style – Page 156 – Blue Collar Red Lipstick

27
Oct
2014

Dutch Floral

categories: Flowers, Love at first sight, style

I don’t know, you guys. I really don’t know how I feel about this outfit. It was pretty cool in my head, but I feel like the reality comes up short, somehow. I guess I’ll just have to keep working with the layering potential of this J. Crew cropped sweatshirt.

Story time: I knew I wanted to get my hands on this sweatshirt as soon as I saw it. That print, of course. J. Crew offered a 30% off dealio over the Thanksgiving weekend, so I had every intention of taking advantage of it. But then that turned out to be the weekend we were all down with Toddler Plague. Except my husband. Naturally, I made him go and buy it for me; naturally, he did, because he’s awesome like that. I guesstimated the size, and erred on the safe side – I told him to pick the Medium (I’m usually a Small in J. Crew tops).

Aaaand … I was way off. Way. The Medium looked oversized on me, with a weird neither-regular-nor-cropped length, and hugely bunchy sleeves. Since I paid almost-retail for it, I was definitely not happy. So, once everyone was feeling better, I dragged the family back to West Ed (my least favourite shopping experience) to see about a return. The store had exactly two sweatshirts left in stock: XXS and L. At first, I thought I was screwed … and then I tried on the XXS, just for the hell of it. And proceeded to spend about twenty minutes in the changing room, trying to overcome my disbelief that, yes, in fact, I was wearing an XXS and, no, it didn’t look absurd on me. Oh, J. Crew! Your vanity sizing is so silly.

So, there you have it: if you’re inclined to buy this sweatshirt, go down at least one size. Maybe two, depending on how cropped you want your “cropped sweatshirt” to be.

24
Oct
2014

Fridays in Blue

categories: style

Mulberry Fitzrovia bag; Talula navy blazer; J. Crew mirrored floral t-shirt — Blazer, Talula; jeans, Rachel Roy; t-shirt, J. Crew Factory; shoes, Tory Burch; bag, Mulberry

I wasn’t sure whether this outfit deserved its own post or not; I mean, it’s fine, but not exactly ground-breaking. Then I realized that this describes pretty much every other outfit I’ve ever put on the blog, so here it goes.

It’s a basic uniform-outfit, tweaked with a few sorta interesting details. Gosh, I still sound less than enthused about it, don’t I? I liked it, I really did. It’s fine. It’s fine, right? Fine. Yes.

21
Oct
2014

Skirting the Issue

categories: style, Success stories

Moulinette Soeurs Tropica Jacquard Dress — Skirt, Anthropologie (thrifted); blouse & cardigan, J. Crew Factory; shoes, Cole Haan; bag, MbMJ (via eBay)

Anthro lovers out there might recognize this skirt; actually, it used to be a dress. This one:

I thrifted this dress, new with tags, towards the end of my last pregnancy (if memory serves). Basically, I loved the print and figured the size would more or less work – or be made to work – with my post-pregnancy body. Except it didn’t. At all. It was too big in the bust, and gave me the dreaded Strapless Sheath Pooch. (You know what I’m talking about, right?) Even from the best angle, it looked … not good.

I tried to sell it, but quickly realized that I would never get my money back (all $20 of it), and I couldn’t quite bear to part with it for the $5-8 I’d make through consignment. I still really loved the print. What to do? The bottom half of the dress fit nicely, so making it into a skirt seemed like a good solution. (Side note: I used to be really reluctant about drastically altering clothes until I realized that there is nothing special, necessarily, about the original design. It may or may not be the ideal design for my body or preferences. If your chances of recouping a good portion of the purchase price through resale are low, I say go ahead and alter clothes to your heart’s content.)

All in all, I think things all turned out for the better. In my line of work, one can never have too many cute pencil skirts. Can’t say the same about Strapless Sheath Pooch.

Category: style