White Skirt Season

Along with being able to wear bright, fun colors like coral and aquamarine, being able to wear white is one of my top reasons for loving summer fashion. It's unfortunate that white skirt season only lasts a few months! Especially up here in NY where the warm skirt/short wearing weather doesn't really start until May (and sometimes June). In the following outfit, I paired a tight white skirt with a belted loose top:

Shirt: Banana Republic (last season), XXSP
Skirt: Vineyard Vines, sz. 14 girls
Belt: Forever 21 (In Stores Now), S/M
Bag: Dooney & Bourke

At first, I tried tucking the loose-fitting top into the skirt, but it looked awkward and unflattering. Wearing the shirt over the skirt and belting it creates a classy and flattering hourglass shape, although tucking it in might work with a longer pencil skirt. You can find similar loose tops in Banana Republic now, but most of the styles such as this one come pre-cinched.
The belt was a great petite-friendly find I scooped up today from Forever 21! The store had several small styles that shocked me with how tiny they were. The belt I'm wearing above is a size S/M and could fit 25-26 in. waists well with no excess, but they had an even SMALLER size XS/S that would fit size 22-23 in. waists!! I was extremely surprised, considering I had been in every other store in the mall and had no luck finding a well-fitting waist belt (I've heard good things about Ann Taylor belts from you fellow bloggers, but there were a limited selection of styles.)
Although I normally stay away from anything with metal chains, this skinny faux-leather belt has a metal chain detail that is subtle enough for me to like:

I tried to find it online, but had no luck. Although I wouldn't recommend Forever 21 for quality, I would definitely recommend it to any petites looking for a casual, well-fitting find. Regardless of whether or not you're a petite, the store has a great selection of waist belts in all sizes that is worth checking out.

Another favorite white skirt of mine is this linen skirt from J.Crew (pardon my squinting):


Tank top: LOFT, XS (buy here)
Skirt: J.Crew, sz. 0 (last season)
Necklace: New York & Company (in stores now)

This simple look can be worn in a variety of ways, depending on your own personal style. This skirt (similar styles can be found everywhere, including LOFT) flatters both curvy and slim ladies, and gives the waist definition with its thick band. I like this skirt in particular because of its linen material and pockets (I'm a sucker for pockets!)
I'm wearing the skirt with my absolute FAVORITE tank from LOFT, which I picked up in two additional colors today. I love its straight, broad neckline (helps those of us with narrow shoulders) and its bra-hiding straps.
Another good find I came across today was this necklace (featured above) from New York and Company, a store I rarely visit:

I was looking for a sophisticated, statement-ish necklace that wouldn't overwhelm my frame, and this was perfect! Its brushed gold and silver colored metals can be worn with a ton of different colors, and it adds just enough style to an outfit without being too loud.

What great finds have you come across lately?
How do you style your white skirts?

*ShortBlonde*

A new J.Crew skirt, and an alarming 90% decrease in profits for J.Crew

Alright, so perhaps I'm being overly eager with this summery outfit, considering this is the weather forecast where I live:

Depressing!

But, my new J.Crew Factory skirt came in the mail today, and I wanted to share it with you:

(why yes, that is the shirt/earring combo in my header image!)

Shirt: H&M, XS

Belt: Vera Wang Simply Vera, S

Skirt: J.Crew Factory, sz 0 (here)

I got this "cinnabar" skirt for a great price- about $30 during this past weekend's sale, which I paid for with  leftovers on a J.Crew gift card. The 18" length is short enough to be flattering on a petite, but long enough to wear without worries of exposing the unexposable. I styled it in a classic/vintage-inspired outfit with a retro thick black waist belt, and a boatneck striped tee. The skirt's quality is decent, but not as good as would be expected from the regular J.Crew store: it is extremely wrinkle-prone and relatively simple in structure. I like its simplicity, however, and the texture is nice and smooth. The elastic waist fits perfectly- definitely petite friendly, which isn't that common for J.Crew!
 

 (I wore these shoes from Clarks on the bottom, but for some reason the stripes on my shirt were oddly distorted unless I cropped the image.)

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While browsing my blog feed this afternoon, I came across this alarming post from blogger Alexis at J.Crew Aficionada. In it, she quotes an article discussing the 90% decrease in J.Crew's income during their last quarter. The question surrounding this decrease is why? Personally, I think it's because the brand is alienating their loyal customers that admire the brand for its classic style, by introducing funky styles that go beyond updating into re-inventing. A perfect example is these...pants?...from my older post about J.Crew:

Hmmm. I'm not against the brand updating its look, but pieces like these are too far for a brand that prides (prided?) itself on classic American style. I feel like this re-invention may be what led to the crazy drop in profits.

Why do you think J.Crew's profits decreased by 90%?

*ShortBlonde*

Spotlight on: Vineyard Vines

Although the company's only been around since 1998, Vineyard Vines is already a well-loved icon of preppydom that I'm sure you preppy readers already know and love. For those outside the preppy realm, however, the brand's pretty much unknown (my college friends have NO idea what Vineyard Vines is! Remember, my college is in the middle of hippie country). For my petite readers, I'm delighted to tell you that Vineyard Vines is petite-friendly! (yay!) I recently went on a MASSIVE shopping spree at the VV outlet, and thought I'd share a few finds:

 T-shirt: XS Banana Republic
Belt: Vineyard Vines sz XS
Skirt: Vineyard Vines sz 0

for reference, my measurements are 31-25-34, and I'm 5' tall.

This was my first time trying on bottoms at the store, and I was thrilled! (In my past visit to the VV in Southampton, I've only tried on tops such as their susie-fit polos, which I also had success with.) The company doesn't have a petite line, but many of their smaller-sized items have a petite-friendly length and waistline.On me, the size 0 fits well in the waist and especially in the length, which I was really happy about when buying these shorts:

I got this picture from the website, since my pair is back at my parents house. I bought them in a lovely shade of blue (my oh-so-favorite color), and was very happy with the length, which was flattering to my shortness without being "hooker shorts," as my mom would call them. I also liked the lack of frills on the waistline, which gets in the way when I choose to wear them underneath my shirts rather than over.

They also had a seriously adorable collection of belts, and although the belts covered in little whales and pina coladas were too cute, I opted for this beautiful rope knot design that I could wear regardless of the season:

Unlike Ann Taylor and J.Crew's outlet stores, Vineyard Vines' outlet carries clothes from the actual store that are not made for the outlets (shocking!). Therefore their clothes are of the same quality as the clothing in their regular stores, but are usually from the past seasons. Now I know not to pay full-price for store staples like their polos, since I can get the same shirts for half-off at their outlets!

Blogger ROS over at Cincinnati Prep is giving away either a Vineyard Vines or Lilly Pulitzer drink coozie, depending on the winner's choice! The VV ones feature the adorable pink whale logo, and the Lilly ones come in a super pretty Lilly-style floral design. Check out his prep-tastic blog and his giveaway here.

 

Until next time,

*ShortBlonde*