Red Pants

Many years ago my wardrobe consisted of black, white, tan, and grey tones. This was pre-stylist and represented both the conservative nature of my job in corporate America and my lack of understanding on how to use color. Any use of color I could muster was "cute-sy", bordering on childish. Since finding a stylist, I have better understood how the right colors make me look better, brighter, and younger. Yes, forget fancy creams and pick the right color to loose weight and look younger in seconds. If you need a refresher on your colors, check out this earlier post.

On to the color trend of the moment. If you have not purchased colored jeans in the last year, you are either terrified of the potential fashion faux pas or you may be living under a rock. Anyone producing jeans these days is making green, yellow, red, purple, hot pink, and cobalt blue versions of their favorites. With all of the colored jeans being produced in the last year, one must ask themselves, is this trend for me? Or will I regret the photos in 10 years?

The trick to the trend is to wear these jeans with more basic colored tops - white, black, navy or tan. If you must do a print, stay with these basic colors but choose a plaid, stripe, or small print. Keep it simple out of the gates so you can warm up to the color trend. Color blocking (using two vibrant colors side by side) should not be attempted as the first venture into colored jeans. Otherwise, you may find yourself running and screaming away from color for the foreseeable future.

Are colored pants just for women, you ask? In 2009, I traveled to Italy and found many men sporting brick red pants. My husband is a brave soul. He picked up the color trend long before me with red, blue, pink and pale blue pants to boot.

I am happy to report I've successfully ventured into both red and blue jeans in the last 12 months. I'm steering clear of green and yellow, which are outside of my complementary color family. I have attempted one color block outfit, though I don't think I will return to that again soon. Maybe in another couple years.

Sincerely,
Style Illiterate

Color block travel

I'm 4 months into a new job that requires me to travel quite a bit. My normal trip starts with a cab to the airport at about 4:30 am, which allows me to step off the plane directly into afternoon meetings. So I need to look professional and be really comfortable for the long commute. Getting this look down is a challenge that I'm still working on. Here is an attempt at the color block theme. Sadly, this shot misses the leopard print shoes which make drab a little more playful.

Always a work in progress,
Style Illiterate

Brand segments - Did I share this already?

I realize in my earlier post today that I use some terms that might not be familiar to you. These are a little bit "industry" terms, but I find them useful in understanding some of the advertising and positioning that brands take. 

• Haute Couture: Synonymous with “high fashion,” haute couture is a derivative of the French term “high sewing.” In France, the label “haute couture” is a protected designation and you must be a member of the syndicate. Designers, who attain this elusive and coveted title, produce custom-made clothing for the world’s most influential and wealthiest. These styles are not sold online, but are sold direct by designers to clients.
• Luxury: Prêt-a-Porter, Designer or “Ready to Wear” is one-step down from Haute Couture relative to price and exclusivity, but still serves a discerning and well to do client.  An example of sites focused on luxury includes net-a-porter.com, Barney’s, and Shopbop. The highest end of Nordstrom and Barney's is really Luxury.
• Bridge: Literally, the bridge between Contemporary and Luxury. Many luxury brands have alternative labels for the bridge market. Missoni has M Missoni. Chole has See by Cloe. Marc Jacobs has Marc by Marc Jacobs. Saks, Nordstrom, Barneys and even Amazon carry bridge products.
• Contemporary: This segment presents mid-priced fashions both fashion forward and quality driven. Oftentimes, these designers interpret fashions from the couture houses, making these fashions readily accessible. An example of sites includes J Crew, Banana Republic, and Anthropologie.
• Fast Fashion: Quickly produced product in a cost efficient manner, delivering “high fashion looking” garments, at the lowest price possible. The name relates to the manner of which items from the runway manufactured predominantly overseas with an extremely efficient turnaround. An example of stores includes H&M, Old Navy, Zara, and Urban Outfitters.
• Discount: Usually looked at loss leaders, have quickly adapted to the fast fashion concepts leveraging their consumer’s buying power and reputation to fashion exclusive designer collections. An example of stores includes Wal-Mart, Target, JC Penney, and Sear. 

That's my quick lesson. I think I might be Style Literate today!

2012 Shopping Guidelines: Part 2

Greetings, friends!

So you've probably already dipped your toe in shopping for fashion online. Maybe you have already cultivated a set of brands and know your sizes in these brands. Now you are ready for the brand aggregators. That's just a fancy way of saying Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Macy's, Amazon, etc. All the same rules from my first shopping entry apply (See original post) - don't forget to sign up for emails to watch for sales. What is different about shopping at department stores online?

1. Much broader brand selection allows you to shop one store.
2. A variety of price points across the store allows you to shop high and low.
3. The integration of online and in store is typically better than the single brand shops.
4. They typically have better selection of special sizes like petite and plus.

So let's review a few stores today that span the experience.

Nordstrom - Free shipping and free returns all the time. Nuf said. You can use the online shopping like your dressing room. Nordstrom legendary customer service carries over to its online space. I can also purchase online and pick up in the store. This lets me secure the item and determine if I need alterations when I arrive. Nordstrom also lets me shop by familiar in store department names like TBD, Savvy, or via C. This helps me orient price point and quality quickly. The site is aesthetically beautiful, which makes me happy to shop there. I can shop moderate (like Adidas) to designer (Prada). I can shop for a full season at Nordstrom if I need to. The one thing I don't like about Nordstrom is the lack of multiple views of items. Many other online retailers shot 3+ angles of a single garment. Nordstrom regularly only has one. This makes it a little harder to make a purchase decision.

Macy's - Just like the in store experience, the online shopping feels transactional. The site is functional. You pay shipping fees on purchases less that $100. You pay to return items, as well. Macy's doesn't have bridge or designer collections. I can shop moderate (like Adidas) to contemporary (Rachel Roy). Macy's doesn't allow me to pick up at the local store, but I can return at the store for free. I find Macy's great for filler pieces, but rarely shop a full season there.

Amazon - This is a bird of a different feather. You really need to know how to shop on Amazon to be successful with fashion there. Once you figure it out, it can be a great place to buy brands you love. First thing to consider here is Prime membership. This gives you unlimited, free shipping on products sold by Amazon. In costs $79 a year. For those who buy electronics and household items all year long, this makes a lot of sense. Moving on. While most people browse other clothing sites, many people search on Amazon. This can result in catastrophic results. Just type in evening dresses and you can giggle at the results. So instead of searching, please browse to clothing! Use the left hand navigation. Select clothing or shoes and wa-la. Ok, not quite. Select women. Now you are there. Select the category you want to shop. Once you are here, you gotta refine to get a manageable set of results. Are you tired yet? Let me tell you my trick. I just shop the contemporary shop. These are closer the brands I like and once I find an item I like, I can easily find other similar items on the detail page. And there are great brands, too - Joie, Winter Kate, Robert Rodriquez, Halston Heritage, etc. Amazon offers discount to bridge brands. I always select "Prime" as a filter to ensure my two day delivery applies and I get free returns. The last thing to know about Amazon fashion shopping is that Clothing and Shoes are two separate departments with two different return policies. On clothing, Amazon as the sellers offers free returns. On shoes, when Amazon is the seller, returns are not always free.

That's all for me today. I'll review more stores with each purchase.

Yours truly,
Style Illiterate

Corporate function

So my current work environment allows me to wear jeans most days, but I still have to pull out the corporate attire from time to time. I abandoned the formal suit look about 7 years ago and went for more mix and match suiting. Luckily, I have pieces that I can dress up or dress down. This outfit, for example, can be easily in formalized with jeans on the bottom or a jean jacket on top. Versatility is key to any happy wardrobe and happy dresser.

2012 Online Shopping Guidelines

Hello Friends and Happy New Year!

As you may be able to tell from my blog, I like to shop. My obsession since my baby arrived three years ago has turned from the in store shopping experience to the online shopping arena. And no, this is not a New Year’s resolution post to give up shopping. Instead, I want to share with you the lessons I have learned over the years, the best places to shop for what, the hidden ugliness to online returns, and other online shopping lessons.

Buying fashion online can be a little tricky. To be effective, you should know a few things in advance.

1. Cultivate specific brand stores for basics that have reliable fit. Yes, this will lead you to mall stores - JCrew, Banana Republic, Madewell, Loft, Gap, All Saints are good examples. After you know your fit/ sizes for a particular brand you will never have to stop in a mall again! Alternatively, cultivate specific brands you can rely on that are sold across multiple stores – James Jeans, Splendid, Frye as examples. This will allow you to shop multiple sites for the same brand. And don’t get hung up on size. I rang from a size 2 to a size 12 depending on the brand. The question is not the size, but the fit.
2. Sign up for the emails. These places have sales so frequently online that it feels like robbery to pay full price. Yes, that means you will have to clear out your inbox every morning until 9 AM with the sales news, but once you get the rhythm you won’t buy full price again.
3. Read the fine print. Some online stores are better than others on general returns, but even stores with the best return policies have final sale items. This means you can’t return it at all – no exchanges, credits or refunds. If you are unsure on a product, you don’t want to buy final sale (unless the deal is so good you don’t care if you lose the money to your curiosity).
4. Shop the competition. Once you have a specific item you want to buy, if it sells across multiple sites, be sure to check out the competition. This ensures that you will get the best deal. There are some sites like shopstyle.com that do an amazing job helping you with this research. No need to go site to site.

Now that you’ve prepared yourself, lets talk about some of the major players.

Gap/ Banana/ Piperlime – On the positive side, when you shop at these sites, you can have one shopping cart. Piperlime is definitely the more fashion forward of the three in the family and there are a range of price points across these families. Sizes, however, are not consistent. A Gap 6 does not equate to a Banana 6 to a Piperlime 6. You must know your size in the brand. Items are eligible for returns from 30-45 days. They make it easy to print off a UPS label to return from the site. Returns take about 2-3 weeks to credit your account. They are usually pretty good about getting your order right. The challenge with these guys is if the mess up something about your order, it is very hard to get it back on track.

J. Crew / Madewell – These are in the same company family. Sizes are cut pretty similarly for both stores. Both companies provide pre-printed labels for returns. I have even returned items that said “final sale” that they credit my card for. I have had no problem returning in store or online.  Returns are credited within two weeks to my card.

Anthropologie/ Urban Outfitters – These are the same company family. Since they stock a variety of labels, sizes are all over the place. Anthro has a very loyal set of customer reviewers so it is pretty easy to get good information from fellow shoppers. People even provide pictures of themselves with height/ weight measurements. The sad news is I have consistently had problems returning online items in the store.  My husband doesn’t like me shopping here anymore since it takes two or three more follow ups to get returns resolved.

All Saints – You might not have this store in your city yet. It is a London based shop. A little bit steam punk. I like it to punch up my basics. My husband is a rabid All Saints shopper. He can’t say no to a sale. And returns are easy breezy.  Labels are provided.

Ok. That’s all I have the energy for tonight. Next post, department stores and Amazon.com…

Yours truly,

Style Illiterate