OOTN: Partying at (and with!) J.Crew

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When it comes to customer events, J.Crew is the gold standard. I’ve been to three or four of their parties now — two of their invite-only Collection Store parties and one store opening party ages ago. A couple of weeks ago I added one more notch when I had the chance to attend J.Crew’s Holiday Insider Party at their 5th Ave store in NYC. It was an event co-sponsored by J.Crew and American Express that I heard about through the incomparable blog J.Crew Aficionada.

While it would be very cool to say that I got in because I an awesome blogger who blogs (or through an invite as I had previously), truth is I paid my way in to this event along with everyone else. It was Amex members only and the entrance fee was $25. In exchange for the cover I got a $25 J.Crew gift card, 15% off my plunder for the evening and a coupon for 20% off my next jcrew.com purchase with my Amex card. Twist my arm why don’t you!

The real appeal of the event was that J.Crew had a few alluring guests of honor: company President & Creative Director Jenna Lyons, Vice President of Men’s Design Frank Muytjens and Vice President of Women’s Design Marissa Webb. Since the crowd size was extremely limited we had a chance to rub elbows, literally. I was also hoping to meet Siv from J.Crewaholics but unfortunately it didn’t work out. Next time, I hope!

I was raised to not wear the band t-shirt to the concert, if that makes any sense. In other words I purposely avoided wearing a J.Crew dress to the event. Instead I turned to Kate Spade and the leopard frock you see, the Mercury Bette Dress. I could write a whole nother post about how friendly and helpful the staff was at both the Soho and Flatiron Kate Spade Boutiques — and I probably will in the near future. My favorite part of the dress? It has a bow on the right side of the neckline that can only be spied upon closer inspection. I was shocked to find the dress runs quite large — I bought it in a 4. I’ve worn it out a few times now and it feels great! I plan on trying it for work when the weather gets a bit cooler. It’s not the only part of this outfit I love. Until I’m ready for a Chanel, I found an amazing camera bag (yep, a camera bag!) that plays the role of purse quite well.

The event itself was a wonderful night. You can read about my experience here. For such a large company J.Crew truly does a great job with customer appreciation parties. The staff on-hand was friendly and attentive, the treats were delicious and I got a chance to speak to all the guests of honor. It was fantastic. Now if they could just extend that savvy to their store policies they’d be neck-and-neck with Anthropologie in my book. I don’t get most of J.Crew’s customer policies. 30 days to return an item? Lame. 7 days for a PA? Super lame. Final sale? Ultimate in lameness, and pretty lowbrow in my opinion. Even Soho boutiques issue store credits.

I did get my photo with Ms. Lyons:

It was a very warm and humid night in NYC and my hair was suffering. Oh well. Ms. Lyons looks fabulous, doesn’t she? Some photos from earlier in the day below. My hair looked awesome in the morning, sigh.

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I seriously love this dress.

In this outfit:
Cardigan: NY & Co Antique Button Cardigan from last year (similar here, here and here)
Dress: Kate Spade Mercury Bette Dress ($425)
Purse: Paradox Studded Quilted Camera Bag ($110)
Tights: Hue Opaque Tights in Brown ($13)
Shoes: J.Crew Petra Nubuck D’Orsay Heels (similar here, here and here)
Necklace: Alexis Bittar Secret Garden Tulip in pale olive (similar here and here)


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