Dear Mackenzie, I Heart You

I heart you so much that I bought you in two colors. I must say, I could afford you, you were kind of cheap at $70 and I just couldn't decide between the pretty and springy "bronzed clay" and the "will-never-go-out-of-style" black versions of you.

Ladies, meet my new love, the Mackenzie blazer. That's the blazer that I bought last week. I am not sure why it's lingering in the sale section in all the colors and sizes: $119 seems like a tempting price already (especially with some additional % off). I had seen it for the same sale price in stores but I waited for a new markdown as things tend to be marked down more quickly in stores than online. Luckily the store where my PS works had it in my size in both colors when the price went down to $79.99 and even if I hadn't planned to buy two, I ended up bringing home both.

The website description says: "Crafted from drapey wool, one of our new (and favorite) fabrics of the season. It's a special wool blend that has a beautiful drape (and amazing handfeel)." Completely true. The wool of this one is amazing and it drapes beautifully.
This is the bronzed clay from the fitting room. I'm wearing a 0. The sleeves are a little bit long, but I think that a petite would be too short elsewhere:



I just love this shade for spring and it looks really good on me, so I had not doubt about this one.

But the black is another story. If the bronzed clay color is somehow hard to find at another retailer, black blazers are everywhere and to be honest I bought it thinking that I would give it a try at home and probably return it. But it's growing on me. First of all I don't have a black blazer (I know, shocking). Second, to me a blazer must look good with jeans because I wear jeans 90% of the time. Boyfriend blazers typically looks good with jeans but I can't rock the look: they are usually too long on me and they overwhelm my short frame. I love the proportions of this one and I like that is not structured (it has no padding at all in the shoulders for example), which gives it a bit of coolness even if it's not a boyfriend:




Third, it also looks good with more classic pants (obviously, I took these pics Tuesday and you are familiar with the rest of the outfit):





Fourth, it's a black blazer that looks good with black pants (especially my Theory ones) without being part of a suit.

So I think that I'm going to keep it but I would like to hear from you. What do you think? Do you think that the black is a smart purchase? Would you buy two colors of the same style? Remember that I paid $70 for each of them (i.e. a third of the original price) and even if I know that I shouldn't keep something only because it's a good deal, it is something that I like and is sort of missing from my closet.
Also, do you own the Mackenzie? Have you ever considered buying it? And if not, why?

OOTD (Butterscotch, Desert Brown and a New Tee)

After the exceptionally warm weekend (I don't remember temperatures in the 70s this early in NYC), the weather was back to normal on Monday (normal being colder and rainy) and yesterday.

But I wasn't excessively bummed because it meant that I could wear my new Lea cardigan, that, as I mentionned in my previous post, I scored at the last minute at the sample sale.
What a great little cardigan! I always regretted not buying one when it was in stores. I don't know why it didn't happen exactly. I remember trying a melon one when they went on sale but I think that it was a S and I was fixated on the XS at that time. They do pop up on ebay but I have never pulled the trigger because I was unsure of the sizing (I am a S in Jackies and a XS in all the other sweaters).
Ideally I would have loved to own one in black but when I saw the brown at the sample sale I didn't think twice. I always thought from the pictures on ebay that the brown was a chocolate brown and maybe it does exist in chocolate, but the one at the sample sale was desert brown (as per hand-written tag) and I have always loved this shade (not to mention that goes perfectly with my coloring).
For those who are not familiar with the entire JCrew color palette, desert brown is a brown with a hint of beige, so I paired it with my wool twill pants in butterscoth:





The tee that I'm wearing under the Lea is the new "Lester's Hat" tee. Even if for the time being is not available on the website, you have probably already seen it on Patina or Gigiofca. For me it was a must-have, the first tee that I liked at first sight (not to say loved) in months. It has a great price to begin with ($29.50) but as others have mentionned, because they were running a $10 off promos on all the "art" tees, it rang up at $19.50 so it was basically on sale. If you want to call a store, the style number is KN6564 and the name as it appears on the ticket is "Lesters hat shop".
I don't think that it's a "art" tee, technically; it's more of a graphic tee, even if it has a little chiffon embellishment that I could have happily lived without (because the tee without embellishment would have been machine-washable). The fabric is ringspun cotton and I bought a XS:



This is a pic from the fitting room, where you can see it untucked:



If you like this tee, I would buy it ASAP not only because is selling well but also because the price will probably go up when the promo ends. I would be curious to see the online price if it is part of the new website rollout.

Do you own a Lea cardigan? Do you like this new tee?

Our Day Trip to the Sample Sale

So I went to the sample sale again to exchange the-dress-with-giant-hole on Friday. With my daughter. To be honest when we left I wasn't sure that we would actually make it to the sale. It was a beautiful day and my plan was letting my daughter have fun first and then try to get the damn return done as quickly as possible. After all it isn't her fault if mommy spends way too much time shopping and then has to spend even more time to make up for her mistakes.

The great dilemma was: stroller or not stroller? Because leaving for an entire day without the stroller is very risky (she is a good walker but obviously she can't walk as much as I do and when she decides that she's tired I have to carry her. Not to mention that she still naps in the afternoon and the stroller comes handy when we are out and she needs to nap). On the other hand, I was planning to take the bus first to the zoo and then from the zoo to the sample sale and back home, so not much walking involved and even if she did fall asleep in the bus (it's a long ride) I would have had to wake her up anyway because strollers are not allowed in the sample sale premises. So in the end I left the stroller at home and prayed that I wouldn't regret it.

First stop, CVS where we stocked up on lollipops and other treats. Second stop, the Collection store where I made some returns, including the Lady Day coat that I had bought with the 30% off (beautifully made, but not my style). You must think that it wasn't really necessary to stop to make returns that day when our schedule was already pretty busy, but I needed to put some money back on the gift card because my PS (at another store) had put some stuff on hold for me and I had zero budget for new purchases. This was actually the longest walk of the day; then we hopped on a bus and we stopped at the zoo.

The Central Park zoo is so much fun, not only for my daughter but also for me. They have two red panda bears that are one of the cutest things that I have ever seen in my life and we always make sure that we go and see them. But this time around the big attraction were the polar bears, that we had never seen that close (they were hiding in a spot were we usually can't go because of the strollers):




Yes, my daughter was carrying the Crewcuts tote that I had bought still in the summer as a stroller bag for school. She insisted on carrying it after I put inside some sandbox toys (in case we stopped at the playground too, which in the end we didn't). The windbreaker is Boden (from last yea) and I was wearing the "matching" JCrew striped tee (I knew that that tee reminded me of something). Unfortunately I don't have pics of the two of us together.

After the tour of the zoo it was already 12.30, so we had a quick lunch at the zoo restaurant, that has an outside terrace. Can you believe that a bird defecated on us? My daughter screamed as if she was auditioning for a horror movie (for a moment a wave of panic spreaded through the crowd that was happily having lunch around us) and we had to go inside to finish our meal.
After this episode I seriously thought that we wouldn't make it to the sale: she was tired and whiny but NYC saved me. While I was dragging her to the bust stop at 59th Street we passed by the colorful art installation at the end of Central Park (called the Ego and the Id) and as soon as she saw it she run away from me to play with it. Kids! One moment they are all sleepy and the moment after they are full of energy again. She was delighted by the fact that one of the two pieces of the sculpture (the one that was accessible actually, as the one was being repainted) was the same color of her jacket. Of course it was also a good subject for a picture:



Fifteen minutes after we were waiting for the bus and two "statues of liberty" that were standing a few feet from each other fighting for their audience entertained us; then we got on the bus, we sang the wheels on the bus and we finally arrived at the sample sale (I had to carry her from the bus stop to the sale but it wasn't that bad).

Once inside I went directly to the accessory corner (where I had found the scarves, belts and necklaces) and besides a few necklaces that I wasn't interested in, everything was gone. No belts AT ALL (when they had two big boxes full of belts the day before). No scarves besides a very few oldies that looked all sad. Then I went to the shoes area (where my daughter had a lot of fun climbing on the chairs that were not meant to be climbed by a toddler but to try the shoes on) and again, very few shoes left, almost no flats and nothing that I would have bought (at least not for $99). I started to panic a little bit because besides a cashmere long-sleeved tee that started to pile I didn't see anything that I could exchange my dress for. But trading a party dress for yet another cashmere tee that I didn't need or really want felt like a waste of money. So I started reluctantly to look at the dresses again. I found a gorgeous strapless cocktail dress in a size 0 and almost got that one but it had a tiny spot on the skirt where it had been mended and even if I really liked it I wanted a flawless dress this time around, on the principle. So in the end I went with a party dress that is strapless (even if I didn't want to do strapless) but at least is silk taffeta, it is spotless and has all the tags attached (this must have been an overstock and not a sample). I knew that I was taking a risk again with the size (it was a size 2), but at least it was something that I could resell or even return in store. I also scored a Lea cardigan in addition (I couldn't let it go because I always regretted not getting a Lea) so all in all I was satisfied when we left.

On our way back we stopped at the Rockefeller Center store to try on the new arrivals and the stuff that my PS had put on hold for me (when my daughter understood how to open the fitting room lock and started to bang the door I knew that my time was up), so when we finally got home it was 6 pm already. What a day! It was fun and we didn't have any major crises but I wouldn't do it again tomorrow.

By the way, I guess that you want to see the dress. As I said it's a size two and the bodice is a little bit loose this time, but it's an easy alteration. It is also a little bit shorter than the dress that I had in mind but I have at least three parties to attend this spring and I am sure that I will have the occasion to wear it:




I hope you enjoyed the post! Next, the new tee and the new blazer. A lot to blog about this week ...

JCrew Spring Blazers

I have been trying a lot of jackets as of late, so I have enough "material" for a post on the new jackets that JCrew is offering this spring. I haven't tried any "utility" jacket as I have many and honestly I think that you can get a better deal at other retailers (like Old Navy).

The first is the Tweed jubilee jacket. I tried this one for a friend who was interested but nowhere near a store. I really liked the fit but the color washed me out and it is one of the most expensive jackets out there. I think that I would have considered buying it on sale if it came in another color (a grey maybe?). But even the SA, in an impetus of sincerity, said that the color was meh on me:



Buttoned up (the 0 was perfect with a tee/cami but a little bit tight in the shoulders when worn with a sweater):



Close-up on the fabric. It's a cotton tweed and it's very comfortable to wear (not stiff at all, but for $350 that should be a given). It has threads of canary yellow that don't show up well in the pic:



The next one is similar but a little bit less classic (it has an "unfinished" feeling). This just came out in the new rollout and I don't have the style number. It was priced at $350 as well. It looks like $350 is the new standard for a jacket this year. I have only seen it oin this orangy color:




The next one is probably my favorite. It's the Rose vines blazer that retails for $168. A totally useless jacket, because it's so lightweight that you could wear a shirt instead. However, the print is so pretty that it was hard to resist (but don't worry, I resisted). By the way, it's the same rose vines print that the shorts, the romper and the perfect shirt come in but yet another shade, called "bright orange" (the overall effect is that of a white jacket):



Basically it's the 2010 edition of the poppy floral jacket from last year, but the ruching at the back make the fit more feminine:





The next one is the Calvary linen twill blazer. Nothing special, really, and it fits big, I was swimming in the 0:




I also tried the Tweed Delphine blazer but completely forgot to take pics. It was a little bit boxy on me but I think that I will retry it when it goes on sale. It has beautiful "fleur de lys" golden buttons and looks more like a Chanel than a Chanel knockoff.

I didn't buy any of these jackets, but got another one that is currently on sale. But that's for another post.
Are you considering buying one of these jackets? Do you own one? Please share!

Enjoy the day!

OOTW (A Great Tee + A Ruffled Vest = Effortlessly Chic)

Ladies, I'm soooo excited about this outfit that Saturday, after wearing it all day, I almost got up in the middle of the night to blog about it.

It features a new purchase that I had seen it on Summerilla first and I knew was something that I would probably like for myself. It's the Ribbed ruffle vest, the coolest thing that was brought to us by Jenna Lyons, ever. Jenna, you totally deserve you million dollar bonus, you are a genius. When I saw it in my store last Friday (where I stopped after going to the sample sale for the second time, like I hadn't spent enough) and tried it on, I couldn't leave it in the store, even if at $78 it's a little bit pricey for a knit vest (I had a 10% discount, so I paid a little bit less). Once home, I tried it again and cut the tag off on the spot, which you will agree, is a sign of unconditional love. I tried it on very quickly with the new "Lester's hats" tee that I also bought (more on the new arrivals in one of the next posts):



The weather cooperated Saturday and I could already wear it without a jacket (it was in the 70s, almost a summer day). I picked my last years' favorite tee, the Imperial one, to wear with it and it was a perfect pairing:





The scarf that I'm wearing with it is the fringed linen scarf that I bought at the sample sale. My throat is fragile and I get a sore throat very easily, so because I wasn't going to wear a jacket it was important that I put something around my neck. To be honest I wasn't 100% sure that I would wear this scarf a lot because of the neon color but as a matter of fact I have already worn it twice and I'm kicking myself for not getting it in other colors while I could (they had a light grey and the hot pink one on Thursday, but they were all gone when I went again on Friday). As you can see, I took these picks just before heading out and that's my daughter's sippy cup that I'm holding (in the morning we went shopping for running shoes for my husband and I stopped at the Baby Gap to stock up on spring clothes for my daughter).
Moreover this vest got both my husband's and daughter's approval. My husband rolled his eyes when he saw me but then he gave me a smile and my daughter said "Mommy is a bird" (clearly a compliment and I can't deny that it felt a little bit like a bird plumage, in a positive way).
If I have to find a fault in this vest is that you can only close it by the means of a belt as it doesn't have a hidden push-button or ties on the inside. Even with a belt it tends to open up while wearing it and I was constantly pulling the two panels towards the middle because I wanted my jeans' button to be covered by the vest. But this is easy to fix if I really want to. The important thing is that I felt like a model wearing this!

I'm not sure that this vest is for everyone, so I don't want to enable you to run and buy it. You need to have a pretty casual lifestyle to appreciate it I think, but if you are a "tee and jeans" kind of girl, you should try.

What do you think of this vest? Is it something that you would wear/buy? Please share!

Quick Update on the Dress

Ladies, thank you so much for all the comments to my last post. I couldn't wait too long to take my decision, but after a few comments and thanks to the beautiful day I DID drag my daughter to the sample sale this afternoon and exchanged the dress (for another dress with a big hole. I'm kidding. Almost).

I will write up a detailed account of our adventure on Monday. I feel like I shopped until I dropped these last few days (I also stopped to see my PS at JCrew after the sample sale) and I'm looking forward to some quite time with my husband who's coming back tonight.
Actually I'm also due to some French movie tomorrow, so this will probably be a no-shopping weekend.

Have a fantastic weekend all!

JCrew Sample Sale: the Bad (advice needed)

So in case you don't live in the city and you feel a little bit jealous of us New Yorkers having access to these fabulous sales, this post is your revenge. Because at the sample sale you don't find only great deals, you can also waste your money very stupidly.

But first, a little background information. You remember that I had planned to wear the Ames watercolor dress at a wedding that I will be attending in Seattle in May. Besides the "chill" factor that many of you have pointed out in the comments to that post, I received the invitation last Saturday and I found out that it's an evening wedding (I don't know why I was convinced that it would be a daytime wedding). I think that I can still wear the potpourri dress at the rehearsal dinner (pretext to keep it) but I need something else for the celebration. So I have been perusing the Jcrew and other retailers websites for a party dress. I really wanted a simple but classy dress, something that Audrey Hepburn could have worn and that could become my "occasion" dress, to wear again and again.
I have a few LBDs but they are more cocktail dresses, because of the fabric (they are wool or chiffon). This time I really wanted a party dress, in silk taffeta, possibly black, with a full skirt. Jcrew as you know makes many silk taffeta dresses, but the ones that are available on the website aren't my size, or are strapless (and I don't want to do strapless, at least not ideally).

A good section of the sample sale was dedicated to party/occasion dresses and these were $60, a good very deal if you can find your size. The first problem is that they won't let you try anything on(this is really a silly policy). Buying a dress without trying it on is a big risk already but in this case it is aggravated by the fact that most of these clothes don't have a tag with the size, so you have to figure.
So when I found this dress that looked like the one that I had in mind I was happy to see that it had a tag and that it was a size 0. I have never been between sizes in Jcrew dresses (I have always been a 0), so I took a risk and bought it.

What I liked in this dress is that it has the bodice of a shift dress but a full skirt. And I LOVED the color, an indigo blue that could look very chic with the right accessories. I could even try the uber-chic black and blue pairing because it is the right shade of blue.
When I tried it on at home, I had a first (bad) surprise: the bodice was VERY fitted and I almost couldn't zip it up (the zipper is in the back). In the end it closed and even if a little bit uncomfortable at first I think that a 2 would have probably been too big around the armholes:



You see that little bump on the right side of the bodice? That's my rib-cage that is showing!



I still liked it and thought that I could make it work (also I am almost sure that my husband would like this style). I tried it with the BR blazer velvet black blazer, for the above-mentioned black/navy chic effect:



So why it is such a bad deal? Let's look at the back of the dress:


You see that spot at the bottom right? Yes, that's a big cutout. Let's call it a HOLE:





How could I buy this (you are entitled to ask)? Well, obviously I didn't see it while I was there! I forgot the rule number one of sample sale-shopping: always inspect carefully the merchandise before buying. Actually I did check the seaming of the bodice and skirt but I didn't check the hem. I mean, you wouldn't think there would be a hole there, it was hard to see.

Now I have basically two options: live with it and try to make it work or take it back today and exchange it with something else (exchanges are allowed during the sale). The good thing is that is not in the middle of the skirt (in that case I wouldn't have a choice) but at the hem, so if I have the skirt hemmed I can still wear it. But I'm questioning the result. It is true that it is not a petite dress and I have some room for hemming, but I'm afraid that it will loose its proportions (I have to cut at least 2 and a half inches), not to mention that it will cost me at least $30 bringing the price of the dress to $90-$100.
But on the other side, I'm not really looking forward to go back to the sample sale. Today is the last day of the sample sale, so it's today or never. I'm sure that I will find something, that's not the issue (there were still a lot of cashmere sweaters and necklaces) but my daughter doesn't have school today and the location is pretty far from where we leave, so it would mean a day-trip with possible lunch-in-a-box.

What do you think? Is it worth to have this dress hemmed? What would you do? Please don't say "You can do better" because honestly I'm not sure. I am not that good at party dresses as you probably know if you have been reading this blog for a while.