You have seen the "Lester's hat" tee that I bought in one of my previous posts (sorry, I'm too lazy to create the link).
Here is another one, in the neon melon color:



I can't figure out if the following one is the same than the Tie-dye ribbon tee. Probably not because it's a V-neck but it was $58 or $52 and I have to say that I LOVED it and if it weren't for the price I would have bought it. It's a nice "occasion" tee, to wear with a pencil skirk for example:



I had other tees to try but that's when my daughter started to band the door (just for fun, because banging doors is what toddlers do) so I had to leave them for the next time.

Do you see anything that you like in these pics? Have you bought any of these new arrivals? Please share!

Antlers and Snowflakes

They are really trying my good resolutions at Jcrew. When yesterday morning I saw that the price of my coveted Ravine dress had dropped to $119 AND they were offering an additional 25% off on orders of more than $150 I was REALLY tempted to make an exception to my new rules and make a credit card purchase to get it before it was gone, since I didn't have enough funds on my gift card. I have to be honest: I wasn't only tempted, I really INTENDED to do it but I was running late to drop off my daughter at school so I had to let it go (as you know I have deleted my credit card information from the website so before making a purchase I have to re-input all the data etc. etc. But that was the whole point of deleting the information, to prevent myself from making impulsive purchases, right? Well, it worked!).

Once back from school, I took a big breath and instead of going ahead with the purchase, I picked up something that I wanted to return but never had the guts to (new rule number 2), my beloved BUT STILL UNWORN wool shirred skirt, I went out, patiently waited for the store to open and made the return, which would have allowed me to buy the dress with the 25% off on the website (and pay entirely with the gift card). OK, I agree that having a store ten minutes far from home helps with rule number two, but it doesn't help in deciding to part from things unworn that I still like and think that I am going to wear one day.

It turned out that the store still had the dress in my size and I had a $25 off $125 coupon that a reader kindly sent to me and was going to expire this weekend, so instead of buying the dress on the website ALONG WITH OTHER UNNECESSARY STUFF I bought it in store using the coupon (with the funds on the gift card, I didn't cheat) and paid the same that I would have paid on the website with 25% off plus the shipping. The price of the dress was just shy of $125 so I had to buy something else to be entitled to the $25 off but I just re-bought something that I already had (and I can return) for a lower price, so that was OK.

Which brings me to the real topic of this post, because the item that I bought along with the dress is the Antler tee, whose price has dropped to $24.99 BEFORE 25% off in case you haven't noticed. Sorry for the long introduction but I couldn't pass my yesterday morning struggle with temptations under silence and I had to let you know 1) that I have bought the Ravine dress that was at the top of my wishlist (50% off is a good price for something that you really want) and 2) that I haven't broken my rules even if it was quite tough to resist.

Some time ago I decided to allow myself to buy only one holiday tee this season, at least at full price, and between reindeers and snowflakes, my preference goes to the antlers tee, that I bought during the 20% off tees promo. I find that the antlers on this tee are more abstract than snowflakes and other reindeers and I can see myself wearing it after the holidays (maybe even in the spring/summer with the right pairings), while I couldn't wear a snowflake or reindeer in May. And with the price of the Jcrew tees, you better have more than one wear per season.
The other reason why I prefer this tee over the other holiday tees is that I like the slouchiness of it (maybe Jenna's picks after Jenna's picks I have been completely indoctrinated but I do feel the appeal of the "slouchy" look).
Third reason, and I agree upfront that that's very personal and not a good reason in itself to buy this tee, is that I see myself wearing it with flannel pajama pants on Xmas Day while my daughter opens her presents. Call it an "occasion". For $20 (the price that I paid using the $25 off card) I can afford to "lounge" and even go to bed with a high-end tee.

There are two things to know about this tee, if you want to take advantage of the current price but you haven't seen it in person. The first thing is that the color codes or names are completely misleading. The guy or gal in the production department must have been completely drunk when it came to put the color codes on the tag, or color-blind or both. I ordered it in light amethyst and it resembles in nothing to the amethyst color. It is much more similar to a dusty blossom or an antique stone. You can see in this pic that it almost matches the shade of the Donegal shawl cardigan in heather rosebud:



Surprisingly (or maybe not) the other color, soft graphite, is much more similar to what I imagine when I think of amethyst. I saw it in store and I was very confused, it didn't look graphite at all to me and I thought that it was the light amethyst at first.

The other thing to take into consideration is that being a tissue tee, it is very thin and quite see-through (and long, all factors that contribute to give it the slouchy look):



I won't say that I haven't been tempted by the Snowflake tee (by the way, it is not slub cotton, it is ringspun, this is the second time that I notice that they got the wrong fabric in the description of a tee), it is indeed very cute and I own the perfect pair of earrings to wear with it, a pair by the French brand Agatha that I bought many years ago (I also have the necklace with a snowflake pendant):



However, it was quite challenging for me to think of a cardigan THAT I ALREADY OWN to pair with the color of this tee and I didn't find the fit particularly flattering (although it does look good with the silver belt in the pic). This is the XS (from the fitting room):



I gave my "snowflake" earrings a try with the antler tee and I like how they look together. Plus I can even add the necklace, without making it to look like a snowstorm (which would have been the case with the other tee):




Because this tee turned out to be quite the deal, I'm also considering the Snow-gem tee that I didn't find particularly attractive when I saw it on the website but is VERY flattering on and quite easy to pair. You know that I love tees but now I need to be careful with my budget and this is a $48 tee that has a limited seasonal wear (especially if compared to my last year "holiday" tee investment, the silk-bow applique tee that I wear year-round), so I'm REALLY going to think about it. I still have something left on the card but it doesn't mean that I have to spend it, right? And I have items that have been on my wishlist for much longer than this tee (like the toothpick cords, that went finally on sale, at least in stores).

What's your favorite tee this holiday season? Do you have more than one? Would you consider the antlers one at the current sale price? What do you think of the snow-gem tee?
Also, do you think that my resolution is working in that I'm sticking to the plan or that it doesn't work in that it looks like I'm still quite obsessed with Jcrew? Please share!

Are You Ready for the Bal?

The package with the goodies that I bought during the extra 20% promo last week arrived yesterday, JUST BEFORE MY HUSBAND. He knew about this one because one of the items was the heirloom flora necklace that we are offering a friend for her 40th birthday in two weeks and I convinced him that we NEEDED to order for $150 to get the 20% off on that one. So I didn't really need to hide it from him, but I don't like to open packages when he's around. It's my little plaisure, let's say that on certain days it's the highlight of my day (and I know how sad this sounds, don't worry, I don't need to spend money on a therapy) so I kind of put the package away and waited until this morning before opening it.

Inside, among other things, I found this:


Yes, it's the masquerade tee. I was surprised by the extra care that they put in the packaging, that's the advantage of ordering early and full price I guess.
My first reaction when I opened it was that it's not black. It's definitively a faded charcoal, which works for me because as you know I have a lot of charcoal in my closet. The second reaction was that the feathers of the mask are made of chiffon, while I thought that they would be, well, real feathers, like on a real mask. It's clearly for the best though because have you ever tried to wash feathers? It's very pretty, plus the description on the Internet said clearly "embellished with organza feathers and rhinestones".
Well, the description also said "slub cotton tee" (I mean it's in the NAME of the tee, right?) and that's why I ordered a XS. And guess what's the fabric? Positively ringspun cotton. That's a MAJOR mistake!
Now, because it's ringspun it's definitively snug but I think that I'm going to keep this size because all my ringspun tees have stretched out wash after wash, especially around the neck. However, if you are concerned by sheerness, it's a good idea to size up.



Detail of the pretty embellishment:


This tee immediately put me in a festive mood, so I thought it deserved a little bling, even if just for the blog. I also received the F21 package with my "cheap" jewelry finds yesterday, so I want to show you the rhinestone earrings with the tee:



I'm not sure if I would actually wear them together, but they are fun for sure and totally worth the $9.80 that I paid.
I will probably wear this outfit though:



The cardigan is a sequined open cardi from HO05 (the good thing about open cardigans is that they tend to ... open and in this case you don't want the embellishment to be completely hidden by the cardigan), the skirt is the shirred wool skirt (aka, Sylvia) and if you're wondering what are the tights that I'm wearing, these are another F21 find. They totally look like Chanel, but for $5:



This tee is a total winner for me, and I think that with the current promo it will sell out very quickly. My advise: if you like it get it NOW.

New Arrivals Part 2: Sequined Shawl Open Cardigan and More Tees

So yesterday I stepped into Jcrew before picking up my daughter at school. I didn't feel like trying bottoms (and anyway besides a new tweed mini with golden threads - cute, but how many minis a girls can wear in the winter - they hadn't anything new or that I wanted to try on), so I picked up a few tees and a new sequined cardigan that I think you will like.

I had already seen the cardigan in black on a few blogs, but they actually had it in two other gorgeous colors that I thought were worth taking a pic. It's the cropped open cardigan with the sequined shawl (not sure how it's actually called) and it retails for $138.
First (gorgeous) color, dark mustard, in XS:



The XS was a tad short IMO, especially with jeans, but the S was boxier. This is the lavender in S (I didn't take note of the exact color code but it's probably sweet lavender):


The dark mustard was a little bit more casual IMO. I have the sequined V-neck shell from last year so I don't need another sequined sweater, but if you are looking for some sparkles for the holidays I really recommend this one (I haven't seen the black IRL, but black is black, right?)
This is the tag with the style number in case you're interested and you want to call your store:


Under the lavender I'm wearing this tee:


I liked the colors (the tee is lavender and the "firework" is golden) but I'm not buying a V-neck slub cotton tee for the winter, period (it also comes in white with silver sequins and a dusty blossom pink).

I must admit I really liked the (un)famous Beaded-antlers tissue tee. Now, why didn't they make at least this one with long sleeves? It's cozy and I totally see myself wearing it around the house during the holidays, maybe even with pajama pants. This is the light amethyst but it reads more like a neutral:



As someone pointed out it is very long (but I find that all the Jcrew tees are very long this season) and a little bit slouchy but I like it anyway. I have ordered the "masquerade" tee during the extra 20% promo because I was curious about it (the stores haven't received it yet) and it was just the right price to get the free shipping, so I will see which one I like the best (or just wait for this one to go on sale).
I have also tried the Slub cotton beaded Florence tee in dusty shale but it came across almost white on my pics so I have decided not to show it because it's misleading. I'm not the less interested in this one, not sure why (generally speaking I don't like the open crewneck in the slub cotton fabric).
They had received the holiday catalog (with a snow landscape on the cover) but I was late to pick up my daughter and there was a line at the register, so I had to leave without taking it. I LOVE the holiday catalogs and from the preview that Slastena shared, it looks like a "classic" Jcrew holiday catalog.

Have you seen any of these? Anything that you like here?

The Slub Retro Floral Tee (IRL pics)

So, the "love child" tee of my previous post is actually called "Slub Retro Floral Tee". The color is WPI, that, I think, stands for Whisper Pink. I haven't seen it in the new arrivals on the website, so it must be retail-only for the time being.
I agree that it's a little bit deja-crew, but I haven't bought any of the most recent floral or "necklace" tees and as I said the colors of this one are just beautiful.

In my opinion, this tee is made for the perfect pencil skirt in dusty blossom. I liked the idea of wearing that skirt with a tee and a cardi (it tends to look a little bit too "school teacher" with a shirt, at least for me) but I hadn't find the perfect tee so far. Until I saw this one in store and immediately thought that it would look great with it.
I'm wearing it with my new Michelle (I needed some pink) and my old dark charcoal one (I love how the color of the tee seem to change depending on the color of the cardigan):







While I'm at it I wanted to show you a pic of the script coat. The color is to die for. Now, it's a size 2 and it's a little bit roomy in the body but otherwise perfect in the shoulders (I will have the sleeves shortened a little bit). I think that I actually might like it better than a 0 because of the added lenght, I don't like when a coat is too short and you can't tell if it's a long jacket or a short coat (the ruffle one for example, is too short for me to be called coat). But I would like to know your honest opinion, do you think that it looks too big (please take into account the gimmick required to take the picture)? I can still return it (during the sample sale, not that I'm looking forward going back) and buy something else instead (like, a cashmere sweater with a hole or another pair of flats).




I will try to comment back in the previous posts now, if my daughter doesn't wake up!