Denim On Denim (review of Paige James Boyfriend Crop)

I have been wearing dark wash jeans exclusively for the last decade or longer, but with the summer coming, I was suddenly craving the faded blue I loved in my youth. It would be so perfect to wear with all the whites when the sun is up and the temperatures soar.

Maybe it had something to do with the J.Crew's June Style guide that featured the light blue denim in so many pictures? In any case, I had to stop at J.Crew this weekend to make a return.  I usually look for jeans elsewhere but I have been happy with my midrise toothpicks, so I thought I will take look. 

Well, it was still not to be. The Toothpick jean in Northport wash turned out to be too medium blue for what I wanted and Toothpick jean in distressed Cone® denim was too baggy in the hips and did nothing for my butt.  I have confirmed that I only like the fit of the midrise toothpicks and that the regular toothpicks fit differently and not so great on my body.

There was nothing else that I wanted to try on at J.Crew, so I ended up at Nordstrom, where I tried on at least ten other pairs of light wash jeans. After trying on a few pairs, I knew I wanted boyfriend cut with no distressing.  I have finally decided on boyfriend cut Paige jeans, which (lucky me) happened to be on sale.
   

Paige James Boyfriend Crop

The wash is exactly what I was looking for and they are super comfortable.  I wear size 27 or 28 in most of my jeans but these looked big so I tried 26 and 27.  26 was a slimmer fit and I think some people would prefer to size down but then they did not look much like boyfriend jeans. 27 is a little lose but I think that's how they are supposed to fit.  They still sit well on my hips, just a little lower than a 26.  I love the weight of the denim, they are very soft and feel like I had them on forever. I think Ema said that she likes Paige and now I can see why.

Since I bought a pair of light wash jeans that I thought I would never do again, I decided to try another never-to-be-repeated-again look.  I am talking about the denim-on-denim, could I actually pull it off?

Everly pumps reviewed here, handbag by Coach

J.Crew denim stretch jacket reviewed here

Well, I am not sure. I think the problem here is not that it looks bad, it is that it feels a little forced imo.  It just screams I-have-a-fashion-blog to me.  I don't know, I think I would rather wear it with a graphic t-shirt, a pair of sandals and brown cross body purse.  Or just forget about it, wear one piece at the time and leave the denim-on-denim styling acrobatics to the Jennas of the world.  What do you think?

Back to my Paige jeans.  The back view is OK, nothing to write home about, but I think this is a case with the every boyfriend cut, so I am fine with it. 

Lucca sandals reviewed here

The front has a nice slouch without too much bagginess or low crotch.

 top seen here, glasses by Ray Ban

I plan to wear the jeans with a variety of white tops.  And, although this is nothing fashion-blog-worthy, this is how I like it the best.

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That's all folks!

Do you wear light wash jeans?

What do you think of denim on denim?

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

Black Friday in the park

We had a beautiful weather on Black Friday and last thing I was thinking about was shopping. In fact, I never go shopping on Black Friday and I avoid malls between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The crows and the difficulty of parking scare me away. Anyway, I don't quite believe in so called 'special deals'. Somehow, I never had regrets and when I hear about what people bought, I rarely, if ever, wish that I had gone, after all.


Don't take me wrong, I love a good sale like any other woman but I just don't need a big screen TV and the stuff I like is never particularly discounted, or at least no more than at the other sales. I also never clip grocery coupons because I feel they make me spend more, not less. I do use those 20% off coupons at Bed, Bath and Beyond but that's about that.

I spent the Black Friday morning sleeping it off, after eating and drinking too much over the Thanksgiving. My friend made wonderful turkey and thousand side dishes. I brought mozarella and marinated peppers salad, sweet potatoes casserole with pecans and another casserole of roasted vegetables. I finally figured out that roasted vegetables need a marinade made of olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, fresh thyme and rosemary.

I used this recipe and I will now swear by it. I roasted mine for 45 minutes, stirring the veggies after 15 and then 30 minutes. I bought all organic vegetables and added some carrots, just because I had plenty on hand. There was not a single bite left!

 

In the afternoon we went to the park. It was very warm and I had to take my coat off. I walked quite a distance in my new navy McAlisters and they were still comfortable.

I love this chambray polka dot shirt (review HERE) but the only issue with it is that it does not go with jeans. Everytime I put it on, I wish I had a pair of red or orange denim. I did wear it to the office with a wool pencil skirt in persimmon, it was a great pairing.

Cashmere sweater and necklace from BR

But the sexy boyfriend cords (review HERE) worked too. I love the combination blue, gray and yellow, it is one my favorites.

After the sun started setting, I needed to put on my peacoat, it suddenly got so cold...

I really like this time of the year, it is so beautiful! We probably only have couple more weeks before the leaves fall completely and the cold weather will settle in. Boo... 

I am wearing the Majesty peacoat from last year. The cut seems identical this year but this year's version has a beautiful pink lining (see my review HERE). I had to reinforce the buttons before I could wear the coat because they started to come off. I hate sewing buttons on coats but I managed somehow.

 

The last picture was styled completely by my daughter, she is bossing me around these days. You should hear her yelling 'Don't make a sour face! Turn to the side! Look away!  Unnatural!'. Then we argue about selection and she complains 'So I took all those garbage can pictures for nothing???' 

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How about you?

Did you go shopping on Black Friday?

Or are you waiting for Cyber Monday?

 

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

Trompe l'oeil

This short sleeved patterned sweatshirt is not yet on J.Crew website, so I don;t know what the name of it would be when it is released, but the print looks like trompe l'oeil lace. I am sure this scrap of vintage lace was stumbled upon in some Italian antique shop and had J.Crew designers obsessed with it, until they recreated the pattern using the quill pen.

Lace-printed sweatshirt

Jokes aside,  I think this is a pretty top. It is boxy and on a shorter side but I think it works. I am wearing size Small, which is smaller of my non numerical sizes. Medium, which I often take, was way too shapeless.

This is also my attempt to pull of the midi length and I am quite satisfied with it. This is the best I can do I am afraid.

My old pleated skirt is from Express, made of wool and surprisingly good quality. It has that vintage ladylike feel but it is also super comfortable.

I was having trouble finding a necklace that would go with this shirt and I stubbornly insisted it needs one. I finally settled on this one because it also has that lacy quality to it and I liked a little red in this dominantly black/white/gray outfit.

Witch's shoes

My daughter thought the shoes would be perfect for Halloween, if I dressed up as a witch. Oh well, I love them. These are Noelle (sp?) booties from J.Crew that I bought last year.

I think the shirt also works dressed down with jeans and a cardigan but you can see that it is quite short and wearing a sweater is a little tricky because of the thickness of the fabric.

I am wearing my Gap sexy boyfriend crops (review here) and a Tippi cardigan from J.Crew. Messenger bag from Banana Republic and ballet flats by Sam Edelman.

The shirt was tagged at $65 but for some reason it rang up at $75. They have adjusted the price for me and I also used my 20% coupon bringing it to about $50. I brought it home to try it with what I have in my closet and I did not take the tags off yet because I am not sure if it is worth it. What do you think? Should I keep it?

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That's all folks!

Do you like this new sweatshirt from J.Crew?

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

Finding a sexy boyfriend

Don't worry about the state of my marriage, I am only talking about jeans....

Couple of weeks ago I realized I don't own a single pair of really comfortable jeans. When my company organized a meditation and yoga sessions near quarter-end, I found myself with nothing to wear. It was on Friday and I was going to wear jeans that day, but none of my jeans were comfortable enough to sit on the floor cross legged.  All were fitted in the hips and tights and suddenly I wanted a pair that I can use for yoga.  Actually, forget yoga, I wanted a pair of jeans that I would not want to peel off immediately after getting home.  

I even tried on some of my husband's jeans, but even though he is rather slim, all his jeans needed some serious belt to stay on my hips and my backside did not look presentable, yoga or not. But that gave me an idea that I wanted a pair of boyfriend fit jeans. However, I did not want to spend a lot of money and I heard good things about GAP's sexy boyfriend jeans, so I decided to give them a try.
 

Distressed 100% cotton

size 28

Last time I tried GAP jeans I was size 27 (4), so this is the size I tried first. 27 was a good fit, but with no slouch. They just looked like normal jeans but because of the cut and the higher rise, the loose fit in waist and lower crotch just looked unintentional, like bad fitting skinny jeans, or worse yet, bad 'mom jeans'. 29 had a nice slouch and actually looked great from the front but they were bunching up in the back and I would not be able to wear them unbelted. I have no rear to speak of (unfortunatley), so this may work if you are better endowed.

I decided to go with 28 (6), because I was mostly looking for comfort and jeans that need a belt are not that comfortable in my book. If I was going for real slouchy boyfriend look, I would go with a 29.  If you are interested in those jeans, I would strongly recommend trying them on in person, instead of ordering online. Every wash and every pair felt and looked a little different, even in the same size, and you have to get them 'just right', or you are not going to like them, imo.

This is also a 28 but in different, not distressed wash. They fit a little tighter but they stretch more. They also come in a cleaner, bluer wash which I actually like better, but I tried them on in another store, where the fitting room lighting was horrible, so no pictures, sorry. The distressed wash is 100% cotton and the non-distressed ones are 98% cotton and 2% spandex. They also come with flap back pockets, which I did not care for.

I also loved the sexy boyfriend cords.  In addition to this yellow (ornament) color, they come in orange red that is very pretty and muddy beige shade that I did not like. They have button-fly, as oppose to zipper. The cord is very fine and very soft, they are super comfortable. The cords are more stretchy than jeans and have more spandex in them.

not sure why this color is called 'ornament'

If you unroll them they are about ankle length on me, They don;t look bad unrolled, but they definitely look better rolled up. But if you wear them for lounging at home and your ankles get colder, you can definitely unroll them (and add socks!).

I am 5'6; if you are 5'4 or shorter they may be more like full length on you. If you are shorter and prefer to wear them cuffed, you may want to order a petite version, so the rolled portion is not too bulky.  They also come in talls. Why can't this be done for most skirts?

Overall, I am surprised how much I liked them. I never thought I wanted boyfriend jeans and I was sure they would not look good on me, but I am now officially converted. I bought both, jeans and cords and did not want to wear anything else outside of work. They do stretch once you wear them, but it does not matter as much as with skinny jeans, isn't it great? If you buy the not-100%-cotton version, wear them for hour around the house, before deciding if you like them.

Finally, I am comfortable curled up on the sofa, amazing!

Now, I wonder if I get some spam because of the title? We shall see...

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 That's all folks!

Do you wear boyfriend jeans?

Have you tried the ones from GAP?

Please share, it would be n fun without you!!!