Two recent OOTDs (and more on the Dauphine)

I have a few minutes to post two OOTDs that I wore this pas week.
The first is a casual outfit that I wore the day when I went to Jcrew to try the new arrivals. The blouse is the lattice medallion print blouse from last summer and the pants are the scout chinos. I was a little bit worried when I washed my scout chinos for the first time because I sized down in these (bought a 00) and they were already pretty tight. But they actually fit better now after being washed, go figure.
Last year I always wore the medallion top with white jeans/pants but I really like it with khaki chinos:



The second outfit is more elegant and I wore it yesterday to a welcome cocktail party at my daughter's new school. It was unseasonably cold yesterday, especially in the morning and early afternoon and even if it warmed up later I felt like it was appropriate to wear my Dauphine jacket. I read some comments of people on the JCA blog that asked for advice on styling this jacket for work. I have to say that I don't get it: I know that on the website it was styled with a denim overall and let me tell you that that outfit (and the stylist at JCrew who came up with it) should be held partially responsible for the Dauphine's "flop" (because if the price is down to $99 it must have been a big flop). But there is nothing easier than wear this jacket in a classic, office-appropriate way. It has a lot of neutral colors in it (cream, grey, cypress green, black and even spice olive) and gold threads, so you can really wear with whatever neutral pair of pants or skirt you have in your closet and especially black or natural. Demonstration: yesterday I wore it with the tuxedo-front top from last year, skinny gold belt and Theory black pant (you can substitute the top with another similar top and the pant with any black pant):




An update on the nap front: my daughter has been napping a day out of three (like, today) so I can at least blog twice a week. Hay!

PS
I am really enjoying your comments on the LA weekend/outfit. If I don't have time to comment back before leaving, let me tell you that I really appreciate your comments and that you convinced me to take the H&M dress with me as a backup option. With that post I really intended to test your reaction to the H&M dress because I was afraid that it would look cheap and I don't want to look cheap at my husband's 40th birthday party. The blue dress is also from H&M and I think that it is a GORGEOUS dress for the price ($24 as well, if you can believe it), but I will have plenty of time to wear it this summer (it doesn't really need an occasion).

Memorial Day (Fancy) Weekend Outfit: Choose!

Time to reveal my plans for Memorial Day weekend, otherwise it will be too late for you to help me with my outfit.

So tomorrow is my husband's 40th birthday and he wanted to celebrate in his favorite city in the word. It's not NY, it's not Paris, it's ... LA. We used to go there at least once a year when we were childless and I must admit that even if I wouldn't live there I always enjoyed spending a few days pretending that I am a movie star or a twenty-something wannabe (as everybody looks young in LA).
Now, we aren't jet-setters but we wanted to do something special so we rented a fabulous villa on the Hollywood Hills for the whole weekend and we are going to throw a party on Saturday night. It won't be a big party as obviously not everybody could afford the flight and unfortunately we couldn't rent a private jet like Tom Cruise once did and fly them all to the party. But some friends are coming form NY, my husband's best friend is flying from Paris and we have some friends living there. So let's call it a party.

The house is in Neutra-style (I don't know if I ever told you but architecture, especially modernism, is one of my big passions, but so is Brad Pitt's) and has a very nice pool area that overlooks LA and at night the view is just fantastic with all those little lights glowing in the dark (at least in the pics that the owner sent to us). So the party is going to be, if not a pool party (I don't think that anyone will make a splash unless we get really drunk), around the pool. The best think about throwing a party is that you get to decide the dress code and we went with "Hollywood Glam" with a no-black policy for the ladies.

Obviously, I started to think about my outfit a while ago, and I looked at a few dresses when I as at Bloomingdales for the F&F event. I really liked this little number by Milly (note the very glamorous flutter-sleeve) but I didn't buy it as it was expensive (almost $400) and I didn't want to spend that much on a dress that I will wear only once or twice:



I actually have a Theory dress that I have never worn and would be perfect for the occasion (it reminds me a little bit of the famous Sharon Stone dress in Basic Instinct. I will try to remember to wear my panties if I wear it) but a) it's very short; b) it's unforgiving (it's in stretch sateen and the kind of material that lets your cellulite show through and I'm not at the top of my shape right now); c) it only looks good with stilettos and the property owner asked us and our guests not to wear stilettos on the deck as they had problems in the past). Anyway, here it is (sorry for the pic, is the only one that I have as the battery of my phone died just after):



This is my first choice but I need a backup in case I don't feel like wearing it or my husband doesn't like it (I'm not going against his will this time as he is the birthday boy after all). I have three backup options and I would like you to vote your favorite.

The first is a maxi-dress that I had bought last year for a pool party that I ended up not going to. So it's new and needs to be worn. It would have been perfect if we had chosen a "pool party" dress code (we hesitated between the two). It is a very flattering dress and the fabric is actually a very nice silk jersey and not a cheap one:



The second is another maxi-dress, that I bought a few weeks ago at H&M. I think that for the price ($24.50) is a great dress and kind of appropriately glamorous but it's very long and I am not sure that I can wear it without having it hemmed. What do you think, worth it or not?




The third option is a shorter dress in a fantastic blue hue. I won't tell you where it comes from so as not influence your judgement:



I am aware that all the three backup options that I showed you are understated compared to my first choice, but I would like you to pick one anyway. It could be that in the next few days I find a fantastic deal on a fabulous dress (maybe the Milly one) as the Memorial Day Weekend sales are going to start and I'm keeping my eyes open, but let's plan for the worst (as my husband always says).

I will be a little bit busy this week as I have to prepare everything and I am alone with my daughter (by the way, she is coming, in case you were wondering, so no Mustang). I'm flying out on Friday morning, so I apologize in advance if I won't be able to comment back or blog much.

Have a nice week!

OOTD (Where I Reveal One of My Purchases) and OOTE (The Most Glamorous ER Outfit Ever)

So only mrs.anketell got this one right, sort of. I am surprised because the checkered dress is so "me" and so made for my lifestyle that I thought you would have guessed this one.

Anyway, I broke it out on Friday already (a sign of love) to go to the playground with my daughter. We stopped at the Collection store to make some returns and every single people in the store (not only the SAs) complimented me on it. The only hesitation that I had with this dress is that I was afraid to look like a little girl myself but people don't seem to receive it that way. I only saw looks of appreciation and well-meaning smiles while I was strolling with my daughter, but I have to say that people are forgiving about childish-looking outfits when you are with a little kid in toe. So I recommend it to all the moms out there (and it's playground-friendly).

When I bought the dress and I was trying to think what I would pair it with, I thought that it was just about time to buy a Jackie cardigan in navy (as you now I have a lot of navy in my closet, but not a single summer cardigan in this color) and that's how I wore the dress on Friday in the early morning (later in the day it got too hot for the Jackie):




I got a 0 in this dress even if it is a little bit roomy at the waist on me but the 00 was too short and uncomfortable around the armpits. The bag is my Longchamp "Le Pliage" in white, the perfect bag for strolling around on a summer day (even if it gets dirty very easily). I apologize for the slippers that peek out in the pic: in reality I wore my driving mocs because I couldn't locate my white sandals and I was at a loss. So I think that now I really need those navy Tory Burch Sally peep-toes, what do you think?

And now on with the second outfit. Yesterday night I was invited to a party to celebrate our best friends' 15th Wedding Anniversary (I know, you normally don't throw a party for the 15th Anniversary, but they love parties and so do I!) My husband left for a business trip yesterday after lunch so he couldn't attend but I wasn't too bothered by the fact of going alone because I just love them and a lot of my mom friends would be there. The party was held at a very nice restaurant where that had rented a private room with live music to accompany the meal and dance after. The perfect party, I tell you.
As soon as I received the invitation, I knew what I was going to wear: the dress that I wore for my 40th bday party. My long-time followers will remember it from my post last summer. I love this dress but because is very noticeable is the kind of dress that you don't wear twice around the same people (and that's why I didn't consider wearing it for the wedding in Seattle, as the groom was one of the guests at my birthday party and I thought it would be disrespectful to wear at his wedding). But none of yesterday night guests was invited to my party last year (as they are new friends), so it was the perfect occasion to wear it again. I put on my best "dancing shoes" (a pair of silver snakeskin sandals with a medium-height stacked heel):



So I was all dressed up waiting for the the babysitter to arrive and my daughter was sitting at the table all quiet. All of a sudden she started to cry and at the beginning I didn't understand why she was crying (I have to say that she is scared of little bugs and she bursts in tears very easily so I thought that she had just seen a fly or something). But when she started to point to her nose I immediately understood that she had stuffed something up her there (after inspection it turned out to be the cap of a toy that had a small water tank and that she was able to take out). I was between panicked and terribly angry with her for ruining my evening, one of those time when you regret the day when you had the bad idea to have a child. After trying for fifteen minutes to take it out her nose with a Tweezers, where the only result was that it got even higher up, I gave up and I decided to take her to the ER. In my outfit (but I changed my shoes). The babysitter arrived just when I was running to stop a taxi, so I asked her to wait in case it wouldn't take long because I was still hoping to be able to go to the party.
The last time that I was at the ER I waited for 4 hours only to be admitted, but this time we were lucky and when we got there there was only another patient before us, so we were admitted after fifteen minutes or so. The doctor was able to take the cap out in just one try with a hooked little stick (I should have asked him where I could get one of those for the next time) and actually the wait for a cab (Saturday night around 9 pm in NYC) took longer than our stay in the emergency room.
In the end I could go to the party, even if I was very late and I made an entrance a la Carrie Bradshaw as everybody was seated and looked at me (I arrived just before they started to serve dinner, that was delicious by the way, one of the best meals that I ever had). I had a very pleasant night out but what an adventure!

My husband is on a week-long business trip, so stay tuned for more posts to come.
Have a nice Sunday!

New Arrivals: Fitting Room Pics (and a Little Guessing Game)

I had another post in mind for you today but because I made it to the store where my PS had put some of the new arrivals on hold for me this morning, I am going to post the fitting room pics just in case you are staying up until midnight ET tonight (which shouldn't be that difficult for the East Coasters since it's Real Housewife of NYC night) and try to snatch some of the new arrivals before the SUMMER code expires (I remember that some JCAs were able to do that the last time, as the code still worked past midnight). I will give you some advice on the fit so you know what size to order but I'm going to try to curb my enthusiasm (or disappointment) and let you guess what I got. I have to say that this collection is very summery and it was hard for me to resist as summer is my favorite season. Ready? Let's go!

Let's start with the dresses. There were many new dresses but the one that I wanted to try after seeing it in the previews and the catalog pages that were posted on the JCA blog was the striped Marin dress (#27502H). I was a little bit disappointed to learn that it's a silk crepe de chine dress and not a knit, as silk is difficult to wear in the summer (I especially hate when you seat for a long time in your silk dress or skirt and when you get up your bottom is all wrinkled and sticky). Anyway, here it is in a XS:



The next one is the much-talked about "starfish" dress. This one runs SMALL, I had to size up to a 2 (but the pics are of the 0):



It has an elastic that runs at the waist and that is supposed (I think) to give the dress more shape but wasn't very flattering on me (oups, I just gave you a hint).
The starfish print also comes in shorts, that are in linen. These run TTS (here is a pic of the 0):



I liked that they weren't super-short and you can wear them in the city, even if the print is very beach-y. They retail for $59.50

Another pair of shorts, the Brigitte check shorts, that retail for $49.50. They come in navy and red and I tried both but only took pics of the red. Warning: these run VERY SMALL (they are in a thin cotton that has no give) and I had to size up to a 2 (in the pics):



They had a drawstring dress in the same check print (but in more sturdy cotton than the shorts). I don't see it in the catalog, so I cannot say if this will be available online tomorrow or not. This also comes in a 00, so I tried it but it was a little bit too short and uncomfortably tight around the armholes:




This dress also comes in a solid (less expensive) version (I only remember two colors, a charcoal and a clay or wild mushroom). It reminded me of the Carly dress but without the ruffles (and with a drawstring). If I remember correctly, the solid version is $69.50, and the check version is $88.

A similar concept, but with shorts and in a knit fabric, is this jumper, that I think will be in the lounge section as it is a little bit pajama-y (but it is very comfortable and easy as a cover-up). I think it was $49.50 (but I can't swear as I forgot to take a pic of the tag. Oups, another hint!):



Speaking of beach and cover-up, here is an easy dress that goes easily from the beach to an afternoon stroll to dinner. Very bohemian chic (it retails for $79.50):





And the following one could be the ultimate chic dress for the summer if you are not afraid of sheerness and being dressed in a tiny and lightweight amount of silk crepe de Chine. I am trying the S, as the XS was sold-out already (I tried to make it decent-looking for the pics but my top was floating in the S):



The last dress that I tried on is the Cascade ruffle dress (27270H). If you have missed last year strapless jersey dress, you could give this a try. It's flattering and I liked the cascading ruffle, but it runs SMALL. This is a 2 and I could barely zip it (it has an exposed zip in the back):



Back to serious stuff, my PS had put on hold a new pencil skirt for me that I think many of you are going to like. A LOT. I am not sure how it is called and it's not in the catalog, so it could be in-store only. It is in a beautiful textured cotton with an orange waive and fits TTS:




Here is a close-up of the waive and the tag (the style number is 26358 if you cannot read):


The other skirt that I tried is this full mini in a Liberty of London fabric. This one comes in 00 and retails for $98:



The tops were a little bit boring or plain hideous, like this Collection cami that is retailing for $148 or $158 (hint: I didn't get it!):



The following is the Sea grass fringed tunic (26154H) and the model is wearing it under the Gingham schoolboy blazer on page 31 of the catalog, so you can't really see how it fits. It isn't uninteresting and I loved the colors (much more than the colors of the other fringed tunic that came out during the last mini rollout and is actually the same tunic, only a little bit less expensive), but it runs big (this is the XS):



This is the 2010 version of the peasant top. I think it was $69.50, and it's sheer (runs a little bit big, sorry I don't have the style number):



There was a silk top that I liked with an eyelet ruffled collar and a string belt but I forgot to take a pic (I only have a pic of the tag with the detail of the eyelet on the collar). In case you see it online and you want to order it it runs TTS and the fabric is really nice:



The only pair of non-jean pants that I tried are the Madras pants. I guess that this is an example of classic with a twist, the twist being the zippers that are everywhere (on the ankles, pockets and back pocket). They run TTS to small but I would go with your regular size as madras tends to I stretch out. This is the 0:




And last but not least, the new cropped matchstick jean in the amore wash, perfect for the summer (they are supersoft as they say on the website). They run big, I had to size down to a 25:



I am wearing the Tulle fountain tank that went recently on sale and my PS put on hold for me. I have to say that surprisingly I liked it (I never had a second thought about, actually not even a first one but it is going to be perfect for my upcoming Memorial Day weekend so I bought it and will return if I end up not wearing it).

That's it (ll in all I spent almost two hours in the fitting room). What do you think? Do you like something that you just saw? What do you think that I got (final hint: I got more than one item, besides the tank, that you couldn't have known)?
If you have any questions, let me know, I will try to reply shortly.

I Am Here!

Just a quick note to let you know that I am (still) here in case you were worried (the new camera arrived in time for my daughter's birthday and as a result my husband didn't kill me) but last Friday and Saturday I was busy with the last details for my daughter's birthday party and this week I am a little bit overwhelmed with the preparation of a very exciting and fancy event that will take place on Memorial Day weekend (more on that in another post; and don't worry, you will be totally involved in the choice of my outfit).
As if it wasn't enough, my daughter stopped napping COMPLETELY, as if it was written in her genes that she would stop napping as soon as she would turn 3. But blogger mommy needs a sleepy (and asleep) child and I haven't figured out yet when I am supposed to blog in this new configuration of our daily routine...

Anyway, we celebrated her 3d birthday this past Sunday (her real birthday was last Friday). We threw a party in a sort of kid's club where they organize various kids classes during the year and kids camp in the summer but where they also have a small animal farm (with city-friendly animals like bunnies, turtles, chicks and also some reptiles) and is aptly named The Art Farm. So far we always had her birthday parties at home but this year we were dealing with 15 kids because of the new school classmates so we had to rent a place. It was very homey and cute though and everybody loved to pat the animals (the turtle was a big hit).

Because it was a farm-style party I wore my Philo blouse and jeans for comfort. I thought that the Philo blouse was very cute, especially around kids, but my husband hated it. Because I paid $26 for it I can live with it and now that I know I will try to wear it only when he is not around (which shouldn't be difficult as I have other clothes, right?) My daughter was wearing last year "chihuahua" tee and Petit Bateau pants (I regretted a little bit not buying her a new outfit for the occasion but I made the mistake of relying on one of the Liberty of London for Target dresses that I had bought months ago, that in the end didn't work, and I didn't have the time to shop for an outfit at the last minute):



They had to decorate a piggy bank as a project and then each kid took his piggy home as a souvenir. I think it was adorable (the picture was obviously taken before):



I have a lot of posts coming if I only find the time to actually write them.

Happy Wednesday!

Product Review: The Drapey Drexel Plisse Skirt

I wanted to space my posts a little bit this week as as you know I broke my camera so I can't take new pics until the new one arrives and I have to relay on the pictures that I already have on my computer. But because of the 15% off BIRTHDAY promo going on today only, I have decided to pull up this post about a relatively new arrival that I LOVE and I bought a few weeks ago (and apparently nobody blogged about yet).

I have been looking for an evening black skirt for a while. I wanted something edgy but elegant, something that you would wear to an exhibition opening or even clubbing in a fancy club (now, for the records, I never go clubbing but if I had the occasion I would end up staying at home from "I have nothing to wear" panic attack).
When I first saw the Drapey Drexel Plisse Skirt at the Collection store, I immediately liked it but boy, (I thought) that was a short skirt! So I didn't even try it on, but I kept thinking about it. The next time that I was in the store I looked for it but it was gone, like in "shipped to another store". I finally found it in another store and bought it with a 10% off coupon. BTW, this is one of those items that are differently priced in store and online (the in-store price is $98, while it is $88 online). If you know the online price and you tell the SA when you are at the register, they will check and honor the lowest price (better know your prices by heart these days at JCrew, the discrepancies are more and more frequent).

I think that for the price it's a great skirt, with a very modern elegance to it. It's short for sure (you have to like short skirts) but you can size one up if you are concerned by the lenght. The 0 sits a little bit low on the hips on me but I think that it is better this way or it would really be too short, even for me. I have to say that I don't like how this skirt is styled on the website, with the grey tee and the brown belt: I think it deserves a little bit more va-va-voom. I get what they want to convey with that styling, that you can dress it down, but it is mainly an evening skirt because of the shiny fabric (it's poly), so why not to show it in all its dressy splendor? By the way, the website description of the fabric ("A beautiful new drapey wool fabric") isn't accurate. I even checked the tag and it's definitively poly, not wool.
Anyway, I will more likely wear it like this:




I love the pockets with the nice draping! I also tried to recreate a more dressed down look, similar to the one on the website (in case I don't go clubbing anytime soon), with a very old tee that must be the very first "embellished" tee that I bought at JCrew (I think that it's at least 5 years old):



And if I really wanted to belt it, I would wear it with the studded belt:



What do you think of this skirt? Did you even notice it on the website? Is it for you? If you are tempted and you have any question, let me know!

Random Pics from the Fitting Room

Good morning! Because many of you have woken up to the wonderful news that JCrew is offering all the JCAs a special 15% off and free shipping code valid only today(thanks to all the hard work that Alexis put into the JCA blog), I thought that I would share some pics that I took the last time that I was in the store. These pics are pretty random as I was trying stuff for me and not for the blog, but I hope that some of you will find them useful.

Let's start with the Strapless Impressionist dress. The print is really beautiful but the dress is really short, even on me. Trying my regular 0 size:



The other problem of this dress is that it doesn't have any kind of support whatsoever in the bodice, not even the adhesive hem that they usually add to help things stay in place. You can see in this pic that it tends to fall off (and as you know I don't have a lot going on there):



So in terms of wearability this dress was a total pass; it is a bummer because the print is so summery. I also tried the cami in the same print but as other bloggers have pointed out the fit is off (it runs big) and I didn't like it at all (sorry, no pics of this one).

The next is the Silk-linen slouchy pant. These are actually very nice once you have figured out your size. I had already tried them in my regular size 0 and didn't like them, but I decided to give them another try in a size 2 as the 0 was too short and not "slouchy" enough. This is the 2 in bleechwood:




They are VERY comfortable and not shiny at all (in case you are hesitating out of fear of shining). Also, the fabric has a slight herringbone pattern to it. I think that they will go on super-duper sale like their cousin the "city silk pant" (I can't provie the link as they are currently sold-out) and I highly reccomend to pick them up at that point if you don't need them right now.

Another pair of pants, the Knit denim leggings that are now on sale for $49.99. The fit was good on me but I felt like I was back in the future from the 80s and I had forgot my pants on:



As a top I was wearing the Coralie cami in the mink color. This color wouldn't be my first choice if I had to buy this cami (in fact, of all the colors offered I think that it's my last choice) but it was the only color available in store. See it in detail:



If you are intrigued (like I was) by the Neon sparks tee, this is a warning not to waste your money on it. It doesn't look in anything like the crisp (white) tee on the website, it is more like something that you would throw on to do a paint job:



I couldn't believe that they were selling this for $58. You are paying for the "the fun flecks of neon yarn combed throughout". In reality you get this:


I also tried the Sequin-stripe henley tank that is very well made for the price and very versatile. You will see it soon in a OOTD as I bought it in the quarry color (that is really a grey).

I only took advantage of this promo to order the Perfect-fit stripe open crewneck tee that popped back in my size this morning, to show appreciation for Alexis's job and the offer itself. But my husband placed a big order, which is a first for him. We will see if he becomes a JC addict ;-))).

Are you taking advantage of this promotion? What's in your wishlist? Please share!