I usually find J. Crew stuff really overpriced and a bit stodgy/boring. However, I always find super cute stylish girls wearing loads of J. Crew stuff. Can someone explain that to me? Is J. Crew meant only for those who are really creative and great at layering?

Anyway, J. Crew is having a super sale right now and I’ve selected a few things that I think I can work with. Disclaimer: J and I went to the outlets this past weekend and we picked ourselves up a bunch of these dresses:

We got three of these dresses, at $15/each!

Seriously, $179.99??? I don't think they are worth that much... but they shore look cute with the dress!

Isn't this so cute??? This is exactly what I mean about super cute stylish girls clad in J. Crew! So adorable and not at all stodgy! How do they do it???

$149.99. How is this a super sale when things are still so pricey? Geesh!

$59.99. That's more like it! I love this blazer. If you remember my obsession last year (BLAZERS!), I would like to report that I am now 10 blazers richer but my bank account is broke.

J will tell you. I love pants! I love them. I want to wear pants all the time. I feel like they make me look older, more profesh, and I can sit however I want without anyone seeing my hoo-ha!

It might be time for me to transition into one-piece swimsuits... I am tired of sucking in my stomach.

How hilar is it that this dress is called "Petite embossed playa dress"? It's a PLAYA dress! MUAHAHAHA

So there you have it. Some of the prices are a bit steep to be called “SUPER SALE PRICES” so I understand if you totally ignore this post. I really like that salmon color. I got my nails painted that color a few weeks ago, and I loved it! I think it’s a flattering color for most people.

Oh, and Happy Fourth of July weekend!

I will go through long periods of time (months long) where I am obsessed with one piece of fashion. I’ve had many obsessions in the past – one for shoes, one for blazers, one for sunglasses – but my first, fully formed obsession was with bags.

For whatever reason I could not stop thinking about them. Messenger bags, tote bags, brief cases, laptop cases, backpacks… Every piece that I could lay my hands on was immediately snatched up and taken to the cashier for purchasing.

Being that I have spent so much of my time and efforts in pursuit of bags, I thought I would share my favorites from the summer 2010 collections.

part of my uber-fun job is seeing what’s happening at retail.. following my stroll around bloomies, barneys, bergdorfs, bendels and saks, i really like…..

June 29th

What an amazing day. I met with great friends to discuss my video diary and interviews with the residents near the BP Oil spill. Everyone is so supportive of my plans for my fact-finding trip.  It reassures me that I am doing the right thing, instead of sitting home thinking THEY should do something. My first thought is: who is THEY? And if THEY can do something, so can I.

Every so often, I feel the urge to sew clothing because, after all,  how hard can a simple summer dress be?  Well, this one can be marked down as a failure and is going to turn into a dust rag.

The pattern is Vogue 8351, a simple scoop neck dress with a tie in the back and gathered sleeves.  I looked it up on Sewing Pattern Review and several comments mentioned that it tended to be low cut, so I added 1/2 inch height to the neckline and 1/4 inch width to the inside of the shoulders to bring it in a little more.

After putting in the sleeves, I went to try it on and it is unwearable.  Even with the adjustments I made, it is definitely way too low cut and the shoulders need to be quite a bit wider.

The lesson I learned is that it is much easier to cut and piece together fabric to equal a 12 1/2 inch square than to take a commercial dress pattern and be able to read how it will fit on a human body.

So now I’m living in Birmingham, neither I or Sam use any kind of public or private transport to get too and from the studio, or anywhere else within the City really, just bikes and on foot. After it poured it down with rain yesterday morning we toyed with the idea of getting some softshell jackets (an attempt to get me more into cycling I think) and this morning they arrived! The 2nd and 3rd ones in this cactus green colour the supplier had sold all year apparently. As they are technically ‘uniform’ for the business we’re planning on printing them up as a bit of advertisement, but can’t decide how over the top to go (I think the more the merrier!) Ideas include printing the website down one of the sleeves, the logo on the breast, and a huge back print. Let us know what you think, and if you have any ideas of what to put where, that would be great. I’d also like to point out that GET A GRIP are happy to endorse any cycling jackets you may own too!

Lovely Leather Jacket.