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And The Hunt Begins

This morning I put my second grader on the school bus, signed up my preschooler for "Lunch Bunch", and set off to the mall with the baby.  Yes, I realize I use the term baby loosely.  Shut up.

I was determined this year to expand my horizons.  Usually I go to Ann Taylor, pick a little black dress or a glittery top and black slacks, and call it a day.  This year I committed myself to going into stores I’ve never before had the audacity to enter.   So I set out this morning in what I hoped was a cute, sassy outfit with my head held high, prepared to venture where no housewife has gone before.

The first thing I noticed today was how super short everything is this season.  Dresses are either floor-length (too formal for Husband’s office event) or mid-thigh (too short for, well, anyone over the age of 18 and a size 2).  This severely limited my choices, right off the bat.

My first stop was Bebe.  There was a dress in the window that looked interesting.  I noticed it last week, but today I forced myself to cross the thresh hold into the realm of throbbing music and uber-chic salespeople who looked at me like I had accidentally exited at the wrong station.

I felt decidedly out of place with my baby stroller and my cute little magenta flats, but I was determined to persevere.  I tried on the dress from the window and looked much like a sausage in its casing.  And it didn’t smell much better, frankly.  I don’t know quite what to make of that.  So I decided I’d had enough of that store and moved on.

I was too intimidated to enter the Juicy Couture but I swallowed my pride and decided to give BCBG a try.  I’ve tried their shoes before at Nordstrom, but I’d never tried on any of their clothes.

Unlike the staff at Bebe, the salespeople at BCBG were delightful and seemed to think Baby R was the most enchanting child they had ever encountered.  This, my friends, is the way straight to my heart.  Act like my kid is adorable, and I’ll love you forever.  So I tried on half the store.  Which was quite a feat, I’ll tell you that, since the very child-unfriendly dressing rooms were entirely enclosed with curtains.  Multiple curtains.  With multiple slits.  A 2-year-old’s dream and her mother’s undoing.  It’s a good thing my modesty flew out the window during childbirth.

The salesgirl kept bringing dress after dress after dress.  Naturally I found the perfect thing — for a mere $398.  And you know what, it was worth every penny.  It was a smokin’ hot dress but entirely age-appropriate, gorgeous, and unlike anything anyone else would be wearing.  Unfortunately I can’t find a picture online to save my life.

Any-Who.

Four hundred dollars is completely out of my price range for a Christmas outfit, or for a car for that matter, so I left BCBG empty-handed.

I wandered around Nordstrom and Macys, but departments stores frighten me.  I never know where to begin. 

So guess where I went next.  Just guess.

Yep, good ol’ faithful Ann Taylor.  Where I tried on the red blouse, which did nothing for me.  And so I bought this.

Pretty, classic, versatile . . .  and pretty much a variation on the same thing I wear every other year.  I’m hopeless.  Maybe I can spice it up with a really great shoe.

Hm.  I feel another shopping excursion coming on.

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27 Responses

  1. I too am a hopeless Ann Taylor wearer. Every year I go other places and try things on and end up at AT like a prodigal child.

    This is especially true for pants. For some reason AT pants, jeans, etc just fit me right. And! (this may be the real reason I enjoy AT) every time I go there I am a size smaller that any where else. It’s like magic! 😉

    kellie

  2. I was going to write about this very thing.

    Coldwater Creek has some really lovely dresses. Sometimes their things aren’t my style (even though they are pretty), but I’m loving some of their holiday dresses this year.

    Blessings,
    Karla

  3. I was going to write about this very thing.

    Coldwater Creek has some really lovely dresses. Sometimes their things aren’t my style (even though they are pretty), but I’m loving some of their holiday dresses this year.

    Blessings,
    Karla

  4. The BCBG in my hood has really nice sale girls as well. The time to hit them is during sales, they will mark things up to 70% off after the holidays…I’m just sayin’, it’s worth a look!

  5. You will look lovely in that top but of course you would lovely in anything!! I was voting for the dress in one of your past posts, black, elegant but this is elegant as well.

  6. I think that top is perfect! I’m so jealous – both of how you can wear sleeveless things AND how you have a cooperate toddler (baby!). I can’t even remember the last time I tried on anything in the dressing room with my kid in tow!

  7. I never end up getting anything at either Bebe or BCBG, either. I wish I had had a blog two Christmases ago when Marvin went WITH me to get an outfit. Oh, what a tradgedy.

    Anyway, like you, I always end up at Ann Taylor. ALWAYS. How do those other stores make money? They probably sell one $500 dress a year.

  8. Oh. My. Goodness. I laughed WAY out loud when you said you use the term “baby” loosely and “shut up”. Hilarious. I called my son the baby the other day and someone said “you still call him that?” And I said DARN RIGHT. He’s only 5 months old and as far as I know, he will be the last, so he’ll be the BABY for eternity.

  9. so i totally thought of you yesterday when i saw the red blouse in the window at AT 😛 it was much cuter in the picture. and i found a dress there that i am determined to buy for christmas, but, that’s prior to trying it on. lol. this one, cuz it’s very Audrey. >

    https://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=10595&N=1200003&pCategoryId=101&categoryId=180&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_180&defaultColorNameFromCategory=Ivory&defaultSizeTypeFromCategory=Misses

    and i know what you mean about being freaked about walking into ritzy stores. my sister was all excited yesterday to go into Tiffany for the first time ever, but we walked by and there was a dude in a suit standing at the door to like greet people or help them or whatEVER, so we kept on walking. lol. and the stuff in the windows wasn’t cute :/

  10. I LOOOOOOOVE BCBG, but I don’t dare enter unless they’re having a sale or someone else is buying. Atleast you ventured out- it’s a step in the right direction, and maybe you’ll find something in the outlet malls next time.