A Great Find: the Sleeveless Ruffle-Neck ATL Dress

My daughter woke me up at 6 today and it was already pouring. If you have kids you know that those days when it rains like hell and you wake up with the perspective of staying at home all day trying to entertain your little one(s) are the longest (the time just doesn't seem to go at same speed) and by 9 I was already bored to death (and that was after placing a $159 order at Jcrew.com). My daughter must have been bored too because she wanted to go outside. Outside where? I ask. Park? She replies. But it rains, I say showing the rain pouring outside the windows. She understands rain but she insists. Let's go. I explain to her that the only place where we could possibly go involves mommy trying stuff and her watching and it's not going to be a lot of fun for her. It looks like anything is better than staying at home with mommy today, so I prepare her for our expedition (thank you, thank you, thank you for saving me from boredom). We can only walk few blocs because of the rain, so our destination will be the Gap and ATL.

We stopped at the Gap first to check out the dresses. If you have missed it, Gap is having a "25% off all dresses" promo only this weekend (for women, babies and kids).
Surprisingly, they didn't have many styles. I gave a try to the Empire waist tank dress (#655030):




Sorry, as you can see I was lazy and I've tried it with my jeans and wellies but you get the idea. This dress retails for $39.50 in store but it's currently 29.50 on the website and comes in this color, black, bright pink, purple, yellow and white. I didn't like it on me (maybe is the color but the black and white were sold out) but it's worth checking it out if you're looking for an easy dress for the summer. It felt very comfortable and it's a great combination of fabrics: the top is in a knit cotton and the skirt is in woven cotton, which makes it a little bit different from the other dresses.

Then, we went to ATL. I "discovered" ATL not more than a month ago when I went into one of their stores for the first time to look for their cotton 3/4 sleeves Jackie-esque cardigan. I was really surprised with their clothes and I have now added it to my shopping path. The prices are good (today I found that their prices were better than at the Gap) and they have great basics.
Anyway, I came back for a tank that I had already tried on when I bought the cardi. I was waiting for it to go on sale but the white was sold out in my size so today I decided to buy it FP ($24.50). The SA insisted that I try "some color":


But I prefer a neutral color and got the grey:

This tank screams "summer" to me. I can't wait to wear it with a pair of white linen pants. In the same spirit, it looks nice with the ATL knit skirt (reg. 36.50, on sale for 24.50):



When I was in line at the register, my eye got caught by this dress:


It's called the "Sleevless dress with ruffles V-neck" if you can call this a name (style #233795). It cames in black, brown and lilac rose, which is similar to the Jcrew flamingo pink. The store only carried the black and the pink and I tried bot the black and the pink in XS:






I got the pink one. The lightning was horrible in the fitting room and it's a total different color IRL:




It's a really cute dress and it retails for only $39.50. The fabric is a nice stretch jersey (93% cotton and 7% spandex). This was the first time that I tried an ATL dress and I think I'm a petite but this particular one was sold out in petite so I got the regular size. I got it anyway but I might go and look for a petite in another store. The best part is that they are giving away a $25 card with every $50 spent (on full-priced items) through Sunday. So now you know what to do this weekend lol.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

The Jcrew Cotton-Silk Ikat Perfect Shirt

Still no new pics, so I thought that I would post a quick review of the cotton-silk ikat perfect shirt (item 15854) that I've tried on quite a while ago but didn't have the chance to blog about yet.

The shirt retails for $78 and only comes in warm maze, I think. First, let me say that I love the print in the shirt and the dress (less in the skirt).

I've tried a 0 with the Linen beach pants (item 14987). You know that I love the Monterey skirt so I wanted to try these as they are the pants version of the skirt. Unfortunately, all the light colors (white, flax and gray) were sold out in my size (a 0) so I got to try the bronzed twig:





I wasn't carried away by the pants probably because of the color. I also wish that they would come in petite as they are too long for me and I'm afraid of loosing the proportions with an alteration. Maybe later on sale.

Back to the shirt, the website describes the fabric as a "breezy cotton/silk blend". Now, I was sweating in the fitting room. The fabric is not what I would describe as breezy. In fact the only problem that I have with this shirt is that the print is very summery but the fabric is not. And who wants to wear yellow in the fall? For those of you who have or have tried the ikat dress, IT IS NOT the same fabric of the dress.

Size-wise I would say that it's TTS but very fitted and I don't remember it being sheer. Anyway, it looked definitively better with the chinos shorts that I was wearing that day:



By the way, below is the outfit that I was wearing that day. I wanted to show it to you because I got many compliments while I was in the store but it is very simple. The shirt is a very old linen shirt from Zara and the shoes are Sigerson Morrison (the one pair that I bought on super-sale last year):



I don't think I'm going to get this shirt as the fabric makes it difficult to wear it in the summer.
Do you own or have you tried this shirt? What do you think?

My Busy Weekend (shopping at H&M, birthday picnic in the park, dinner with friends and Tory Burch sample sale)

I'm late on this post because I wanted to show you some outfit pics from the weekend that are still stuck in my camera but I can't seem to be able to get them out. So it's going to be a messy post with only the few Saturday morning pics that I had downloaded immediately.

I was really on a really tight schedule on Saturday. I needed to do some errands in the morning and return something to the new H&M store that just opened on 86th Street, then we had a picnic-birthday party of one of my daughter's friends at 3 and then we had to run home to cook (my husband is a good cook, that's why I'm using the "we" here) because we had invited friends for dinner.
This is my Saturday morning outfit (I didn't have the time to change myself before the picnic as I had to bake a cake but I was already picnic-ready in the morning as you can see):



I'm wearing the chambray seaside shorts and a Gap top. I can't tell how much I love this Gap "liberty" top. It's from spring 2008 and it is a such a pleasure to wear.

H&M is once again under my radar for disposable fashion now that they have opened a new store at 5 minutes from home. I went there last Friday, the day after the opening (they were giving away a tee shirt on opening day and that was a warning to stay away) to check if they had any items left from the Matthew Williamson collection but the SA told me that they didn't get them in the first place as by the time that the store opened they were already sold out everywhere. So I tried a few things on but I have to say that the music was so loud that I couldn't wait to get out of the fitting room and being back on the street. Is it me getting old or they really pump the volume too much?
Anyway I bought this dress as a cheap alternative to the Jcrew strapless jersey dress:





The material is definitively lesss substantial (or "cheaper") than the Jcrew but the nice thing of this dress is that it has a real bra support so it doesn't feel like your boobs are falling off. Anyway, I decided that I didn't like it in black, so on Saturday I tried this other color:





I liked it better in this color but not as much as to want it, so I just returned the black one.
I also wanted to show you this cheaper (only $24.99) alternative to the Jcrew drawstrawing dress:



It is in a silk blend and yes, much more sheer than the Jcrew one but I also tried over the skinny jeans and it looked definitively nice. I'm not sure that this one can be belted though as it is very high waisted.

For dinner I wore my fresco-print tunic with skinny jeans (I didn't bother taking a pic of the outfit since it's the exact same outfit than the one that you can see in my March fresco-print silk tunic dedicated post - sorry it seems that my new super-computer can't handle html links without freezing). It turns out that this is such an easy outfit to wear when having friends at home and the best part is that it makes the whole "what I'm going to put on it if it gets too cold" issue a non-issue.

So we are now Sunday. Sunday was the first day of the Tory Burch sample sale here in NY. I had been waiting for it for a long time this year because I was hoping to find my Love Bird tee (see April post - once again sorry, I can't post links until I figure out how to do it on this computer). I was so afraid that DH would somehow stop me from going (because it was on a Sunday morning) that I didn't tell him until the very last minute on Sunday morning when I announced him that he'd better go jogging right away because I was going to take off at 9.30 at the latest (the doors were opening at 11 and I wanted to be there at least half an hour before). I had to promise that I wouldn't buy anything but the tee but I could go without making a scene and I arrived at the sample sale location at 10.10.
Now, in my entire life of sample sale shopper I have never seen a line like this one. As soon as I arrived I knew from having been in this place many times that I didn't have a chance to enter the sale before hours. I waited anyway until the opening time and then I waited until noon and in all this time I made only a few more steps through the entrance which was all the way down the block. At that point the line behind me made almost the entire tour of the block. And you know what? I gave up. Really, this was crazy and
anyway by the time I would be in I was sure that there would be nothing left in my size, so why upset my husband and ruin my family Sunday? I will try to go again (with baby) the last day, when hopefully the crowds will be gone.
On a positive note, when I was in the line I spotted many Jcrew outfits. Really, I think that I've never seen so many people wearing Jcrew before all in the same place.

If any of you was in line on Sunday morning or went to the Tory Burch sale, please shout!

The Seven Dwarfs as You Have Never Seen them Before

I have to show you this. My daughter received a pack of rubber figures representing Snowflake and the Seven Dwarfs from my parents. I haven't read her the story yet as she's too young and also because I remember that I was still scared to death a week after reading it for the first time when I was little (I think that I couldn't quite make sense of the poisoned apple and I had my first perception of mortality). Funny that my parents sent this, they must not be aware of the scary effect that the story had on me.
Anyway, she doesn't know what a dwarf is, let alone Snowflake, so she calls them "Messieurs" (Gentlemen) and "Dame" (Lady).

This morning she was playing with my jewelry while I was typing on the computer and when I turned I saw what she had done with the Seven Dwarfs and Snowflake. Jewelry Holders! I swear that she came up with this by herself, I think she is an artist:




I would actually use them as jewelry holders but and I'm not allowed to touch the creation ...

I have a very busy weekend ahead of me (we invited friends at home tonight AND tomorrow) so I won't probably be back on the blog before Monday. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Husband's Birthday Dinner Outfit (plus, latest Splurge)

I have mentioned before that last Tuesday was my husband's birthday. To celebrate we had an early dinner at one of our favorite French restaurants in the city, Benoit, which is also kind of kid friendly (but I guess that every restaurant is becoming kid friendly these days).

I would have loved to wear the jacket + tiered ruffle skirt outfit of my previous post but it was unseasonally cold and just about to pour when we were ready to leave. So this is the outfit that I wore instead:



Featuring Jcrew Georgia cardigan in warm blush, ruffle tissue tank in natural, Cafe capri in black. The Georgia cardigan is a good alternative to the warmer Michelle and I really like this color for the evening but I must say that it can't be worn closed with the tissue ruffle tank, there is just too much tissue. I put a little bit of effort in the jewelry:



It was a lovely evening but my daughter, who is usually very good when we eat out, started to say "Andiamo?" (Can we go? in italian) as soon as we arrived at the restaurant and she didn't stop until we actually left. Life with kids...

And now, the shoes. The shoes that I'm wearing in the first pic are not the ones that I wore Tuesday night for the simple reason that I bought them yesterday (I wore my Tory Burch black Reva instead).
Yes, I splurged again on shoes but these are really worth it plus summer sale season is open and I always buy a pair of designer shoes during the sales. I normally buy much later in the season, around my birthday which is in July, because that's when one can find very good deals, but I'm afraid that this year the inventory is going to be much lower and I have an "average" size (a 7) that sells out quickly (I wish I wore a 35.5, lucky you 35.5 ladies).
They are Miu Miu and I have been eyeing them for a very long time. When I got a flyer in the mail from Chuckies, a high-end NYC shoes store, saying that they were having a private sale starting yesterday I knew that I was going to splurge on these. However, even with the % off, the price came with a shock. I mean, I knew more or less what the sale price would be but I always hope for a miracle at the register when buying expensive shoes. Like the price marked isn't the real price and in reality they are much cheaper. Or the SA makes a mistake. Or they were in the wrong box. I always hope because it actually happened to me to pay much less than expected (of course I didn't investigate, by scare that the SA would find out too that it was a mistake).

Anyway, I paid what I paid but I'm absolutely convinced that they will be a classic in my wardrobe. They are luxurious (because of the stones) and wearable at the same time (because they are flats). Here they are:



Like the Reva, they have an elastic all around, but I love that they are open-toe. I also like that the color is between gold and bronze, so it's easier to pair than the pure gold. The stones are absolutely stunning and best of all ... they are my size. Here are in my feet (with the Nars nail polish that seems to be made for them):



They are final sale meaning that I can't return them, so if you really don't like them or think that they are not worth the splurge, please don't comment!!! I mean, you don't have necessarely like what I like but I have just spent a considerable amount of money in these and I'm not sure that I'm ready to hear that I made a mistake and consequently change my mind.

Do you plan to buy earlier this sale season or are you going to wait for the prices to drop further?

The JCrew Tiered Ruffle Skirt: Styling Ideas

I hope that you're not going to yawn at this one, since this skirt has been around for a while and got many reviews when it came out.
The most frequently used term in the blogosphere to describe this skirt has been, I think (I mean, not that I have counted), "fun". It is indeed a fun skirt when you try it on. However, the price wasn't so fun and at $148 I had to pass as it is clearly something that I'm not going to wear that much.
When it went on sale (the last days of the Mickey card I believe) I wasn't paying attention and my size sold out very quickly.

It was around my daughter's birthday and you know when an idea crosses your mind and then you can't shake it off? Now I really, really wanted to wear this skirt at my daughter's upcoming birthday party. After calling every store in the city I was almost sure that I wouldn't find it any longer and guess what? The morning after ordering the Crewcuts dresses for my daughter it popped back on the website in my size. So I grabbed the phone (the SA was kind of talkative and I was like "It's a popback, can we get to the point before someone else snaps it so I don't have to go on another crewsade?" and ordered it among other stuff with one of the free shipping codes, hoping that it would actually ship.
It did, although it didn't make it in time for the birthday party. So, once the immediate excuse to wear it gone, I had a try-on session to see if I could wear it in my day-to-day life.

With all those tiered ruffles I think that the key is to keep the top simple, so I tried it with a perfect-fit tank:



OK, this is maybe too simple but I would wear this outfit for a stroll in one of those hot summer evening (with flip-flops instead of the disco sandals that I'm wearing in the pics). I throw on the tissue ruffle cardigan in slate and it looked surprisingly nice (I mean, I wasn't overwhelmed by ruffles):



Then, I tried on the ringspun scoopneck tee that I had ordered along with the skirt to get the free shipping. I had planned to return this one but I immediately liked it and couldn't part from it (I have already worn it twice with the surplus matchstick grey jeans and got many compliments):



Another tee option that I had in mind is the ringspun abstract maze tee (the real name, I found out reading the new catalog, is "sunbleached crinkle flower") that I've blogged on last week:



I really like it, what a great tee.
Now, for a more elegant look I think I have the perfect jacket. It's strucured heavy-silk jacket from an italian brand (Vicini) that I splurged on last year. I don't own many jackets but I think that this one is edgy and classic at the same time and was worth the splurge:



Buttoned and with the skinny belt in silver it's perfecty put together. Where are the cocktails?




I'm sure that I can find some other tops to wear with this skirt but I think that this is enough to make me that I'm going to keep it. I actually can't wait to wear it. Too bad that yesterday it was too cold because it was my husband's birthday and I would have loved to wear it at the nice restaurant where we went to celebrate (just the three of us).

Do yoiu own this skirt? Do you wear it "relaxed way" or do you dress it up? Which one of rthese outfits do you prefer?

A New Obsession: the Theory Frivan Romper

While I was at Bloomingdales on Saturday morning to see if they had any Longchamp pliage on sale, I couldn't help stepping by the Theory stand in the women's clothing department. If you have been following this blog from the beginning you might know that Theory is one of my favorite brands after Jcrew. I own several (at least ten) items (almost all summer clothes) from Theory that are all great and never go out of style. The thing is, I never buy Theory in store at full price as their prices tend to be CRAZY but I'm lucky enough to live in NY and I always try to go to their sample sale which is held twice a year (in the same location than this year's Jcrew sample sales, with the difference that one can try clothes on).

Anyway, I was browsing the Theory racks when I stumbled upon this romper. Being on the petite side, I've always dismissed jumpsuits as something "not for me" but I had never considered a shorts jumpsuit. Actually I didn't even know that such a thing like a romper existed (I mean for people older than 24 months).
This one, not only existed but had a crisp, ageless look that reminded me of Cameron Diaz in the latest Vogue (did you see it? Isn't she amazingly chic and cool in those organic clothes?)
It comes in white/white, white/kakhi and I believe black/black. I would have loved to try the white on white but it was sold out in my size, so I tried the white on khaki. The fitting room was very dark and these are the only two pics that are not too blurred:





In the pics I'm trying a 0 but actually the 2 looked better as the shorts weren't as fitted. I didn't take a picture though.
I really felt good in it and I think that it's something that I could wear for years to come (I was about to say until I'm 70 but I'm not sure that I will want to show off my legs when I'm 70), what you would call a good investment. I now that people tend to consider winter clothes (coats and jackets) as worth-the-splurge-good-investments but I simply like summer clothes so much better. I always find myself spending much more for summer clothes than winter ones; if I really like a summer dress I go for it, while I can debate for months before buying a turtleneck or winter dress.

Now there are two problems. First is the price: this retails for $295. Second is: the the Theory sample sale was last week and I didn't go (on purpose this time) and now I'm really kicking myself for not going (even if they don't have all the styles and typically not the very last ones).
I would really love to get this but I don't know if I can wait for it to go on sale. The other solution I'm thinking about is to return all those Jcrew clothes that I'm not 100% sure about and get this one instead. So stay tunes for many "returnable items of the week".

What do you typically splurge on? Do you prefer summer or winter clothes?