J Crew Sweeping Ruffles Shirt

Show of hands...how many people had their J Crew Sweeping Ruffles Shirt (#22852, $98, and I have no idea why it's still full price) on back order?  And waited and waited?  Only to be utterly disappointed when they got it?  According to my SA, a LOT of these have been returned to the store in the past week or so, so I'm guessing you all feel the same way as I do about it.

Here's the online pic...How cute.  The floaty ruffles....love it.

And here's the reality.

What can I say? 

Let's see...





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and let's not forget.....






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Ok, seriously.  The full scoop.  Maybe it's just awful on me because I really don't have much in the way of curves (drewablank and I were talking about it earlier this week so I hope hers worked when it arrived).  And maybe it loses something when it's been folded flat in a package as opposed to being steamed into floaty loveliness in store.  I got a Medium. 

The good:  It fit fine in the shoulders (thank you, J Crew!)  I really liked the length.  And I still like my new hair cut (more on that in an upcoming post).

The bad: all those flaps of fabric hanging off the shirt.  I felt like a laundry line.  Seriously.  It's wash day, woo hoo!  A hot mess on me.  And I try not to overuse that term, but oh, it seriously applied here.  And it was MUCH more sheer than the online pic would lead you to believe.  And, for us lazybones, who wants to iron this sucker?  "Not it."

Bottom line: Not even on sale, honey.  Or maybe my Polyvore will tell you how I really feel....

J Crew Sweeping Ruffles Shirt by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew tops

ps - props to Chris of A Little "Crew"zy, who called this as a major miss back in January. You were right, Chris, but at least I didn't pay for shipping!

J Crew Cashmere Tie-Front Cardigan and well, a Crappy Cut

Quick outfit and review...J Crew Cashmere Tie-Front Cardigan (#18248, orig $198, curr $129.99, purchased with % off for just under $100, I believe).  Still available in black, heather nickel, heather natural, and heather gray.

I got this a month ago on one of the %-off sales, in an M, and in navy (duh).  I admit that I hadn't thought much about it, until dinagideon talked it up so much.  (Check her out rocking it most recently here. I believe she has it in the heather natural and black, and goodness knows what other colors.) And I don't really have any v-style cashmere cardis, so I got it on a whim just to see and figured I may end up returning it.  (Dina and I have very different figures even though we are close to the same height so things just fit us very differently - I'm a brick and she's a pear.)

But, lo and behold, I absolutely loved it, as she swore I would.  To me the biggest downside is that with the tie, you can't really go with a tie belt type coat.  So when I wore it today with my trench coat, I just left the coat open.  Hey, I was wearing cashmere...it kept me warm.

No pilling so far, and I've worn it about 3 times in the past month since I got it.  For cashmere in the spring with some of these super hot days we've had, I think that's pretty good (esp considering that it sat on a shelf for 2 weeks while I decided whether or not to keep it).  It's a great cashmere piece to have for fall or spring because the nature of the tie front is more open, so it's not as potentially hot as a full cashmere pullover would be. 

And because it's so open in the front, it is quite nice for showcasing a fab necklace, as I did today with my Anthropologie yellow beaded necklace from 2 summers ago.  I forget the name, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it on Polyvore when I started the PV habit last spring, 9 months after it came out.  It's also great for showing off some pretty detail on a cute tank or tee underneath. And I bet it will be great with my classic stripe tissue tee.

There have been differing opinions online about the sweater.  The always-fab Post-Fab Princess got in the light ginger, maybe?, and got a major bathrobe vibe.  Well, shoot, once you get that, there's no going back and you're gonna feel shlumpy every time you wear it.  I totally understand her viewpoint...but I actually felt the opposite of shlumpy.  You all know I love my big oversized sweaters, and I like that this did define my waist with the tie.  Plus, I think doing the tie in a bow makes it less bathrobesque...plus when it's just knotted, I feel like the ties are too long. 

To finish off the outfit, yellow Born Lovely flats (love me some yellow, navy, and white).  Matchy matchy with the shoes?  Meh, whatever, worked for me today.  And then a plain white perfect fit crewneck tee and some white jeans.  Springy for me.

Now...about the hair.  I know...it's rather wackadoodle.  Try to be kind.  I thought of cropping my head out, but didn't want to do that for the next 2 months.  Well see what happened was... 

Ok, the last person who cut my hair, I loved.  And I had been going to her for several years.  But when I showed up with E for our appointment this past December, she had completely blanked and wasn't home. No problem, I understand, she had a lot going on.  Happens to all of us.  A friend gave both of us a trim and I figured I'd call the next time.  Then when I tried calling twice this month to make an appointment, the first time she was closed through Easter, and then last week, she was closed for the next 10 days.  And I just couldn't wait any longer....  (serves me right)

So I got a referral from a friend and went to a new guy.  (Looking back, I realize that the 2 people I know who go to him have either mega-thick hair with a wave, or really curly hair.)  Note, when someone new cutting your hair says about 5 or 6 times, "wow, your hair really is straight" after convincing you to do layers to get more volume at the top and then starts texturizing it, that's a bad sign.  Plus he didn't really listen to my direction on my bangs - which I was REALLY happy with and I've been trimming for the past 4 months - they were perfect - keep them long and graduate from the middle outward so it's not a line straight across.  Well, they are just barely long enough and much straighter across than they should be.  Ok, that's not so bad - I need to be much more insistent on the bangs next time - and within a week, they'll be totally fine. 

But the texturizing!!!  Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!  It looked really cute after he spent 30 minutes blowdrying it and making all the ends bend the exact right way.  I actually was ok with the cut for the most part the day of (which was Friday). 

Then Saturday morning when I went to style it, I spent my usual 3 minutes with the round brush to bend under the bangs so they don't stick out and give the top few pieces a bit of lift and shape.  And oh it was tragic.  I know this hair style.  Mega shag.  And shaggy.  I had this hair style when I was 8.  That was back in 1979, and it was stylish then.  Not so much now, esp on a 38-year old woman.  Up into a ponytail it went.  (I will say that it looked really good in the ponytail with the layers.)  Did I mention I was doing this before an 8:00 am soccer game?  Yep, that's how the day started. 

Today, I tried out the hot rollers.  Darned if I'm going to spend 20 minutes with a frickin round brush and blowdryer - I don't have that much time in the morning.  At least with the hot rollers, you put them in and can do other things.  I think I left them in too long.  Crazy curl today.  Although E loved it and asked me to hot-roll her hair, too (which looked gorgeous on her).  I think my hair worked fine today IRL, when it could moved. But I really don't think it photographed well at all.

I am so utterly disappointed in this hair cut.  Clearly this guy is not good with uber-straight hair like mine.  It wasn't the layers so much as the texturizing.  You don't do that on superfine hair.  It's never a good idea.  And he was doing it before I could even stop it.  Plus, he did cut the layers shorter than he said he would. 

What do you do when you hate your hair cut?  You can cry...but that just gives you red, puffy eyes and makes you look worse - and you don't need that when you are starting out with bad hair anyway.  So, you suck it up and deal...try to find a way to make it work...and wait for it to grow.  That is, after all, the great thing about hair...it does grow back.  So you may see lots of ponytails or other experiments.

Question - with such a bad cut, do I even try it out again with a stronger mandate?  Or just cut my losses and go somewhere else?  And go ahead, tell me your awful hair cut stories...I know most of you have them, so that I can at least feel in good company. 

Oh yeah, by the way...Polyvore from today:

4/18/10 by HeidiGblog featuring Born shoes

J Crew Dress Review - Checkered Puckered Shift Dress

Oh honeys, as I mentioned in yesterday's post on the jersey promenade gown, the Checkered Puckered Shift Dress - and hehe, try saying that 5 times fast - (#22357, $150) - it just was NOT good on me. At all.

Trying to find redeeming qualities about the dress...hmmm...the fabric is kind of interesting? Um, not really. Oh wait, I've got it - there are some pretty buttons on the back at the top. That was pretty much it.

First of all - the name - checkered puckered? Sounds like a hot mess to me.

Let's start out with what I ordered - I got the dress in Pearl, in a size 10, since that's what I usually take in J Crew's more tailored dresses. This dress, of course, could use some more tailoring...or less...I don't know...something....

I think the size was probably too big, but I didn't even notice because I couldn't get past the color. I have the Jackie in pearl and it's lovely - like the color of a chocolate-vanilla milkshake. So pretty.

The dress in pearl? It looks like a white tee that got dipped into the basin of a washing machine that had a load of medium darks washing. Just dingy and dirty and icky and not at all attractive. I was so hoping this would be a cute, flirty, frothy, springy off-white dress. Sorta like the Playa dress from last summer. Seriously, the color of this dress is an insult to pearls everywhere and they should complain.

By the way, the dress is also available in dark pewter and rosy peach. Even though I just don't do warmer pinks/peaches, I think the rosy peach is probably the best option.

Outside of the unattractive color. the dress just did not look good on me. I know "hot mess" gets overused, but that really explains how I felt when I put the dress on. Too young on me. Too many ruffles. Weird bottom with the puckering under. No waistline. Weird ruffle thing at the sleeve.

If you go to Fabulous Florida Mommy's post with the scanned pics of the March catalog...or if you have a catalog yourself, the dress appears on the 12th picture, on Amanda Brooks. The stylists were wise enough to hide the dress with a large jacket. It looks much better that way.

So yes, that dress was immediately packed back up and returned. Yikes. But here are a couple of Polyvores that I made with the dress. Maybe I'll find a substitute for the spring/summer - I love the idea of it, but the actual dress was just a horror on me.

Checkered Puckered Shift Dress by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew

Winterizing the Checkered Puckered Shift Dress by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew

Some J Crew Dresses - Group 1 (not under consideration, but for information and entertainment)

Lots of cute J Crew dresses out there right now. And I took several for a try-on last week when I was at the store. I actually am curious about your opinion on 3 of them. But...first up... a couple that are not even under consideration for me, but thought I would post for both information and entertainment value:

#1 - the Drawstring shirtdress (#14940, $69.50). When Summerilla described the dress to me at tea, I was interested. So I tried it on. Just did not work. I actually think it looks better in the IRL pic than it did in the mirror, so you can imagine how bad it was on me.

The dress comes in sahara and navy. The fabric is really nice and lightweight, making it a perfect summer dress, even with the sleeves. (And I don't know about you, but I always freeze in AC.) But because the fabric is so lightweight and the skirt has some fullness, I felt rather breezy in back - like the skirt could fly up at any moment and I wouldn't even know. Not a comfortable feeling. I tried this in an M, and it felt big on me, but I don't think I could do an S. I like how the sleeves are rolled in the catalog pic, but I don't think that would save it on me.

The problem with the fit on me is that I have high hips. My hips don't curve out gradually, like a feminine shape, they jut out like a rectangle - it's weird, but hey, I know how to work with it, so I wouldn't change it - but it makes dresses like this with a waist on the actual waistline fit weird. Who would look good in this? Someone a little shorter, so that you won't worry about the skirt flying up, and someone who has a semi-normal waist - could be really cute and a great summer piece (and at a nice price!). Just wasn't the piece for me.

#2 - the Cotton bonbon dress (#15324, $78). Ok, I'll admit finding out the real name of this dress almost made me reconsider it because I love the bonbon idea. But no, it really was not good on me. But it could be good on someone. I didn't try this on because I was seriously considering it. Rather, it was because I saw it in store after hearing about it. (Again, Summerilla had tipped me off. Have you seen her blog? Way cute, check it out.) Anyway, to totally date myself again here, all I could think of was Sarah Jessica rocking this with a big scrunchie holding her side ponytail. I'm pretty sure I saw this actual dress in Footloose. And you know what they say about repeating a trend that you were around for the first time...

The dress comes in navy, dark charcoal, spearmint, and seashell. The cotton lawn trim around the neckline is very pretty. And the knit top is quite comfy. The dress has definite possibilities...for someone else. If you don't have much of a shape on the bottom, it can definitely give you one. And if you aren't exactly smooth across the rear (you know, the whole VPL thing), no worries because the tiers camouflage all of that. I tried an M, and the top was just too vacant. But the S was too tight across the ribcage. I think if you had a non-curvy/straight figure, this would be the definitive dress to give you curves.

Updates: J'Adore These Stores also did a review of the bonbon dress, as well as Laura in Real Life.

I am realizing that including the 3 contenders would make this post waaaaay to long, so....

Next up: the dresses under consideration.