Free People Haulin’

The She’s Got It Slip ($78), the clear — and surprising — winner of my recent Free People haul.

A couple of weeks ago, Free People sucked me in to perfection. I had a few items in my FP cart as I always do but they were somewhere down below a few other stores on my ‘to buy’ priority list. That is, until they launched a sweet one-night-only promo that propelled me into action. And then, in some sort of haze of post-order bliss I kept browsing around the site after the promo was over only to find more and more stuff that I wanted to buy.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is marketing at its best. Because of course seeing all the pretties convinced me to get my butt into the store and shift this month’s spending budget around so I could buy some more lovely things from Free People.

So, what did I get for myself and as gifts? Ready to be tempted? Come on inside…

The beautiful back of the She’s Got It Slip ($78), in plum.

Let’s start with the most surprising winner of my trip, the She’s Got It Slip ($78) which I ended up purchasing in two colors — the cranberry shown at the top of this post and the plum color immediately above.

I’ve raved about Free People’s FPMe gallery before, which allows employees and customers to upload photos of themselves in Free People items. Unlike Anthropologie’s mysterious and highly discretionary approvals process, Free People seems to allow just about every photo to post to the FPMe galleries. This is beautiful because while Anthro’s gallery still looks mostly like a bunch of models showing off goods, Free People’s gallery is filled with women of all ages and more importantly to me all sizes. I dare you to find 10+ people of a size 8 or more in Anthro’s gallery…not gonna happen. (Luckily the Anthropologie store Instagram feeds are filling this gap.) Meanwhile sizes 0-20 are happily, and beautifully, showing off their FP. Inspiring? You know it is. Purchase inducing? Heck yeah it is. Anthropologie, are you listening?

Anyway, it’s hard not to be inspired by a beautiful vignette like this FPMe member photo which I happened upon while looking at the Easy Cable V neck Pullover ($128). I already knew I wanted the sweater to throw over jeans and leggings…but I hadn’t given much thought to wearing the sweater over a lacy slipdress. Mostly because ‘lacy slipdress’ and my curvy body type aren’t usually found in the same sentence. Then I started reading the product reviews for the She’s Got It Slip ($78) and saw a wide range of body types glowingly reporting that the dress worked for them (!!). And then I noticed photos in the product gallery of women of different sizes and curviness, all looking fabulous in this little lacy slipdress (!!!).

This meant a trip to the store was in order. I headed to Free People’s 5th Ave store (which, like the Flatiron Anthropologie, is too conveniently located less than an avenue away from my current offices). There I found the slipdress in black as the FPMe gallery photo shows…but was more drawn to the lovely plum color in the photo above.

I tried on the slipdress in both a medium and a large, and the large was perfect on me! Very flattering, showing off my hourglass without making too big of a deal about it. It’s short for sure (mid-thigh on me) but at certain times short is good…like on dates. For day, I plan to emulate the FPMe member photo with that oversized Easy Cable V neck Pullover ($128) over the dress with the Fray II Pointelle Over the Knee Sock ($24) which I own in the beige color and love. And while this dress looks like it will be very tricky to wear a bra with, I found that both this bra and this one work very well with it. I decided to buy the plum color straight away, and then since this dress is relatively inexpensive for Free People, decided that the cranberry would be a great Valentine’s Day option and got that one too.

This lacy dress works nicely in my closet with the Secret Origins Pieced Lace Tunic ($128) which I picked up during the promo in the washed aubergine color, wear over an old Anthro slip for length with those same pointelle socks mentioned above and boots, the Stardust Tiered Necklace ($38) in gold, plus a fur vest and a leather jacket for the total boho look. I’ll post an OOTD of this one on my Instagram soon.

Oh and here’s one more outfit idea for this dress: wear it to a holiday party or on New Year’s Eve with this amazing, funky faux fur jacket over it too and from your event. I bought the jacket as a Christmas gift for one of my more socialite-esque friends…I know she’ll love it. Hopefully, she’s not reading this right now!

Quick fitting notes on the Easy Cable V neck Pullover ($128): it runs quite large in the body, but the sleeves are ultra-tight which help keep it from being a total boxy shapeless sack. I size down from a medium to a small in most Free People sweaters, including this one. I got the sweater in the mushroom color and the roseglow color.

The Softly Snowing Cardi ($268) is great for bumming around the ski slopes, your home, or as a coat.

Elsewhere in sweaters, I found some great Christmas gifts for friends. (Which may or may not also end up in my own closet, since I usually buy things I love as gifts for my friends who love them equally.) The Softly Snowing Cardi ($268) is the perfect choice for my friend the ski bum, who can wear this hooded oversized cardi around the lodge, around the ski town, or back home while out and about on the weekend. I initially chose the Hold Me Tight Cardi ($600) for her, but while beautiful that price is way out of our agreed-upon gifting range. Another option that I like quite a bit is the Lurex Stripe Pullover ($290) but I ultimately settled on the one with the hood for my friend.

Decadence in a necklace, the Front To Back Necklace ($118).

The next stop on my hail was jewelry, where I picked up the beautiful Front To Back Necklace ($118) as a gift for a friend who I know is attending the opera after Hanukkah. She had asked me to help her pair a necklace with her dress and I just smiled and said, leave it to me. This one will be perfect with the simple yet dramatic cut of her gown!

For myself, chokers are intriguing me lately. These necklaces were last a trend when I was a little kid and at the time I had a hard time wearing them but these days the actual choke or gag factor is much lower. I purchased the Odessa Choker ($48) and the Wild Child Choker ($48), both in brass, to join the silver Lita Choker ($28) I picked up during the promo. I am wearing these mainly with v-neck tops and dresses.

The last stop in my Free People haul was the intimates section, which I’ve raved about before. Free People routinely carries its styles in DD cups which makes me cheer — I can wear my true 32DD in their styles! Some of my favorite bras from them include the Cheeky Lace Bra ($38) and the Crochet V Wire ($48). In styles like the Lace Plunge Underwire ($48) and the Lace Triangle Bra ($38), a 34D works.

My haul included the Daydreamer Underwire Bra ($48) and Daydreamer Hipster ($28) shown above. I purchased the bra in a 34DD as it seems to run a bit small, and the hipsters in my usual size medium. The bra didn’t look like it would be very supportive online but in real life I’m happy to report that it was supportive and created an appealing shape for my bust. I love this eggplant combo color shown in the photo, as well as the black combo and the pale purple combo. So many pretty colors! This set looks great with the Chasing Shadows Tap Short ($28) in either color, too.

Ahhh, Free People, you make my closet happy. Have you purchased anything from Free People recently?


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