It's a Pajama Party

OK, since it is the weekend I have a fun post for you today. As you probably know wearing your pajamas out is no more considered as an excentricity: celebrities everywhere have been spotted wearing pajamas at events and even the fashion big houses put out "pajama-inspired evening wear" in their collections. The most photographied is probably this Louis Vuitton silk pajama, worn here by Sophia Coppola:

Wearing pajamas head-to-toe is probably too much for any of us who have a real life but wearing a pajama top is easier and doable if you like the trend (I did it here). There are a lot of tops this season that have traditional pajama details like the contrasting piping, but it is more fun if you in fact dare to wear your real pajama top. Part of the fun is to have people wondering if you are wearing a pajama. When I saw this commercial for ToysRUs I wondered if Heidi Klum is wearing a pajama or a shirt that is made to look like a pajama top:

The top that Heidi is wearing could easily be the Vintage pajama set top. This is an item that JCrew has been selling for some time but I just read the description again and I am almost sure that the part that says "Though it's made for sleep, we also love the top layered over a tank and worn with a pair of jeans" is new.
It is true that this pajama is the perfect candidate to be worn out and about. I am actually surprised that we haven't seen Jenna wearing it yet. I don't own the long-sleeve one but I own the short-sleeve version in white and it is so crisp and fab that I have been tempted to wear it out.
Because some of you might be interested to get it with the 25% off, even if it is only to sleep in it, I thought I would post a few pics. I am wearing a XS in this, I am usually a XXS because I am petite and I can't stand having to hem pajama pants but this one has a cropped style and the XXS was too short (and also very small in the waist) even for me:

The great thing about this pajama is the the cotton feels wonderful on the skin, it is very soft and lightweight but the white color manages not to be sheer, at least not the top (it is just a bit in the bottom meaning that if you wear black panties they are going to show through but it isn't sheer as white pajamas can be). I actually tried the top with shorts (I thought I had taken a picture but I couldn't find it) but I think that the short sleeves make it less suited to being worn outside the house. By the way, if you get this, you must find a way to show it off, it is too beautiful to keep it for yourself (even husbands aren't enough of an audience even if I must admit that I am very pleased that my husband constantly compliments me on it). Time to plan a weekend with friends maybe or why not a pajama party.

Do you own the vintage cotton pajama set? Have you warmed up to the wear your pajama trend?

Merlot, Cabernet and Other Drinkable Hues

This season you could get drunk just by looking at clothes on the Internet. Would you like a little cabernet on your sweater? What about a bit of merlot on your bag/shoes? Whoever decided at Pantone that Tangerine was the color of the year made a big mistake. Clearly burgundy is the color of the year, at least in the fashion world.
I think that JCrew is the only retailer to make a difference between the color of "cabernet" and the color of "merlot" and I am not sure that they employed the services of an oneologist. Do you think Merlot is darker or lighter than Cabernet? Let's just call it Burgundy, we know what we are talking about.

I hate plum but I have always loved burgundy. The warmth of burgundy is very flattering on my skin tone but it is a color that tends to come under the spotlight and then be fast forgotten. The last time that I purchased something burgundy was probably 15 years ago, so a little wardrobe refresh was in order. When you love a color that feels very "new" and is offered by every retailer it is easy to go overboard so my plan was to buy one thing in each of these categories: sweaters, dresses and skirts, shoes and bags (I am not going to buy any jackets or outwear in this color).
My main "quality" purchase is a sweater that I bought in Paris. The sweater is by the French brand Claudie Pierlot and it is one of the rare brands that is not available in the USA (not even in limited quantities in select stores). I think it is because it is a relatively small family business that feels very Parisian and probably they think it cannot be exported. In any case the reason why I got this sweater is that I have a Claudie Pierlot sweater from 20 years ago that still looks like new. They make very good quality clothes, especially knits. The other reason is that I LOOOOVE the color and the style of this sweater. It is a heavy knit and I appreciate the feminine touches like the slightly puffed sleeves. JCrew came up with something similar but in this case you can't compare the quality (for example, it is actually lined in silk around the collar so it isn't itchy at the contact with the skin). I am pairing it with a knit skirt that I bought in Italy by the brand Stefanel, which is a mall brand gone more upscale in the last few years. Not sure if you can see but it is camel, brown and burgundy:

The skirt is a bit big in the waist but I preferred the S to the XS because of the length, the XS looked more like a mini. I had to buy a belt to wear with it (since it has belt loops) and they had this patent burgundy one that I plan to wear with jeans too:

The other burgundy new arrival in my closet is this dress by Zara. I bought this one here in NY and I absolutely love it. I wanted this one to be a bit sexy, not conservative (as I have plenty of conservative dresses) so I went with a S, which "just fit" as you can see. In a M it would have been longer and with less definition at the waist making it more conservative. This one is rayon and unlined which as you know doesn't bother me (but I have to admit that the skirt is a bit sheer):

With a JCrew necklace:

Always at Zara I bought something fun to accessorize both the dress and the sweater. It's the Zara knockoff of the Lanvin "eagle" necklace from the spring. I actually looked for this necklace in the summer, I thought it was impossible that Zara hadn't made a knockoff. They made it in a rubi color, which goes really well with the burgundy:

I know, it is one of those "Love it" or "Hate it" things and you are free to think that it is tacky. I personally love it, especially for $39, and I think that it adds a bit of pizzaz to a plain "sweater and jeans" outfit. If you love it as well, you can buy it here.

As for the shoes I haven't found a pair yet that really wows me and is reasonably priced. Ideally I would love a pair of platforms I can walk in and that don't cost too much. But I am looking more and more intensely at the Etta patent pumps in crimson maple and I might order a pair with the 25% off promo to see if I like the style and color.

And now, even if you have no intention to buy anything burgundy you can add just a touch on your nails. I brought back from Europe two bottles of Chanel's nail polish (which is a little bit less expensive there but not that much, we are talking about a couple of dollars once you convert from Euro) "Blue rebel" and "Rouge fatal". While I wouldn't prompt you to splurge on a color like "Blue rebel" (a light shade of navy, gorgeous but probably not something that you will wear a lot), "Rouge fatal" is the most perfect hue of burgundy red with no purple undertones and a must have. I could stare at my toes for hours:

I recently wore my Chanel toes with a pair of pink-ish sandals the pink and red looked smashing together:

The colors on my feet reflected the colors of my outfit:

Did you notice something strange? Yes, the golden burgundy pencil skirt has been transformed into a mini, the time of this pic. If you remember my post about this skirt, I thought that it would be a great skirt to wear in the Fall. Which it is, except that if I want to wear it casually (with sandals and flats) I need it to be much shorter. It was just pinned in this pic but I am seriously considering doing it.
Here is how I wore it more formally the day after, to meet my daughter's teachers:

Which way do you prefer it? I don't want to ruin it but I think it is more me in the first pic.

For more burgundy, see the post of my blog pal ajc here.

So any wine this season for you? Have you ever heard of Claudie Pierlot? What do you think of the Lanvin-inspired necklace? Have you tried Chanel's "Rouge fatal"?

Product Review: Honeycomb silk chiffon blouse and scarf

Lsst Friday I went to the green market in Times Square which is very conveniently located a few steps away from the JCrew "flagship" store on Fifth Avenue, so I decided to stop by and peruse the sale section. I only bought a belt that I had been eyeing for a while and is now very cheap but while I was there I saw the most beautiful scarf on a manniquin. I don't fall for scarves very often but I had to have this one. It is a silk scarf in the same print of the Collection silk chiffon blouse. I had never seen this scarf before and it didn't come up when I looked for it on the website; however, since I was in Europe when the honeycomb blouse came out it is possible that it sold-out on the website and I just missed it.

I love the honeycomb print and I tried the blouse a couple of weeks ago but it was a bit too serious-looking for me. I tried a 0 and the fit is TTS. It is also surprisingly LESS sheer than what it looks like from the website pics (it comes with a navy cami but from what I remember the silk chiffon itself is not THAT sheer):

As I said I tried it a couple of weeks ago and I don't remember how the fabric felt at the touch and if it is the same silk chiffon used for the scarf. I would imagine that it is the same but the scarf is very sheer and delicate so maybe it is a different weigth:

At $72.50 it is quite expensive for a scarf but I don't think it is overpriced as it is quite big. Look, it covers my sofa almost entirely when unfolded:

The color combo is just beautiful (the background is navy and this was a selling point for me as I have a lot of navy jackets/outwear):

The ends are fringed and not unraveling:

It looks great belted over a blazer (a look that I don't usually go for since I am petite but I think that this print doesn't overwhelm me and I can pull it off if I wear boots or heels):

This is a pic of the tag in case you want to look for it in a store:

What do you think of the honeycomb silk chiffon scarf? Anyone else has it? What about the Collection blouse? Is it on your wishlist this Fall? Please share!

Promo Priced and Sale Items Picks: Cafe Capri in Wool Herringbone, Cashmere Bateau in Stripes, Velvet Schoolboy and a Few Others

Good morning! As you probably now JCrew is offering 30% off sale items until tomorrow (Friday). While at first I thought that I wouldn't take advantage of this promo, there are many items that got promo-priced during the week or that don't show up as final sale so I ended up picking up a few things that are returnable and are a price good enough to keep them if I really like them.

Before ordering I went to my closest store to see if I could try a few things on for sizing purposes. The first item that I was looking for is the Collection cashmere bateau sweater in stripe whose price just dropped to $149.99 in all the colors. I wasn't interested in the two colors previously on sale but when both the black/flax and caramel/ivory colorways hit sale yesterday I decided to give it a try it since I love JCrew cashmere (call me crazy).
My usual sweater size XS fits perfectly. This is the caramel/ivory colorway (it looks a little bit more olive in these pics because of the neon light in the fitting room but it's a warm caramel and the stripes are a light ivory). As you can see the neckline sits a bit funny, I would say that it is between a mockneck and a boatneck. Also note the three quarter sleeves, that could bother someone in a cashmere sweater:

And this is the black/flax. The stripes in the black are much darker than in the other colorway, as flax is the JCrew color name for "oatmeal" (I mention it so you are not disappointed in case you were expecting ivory or white stripes). Even if I knew they weren't ivory, I was still a bit surprised by the darkness of the color (which is not well rendered in these pics):

I ended up ordering the black/flax to wear with black Minnies (I also happen to have another cashmere sweater in the caramel colorway and I am a bit tired of it).

The next item that I wanted to try on before ordering are the Cafe capri in herringbone. These pants are lined and I didn't know if I had to order a 0 or size up to a 2 because of the lining (they are fully lined in poly) of if they would be a complete disaster (like sometimes lined pants are on me. I am looking at you Stovepipe trousers in wool checks).
I was looking for the grey but they only had the pink at my store. I tried them anyway for sizing even if I wasn't interested in the pink and these were a surprise LOVE for me. This is the size 0, which fits perfectly:

I am not a pink person at all and I have already the Lollis in bright dahlia which is enough pink pants in my wardobe so I sticked to my initial plan of ordering the grey (that I need, I don't have a single pair of grey pants) but I might exchange them for the pink in case I don't like the color or how they fit. I tried the jacket too but that was definitively too much pink and they didn't have my size so I didn't take a pic.

The other item that I wanted to share pics of, even if it is something that I ordered a while ago and returned since, is the Schoolboy blazer in velvet. I ordered the navy, which is not a color currently on promo, but at least you can judge the fit (which I didn't like).
I ordered a size 2, which is my regular blazer/coat size. I am used to the boxyness of the schoolboy but I found this to be terribly boxy and stiff. I also disliked the welt pockets with the flaps that add bulk to the sides (there are three of them). Last, I didn't like the color at all. It is quite a dull navy with no purple undertones, in fact this has more green to it than purple (just to be clear, it is definitively navy and not green but it would be at the end of a color scale that goes towards teal). This is probably just my personal disappointment because I was looking for a jewel-tone velvet blazer like the one that Marion Cotillard is wearing on the cover of the August issue of Vogue:

Isn't she incredibly beautiful? By the way, she should be the new French Marianne, non (the title is currently hold by the semi-obscure TV presenter Evelyne Thomas)?

Anyway, this is the scoolboy on me:

I immediately returned it and I shopped my (old) closet in Milan where I found a more dignified subsitute of the Dior jacket that Marion is wearing (pics coming in another post).

To go back to the JCrew sale, it is also a good time to try same denim, in particular the Ankle toothpick jeans in huron wash. I love these jeans and they are on promo for $108. ETA: sorry I just noticed that they went back to full price. I am usually a 26 but I sized one up in these as the 26 was pretty tight. They gape a bit in the waist in the 27 but nothing major. You have seen these on me already in all the fitting room pics (as I kept trying them on but couldn't stomach paying $130 + tax):

See them also on Gwyneth ;-).

From the final sale section, I can't say good enough of the Cafe capri in pop art polka dot. I ordered them just before leaving for Europe when they where promo-priced at $98. I was a little bit hesitant about ordering them so late in the season (what if I can't stand the sight of polka-dots next year) but I also knew that they would probably go on sale and sell out while I was on vacation and it was my last chance to get them. Well, I am so glad that I did because I wore them non-stop to school these last two weeks, they are the perfect transitioning pair to me and the print is more graphic than sweet so I think they will still work next year too. In case you have never seen them IRL, the dots are cream and not white. I went with a 0, which is the same size that my foulard ones that I adore and these look a little bit more cropped because they are cuffed. You can wear any color on top but if you are looking for a perfect match, they pair greatly with the Collection silk crepe tee, which is currently on sale for $89.99 (a great price IMO as this is a high-quality garment. The ivory is currently sold-out but might popback). I love this top especially because of the length, it looks great untucked (I am wearing a 0 and it fits very well, but you can size one up I think. I was afraid that it would be a bit boxy but it isn't):

As an added bonus, it isn't sheer at all since it is a very substantial silk (that also holds its shape). I also love the casual tee shape rendered in a luxury fabric that elevates a basic. They really nailed this one IMO.

That's it. Sorry for the long post but I find it a little bit difficult to sit down at the computer these days so I crammed many topics of posts that I am not sure I am going to write any time soon in one post.

What do you think of these picks? Are you taking advantage of this promo?

OOTD with White Bubble Necklace

I just found a white bubble necklace on sale so I wanted to get a little wear out of it before packing it away with all things white (not that I really have a rotational jewelry storage, I just mean that this is very summery and I don't think it can be winterized).
I wore it Saturday morning with my striped blouson dress in cerise (whose stripes are cream and not white but nevermind) and my Nolita jacket. I wanted to pat myself for wearing it over the jacket and not under it, it was a little bit too cold to take the jacket off or even unbutton it. In fact I was freezing in my Havaianas.

This is "only" my second bubble necklace, I really wanted the white one but I don't wear my other one enough to buy a second one full price. I was lucky enough to find this one almost abandoned in a jewel bin at the store where my ps works the other day when I went bk to get the blackwatch plaid trench. The 20% off applied to the entire order which brought the price down to $79.99. Definitively happy with the price and the look of it, white necklaces are hard enough to come by.

JCrew New Arrivaval Pics: Slim Trench Topper, Collection Golden Paisley Blouse

Good morning! I don't have a lot of time today (hubby is FINALLY coming home from Europe today and the apartment is currently a mess after almost two weeks of me acting as a single mom) but I wanted to put up a few IRL pics of two items that rolled out yesterday and got some (positive or negative) attention in the JCA community.

First, the Slim trench topper aka the blackwatch plaid trench. I absolutely loved this trench, I usually have a hard time with trenches because they tend to overwhelm me or I find them too classic/boring. This is perfect for my petite figure, probably because of the single-breast style and the short length and the blackwatch pattern is unusual.
I tried my regular coat size 2 and it fits perfectly. Ths is how it looks unbottoned:

As I mentionned on the JCA it is unlined, which isn't a dealbreaker for me, in fact I don't expect a trench to be lined (the Icon is unlined as well and the short Burberry too). The construction of this trench is superb, the fabric is sort of a coated wool (I forgot to check the fabric content but it didn't strike me as something much different or heavier than the Icon. It is definitively a trench and not a coat even if it is wool), it has lapels at the sleeves and a lapel that you can button under the collar. The self-tie belt is the only thing that gave me pause because, as you can see below, it is VERY long. However, thanks God, they made enough holes in the fabric that I can fasten it tight enough to give me a good waist definition, so I only have to find something to do with the loose end, lol (probably put in the pocket):

A new trench was on my "need" list this Fall and I really see myself wearing this one so I put it on hold and I am thinking of taking advantage of the VPS promo that ends this Saturday. However, I bought the Icon when it was promo-priced with 30% off (which made it almost a third of the price of this one) and I have to decide between the two of them. I feel that the Icon is more versatile because a neutral that goes with everything but I am afraid I won't reach for it as much as this one because of the double-breast style. Thoughts?

The other new arrivals that has generated a lot of talks about the prices reaching impossible highs at JCrew this fall is the Collection golden paisley blouse. This one is striking IRL and I immediately grabbed one to take to the fitting room but I had a "Holy cow!" moment when I saw the price. This is one expensive blouse and to be honest for no particular reason: it is unlined and it seems fairly easy to make (unless making cuffs, which is the only detail that requires some sewing skill, has become very expensive) and the silk isn't as heavy as they say in the description, it is just your "regular" silk twill. Pricing it at $200 would be a stretch already but $300 which is more than some of the coats seems crazy. I don't need a blouse like this one (who does?) and I am happy with the silk jaquard keyhole one that I picked up at the sample sale for $49 as a nice evening blouse.
In any case this is, believe it or not, a size 8 (I thought it was a 0 fitting big and when I realized that it was a size 8 I already had sticker shocker so I wasn't motivated to ask for my size. I tried a 2 today and it was still a bit long in the arms, while it was a bit pulling at the hips so I am not even sure that I like the fit that much):

What do you think of these two new arrivals, are you interested in any of them? How much would you spend on a blouse? Please share, I will let you know how much I splurged in Europe on THE blouse in the next post!

OOTD: Colorblock Top

We are having "blazer weather" here in NYC and I am decided to take advantage of it to wear my lightweigth blazers before it is too late (I hate to wear a blazer under a coat).
I still haven't found a blazer that fits me better than this old shrunken Gap. The JCrew schoolboy, while more substantial in weigth, is less nipped at the waist so less flattering:

I just bought the colorblock top (97371) that I am wearing under the blazer but I always thought it was black/tan. I tried it yesterday night with a couple of black bottoms only to find out that the sides are definitively navy ("portobello mushroom" which is how the color is called online really doesn't convey any idea of navy in my mind). I thought about returning it but I really like it under a blazer and I got it for the store sale price ($79.99) less 20% off through my VPS so I am going to keep it even if it will have a different use than the intended one. After all navy is going to be my main color for Fall and it pairs well with these awesome Joe Fresh cords that I picked up last week for under $30 (here the top looks more black because the pants are a lighter navy):

I am wearing a size 00 that I preferred to the 0 because shorter and overall more flattering (the 0 was too big in the body but since I am a 34C the 00 just fits in the chest without being too snug so I think I will only be able to layer a thin tissue turtleneck under it, which is fine to me):

I have more new arrival pics to share but it is a bit cumbersome because I am using my phone to take the pics and I have to email them to myself or blog from my phone like in this case (can't do it for a long post). So they will probably be up tonight.

What do you think of the colorblock top? Did you know it is navy and not black?