Posts Tagged ‘j crew’

The piece that makes the outfit

 This morning I appeared on a panel with a few other women, and they were all quite smart and uniformly stylish—it’s easy to forget just how well New York women turn it out for the office every day when you longer have to turn it out for the office every day—but there was one woman in particular who caught my eye. Not the one wearing a straight-off-the-runway dress—although she did  look perfectly smashing. Or the one successfully pulling off the tricky combination of a white top with a cream skirt—although she, too, was a vision. No, this woman was wearing what were all quite straightforward pieces, but she finished the look off with one deathly awesome accessory, with which we all became transfixed. And which I will get to in a moment. First, I’m going to cheat slightly, because she was wearing a shortish little striped dress sort of like this, which was cute for her twentysomething  self, but maybe a little young for our purposes. So here’s a nice linen tee that keeps the stripes where they belong: up top.

And then, just because clean lines are nice, a smart little pencil skirt. I like this one because it’s a cotton/spandex mix, which allows for such essential activities as breathing.

This stylish lady had on a lightweight cropped leather jacket, which is a look I love, and the more lightweight the better: wear it unbuttoned  and just like you would a cardigan, with dresses or jeans or whatever, indoors or out, and it’s the chicest thing ever ever ever.

And then: THESE sandals, which I wish you could all have been there to see in person, because I fear that only their craziness comes through here, and not their stone cold crazy perfection.

Five blue things

Terrifyingly cool sunglasses.

An otherworldly umbrella that kind of goes with everything.

A serving tray with a lot going on.

A trippy blue camera

A sapphire ring, just as delicate as the day is long.

 

 

Friday I’m in love: gauzy tops

Spring is here, the magnolias are blooming, and although it may very well rain buckets all weekend, there’s still no time like the present to pair your favorite light, peasanty top with a snappy little blazer. It’s a very pretty, very masculin/feminin city girl look that’s easy to pull off, with ingredients that are very possibly already waiting in your closet.  A plain black cami underneath this Joie top would add a nice bit of edge.

Of course I love this one from  J Crew because of its sublime collarbone-framing qualities.

So excellently sparkly, just a hair more sophisticated, and the one I want most of all.

This light on light number is all the statement you need when paired under a particularly bright jacket.

 

Print of the week

Whatever could the little black and white creatures on this elegant lady top be?

Why, lil’ skunks, of course!

Say it loud

I like a nice, sophisticated floral: not anything that shows too much restraint,  mind you, but one with a clean color palette and not all that much going on in the way of trickery. And I’ve never gone for anything too bright, or pink, or rosy, because that can skew so mumsy, or Lily Pulitzer, or upholstery-ish, or—not infrequently—all three.  And yet! I have not been able to get this Tsumori Chisato top off my mind since I saw it at at Otte earlier this week: yes, it totally looks like there was an explosion at the flower shop, and yes, every shade is just a touch more lurid than one sees in nature. But possibly that’s not such a bad thing: maybe we all need room in our closets for at least one print that says f*** you to careful good taste (while still managing not to be in actual bad taste) and that makes you happy the minute you put it on.

This tank almost gets away with being quite straightforwardly pretty—but then those big wild yellow bursts come along and save it from such a pedestrian fate.

I know, a knife pleat seems awfully lady. But I’m convinced this would be the kind of easy, comfortable top a person might reach for all season long.

Hats off to J. Crew for bringing us the most Go Big or Go Home Liberty print maybe ever.

 

 

 

I brake for Liberty

Yes, there’s been a fair amount of J. Crew around here this week. But can I help it if they’re the only retailer on this side of the ocean that can be relied upon to routinely crank out quality Liberty print product? Further, would it be in the spirit of this blog to spy, as I did this evening—and then neglect to report on—the atomic-level adorability of this cosmetics pouch?

It’s never too soon to start wearing cute Spring jackets

Just choose one that’s sufficiently lightweight for layering, and go to town.  I’m putting this Iro jacket first because it’s my birthday in a couple of weeks, and I want certain individuals who like to claim that I am tough to shop for to see that I am making it very, very easy this year.

Another one from Iro. Iro is killing me this season.

If this bandana print  jacket had been presented to me during a pre-photo shoot walk-through at my old job, I would totally have had one of my not-on-my-watch moments and excised it from the rack. But I am currently finding it quite charming.

A straightforward cotton version from J. Crew that plays it as lady as it does tomboy, which I like.

This one might be on the thick side for layering, what with the leather sleeves, but its overwhelming cuteness prevented it from exclusion here. Truly, in a season of bomber jackets, the best take I’ve seen yet.

Possibly the most layer-able of them all: the material Rag & Bone uses for this jacket—which they seem to do a new iteration of every season—is stretchy and comfortable like a sweater, but reads structured like a jacket.

A lot to pay for mere whisper of a jacket that is not—in the parlance of Joan Cusak in Working Girl—even leather, but sheer perfection nevertheless.

Here’s your light and weekendy get-on-an-airplane-looking-put-together-but-still-totally-comfortable option.

 

Would you?

I’ve been finding chambray blazers all over the place, and cute as they are (and un-modern as it is for me to admit this) I look at them and all I see are  70s flashbacks. Thoughts?

Lipstick mirrors for your feet

 

Of all my friends, Tribeca Mom has by far the most classic style—a Choate girl to the end. But the kind of Choate girl who was paying extra attention to the New Wave girls from Manhattan in calculus class, because she always manages to bring a little something bright or bold or surprising to the table when pulling together a look. Even just when she’s overseeing a Saturday afternoon play date with a roomful of moms and thrice as many kids, she’ll be wearing some big old unexpected statement necklace with her khakis and omnipresent striped shirt.  And last night, she had the most perfect short, rose red manicure, just like a 40s movie star might. While we were hanging out at her big, perfect art-and midcentury-toy-filled Tribeca Mom loft, she happened to mention that high-shine  metallic flats are one of her new fixations for spring. This is a look that has always turned me decidedly off—my tastes in metallics run pretty muted. But after considering the topic through the Tribeca Mom filter, I got it. As flats, they make an entirely different statement—more fun-with-fashion, less fashion diva than they do as heels—if that makes sense. And if you wear them like I know TM will, that is, as the sole statement of an otherwise very subdued outfit, it could be aces. For instance: this is one chic penny loafer. And that’s not a sentence I think I have ever typed before.

J. Crew has all sorts of shoes in mirror metallics, including this ballet flat option, but I always feel a pointy-toe skimmer-type situation brings a little something more sophisticated to the party.

A slickified finish sure does take the prissy out of the typically buttoned-up  Mary Jane shape. And while those rhinestones on the heels are not for everyone, I’ll bet they’d be fun to catch a glimpse of while you’re sitting in your fourth meeting of the afternoon.

This copper version feels like a particularly grown-up option.

This is the least likely to accidentally blind you, and the price is exactly right.

 

Cabin feverish

A lot the Northeast wasn’t so lucky—and my heart goes out to those who got smacked this weekend—but I’m feeling quite grateful that the Blizzard of the Century decided to give New York City a pass on Friday night. Saturday morning was nothing but clear, bright skies, (mostly) shoveled sidewalks, and the kind of lightly giddy mood on the streets that comes from knowing that a bullet was dodged. The neighborhood was full of tourists gamely mucking about, kids playing in Abingdon Square Park’s relatively-unsullied milli-acre of snow,  and, of course—in this, the most doggie-dense area of town—a thousand pooches frolicking in the snowbanks. At any given moment, at least half of them could be counted upon to be wearing Pawz, disposable little balloon-shaped rubber booties that protect from the rather ouchy effects of salt on their vulnerable little paws. Pawz are a bitch to get on—somewhat like trying to fit four little condoms on somebody who doesn’t understand there’s an upside to wearing them—but they get the job done. And although the matchy-matchy look here wasn’t intentional, is there any denying that Sammy looks boss?

BTW: when the snow gets half-slushy and it’s time to pull out your serious mucking-about boots, consider reaching for your favorite cropped jeans too. They’re just the right length to not get all bunchy when you pull socks over them, and just in general keep things on the smoother side.  File that one under Counterintuitive But True.

By Sunday afternoon, I realized I hadn’t actually left my neighborhood since Tuesday. This is a surprisingly easy thing to do in New York if it’s winter, and your universe involves Fresh Direct, working at home, and at least one nearby cafe that you can treat as a second living room. Still, this was a troubling thought. As was the realization that I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had one of my little city shopping rambles. The sun was out, but it wouldn’t be for long, so I decked Sammy out in his Pawz and off we went. The first stop was APC on West 4th Street where, rather predictably, I was drawn immediately to this blue leopard print parka. I communed with it for a few moments, and then moved on. As one does with items that have a certain appeal that can not be denied, but are bat shit crazy nevertheless.

Way, way more real-world tempting was this canvas and leather tote with an unbelievably good dot print that almost reads like tweed—you really have to go to the site and zoom in to get a good sense of the scope of its excellence. If I still worked in an office I would be all over it.

 

As it is, I’ll probably just get the tee.

 

What I really found myself flipping out over, however, were these amazing quilts—all of which were made in India with archival APC fabrics.  This one with the yellow and light, light brown has nothing to do with the rest of my home, but I want it desperately.

I like how this one’s design is somewhat like a traditional quilt’s, but then again totally isn’t.

Then it was off to lower Fifth Avenue—not the most thrilling destination, but the most convenient for somebody who’d gotten a late start and was traveling by foot and with dog. I popped in to J. Crew, but somebody had majorly flipped the switch on Springtime in there—it was Liberty schoolboy blazers and lilac-hued cashmere sweaters as far as the eye could see.  I’d be back, of course. The lower Fifth Avenue J Crew is one of the great constants of my life.

Madewell was in more of a transitional mode: I want this this chevron-print peasant blouse madly, even though   the neck is a bit high for me. There is always the possibility of wearing it backward, with the button  unsnapped and the label cut out, a trick I’ve employed more than once. Also, it is just as—if differently—cute in the red.

I wasn’t in a dessing room mood but when I am, I will be  back for these swing tees, which seem to be just about the right length, have a nice slouchiness, and are  super-soft. Also, that’s just a great blue.

Couldn’t one almost frame this safari scarf and use it to decorate a child’s bedroom or something?

My next—and final—stop before home was West Elm, because I am desperate to find new side tables for my living room sofa. And can I just say? That maybe it’s just me, and maybe it’s just because it’s always so mobbed on the weekends when I go, and maybe it’s just the weird feng shui of that 18th Street store, but I can never really shop at West Elm. I’m fully prepared for the problem to just be me, by the way. And because I do actually like West Elm’s stuff, I think I need to hit up their big Brooklyn store. Another day.