OOTD 11/29/12: Feeling festive!

OOTD 11/29/12 by jcrewjd featuring slim pants

I was feeling festive this morning, for some reason. Maybe because I saw the muppets singing Christmas songs in a sleigh last night at the Rockefeller tree lighting ceremony. LOVE those muppets, especially Gonzo! He's so cute. Or perhaps because Christmas candy is in stores, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love candy... I get overly excited when it is finally the time of year that I can buy the old fashioned cut rock candy in the bulk foods section at the grocery store. Whatever the reason, I love this outfit and think it is a perfect example of the types of clothing I wish J.Crew would produce (in high quality materials of course) forever! Like everyone else, I did size up one in these pants (the factory skimmers in black watch plaid, except that it isn't black watch plaid) and was lucky to get them when they were 50% off in store. Highly recommend! (I'd post a real life pic, but my dog broke the mirror with his gigantic, fluffy tail.)

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? What is your favorite thing about this time of year?

Land's End sale: 40% off one item

Lately, Land's End has been hitting it out of the park with cute designs and high quality materials. For example, all leather shoes for only $99, and gorgeous 100% silk scarves. Love it! Now, even with the low prices, I am still always looking for a deal. And today it arrived in my mailbox: 40% off one item and free shipping over $50. The thing I love about Land's End is that the $50 free shipping requirement applies to the pre-discount amount. So if you put a $50 item in your cart and then apply the discount, you only have to pay $30 and you will still get free shipping. Pretty awesome. Here are some items that I think are worth checking out:

Some pretty silk scarves:

Women's Extra Large Silk Square Scarf from Lands' End   (clipped to polyvore.com)

Scarve   (see more square silk scarves)

The perfect nude heel (I am ordering these)

Ashby shoes   (see more ashbies)

The also come in suede, I ordered the sweet potato with the last promo (30% off) and they arrive today. Will reorder to save $8. Yes, I am that cheap.

They also have some really pretty coats with plush wool/cashmere material woven in Italy. The prices are really good, and they have petite and tall sizes in many styles. This is my personal favorite... but I really don't need a coat.

Women's Luxe Wool Swing Car Coat from Lands' End  

Ok, I'm done. The code is plastered all over their site but I'll tell you anyway: LEAVES with pin 9876. Happy shopping! Will you be picking anything up with this sale? It goes through Tuesday!

A spiffy outfit

OOTD 10/3/12 by jcrewjd featuring short heels

J.Crew Lexington Jacket (2007)

J.Crew Telegraph Pencil Skirt in Super 120s, size 4, Summer 2012 (size down to your smaller skirt size)

 J.Crew perfect fit tape boatneck tee, size medium, Summer 2012

Talbots heels, Fall 2011, size 10.5 (thank you, Talbots, for making my shoe size)

I was inspired by this photo from J.Crew's Holiday 2007 collection. It is gorgeous, isn't it? Wouldnt wear this particular outfit but the colors are so pretty. I miss that green background; it made everything feel festive.

I was told I look spiffy while wearing the above outfit. I am choosing to take that as a compliment.

Jello buttons

Reading other like minded women's blogs is delightful and makes me happy. It also causes me to buy things I normally either never would have known existed, or would not have noticed had I seen them. (It's a good thing, actually, because sometimes I am blinded by J.Crew and don't think to look at other stores.) The hot pink pants fall into the first category, but thanks to WMM, I was enlightened and able to purchase these delightful pants for myself!

Tank - J.Crew old ruffled favorite tank, 2008

Sweater - J.Crew Tessa sweater jacket, Holiday 2007 (aka, the best season ever for J.Crew)

Pants - Gap Broken-in straight khakis, size 6 tall

Shoes - J.Crew Lulu ballet flats, 2008

Before we get to talking about the pants, can we just admire this sweater for a second? I mean, just read the description: "Cotton in a 9-gauge double-knit with big, shiny buttons." Double knit cotton? When was the last time J.Crew did double knit cotton? Too long ago... and the buttons. Not only are they indeed big and shiny, but they are striped:

I can hardly stand such an adorable detail. They remind me of the jello my mom used to make every Christmas, it looked like this:

It was delicious, too. Good memories! (here is the recipe, which is also where I found the photo.)

Back to the pants. They run large, as stated by many reviewers on the Gap website, a detail I chose to ignore. So, they are held up by a belt today! I actually like the way the look even though the waist is a little big so it works for me. Many sizes are sold out but they do popback and there are promos constantly. Highly recommend. The fabric is lightweight without being flimsy, and the color is so saturated, I just love it. It's been years since I've bought pants from the Gap, but in the last week I have purchased three pairs! So, thank you again WMM, for reintroducing me to the Gap!

Have you made any great finds lately at retailers you don't normally frequent? What other retailers out there am I missing?! As a loyal J.Crew Aficionada, I am afraid I am really missing out sometimes.

OOTD 9/27/12 by jcrewjd featuring j crew sweaters

Glorified PJ pants?

Glorified PJ pants? by jcrewjd featuring j crew

Too-short, high-waisted dresses

Or, the majority of J.Crew's current and recent past dress offerings. It makes me sad, being a tall person. However, I am mostly legs, and I figure, why not flaunt them from time to time, so with that in mind I ordered the Allie Dress in Aqua Floral. I watched it get marked down once, twice, then a third time, finally landing at $69.99. A reasonable price for a too short, high waisted dress, right? I told myself I could let the hem down and finally just ordered the thing already, after hemming and hawing for days. I had to face the fact that I can't resist a good print nor a good silk twill.

J Crew dress   (see more floral dresses)

There she is in all her glory. And now I will show you the dress on myself. I should've steamed it first... because after steaming, it really came to life and the skirt is all full and cute now.

See, it's not totally obscene!!

The waist actually isn't too far above my natural waist,which is positive.

Annnnd high waist. I probably should not raise my arms this high at any point during the wearing of this dress.

Here's a close up of the print, the hem width, and the lovely silk organza that is sewn into the skirt to give it body. A very nice detail if you ask me. It then has a full lining which you see at the top of the photo.

I ordered my normal size 6 and it fits perfectly. 

I am wearing this dress to a wedding this weekend, but after that I do plan to let the hem down as far as possible, if I can. That fancy organza lining may ruin my plans, though. I have some of that fancy invisible thread but it will be my first time doing a hem on silk. I hope I don't completely mess it up. I think the length is appropriate for a fun wedding but it would make me happy to have it a little longer!

Allie possibilities for this weekend by jcrewjd featuring rhinestone stud earrings

I can't decide which shoes to wear, so I will be hauling several pairs to my destination :)

A final sale success... I love those!

So, what do you think of the dress? Do you too wish it was just a few inches longer? Have you had any final sale successes lately?

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!