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

What to wear for a complete dousing of lobster and white wine

A couple of months ago my lovely husband joined me for dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. It was a special occasion as this spot is not normally opened for lunch. We went to enjoy a special chef's tasting menu for the foodie crowd. Since I am not a "lady who lunches" and this was a weekday, I worked through the morning and scurried over the river and through the woods to get to the restaurant. Arriving 15 minutes after the seating, I was a bit flustered and ready for someone else to take control for the next two hours.

My wine was poured and the waiters started circling with the first course of cold lobster on a lime sorbet with some type of gastro-molecular style butter dust. I'm not sure where the waiter lost his balance, but soon my plate was in my lap along with my wine glass. What was I wearing? A simple black dress. That's right. The LBT is not only popular for its sexiness and simpleness, but have you ever considered its ability to cover up food accidents? It worked like a charm. I stood up, dusted my entire front off, washed my hands in the rest room, was reseated at a new table and began to enjoy my meal in less than 3 minutes. A little sticky, but easy to clean.

For all of you that are a baby mommy, you know all to well the power of black to fight the inevitable jam fingers or snotty nose on shoulder. But the options in black can range from wearing a sack to wearing restraints. As a mom I'm always looking for comfortable, fashionable solutions. And I think the only way we can find these things is let each other in on our secrets.

The dress I was wearing was jersey. Say what you will about jersey, it is comfortable! And jersey done well can be fashionable. This is my go to dress in black with ruching over the tummy that gives me a waist line while hiding the inevitable belly expansion. Jarbo is a Bellevue, Washington design company that has recently opened shops in Bellevue, Madison Park, and online. They sell to the big department stores, as well, for those shopping Nordstrom, Neiman's or others. Here is a great example of a dress that can hide it all and still be fashionable. Click link.

So with that, friends, I ask you to share your fashion comfort secrets with me and with each other!

Style Illiterate

Boot season in PNW begins

You can't imagine the things that my husband said to get this shot. 

On a separate note, this is a super cozy outfit - like wearing PJs at work. Anything that combines fashion with comfort goes to the top of my list. 

Brand Badging

It was 10 AM. I was in the security line at SeaTac airport, ready to board the four hour flight to Austin. The middle aged couple four spots in front of me must've woken up at 6 AM to get ready for the flight. The gentlemen wore a Burberry jacket (visible by the pop of the symbolic tan tartan under the collar), gucci shoes and was carrying a large Louis Vuitton duffle. And that was what I noticed before he stripped for security. After laying their wares across 5 security tables, I was exposed to another Burberry jacket under the first, True Religion jeans, and a Dolce Gabbana tshirt. This, my friends, it what we call brand bradging.

Brand badging is not to be confused with iconic brand style. I'm not a huge fan of Louis Vuitton, but I can't dispute the fashion utility of the iconic brown bags. The classic Channel tweed jacket has been copied so many times, its used to describe the style like Kleenex to describe tissue paper. Brand badging is specifically the use of external labels on the item to promote the brand.

Fashion brand badging is much like driving a bright yellow hummer - it screams, "Look at me! I spent a lot of money on this stuff!" One brand badge often leads to two and three and four until you have a style miasma of noticeably branded fashion labels splattered across a single body. More often than not, it does not represent a style perspective but an economic position. And according to the Economist, this is exactly the affect it has on others. Wearing noticeable labels makes others think you are of higher status and wealthier.

Is this snobbery? Yes. Is it classist? Probably - and my "middle class" mores find it ostentatious. Have I done it? Definitely. I remember back in junior high when the pinnacle of my fashion statement included a Genera tshirt and an Esprit bag. Ok. I didn't have much allowance, but I felt like hot shit in my duds. It is a way of fitting in and saying "I belong." And let's be honest, its a lot easier than trying to find your own style.


How do you avoid the pitfalls of brand badging? 
1. Beware of items externally labeled. This is particularly difficult on bags, but subtle labeling is different than the Gucci G spread across the entire bag. And since they are not rules, breaking them occasionally will not harm anyone. I will admit to lusting after a navy velvet Louis Vuitton bucket bag that stitched the brand across the velvet. But paying more to advertise for others is a sure sign you are be horn swaggled by a brand badge.
2. If you are wearing an iconic brand style, only wear one. A piling of the iconic, even if not externally labeled, often leads to the same style miasma.
3. Consider how the item, not the brand, fits into your style and image. How does it feel and fit? These questions alone will steer you in the right direction.


Oscar Wilde commented that "Only shallow people don't judge others by their appearances."  It is normal behavior to judge, evaluate, make a quick estimate, of someone on the basis of their appearance. Some brand badging can help you score a job or a date. Too much brand badging says you don't know who you are.

As always,
Style Illiterate

Travel set