Tag: J Brand

Living into Light Summer – Four Months In

Hey all,

It’s been four months since I got my colors “done“; time for an update!

I’m settling into this new season; I see when my face “pops” with a good color; I can now see plainly that a few old pieces I initially thought were Light Summer are not; and it’s becoming a lot easier for me to pick out some of the Light Summer colors at a glance (I then confirm with my handy dandy color palette).

Greens and purples are probably the easiest – they jump out at me:


Can you tell I’m having fun with this?

Blues don’t jump very much but there’s some flexibility there. I’m getting better at yellows and pinks (which are really mostly corals); and I’ve even found a few good browns – though I haven’t thrifted them:


Too big.

 

I see when my color palette (the actual samples of colors I take with me when I thrift) pops against colors in my season when I didn’t used to:


Pop! As always, take photos of the palette with a large grain of salt due to lighting etc.

I thrifted these Bermuda shorts even though they’re more where my style 8 was years ago. I couldn’t help myself – they were so perfectly Light Summer. That’s actually been a challenge – it’s still novel and exciting for me to find something that’s a perfect palette match that I sometimes buy things I normally wouldn’t because IT IS MY PALETTE. Working on that.

 

Amazingly, I’ve even had success finding my colors online, which can be a tricky proposition since lighting and monitor settings affect things. Knowing it’s hard to match colors in some ways makes me more restrained – I’m less likely to buy something unless I’ve seen it in person.

Otherwise, I piece together a variety of photos from the seller and the original retail site (these are usually pretty accurate) and make an educated guess, which is how I ended up with these pants – SUCH a good match for Light Summer:


Glorious. The Pixie pant from Old Navy via Poshmark.

These also were a perfect match, which is great since I’ve been looking for pink pants to set off my warmer weather tops:


Also Pixies from Old Navy via Poshmark.

 

As far as denim goes, I’ve been happy to stick with my darker Paige jeans because we so easily read jeans as a neutral; plus pants are far from the face, where it’s most obvious if you’re wearing something outside your palette. And I had found some “Best Girlfriend” jeans that were right in my color palette; but they are baggy, weekend, laze-around-the-house jeans that don’t give the cleaner silhouette I like for more polished outfits.

Lo and behold, the thrifting gods sent me the first pair of J Brand jeans that didn’t feel like sausage casing around my legs; they have some stretch (I know that’s antithetical to denim purists and I don’t care). They are a lovely light blue wash that is squarely Light Summer denim territory:

They’re a tiny bit cropped but since I plan to wear them now through fall, that should work just fine.

 

I think I mentioned before that this palette made me realize that I had let myself get seduced by the neutral-heavy palette of minimalist Instagram style mavens. Although there’s a lot to be said for playing with texture and silhouette within a very muted, narrow palette, I came to recognize it just didn’t feel like me. (One of my favorite shirts is bright blue snake print, for Pete’s sake!) When I posted a muted peach skirt on Instagram asking for color suggestions to dye it, someone suggested “rust!” with enthusiasm and I just wanted to run the other way.

It’s been a breath of fresh air leaning back into color with this new color palette and embracing PATTERN beyond just a neutral stripe or dot. (Can you tell how happy those floral pants make me?) I’m excited to share more with you as I finish building my spring/summer wardrobe – whenever spring finally arrives!!

Thrifting for Blue Jeans – a Thrift Upgrade

When was the last time you called your denim “blue jeans”?  

I mentioned here that after many faithful years my Forever 21 jeans were wearing out and I was looking for a thrift upgrade.  The other week I had a chance to thrift; after a quick browse-through for other items on my thrift list came up empty, I decided I had time to devote to an initial round of denim hunting.

The search for jeans can be overwhelming even when you’re shopping retail.  My approach to searching racks and racks of secondhand choices while maintaining my sanity involves keeping in mind two things:

  1. It will likely take multiple visits to find a winner.
  2. Priorities – what features (fit, wash, cut, fabric, brand, etc.) are most important to me?

In this particular search, my priorities were the feel and the wash – I wanted something supple and thick in a darker, richer blue than my current pair.  Color is a quick visual differentiator, so I looked first for the right hue.  Next, with a brief touch I could tell whether a pair I’d spotted in the right color met my “feel” requirement. Only then did I check to see if the size/cut was right.  If you care about pockets, this is also a good time to check whether the pockets are heinous.  (One disadvantage to this method was that I sometimes got excited about a pair only to find it was capri.)

Next: given that sizes vary between brands – and within brands between seasons! – I pulled anything that was my size or one size bigger/smaller.  (It helps here to know what your waist size in inches – e.g. 29/30/31 instead of 8/10/12 – since many brands now size this way.)  I was also flexible about cut, given that I’ve had success getting a wider leg tailored to a slimmer cut.  (If you don’t want to pay for tailoring and have access to a sewing machine, Thriftanista in the City has good tutorials on DIYing a hem or a altering a pant leg at home.)

Here’s what I took to the dressing room:

Pair #1 by Not Your Daughter’s Jeans: too short for pants that are supposed to get me through cold weather. Also I was least impressed with this fabric – fell short of my expectations for NYDJ given rave reviews I had read on retail style blogs.

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Pair #2 by J. Brand: too skinny to even get all the way up mah legs.  I so detest pants you have to literally peel off.  (I have seen this pricey and popular brand several times at the thrift store but have yet to find success with them.)
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Pair #3 by Banana Republic: great cut but didn’t button.  Wanh wannnnh.

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Pair #4 by Banana Republic: same brand AND SIZE as the previous number, and yet they fit perfectly in the waist.  As you can see, the pant leg is just a little more flare than your average bootcut; not my preferred cut.  But it checks off my priorities: the feel is luscious and the color is a gorgeous deep blue with stitching in a great contrasting rust color.  Bonus: the length is already just right, as evidenced by the break.

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Attitude.

Per rule #1 above, I fully expected to leave the thrift store with nothing other than more information about what I would look for next time.  But given my priorities, these last ones were winners.  I haven’t decided yet if I’ll get them tailored; unexpectedly, the wider leg feels like a fresh option to call on amidst a wardrobe of slim fit pants.

Here’s how they look next to my old F21 pair:

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And next to my newly thrifted Pumas LINK – great match in color:

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What do y’all think of the pair I picked?   What do you prioritize when shopping for jeans (thrifted or otherwise)?  Any tips for thrifting for denim?  And most importantly, SHOULD I TAILOR THEM TO A SLIMMER CUT??    Scroll down to comment!

 

 

Does Thrifting Save You Money? Part 2

Given that you don’t have unlimited time OR an unlimited budget, how do you make thrifting work for you?  Has your thrifting changed as you’ve gotten better at it?  Unlike your younger self, you can’t spend your life in cut-offs that ‘sort of fit’.  So how do you find good stuff without spending a parcel of time and money on near misses?

This is Part 2 of a wide-ranging conversation reader Ginna from Feet Chic and I recently had about how much our beloved thrifting habit costs us.  Find Part 1 here , or scroll down to chime in!

Continue reading “Does Thrifting Save You Money? Part 2” →