Random musings about J. Crew

I'm just going to quick hit a few deals I got and make a few comments about a few items:

Salina Iridescent Patent Leather Flats in Guava:

I think I got these on sale, plus 30% off, so they were around $60. They are very pretty and the guava color is neutral enough to go with almost anything.

Large Odile Bag in Driftwood:

Once again, a great neutral to go with everything. It's also the type of neutral that will work year-round. The leather is very soft. It is lined with cotton twill. I was a little disappointed that it didn't come with a dust bag, but I can live with that. It was only around $150 including shipping after 30% off the sale price. I actually ended up with two of these bags after I got an e-mail stating that my original order had been cancelled. Well, I reordered the bag since it was showing as still in-stock, and what do you know, both my original and the new one arrived at my doorstep. While returning the extra bag, a woman in the next line over loved it so much that she decided to purchase it after my return was complete.

Italian Calfskin Jamie Bag in Dark Cloud:
The leather on this bag is soooo soft and pretty, but it will scratch quite easily. It is quite roomy and lined with a silk grosgrain type material. Unfortunately, on my second day of using it, the tassel on one of the zipper-pulls came detached. It's hard to describe, but basically I am going to have to try to take it to a shoe repair and see if they can do anything about it. J. Crew was already sold out of the Jamie bags in this color, but they did credit 10% of the purchase price back to my card to cover the expense of getting it repaired. I got this bag on sale for around $210, which is almost half of what it originally cost.

Morgan Cozy Cardigan:

I posted about this earlier on my list of things that I wanted. I bought it, but now I am having second thoughts. It is super soft and cozy. However, it is not made entirely of alpaca wool. It also contains acrylic, which is not acceptable for a sweater that costs nearly $200. I was in my local J. Crew today, and they had the sweater on sale for $130 (plus an additional 30% off), so I might see if there is a store that has my size left and repurchase it at the lower price.

Cashmere Sweaters:


They are all only $99 in stores, plus an additional 30% off. I got an off-white cardigan and a black turtleneck. Boring, yes, but they are just some staples I needed for my wardrobe.

My local store was pretty close to clearing out all of their winter merchandise and predominantly featuring their spring/resort collection. Some of the items are very pretty, but I have barely even started to get wear out of my fall and winter stuff! I just need to hold out for as long as possible, knowing that it will eventually go on sale. While I love the J. Crew Aficionada blog, reading it all the time makes me become a bit irrational. I decide I *have* to get a certain item right as soon as it comes out, because it won't be available for long. Well, that bit me in the ass more than a few times, because practically everything I ever bought at full price ended up sticking around and getting marked down big time! This is good for J. Crew, but bad for my checking account...

Vegas Adventures: Christian Louboutin

After a long, drawn out day of shopping, when the rest of our group had dropped like flies, Sara and I soldiered on to the Christian Louboutin store at the Shops at the Palazzo to try on some his famously glam red-soled shoes. Oh how I absolutely adore that red sole! And the red theme is carried on throughout the tiny, jewel box of a store. To steal a line from Carrie Bradshaw, it was like Sara and I had died and gone to shoe heaven! In fact, it was so heavenly, that I considered actually investing in a pair, in the event that I found one that I fell in love with.

I was eager to try on some classic black patent peep-toe platform pumps that Mr. Louboutin does so well. After all, I am constantly wearing knock-offs of the one he did with the stacked wooden heel by Steven. Sadly, my feet were just a tad too wide for the real deal, and ended up spilling out the sides. Stupid wide-but-not-so-wide-enough-to-be-considered-truly-wide feet!

Speaking of my stupid, stupid feet, who was there to tell me that they were, and I quote, "adorable?" None other than the lovely and beautiful Angie Harmon. She was friendly, radiant, and save for the small baby bump, very thin. She was trying on some pretty, copper-y wedges. At least a wedge is a bit more practical for pregnancy, eh?

I also tried on this adorable black satin peep-toe pump with a bow. These ones actually looked good on my feet, but at $795, I just couldn't let my first true luxury shoe purchase be on some highly impractical satin shoes that I would rarely wear, and would surely get ruined.

So fortunately for my wallet, but unfortunately for my inner-crazy-splurging-Vegas wild-child, I left the store empty handed. But it was a fun experience nonetheless. For now, I will keep my eyes peeled for whenever these babies go on sale, and hopefully my foot won't runneth over:

Cool Website: 6pm.com

I'm pretty sure I already have espoused the many virtues of Zappos.com to all of my friends on more than one occasion. In case you've been living under a rock, Zappos is a magical place where millions and millions of shoes live. You want orange high heel clogs in a size 10? You can find them quickly with Zappos "search" feature, and then they'll appear on your doorstep the very next day. Free (overnight) shipping, free returns; it seriously doesn't get any better, especially when you are trying to find the perfect pair. Not to mention the fact that you don't have to deal with some creepy mid-40s dude oh-so-delicately putting your foot into a shoe. Grossness.

When Zappos shoes don't make their way into a good home, they go to 6pm.com, where their prices are drastically reduced. The downside? No free shipping, and you are going to have to march your arse to the post office and mail them back on your own dime if they don't fit. And there is no real user-friendly search feature. You have to browse pages and pages and pages of shoes until you can find the right one, unless you already know the exact name of the style you are looking for. Part of me wonders why they just can't transport Zappos search feature onto 6pm.com, but then I can see why making it difficult for customers actually helps the bottom line. You see, while having to sift through pages of shoes looking for those orange clogs, you might come across a pair of purple heels that you didn't even know you needed. And then you have two pairs of shoes in your shopping cart instead of one. Sneaky, eh?

Anyway, I have actually found that 6pm.com comes in handy as a resource for "replacement" shoes. I recently was able to find a pair of Steven Persuade (a calf-hair leopard print flat --- see pic below) in my size for only $69 to replace the worn out pair that I bought over 2 years ago for $110. And I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes I was able to find on there that are already in my closet, at prices sometimes 75% less than I had originally paid. (Some of you are probably thinking, "Ew, her shoes must be so ugly, no one would buy them at full price." I say to you, this is a testament to my superior and unique style, which obviously no one else gets!!)



If you are a Nine West fan, there are literally thousands of styles available, most of them going for only 30 bucks. I even saw a pair of decent looking all-leather boots for $50. There are also several "occasion" shoes, so if you need something to go with that bridesmaid or holiday party dress, this would be a good place to look for that pair that you're only going to wear once.

Now get to discount shoe shoppin'! And you can thank me later.