Weekend Shopping Spree Part 2 - Some "Non-Tall" Purchases

I've gone off-roading a little bit lately as far as tall shopping is concerned and have made a few purchases in (gasp) non-tall sizes.  My fashionable tall buddy took me to this high end consignment store that she loves. I REALLY have to be well-rested and highly caffeinated in order to go to a store that requires a lot of hunting and gathering, so I made sure I went to bed early on Friday, partook of my Keurig right when I rolled out of bed on Saturday morning and also swung by the Starbucks drive-thru on the way there. 

It's actually quite a blast rifling through the racks of Diane Von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada blah blah blah with a friend.  A lot of items still have tags on them too which is comforting to a consignment newbie like me. I ended up buying a cute Joe's Jeans top (with tags on) and this brown and cream Milly skirt (tags also still on except for price). I loved the skirt, but realized when I got home that I had never really heard of Milly and started to worry that maybe I paid too much since I didn't know the normal price point. Then I had a gander online and saw that the skirts go for between $200-$300 so I felt better about the $45 I spent.  (How cute and summery is this white ruffly skirt on the Milly site?   I totally want this sunburst skirt too)! Anyways, I realized that the colors of this skirt are probably more fall-ish than spring/summer, but it is lightweight so I'm still going to wear it in the coming months.  It's hard to tell from the pics, but it has gold shimmery thread running through it, some fun gold buttons on the side, various layers of fabric and is a little ruffly so it has nice movement when I walk.  My chocolate peep toes look decent with the skirt but - HOLY COW - how did I ever wear 3.5" heels all day when working as a bank teller in college?  I could barely keep these on for my brief photo shoot. I guess I'm out of practice since I've started wearing wedges and flats.

After we were done consigning, we went across the street to the mall.  You already got a gander at some of my Banana Republic fun yesterday. I also bought this navy-with-white-polka-dots cotton/linen blend dress on sale at J.Crew.  I think I'll get a lot of good wear out of it because I can dress it up with some fun, bright heels for work or dress it down with some flat sandals for a weekend shindig. It has a connected sash around the waist that is hard to see because it's the same fabric. I might have preferred the sash to be white or a different color to break up the pattern a little bit, but I still like the way it creates a more defined waist.

The attached sash wraps twice around and then ties in a bow.

That's a wrap for my weekend shopping. Lest you think I have fallen off the tall shopping wagon, I am now going to be saving my pennies for the Long Tall Sally pop-up shop in a few weeks. Can't wait to do some in-person tall shopping!!!

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!

Dress Shopping Debacle

Am I the only one who can't seem to find dresses that fit to save my life? I've tried ordering tall sizes online, rifling through racks at the mall, ordering non-tall sizes online etc. etc. At this point, maybe I need to take up sewing? You're probably sick of hearing all about my dress shopping woes but here comes another round.

I'm sick of wearing boring-ole-blah dress pants for work and Army events, so I've been on the hunt for some frocks. I ordered a tall dress from Loft in a size 6 AND 8 thinking that one of them would SURELY fit. The 6 fit perfectly on top but I had to shake and shimmy my hips and bum in a most unseemly fashion in an attempt to get danged thing down over my bottom half. Not wanting to bust a seam, I ultimately gave up and moved on to the 8. Of course, this one was totally baggy on top and fit great on the bottom. If I had loved the dress enough, I suppose I could have taken it to a tailor and had the top taken in, but it certainly was not worth it so back to Loft they went.

Then I said to myself "Self - If you're ordering a dress online, you can't order a dress that's fitted all the way down. You need to order a fit and flare style to accommodate your size large caboose and things." (I will admit - I talk to myself a lot these days. I'm not quite sure what to make of this habit )  There has been some chatter about ASOS by some of my tall bloggy/twitty friends, and I figured I might as well give one of the dresses a try. In keeping with my recent belt obsession, I bought this lovely midi dress in teal. I put it on...tried to contain myself when it fit over my hips, reached for the zipper in the back and thought "Are you flippin kidding me?!?!?" when the zipper grew weary of its travels halfway up.  As you can see, Mr. L3 was able to zip it up for me, but let me tell you, this thing was SKIN TIGHT in the bodice portion. It didn't look bad per se, but I couldn't exactly take a full breath while wearing it. (Is this how corsets feel)? Can you tell I've given up trying to smile and look good when I take my self portraits? Mr. L3 was busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen and from the muttering and banging around I was hearing, I think he was having a bit of a kitchen disaster, so I didn't want to trouble him to take a pic.

This is how I know I'm all grown up and mature. A 20 year old me would have kept the dress because I loved the color, it was really slimming and looked good (despite the discomfort of not being able to breathe), was just the length I was looking for, had a full skirt and cool belt. But the 30 old wise/mature me knows better than to keep something that isn't comfortable. So back it went. Unfortunately, the size 8 was sold out. BLAH! Thank goodness ASOS has free shipping AND returns otherwise I would have been REALLY disgruntled. 

Maybe I will strike gold in the dress department at the Long Tall Sally pop-up shop in Atlanta in June, or maybe not since I didn't exactly have good luck finding a dress at the last one I went to. Where the heck do you find your dresses? I need all the suggestions I can get.

Tallish Find at White House Black Market

I'm INSANELY frustrated with my "look" lately. My wardrobe seems to have a bad case of multiple personality disorder. Some days I look like I'm 12 in flip flops and tank tops; other days I look like I'm over-the-hill in blah cardigans and boring black trousers. I'm just not feeling very fabulous about what I'm wearing most days. Maybe it's because I feel like the best I can ever do with styling myself is to throw on a decent looking top or a maxi dress and call it good. Being imaginative with layering or accessorizing or combining interesting pieces or trying new trends is not one of my strengths BUT I want to get better at it. It seems that creating "put together" looks involves OODLES and OODLES of time going to the mall (or looking online), rifling through tons of clothes, belts, accessories, shoes, taking chances etc. Perhaps I need to start thinking about the bigger picture when I go shopping instead of just buying a top here a top there a top everywhere. Then, when I have an event to go to and want to create a look, all I have is a bajillion tops but no jackets, sweaters, accessories etc. to complete the look.  So, what I'm trying to say is that I need to hire a personal stylist to dress me. I'm sure Mr. L3 would be OK with that right? I'd also like a makeup artist, hair stylist, personal trainer. personal airbrush tan applier, personal massage therapist... Oops! guess I've been watching too much Real Housewives of OC today.

I've been wanting a dress this length...yay

Since Mr. L3 probably would NOT be OK with me hiring a full time stylist, I was pleasantly surprised when I went on my first non-tall shopping trip in a lonngggg time in search of an outfit for a special event, ended up at White House Black Market and had a very helpful employee bring me boatloads of stuff to try on, INSIST that I come out of the dressing room so that she could assess me,  then she would add a belt or a necklace or a jacket or she would tuck my shirt in or untuck it....we got to know each other pretty well. Was she just trying to make sales? Probably. After over an hour in the dressing room, I ended up buying the cream colored sweater (on sale) and orange belt, pictured below, this midi-ish dress and big belt (I've been in the market for a big belt for a long time), a black, sheer peasanty top and another black skinny belt (both on sale).   (Please forgive the craptastic quality of the picture of the dress. Mr. L3 quickly snapped it while laying on the couch so that I could send it to my sisters-in-law. I didn't intend to post it, but just couldn't help myself.  Also, the black and white artwork on the mantle is just there temporarily until we frame it and hang it elsewhere...but hey...it fits right into a post about White House Black Market right?  OK...done with my disclaimers.)

Now...I'm not saying this cream sweater and orange belt  (paired with my new custom made Indi jeans...separate review to come) is some kind of earth shattering, amazical fashion statement. BUT, I never would have thought to put this look together of my own volition. And once the WHBM lady forced the belt upon my friend, I wanted it for myself and loved it! I am also elated about how long the sleeves are on this sweater. Sure, sure...I'm  fairly certain that's because the sweater is falling off my shoulders a bit and that's why the sleeves are so long. But - hey- I take what I can get when I go non-tall shopping. It also has a little shimmery thread running through it making it even more pretty. 

Are you tired of the corn field backdrop yet?

I feel like if I can have a few more shopping experiences like this where I run into helpful sales ladies with some fashion sense, I may just start being able to build some good looks on my own.

P.S. WHBM has tall pants and jeans on its website.