I bought my first J.Crew item in 1995 — it was a heather grey merino v-neck wool sweater that I had until 2004. I can still remember that it cost $65 on sale (at the time the most I’d ever spent on a piece of clothing) and that I was deathly afraid of ruining it. Eventually it succumbed to a hole caused by my then-boyfriend’s dog but not until after we’d 9 long, beautiful years together.
It’s a been a long and sometimes confusing relationship with J.Crew. (They love me! They hate me and don’t send me catalogs anymore! Wait, they love me!) But I do love them. And I guess they love me back because I was among the invitees to their Holiday Collection Preview at their Madison Ave Collection Store in NYC. The party was held last night and it was wonderful! I have been to the Collection Store many times, though not in several months because I’d found the staff to be quite rude up there. Last night though everyone was on their best behavior…downright friendly even!
The fabulous Alexis over at J.Crew Aficionada has a post with all the details so I’ll try not to double recap here. The highlight of the night was without a doubt that J.Crew Creative Director Jenna Lyons was at the party and she was introducing herself to everyone! I spoke to her for a few minutes and found her not only charming but also very friendly and personable. I was honestly quite impressed with how approachable she was. The event had plenty of hors d’oeuvres (including a yummy truffle grilled cheese amuse bouche — DELICIOUS). I also made besties with the amazing catering staff, including the awesome coat caretaker Kenny. (He and I really connected. No seriously. It’s not just because I had a 20 minute wait for a fitting room.)
There were drinks, plenty of staff on hand, and did I mention plenty of inventory? Even a small gift from J.Crew — a scattered pearl necklace. I realize that this entire event was meant to get some of their top spenders to spend more (ahem, it totally worked). But I have to say CHEERS, and a big ol’ THANK YOU J.CREW as well, because it was a really nice party for a small group of people that was executed very, very well. And now I will be very upset if I’m not invited again next year.
What’s scary is that I spent double my J.Crew amount at Anthropologie so far this year. Sadly, I haven’t been invited to any of the soirees at their Rockefeller Center Store. It is what it is I suppose. Ladies, your local Anthro should be having their holiday party soon so be on the lookout for your invite!
In honor of a fun night I thought I’d pull out some of my favorite recent J.Crew buys. The Silk Tiered Cami (now $60 online/$30 in-store, not cool on pricing hypocrisy J.Crew!) has been polarizing on the blogs but I love mine. I have it in toffee (see Chloe rocking it here) and antique stone. And the shoes? J.Crew’s Trixie in warm ivory, my first Collection Store buy. Ahhh, memories. Boo, credit card bills.
Top: J.Crew Silk Tiered Cami in Toffee (now $60)
Jeans: Express Zelda Skinny Jeans in Dark Rinse ($60)
Shoes: J.Crew Trixie in Warm Ivory (similar here, here and here)
Necklace: J.Crew Crystal Symphony Necklace in Pumpkin (similar here)
Ring: Anthropologie Marigold Ring (similar here, here and one ridiculously expensive one here)
Bed head: Priceless.
roxy! you look fantastic. and i am SO (slightly!) stealing your outfit idea for tomorrow. 🙂 and ps the party sound fab. do you remember the days when j.crew mailed their factory/outlet catalogs? those were the days!
I just love all the different poses you do! You look amazing and so stylish. I hope you get an invite to the Rockerfeller Anthro.
You look SO cute!
I'm so sad that I have to send my Toffee Cami back. The top ruffle came severely frayed, like they cut it with a dull pair of kid friendly scissors.The price difference between online and in store is lame.Your outfit is adorable, and those shoes rule!
Great outfit. The first things I ordered from JCrew (probably in 1995/96) were a charcoal rollneck sweater and a black half-zip fleece. I loved them.
Wow, I'm so jealous that you got invited. I don't get the price variance between store and online. Do people get punished because they cant' make it to a store in person?
Your OOTD pics make me so freaking happy, Roxy. I just love them. You manage to look super super super pretty while still having way too much fun. If you're ever in my neck of the woods, we MUST meet up!Just as long as, you know, we both check to make sure we're not wearing our silk tiered cami in toffee on that very same day. 'Cuz that'd be embarrassing. ;)I love the toffee color on you. Heck, I am in love with that toffee color in general. It's such a bizarre color, but it makes me SO happy!
Totally OT, but I thought of posting this here since I know you love the winged victory bustier at Anthro. Two things: first, the website is now listing the item at $78 not $68; and, second, I ordered it last week along with a few other items. Those items arrived today without the top. They noted on my invoice that the warehouse was currently out, but I didn't receive any emails nor did they note this delay on my online account. Struck me as strange and a bit reminiscent of J. Crew's shoddy CS. Has anyone else had this sort of experience?
kikki cee, holy crapple. That is nuts about the price change. I will err on the side of benefit of the doubt and guess that it was just a mistake that your top was left out of your order. However, I did have a similar experience last year with the Finishing Touch Necklace — I placed a 10-item order and it was left out. Turns out it was because it was backordered and they just had no way to show it on the packing list we customers get. So good to hear it's at least on the invoice now. I also did not receive any emails about it, though it was noted in my order history of my online account. Anthropologie recently retained a new company to overhaul their shipment system so I hope this will soon get better.But anyway I think that you should contact customer service just to make sure the top is still in your account as coming, and if you get charged the extra $10 please let us know. That leaves a very bad taste in my mouth though — why did it suddenly go up by $10?
Megha – I do remember that! I also remember when J.Crew used to do an overstock sale at Yale University once a year. Wish they'd bring that back!Tien – you are too sweet. Loved your recent Anthro reviews.Stylestance – thank you! I haz teh blush.CoteKing – I am so sorry to hear about your toffee silk cami! e. – I love that I'm not the only one who remembers my first J.Crew item. :)!Tb0n3! – No idea about the price variance but I have a one-word opinion of it. LAME.Chloe – Umm, likewise. I am coming back to Colorado in February and we are so going somewhere together to shop! We should probably also add the Banana Republic rose halter top to the list, and anything Nanette Lepore just to be safe. ;)kikki cee – Just as an addendum, I'm going to double-check my Winged Victory tag to make sure it was $68 and not $78, with me misquoting the price in my review. To be continued…
Update: So 2 hours after receiving my package sans winged victory bustier, I get an email from Anthro saying the order has been cancelled since the top has sold out. I won't be charged, but, in my order history, the top is listed as $68, which is, again, $10 less than it was selling for earlier today. Extra weird: the top is now entirely gone from Anthro's site. All sizes sold out?
You always look like you are having such a great time in the OOTD pictures. Love that. I had have a love-hate relationship with JCrew. I love the silk tiered cami on you, that color is amazing on you. I tried it a couple of weeks ago and it looked like a dress on me. So I decided against buying it.
kikki cee the top is still up in the blouses section, they just don't have it indexed in their search yet (that's pretty common with new items). Is your size available on the site? If so, you have a very good case. My opinion? I would email customer service explaining what happened and very nicely ask if there's any possible way to honor the $68 price if your size is available. If not…maybe try a store search and getting it shipped to you that way?Rosa LOL you are petite so I can see how the top would be a dress on you. Major bummer but you have been rocking some sweet OOTD's yourself!
Roxy, it was so cool to meet you at the JCrew event. Please excuse me if I had been staring at you prior to our introduction–you looked soooo familiar (duh, I check out your OOTD all the time). And what? Anthro does store events too?! Hope to run into you again!
Valerie it was so nice to meet you too! I felt no staring at all and I was probably doing the same to Ms. Lyons. See you at the next one. 🙂
I saw the winged victory top at my local. I couldn't even try it on. They were out of any possible size I could try on. There was only a 10 and an 8. I can't pull off the strapless tops as I have a fairly small bust.I had something similar happen to me regarding anthro shipping a couple of years ago. They cancelled an item, but I was billed for it anyway. I threw a fit, and they told me they would send me a gift card for the difference. I wanted them to reimburse my account, but they couldn't do that. Good thing an anthro gift card is pretty much the same as cash to me. I was so put off by the experience, I refused to order anything online for about a year.I quickly got over that.Anyway, the top is just hitting stores, so I would try customer service and see if you can track one down. It seems to be really popular.And it sucks that they raised the price.
You look *adorable* Roxy 🙂 I think I need that top now too! Envioius (but happy for you!) that you got invited to the fancy schmancy Collection preview and had some facetime with Jenna. I agree that Anthro needs to do some similar events (or at least have more events in the Bay Area? One can dream…)
You are looking so good girl. I love the Trixies with the silk tiered cami. I love your recap of your experience. Thanks for sharing :-)Oh wait — Anthro got a ton of money I would have probably spent at J Crew. So you & I have switched places. And I've been at Anthro largely because of you & Kim.
I love those shoes!! great outfit- I have that exact shirt in the mail (it was backordered when I ordered during the 20% off last week) now I really can't wait to get it!
Roxy, I saw this top on Chloe a couple of weeks ago and she rocked it. Oh and I am Rosa in DC, I think the other Rosa is in MD. I do not have a blog, but maybe soon.
goldenmeans & Gigi – thank you ladies! Natalie, so exciting that you are getting the top! I love mine (as you can probably tell) and I'm sure you'll love yours too.Rosa, my apologies for my mixup! I want to blame it in on being wiped out but that's no excuse.
I love me some Anthro sale. My sister and I went to Anthro today so I can scope out the sale racks and my lucky sister SCORE the Rekjanes Dress by Tracy Reese for $9.95 and yes that's $9.95. That's not a typo on my part. I am now soooo jealous!From Natalie's site:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3QV6CR4-lM8/Sr_MktCXZCI/AAAAAAAADbA/uZz3aKdtEYE/s1600-h/830102_ppm_b.jpg
You look fantastic in the tiered cami. I adore the colour and recently decided I needed to own a items of that colour in my wardrobe.Super jealous that you got invited to this. But then again, I'm in Canada so I'm just jealous that you Americans get a B&M JCrew!
Roxy, no problem with the confusion. Who would have thought there would be so many Rosas? Hahaha. I changed my ID to "Rosa in DC" to avoid confusion from now on. 🙂