This was originally posted on another blog of mine (Simplicity — Small & Cheap). I consolidated all blogs to simplify my life. – Jen 6/19/09
A last week, I wrote about the benefits of planning your wardrobe. I’m glad to say that having a plan REALLY works. Now, I know I wrote a huge post about how great having a plan is, but it was all a theory until this last weekend. For the first time since I’ve gotten both my style emails AND colors done, I have gone out to buy some clothes.
I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would like to have in my wardrobe. I’m a SAHM and I live in Florida now. I need clothes for warm weather — shorts, capris, skirts, etc. Because I’m a mom of a little, I need shirts that are generously cut and easy to nurse in (i.e. not skin tight). I also needed to make sure they were classic styles because I will (God-willing, of course) be alternating between being pregnant and being, well, where I am now. So between pregnancies, I need clothes that will not be going out of style quickly. Most of my clothes are going to need to be comfortable (to be playing with DD) and casual. They also need to be easy care since having kids means I’m going to get JUNK (bananas, spit up, etc.) on them. I will also need some nice skirts with amply cut blouses for church and we have a baptism and a wedding. I have plenty of warm clothes, exercise clothes and pajamas.
Not only does what I need have to fit the qualifications above for lifestyle as detailed above, but each piece has to fit the color criteria that I have set — dark brown, light green, pink, cream and aqua/turquoise — but they also have to fit the criteria that she gave for length, cut, etc for my body type. I’ve been reading about and seeing pictures of what to wear for my body type since August of last year and so I’ve got a really good idea of that and my color wallet allows me to match that way. I’m armed with everything I need in order to narrow my search.
A few weeks ago, I went on the prowl for QUALITY clothing that fit my criteria of easy to wear classics and found (among others) that St. John’s Bay and a.n.a. at JCPenney seemed to fit the bill. I had the luxury of shopping sans daughter today and found that the St. John’s Bay clothes are PERFECT!!
I got a pretty good deal on the bottoms I bought today. I got 3 pair of capris. I got a dark brown pair of Cargo Capris, and 2 pair of Denim Cuffed Crop — one in pistachio and one in a dark denim wash. I also got two skorts that look like skirts from the front AND back (one of my husbands few fashion opinions/peeves). I got the pistachio color and dark brown. I can’t find a link to them on JCP’s website. They were all on sale for $17.99 each but because my total was over $80 (or something), I got an extra $15.00 off. That made them all $15.00 each, give or take. AND I recently signed up for JCPenney’s rewards program so I’ve earned some points towards a gift certificate. I like to shop there anyway. They have quality clothes and when they have a sale, the prices are the same as Walmart.
I’m really quite bummed that I can’t download/use pics of the stuff from St. John’s Bay. I was going to enjoy having a visual log of my wardrobe online :). I found a perfect pink shirt at Fashion Bug, but they didn’t have any left in the right size. Sigh. But I did find a dark brown top from Ross. Due to the nature of the store, I’m not even going to attempt to find a pic of it.
Anyway, I got 3 pair of capris, 2 skorts and a shirt for about $80.00 (not including tax). I’m pretty happy with that. Have you gotten any cool duds lately? Leave a comment and show me what you got!
