Monday, May 27, 2013

OOTD/Review: Whale Critters and a Pencil Skirt.

Hey, all...Happy Monday night to you all.  I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend, whether you were celebrating Memorial Day here or the Bank Holiday in the UK.

Up first is the review, followed by my very casual outfit of the day.

Linen Tippi Whale Sweater and Factory Printed Pencil Skirt (succulent green).  Tippi is a size extra-small and the pencil skirt is a size 8.

I rarely get to the stores anymore, but I have been able to get to the Pentagon City store twice in three weeks, since I have had so many returns lately.  Of course I can't resist walking around seeing what pretty is laying on the table, and one of them was the tippi whale sweater.  I hadn't thought I would be interested when it debuted on-line (even though I love a critter) because I thought the whales were screen-printed on the sweater.  Instead I discovered they were embroidered green whales, which made the sweater much more appealing to me.  I also love the linen tippi I own in neon orange since it offers great coverage against the sun but is still fairly lightweight.

I had read that the sweater ran tts, and I would say it does since the extra small is just fitted enough without being too tight.  It does stretch out, so if you are between sizes, go down because it may be too slouchy by the end of the day if you size up.

The skirt is wonderful.  I liked the last "regular" J. Crew rollout, but man, the prices were so expensive.  The factory rollout happened one day beforehand and I fell hard for two of the skirts (the poppy mini was the other) and because the prices were actually reasonable, I could bite on both without feeling super guilty.

The skirt fits true to size, and because it is a stretchy cotton sateen, it moves with you and with your curves, which is awesome if you are curvy in your lower half.

The print is so pretty, and the succulent green name is perfect for the color the green is...sort of a delicious mid-green that is neither too lime or too kelly. 

I don't know that the two pieces work well together, but they do match.  :)  I tried them on together because I happened to be wearing the tippi and the shoes with a pair of green shorts that day (last photo in this post), and I was being a tiny bit lazy. 

Side view.  The tippi's length is a touch shorter than my other tippis, so if you have a longer  torso, this may be a deal breaker for you.

The skirt is longer than my other factory pencil skirts, so yay for that.  Tall ladies, rejoice!

Back view.  I didn't snip the thread on the back vent, but there is a back vent that will make moving around even easier.

See the Tippi on beach chic girl and rynetta.  See the pencil skirt on Gigi.

Day: Friday, May 24, 2013.

Where:  School Pickup.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I almost contemplated not putting this outfit on the blog since this outfit is not anything special, other than the fact that I am preppy enough to happily wear a whale embroidered critter sweater alongside a pair of really bright green Bermuda shorts.  It is like living preppy heaven here in VA.  I just need to get a pair of navy blue sperry top-siders like I had in high school and I would be the preppiest person at pickup (not hard with all the lululemon butts, lol).

The shorts are from J. Crew and although I find their shorts usually too restrictive in my size (they fit but are too short in the crotch depth), the lightweight version have a stretchy cotton blend which makes them fit so much better.  And because I am a huge sucker for comfort, I sized up to a 10 and it feels like I am wearing pj bottoms out in public.

Cool Factor: (2 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  This guy would think I look "cool."  And so would anyone who regularly shops for clothing at Vineyard Vines and/or their grandpa's closet.  The Lululemon moms probably were blinded by my shorts, though.  Thank GOD they were wearing their expensive Chanel sunglasses.  ;)

Anecdote from the day:  Really stupid day for me to wear shorts, though, since it was raining and 55 degrees outside.  Oops.  I can't believe that after the last few years of crazy hot we have had here in VA, we can't get our summer properly started.  (We went to the pool today and basically put our feet in the baby pool so we could at least say we went to the pool.)

Okay, that's all for tonight.  Have any of you tried the above items?  I would love to hear your thoughts on them, especially the pencil skirt!