Banana Dresses and Blazers

As I mentioned in my post last week, I stopped over at Banana Republic to check out their current offerings. I have abandoned Banana in the last few years, but recently they have been luring me back in more often. This time I was not dissappointed and I found quite a few items that I liked. I have reviews of dresses and blazers today and I will have another post coming up later this week with skirts and tops.

***

 

Cap sleeve ponte knit dress

I loved this dress in person. The color is gorgeous and the knit is substantial but very comfortable and it drapes well. The darting and seams all fall in the right place and the shape is very flattering. I saw a girl try it on next to me and she was way curvier than me and it looked fantastic on her. 

Size 6 regular

also 6 but shorter and tighter

I tried both size 8 and 6 and there was not much difference but size 6 fitted me better in hips and it wasn't too tight in the chest. I liked the navy version of this dress as well but I don't need a navy dress. For some reason the dress in the same size was much shorter and tighter as you can see in the pictures. It happened to me with the striped dress I bought couple of months ago, the same dress in black was very different fit so be aware. If it was black I would consider it as an LBD. Before I tried it in store I thought of ordering Tall but I think I like the length of regular on me.

This dress is on my wish list and I think once I see a full price coupon I will use my $30 rewards and get it. I have a feeling that my hubby will like it a lot, too.

***

Piqué sheath

This dress was a little dissapointing IRL. It is a pretty dress but it was too thick, the armholes were gaping amd the waist was too low (what a change from J.Crew! It took me some time to figure out what was wrong, because it was so unexpected, lol). Maybe it would look better in 6 but I did not like it enough to bother with it. It had this vibe of a tennis outfit that I did not care for.

Size 8

 ***

Trina Turk Swirl cowl-neck knit dress

I grabbed this Trina Turk collection dress in Small because that was the only size available. The colors are gorgeous IRL and very flattering.

Size Small

I would still like to try size Medium for comparison but I think the Small was OK. The dress has similar fabric composition to my DVF dresses  (70% silk, 30% viscose) and it feels great on. I was not looking for a big colorful print like this and I was surprised how much I loved this dress. When I went to NYC last weekend I saw may women in similar dresses and I thought this would be another perfect date dress for summer, flattering and easy.

 ***

Heritage pocket sheath

This dress has a beautiful fit and the olive tone was surprisingly flattering. It was too roomy in the hips on me so it may be good for the more pear shaped ladies. I loved the neckline and chest pocket were placed correctly, the length was good and the waist was in perfect place (yes!).

Size 8

I am trying size 8 here and  I would like to check out a 6 but they did not have it in stock.

***

I was also looking for a white cotton blazer and I was considering a J.Crew Superfine cotton but the Banana one button version is a better option imo. The cut is quite similar and the construction is comparable but the price is better at Banana. This blazer was $80.99 and 40% off! Oh, and one more thing, both blazers I tried here say 'sateen', which would turn me off online but irl they are not shiny at all.

Sateen one-button blazer

Size 8

After all, I decided I will not wear a blazer in the NJ summer heat but if I was to get one, I would get the one from Banana over the J.Crew one.

***

If I wanted to spend more money on my blazer, the Trina Turk collection one ($130) would be an excellent choice imo.

Trina Turk sateen two-button blazer

I don't have a good picture because I did not take it to the fitting room, but the fit was excellent in size 6, it is lined in cotton, it does not look like a suiting jacket and it has the colorful fabric detail under the collar if you want to flip it up. Very nice!

Size 6

nice detail!

All in all, I was very impressed with Banana collection and I have more coming, including several skirts and tops. Sometimes I caught myself thinking that the price was high, but then I realized that their full prices were much cheaper than comparable products at J.Crew and it is pretty common for Banana to run full price promotion so I could probably easily get at lest 25% off.

Btw, if anybody has one of those 40% coupons that they are not going to use please let me know! I would love to use it for one of the items above. Now the question is which one?

***

That's all folks!

Do you like any of the recent Banana offerings?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!