must-shop sample sales February 3 - on Gilt: Acne, 3.1 Philip Lim. on Refinery29 Reserve: $200 for $100 at Azalea boutique, 50% off only hearts lingerie & loungewear, exclusive early access to Allibelle bags, 50% off at jessie boutique, Leigh & Luca scarves for $99.
My sister, @mommyinsider – founder of the Mommy Insider, got an amazing opportunity to present “strollers at every price” on her local TV station a couple of weeks ago. I happened to be visiting last week and went with her to pick out an outfit for her AM television appearance TODAY!! She has a pretty tight budget for clothing and we had a 20% off coupon, so we headed to the Gap – you can always find interesting but classic pieces there – and ended up with a really great outfit. I also wanted to find her things she would wear all the time, not just for “special occasions.”
Here’s my sister on TV!!! (she did such a great job, and how cute is she?? – she’s my “little” sister…I can say that)
And here’s her outfit:
Double knit blazer: $59 – you’ll notice in the video that we stuck with my favorite color palette (gray, black & white) for her outfit I just think it works…and I love the bit of color the belt brings.
Woven Ruffle Tank: $29 – we ended up getting this one because it was so much cheaper than the top we really loved, and also provided interest under the blazer. I prefer the high neck of the second one, but it was out of our budget.
Ultra skinny black denim leggings: $69.50 – these look so awesome on her!! She did have to size up one or two sizes for them to fit, but they are so hot!!
Skinny leather belt: $19.50, but it was on sale for $12 in the store. I wanted to add something colorful to her outfit, and really felt like the blazer needed something to give her a waist with this outfit.
And even though you can’t really see them, here are her shoes – they were perfect for this outfit, although she doesn’t think they’re very comfortable
I had this whole long post ready about how I’m having a 37-year-old crisis which is culminating in my constantly second-guessing my personal style. Suffice it to say that my crisis is over; I returned both pairs of Seychelles booties and am going to order another pair of Swedish Hasbeens clogs. I’m coming to terms with the fact that although I may love a look on someone else, not everything is going to look the same – or even good – on me, i.e., booties & oxford flats (over the weekend I also bought a pair of incredibly cute Jeffrey Campbell oxford flats, but returned them after trying them on with everything I have. I so wanted them to work on me, but they didn’t.) And that’s okay. Nothing feels like “me” more than a comfortable pair of jeans, a James Perse tee, Inhabit cashmere cardigan and a pair of flats, or leggings, clogs & a sweater dress. And I’m not going to apologize to anyone anymore about that.
So here was yesterday’s outfit:
Gap jeans Gap sweater (I think this is a men’s sweater, but it was on the sale rack in the women’s section – it was $15 after F&F discount!) J Crew suede ballet flats Alexander Wang Coco Duffel
Well, even if I wanted to, which I can’t say I do, I couldn’t buy any of the Gap’s designer edition pieces by Vena Cava or Alexander Wang. Why? Because the dresses and pants only go up to size 10. Apparently the pieces run large, but still…
Who’s to say who or what made the Gap or the designers only produce garments up to a size 10. I really thought the age of “I don’t want larger women wearing my clothes” was over, especially if you’re designing for the Gap. Seriously, how much more mainstream can you get? if you don’t want “normal” or “average” sized women wearing your clothes, why design for the Gap?
I really can’t come up with a logical explanation for why the Gap/Alexander Wang/Vena Cava only designed up to a size 10. You can always find things at the Gap in sizes up to 16, no problem….maybe they didn’t have enough money to add sizes 12 – 16? Right.
All I can say is that I’m disappointed. Even if I wasn’t a size 12, I would still be disappointed. Only producing up to a size 10 or 8 is something I would absolutely expect from the designers themselves, or perhaps if they were doing a collaboration with Kirna Zabete or something. But NOT the Gap. Shame on ALL of them.
Then again, the Gap’s CFDA designer collaborations haven’t been raging successes so far…I wonder why…
I’m not entirely sold on this look for me, but I thought I’d try to pair a platform with ankle length pants – for some height, and I know that wearing heels is a more flattering look for me. What do you think?
Gap Essential Jeans SPUN Organic Cotton Cardigan – use code “grechen20″ for 20% off at Fashion Ethic KA7 tee (from several years ago) Melissa Recycled/Recyclable Sin Sandals – use code 10GRECHEN for 10% off Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Bag Recycled Sea Glass necklace – use code “Grechen” for 15% off
Welcome! I'm Grechen. I'm 39, and I've been writing about shopping online since 2004. You will quickly notice that I'm obsessed with James Perse, Alexander Wang, Repetto, Rachel Comey & Inhabit NY...(more)
I just think it works…and I love the bit of color the belt brings.
