J.Crew Colorblock silk V-back dress

Picked up this gem on a whim, and I'm so glad I did. It is unique, and I got at least 10 compliments from complete strangers at a wedding I attended this past weekend! It is still $259.99 but I see a second markdown coming any day now. ETA: It is now $179.99! It is still available in all sizes!

Here is a try on pic when I was figuring out how to accessorize. I did end up wearing it with the citron bubble necklace, which is a perfect match and really makes the outfit, in my opinion! I ended up wearing nude colored patent leather peep toe heels from a few years ago, J.Crew of course. I can't remember what they were called but they had a hard plastic flowerlike thingee on the toe. They are the patent peep toe posie heels. Thank you to gigi for the suggestion... what would we do without her?

Here is a pic of me on the wedding day. Men aren't very good at getting the whole outfit, including shoes, in photos, are they?

Men aren't very good at getting the whole outfit, including shoes, in photos, are they?

OOTD: August 18th by jcrewjd featuring a silk dress

I happened to have a matching purse; it is the hockney hobo in some sample color that never made it to production. It worked out as I needed something big enough to hold flip flops to change into as the night wore on! I used to be all about carrying cute little clutches to events but now I don't even care. The big purse comes and I just shove it under the table if necessary.

Now, about sizing. I purchased this dress in size 4, which is a size smaller than I tend to be taking these days at J.Crew. I was sure it would fit  because of the open back; my problem area for fitting into things is my chest and it was a non issue with this dress. In fact, the small chested would not fill it out at all. I  barely did.

The whole thing fit well and was really comfortable... until I tried to get in the car. This fabric has no give and it is a challenge to sit comfortably, but after a little while, I got used to it. At first it was alarming, though.

I was able to wear a normal bra with a long strap extender, like this. The back of my bra fell just below the back V with that on, and it was not in danger of sticking out.

I love this dress and highly recommend it.

Happy sale shopping! I may or may not have purchased several double serge wool pencil skirts this morning. I don't recall them going on promo so early in the season before, and there are talls this year, which I cannot resist!

J.Crew sale dresses and shoes

I have acquired a few new items from J.Crew's sale section lately (the only section of J.Crew I shop), and I thought I'd share my thoughts, since there is a 30% off promo going on (code SHOPNOW). First up, shoes.

The lovely olympia suede sandals in grappa punch, which are now only $69.99 before the 30% off. These are lovely. The color is very bright but I am a brights fanatic so it works for me! I have worn them twice and they are very comfortable. No rubbing, though on a 90 degree day after a while my feet felt a little claustrophobic. They are all leather, including the sole, which is nice. Very flexible and easy to walk in. Highly recommend these! I took a 10, which I can usually wear in J.Crew open shoes. If J.Crew made size 10.5, that would probably be my size 99% of the time... but they don't anymore, so I have to guess between 10 and 11.

The Lena sandals are next, which I picked up in navy because, well, I don't have any navy sandals. I like the style and I don't think the wraparound straps cut off the leg too bad visually since they don't go in a straight line. I bought an 11 because that's all that was left and they fit fine. I feel like there is alot more wiggle room in sizing when it comes to sandals, which is nice! The leather is nice, nothing too special, and again the sole is leather. Very nice.

I wanted these Lula snakeskin flats for a while, and I am not disappointed! I know that these have been reviewed alot, but I just wanted to show a real life picture to show that there is very little toe cleavage. Many people are not a fan of it so here is a shoe option that covers more of the foot! Oh, and they feel like slippers on - super comfy. I purchased an 11 but I think the 10 would fit as well... these seem to run more true to size than other J.Crew shoes.

Last but not least, the tortoise lucca sandals. They are extremely comfortable with a manageable heel. I wanted to show them next to the suede luccas because the straps on the tortoise are slightly narrower. This might make them more appealing to some! I am getting really lazy with wearing high heels so these are perfect - nice and low and comfortable! Size 10 is perfect in these.

Now onto a few dresses.

The palazzo dress, or as I like to call it, the old navy tent dress that had J.Crew tags sewn in at the factory by mistake. This dress is kind of a piece of crap. I am wearing it right now because it's 95 degrees out and I refuse to wear more than one piece of clothing, but honestly, if I could return this, I would. The material is thin and not very soft, and there is no way this thing is going to hold up to repeated washings. I am going to baby it and hope for a few more wears because I like the length; I could wear this to work if I wanted to with a cardigan or something over it. Why a cardigan, you ask? Oh, because the "elongated keyhole slit in back for a peekaboo effect" is playing peekaboo with my bra. Not cool.

 I like the cute braided belt and it's a good thing they included it because as you can see in the first picture, it is a shapeless blob otherwise.  I ordered a small but an extra small would have still been more than big enough, I'm afraid. Cinch that belt!

The ella dress in petal eyelet is a steal for $49.99 before promo. Unfortunately, strapless dresses aren't the most flattering on me, but I still like the dress. I look like a big green rectangle, so I guess I'll have to slap a wide belt on when I do wear this in public. This is a size 6. I can never, ever wear smaller than a 6 in any strapless dress at J.Crew and even a 6 is pushing it. They make these things for the small busted. It has one of those inner corset things which I love because the dress actually stays up! Check it out on Jeannie - she really rocks it.

This is my favorite purchase in a while, despite its flaws. It is the Hailey dress in speckled silk, a collection piece that is marked way down to $99.99 from $288. I am a sucker for a printed dress, so I finally went ahead and ordered this in a size 6 since it looked fitted on top. Sadly, I think it is made for someone who is pear shaped because the top is tight and the bottom is loose on me.

It sticks out a couple inches on each side in the hip area! I don't mind though because it doesn't look bad...(right?). I may have to go braless, but if not, there are nice bra strap holders. I love how practical this dress is - no shapewear or special bras required!

Close up of the pretty print. Black and charcoal gray smudges.

Phew. That's all for now. Happy sale shopping! Did you pick up any goodies in the "secret" sale?

Blue light special OOTD and Land's End Shirtdress review

Ok, it wasn't really a blue light special, but my OOTD today does feature a top from one of my favorite stores - Kmart! Where I grew up, there was no Walmart nearby and only a couple of Targets, but tons of Kmarts. I don't know, there's something about Kmart, the scrappy underdog now, that I really like. I just try to ignore the fact that most of the stores haven't been updated in 20 years and that they never, EVER have enough checkouts open. Oh well, at least some of them have little caesars pizza.

I'm guessing most of you reading this have never bought an item of clothing at Kmart. Well, I'm here to tell you that you should consider it, if ever you are shopping in a Kmart store. At least look in the clothing section. Often, they have amazing basics (like this tank, my favorite, which I hope they are not clearancing because it is going away forever!)  for extremely cheap prices, and some more fashionable pieces, also for very reasonable prices. Of course, there are also lots of tent like tops in horrible prints, and elastic waist pants. But hey, sometimes you have to weed through lots of crap to get to the good stuff. Like this top.

Close up to show the real color. It also comes in purple! On sale now for $13.99, regularly a whopping $19.99. It reminds me of the Max Studio tops I always see at TJ Maxx for $34.99, but the jersey on the Kmart top is much, much nicer.

It looks kind of meh on the model, and I would never have ordered it just based on the photo, but the colors are so vibrant in person, the background a pretty teal and lots of other rich tones in the pattern. It is also extremely flattering and the jersey is very fine, soft, and lovely. Yes, it is polyester, but of course. However, it feels just like my Lilly Pulitzer silk jersey dress, so there ya go. And as a bonus, it has cap sleeves which allow for plenty of armpit ventilation, always a concern with polyester tops!

And my full OOTD. Kmart top, J.Crew classic cafe capri in 6 tall, and martina wedges in bronzed clay.

These pics were taken in the Sears fitting room where I tried on a lovely new shirtdress. The J.Crew shirtdress is a hot mess, I heard on the mothership that an SA called it a muu muu... not good. Not good at all

The Land's End shirtdress, which does not look like a muu muu, is called the woven pique shirt dress, and you can see it here.

It is $90 and 100% cotton and extremely flattering. It does suffer from tight arm syndrome, big time. There is no way I could get this in 6, which is what I tried, and is my regular size. The arms were horribly tight and the chest buttons would probably pop open if I moved... yet the waist was not too tight at all.

It also pulled at the chest, but that is typical for me. If I sized up to an 8, the waist would be loose but I could just cinch it. I really, really like this dress and I hope it goes on sale someday. I think the length is perfectly practical and the fabric is so soft and light. Just lovely.

 Thanks for stopping in to check out my cheapie store finds!