Tuesday, June 5, 2012

J. Crew: Reviews...Miami Edition.

Lucky me, I was able to take a few moments during our vacation in Miami to check out the Lincoln Road J. Crew and Madewell stores.  (All with a few drinks in me, btw.  Love the superfluity of drink in Miami.  Yum.  *Mojito and Sangria for those of you wondering.*)

The Lincoln Road stores are both beautiful, but especially the J. Crew, which is all blonde wood, white walls, color coordinated merchandising, and long (floor to ceiling) white fabric curtains which were used as doors on the dressing rooms.  If this J. Crew was my local, I would definitely need to work there.  It literally is exactly the way I would decorate my store if I was in charge of decorating stores. 

Also, there was this insanely friendly salesperson who had just had a baby and she was GORGEOUS, easygoing, and fawning all over Angus.  That alone made my day, so even if the store had been dark and dank, I would have still been in a great mood leaving the store. 

If you live in Miami and this is your local B&M, color me jealous.

And say hi to my favorite new mom SA if you get a chance!

I wanted to include Madewell reviews here, but sadly their fitting rooms were much less accommodating to my photography, so they all turned out badly, but I should be able to at least re-photograph the few pieces I did buy from them.  It was nice to get to a store, though...all of my purchasing has been on-line up until now.  (I know the Tysons store is pretty close to me, but have you all been to that mall?  It's massive.  And with CW and the American Girl store there, just forget it.  LOL.)

Drapey Elbow Sleeve Tee in Stripe.  This combo is amazing, the cool mint with the bright neon orange.  I have a dress from H&M in this color combo, so when I saw it, I knew I would have to try it on.  This is an extra small and fits great, not too tight anywhere, yet not sheer enough to make any bulges or bumps.  I can see why it is sold out on line.  There were a few left at this Miami location if any of you all are needing one sent to you.

Stripe top that has no name.  (Or at least can't be found by me on the internet.  Maybe next rollout?) This is gorgeous, and when I saw it on AppGal, I fell in love.  I saw the blue/orange version first when walking around the store and asked one of the SAs if they had any other colors and when she pulled this one, I was stoked. 

This is the extra small and while it fit, it was just a wee bit tight in the sleeves, which I wasn't sure I wanted in a shirt like this. 

So I grabbed it in a small and it fit way better through the sleeves.  It is a bit loose through the area below my bust, but it doesn't seem especially sloppy (big sartorial pet peeve of mine, if you couldn't tell).

The dark green ribbon at the bust is an actual grosgrain ribbon from what I remember.  If this is not true, I will correct this last sentence, but I am pretty sure it was a sewn on ribbon versus a printed stripe.  Hmm...

Candy Stripe Jute Clutch.  I am enjoying the clutch trend, especially since I have now learned how to streamline my need to carry every. darn. thing. with me just in case the kids break a bone/need a fruit snack/break down from boredom/etc.  Now that I have my Kindle Fire and fruit snacks come in teeny packages, I can carry a clutch and be done with it.  This may change when Angus gets to 2, but for now, I can actually carry a small bag.  {Yay!}

This clutch was on sale, btw.  (And for $49.99 instead of $69.99 like it is on-line.) I like the linen with the vertical stripes, very different.  It kind of even looked okay with this outfit, but I doubt I would actually wear it that way. 

I did end up getting this one and using it while in Miami, but I won't likely be publishing that post anytime in the next few days. 

It fit my kindle fire, my phone, my five most important ids/cards, and my lip gloss and powder.

And a teeny-tiny size 2 diaper.  Natch.

Vintage Cotton V-Neck Tee.  Size extra small.  This color, a neon peach, was so striking, but OMG, was this shirt ever sheer.  You can actually see the outline of my belly button. 

Um, no thanks. 

Today I saw a lady at preschool wearing a similar top to this in a neon pink and I asked her where she got hers because it was so not sheer, and she said Target.  And then I asked if they had a neon orange and she said they did...may have to check them out. 

Do not see this color on-line, it may be in store only.

Lemlem Maxiskirt.  I am a fan of this line as it supports Ethiopian weavers, and I definitely love this skirt. 

This is a size medium, the waist just fit.  I have a 29 inch waist, so bear that in mind if you want to get this beauty.  The hips were free.

I loved the neon peach with this skirt, but again, that top was way too sheer.

From the side.  Nice and long and super lightweight.  I highly recommend sheer undergarments.  ;)

Here's the thing...I won't be buying this one, though...

I live one mile from the epicenter of all things Ethiopian in the United States (we have the largest population of Ethiopians in my zipcode outside of Ethiopia, of course--little fact for you all), so I have a pretty good idea of where I can get woven skirts/tunics/dresses just like this one and for far less than J. Crew sells them for...

In fact, every day I see women in my neighborhood in these garments (and they always look amazing!), so I think I might just seek out a store and see if I can support a local business rather than give J. Crew a cut of my money for their profit, even though I know that some of the profit goes to the Lemlem organization.  (Sorry, J. Crew!)

Printed Poppy Scarf (not on-line).
Nautical Stripe Shorts.
Seville Wedge Printed Espadrilles. 

I saw these shorts and loved the look but sort of laughed out loud and thought I would look HUGE in them.  These are a size 10, and they not only fit, but because of the slight a-line to the bottom of the shorts, I look less large than I anticipated.  I was surprised to say the least.  I would not normally ever even try on a horizontal striped pair of shorts, but I am glad the urge overcame me.  :)

The scarf is beautiful, and if it comes on-line AND goes on sale, I will get it.  At full price (nearly 60 smackers!), it is just too rich for my blood and budget.

The espadrilles were a big time bonus for me.  Thanks to shopwithm announcing on the JCA blog that they were on sale in the store for $60, instead of the $98 on-line, I knew I would have to see if the store had them in my size.  (And clearly they did.)  They are a size 9 and fit pretty well, but I do have very narrow feet, so the width worked well for me.  I think if I had a larger width, I would have had to size up to a 10 (there are no half sizes).
 
From the side.  The wedge espadrilles helped lengthen my legs so that they don't look stumpy in the shorts.  The pleating, while kind of obnoxious, aren't as bad as I thought they would be.

So ladies, try these shorts on in a size up from your normal size if you are a bit hippy like me.  You may actually end up liking them.  (I know I would hated these in a size 8, btw.)

The outfit I wore out of the store.  I replaced my green flip flops for the seville wedges, and they did not require any break in period by me, so yay for small things.

Okay, that's it...

Have any of you all tried these on?  If so, would you mind linking to your blogs if I haven't already?

Have a great night!