H&M Finds: A Horse Print Tunic And A Mod Dress

H&M is one of those stores that I can stay away from for months and then all of a sudden I am there every other day.
I went in last Friday to look for underpants for my daughter and happened upon the horse print tunic that Louise from Cosmetic Bee blogged about in this post. When I read her post I had already seen the button-down and the scarf in my store, but not the tunic.
Louise was right, this print is too good to pass up and if the navy version of the shirt and tunic didn't call my name, I really liked the tunic in the other colorway it comes in, a brownish red (or reddish brown) perfect for fall. For some reasons I found the print a bit too crowded in the navy version because of the contrast between the colors of the horses (beige and white) and the navy background (it looks great on Louise though) but in the red I found that the print was just perfect (because it also has some darker brown horses that give the impression of sparser horses overall). However I was a little bit shocked (so to speak) by the price: at $39.95 it is definitively on the high-end of the price spectrum at H&M, I was expecting something between $24 and $34. So I put it on hold and came back the day after with a 20% coupon that Gigi mentioned in this post and forwarded to me (it is good on one item and I can forward to anyone interested but it expires today).

This is the tunic on me. I used to be a 4 in H&M but I find that their dresses/skirts are shorter and shorter so I now size up to a 6 when possible and it generally works. In this case the 6 gives a little bit more length and comfort in the sleeves but doesn't make it a dress (also because it has slits on the sides and it is longer in the back than it the front). It is still a tunic that you need to wear with leggins or, in my case, skinny jeans:

The poly is of the silky type and a sign that this tunic is very well-made is that the belt loops are made in the same fabric (and aren't just a couple of threads that are sewn at the sides). You can substitute the belt with another one but I find that the one the tunic comes with is actually great:

I have to tell you, I can't wait to wear this tunic but here the temperatures went up again and I had to take out my summer clothes again in the last few days. A challenge for me when it gets colder is going to be what to wear over it because I don't own any knee-lenght sweater or sweater-coat (except one that I am unable to find, it must be in the storage bin downstairs). I can wear it with a light coat left open (like my Zara camel coat from last year), any other suggestion?

While I was there to buy the tunic, another tunic-dress caught my eye. It is a shift in a houndsthood print, very 60s. In this case the price shocked me positively (only $17.95) so I decided to give it a try and in the end I took it home with me (I could use the coupon again, so it came down to $14!)
It is a nice and inexpensive way to do "mod". The fabric is sort of a heavy jersey, not exactly breatheable but substantial enough not to look cheap. I went with a XS, even if it a bit short (if I can size up when the styles are numerically sized, I almost never can when they are sized XS-XL, the S is invariabily too big in the body for me):

I happen to have the perfect shoes to wear with this, an old pair of patent Michael Kors with a silver heel and medallion:

Anybody else is falling for the H&M horse print? Any H$M great find to share?

Product review: the Studded Tunic

Hi everybody! I apologize for the lack of posts last week but I couldn't manage to get anything done on my super-slow backup computer and I had a lot of other stuff to do (like ironing and taking my daughter to birthday parties). The good news is that my computer is back AND my husband is travelling all the week (that's not such good news for me actually), meaning that I am back to posting on a daily basis.

I wore a lot of stripes this past weekend but I couldn't take pics (for the life of me I couldn't remember where I had put my camera the last time that I used it and it turned out this morning under a pile of tees in my closet), so I don't have a "weekend outfits" post for you today. However, I have quite a few new purchases that I want to share with you, so that should do it!

The first item that I wanted to blog about (because I bought it three weeks ago already) is the Studded tunic. I haven't seen anyone wearing or talking about this tunic in the blogosphere, which I find a little bit surprising considering the one of the two colors is backordered.
I fell immediately in love with this tunic while I was browsing the March new arrivals, even before receiving the new catalog. I looked for it in store but even if it wasn't marked as "Catalog/Internet only" my store hadn't received it (and they told me that they wouldn't). So I ordered it at the first occasion as a ride-along.
I was a little bit worried because while I absolutely love the look of it on the website, in the April catalog (page 46) the fabric looks shiny and more like a cotton chambray (not completely solid). Because I was interested in the other color (the bronzed clay) I hoped that it would be more similar to the pics of the website than the one in the catalog (honestly, it looks like a completely different fabric). I had free shipping and it's a full price item, so the only risk was the risk of being disappointed.

Ladies, I absolutely adore this tunic, I would recommend it to anyone (if it's your style, of course). First of all, they haven't pinned this one in the back: the supercute cut is for real and the shirring on the front is just adorable. Second, the color is exactly as depicted on the website and even if the cotton has a slight waive, it isn't noticeable and the effect is that of a solid color and untextured cotton. I was also a little bit worried that the studs would look cheap in real life, but it isn't the case in my opinion (they are sewn on a grosgrain trim and not directly on the tunic) and they only add to the cuteness of the blouse. It is a very lightweight cotton though (like the chambray beach tunic) while it looks more sturdy on the website.

I guess that you want to see the pics now. I realized after taking them that they are a little bit blurred (because it was very dark in my bedroom that day), but I hadn't the time to take them again, so I hope that they will do it justice.
Here is with the toothpick jeans:



I would have preferred the tassel's threads to be shorter, but it's easy to adjust the length:



You can even hide them completely by passing them inside:



Some of you will be more comfortable wearing a cami because of the quite deep opening. However, you can pull on the threads to close it almost completely and make it more "decent", like in the first pic above. Personally I'm not bothered at all by this (but I am European and I think that culturally we are used to show and see more flesh than in the US).

You are maybe thinking that this will only look good with jeans (again!) but here is with the denim pencil skirt:



It's the perfect little top to wear if you are hosting dinner for friends at home (because it is a little bit special but totally comfortable) and I have already worn it in two different occasions. For me it is definitively worth the full price because it didn't disappoint and it's really my style. Absolutely speaking, it can be considered a little bit overpriced (like everything at Jcrew this days) but it's definitively a good buy if you can catch it on sale at some point.

What do you think? Did this tunic catch your eye or you ignored completely? Are you considering it? Any question, let me know!