Weekend Shopping Spree Part 1 - Banana Republic

The annoying thing about living 50 minutes away from civilization a decent mall is that I can't just bop into a store like Banana Republic on a whim to try stuff on so that I will know what size to order in the tall lengths online. It has to be more of a production...a planned event. So today, I went on a glorious shopping spree with one of my (very fashionable) tall friends and tried on several things at BR that I've been eyeballing on the website for weeks now. Lucky you...you get to see some lovely dressing room photos.

First up, the Celeste printed patio dress in size small. 

 

Now, we all know I have shy leg syndrome, so I feel like a maxi with slits is perfect for me because I can still show a flash of leg, but then they can go right back into hiding beneath the dress before anyone sees how pale or veiny they are.  According to the website, the "regular" size dress that I have on measures 58.5" and the tall is 60.5" so I think the tall will be just perfect.  One thing the description on the site DOES NOT mention is that THIS DRESS HAS POCKETS! I don't know why that excites me so much...I'm so easily amused. (Must be the whole growing up without a TV thing). My only qualm with this dress is that I suppose I'd have to wear it with a strapless, and the thought of having one of those digging into my ribs and back chubs when it's 95 degrees and muggy outside is not very appealing, so I'm going to have to contemplate this dress a little more before I  decide whether to buy it since I'm all about comfort in my old age. P.S. This maxi also comes in a lovely solid "pecan pie" color.

 

Moving on, I gave this cross-front print dress  a try in size 6, and I'm really on the fence about it.  It fits great, the detailing around the waist is nice (zoom in on the website to see) and I like the length (I've decided I need to get over my shy leg syndrome and wear shorter dresses and skirts sometimes if I'm ever going to survive the sweltering summers in the South - plus the tall size would be 3 inches longer than this), but the print and colors kind of put me to sleep and remind me more of fall. I wish BR had the same style in more springy, vibrant colors...or something a little more sassy and fierce.  

Moving on to something I actually DID buy (online) from BR last week - the Coco Silk Tank in size 6 Tall. When my Long Tall Sally freeway-cone-orange and tan color block skirt arrived a couple of weeks ago, I ran to my closet to play dress up and realized I didn't have a dadblamed thing to wear with it. Enter the Coco Silk Tank. I bought it on sale and was honestly not expecting much more than a basic white shell-ish top.  But it's more than that! I was thrilled with how long it was and that it was more tunic-y than the tucked-into-a-skirt photo on the website lets on. I can belt it, wear it with jeans, wear it with a pair of pink hot pants (no I don't own those yet but I'm considering trying the bright colored capri trend), wear it on its own as a dress (kidding). I like the pockets and shoulder strap details and it doesn't seem to wrinkle too easily. 

 

That's a wrap for the Banana Republic portion of my shopping spree. Tomorrow, I'll show you a skirt that I scored for $45 (normal retail $200-$300) at a high end consignment store and an adorable navy/white polka dot dress that I bought from J Crew. I guess after tomorrow's post of skirts and dresses, I won't be able to claim that I have shy legs anymore!