J.Crew Reviews: Blythe shirtdress, Maisie dress, and Liquid silk skirt

I had a shopping date yesterday with a couple of my friends, and we went to J.Crew to do some back to school shopping.  My intentions were just to go back for my beloved Maisie dress (I swear!), but I ended up trying a few other items as well.  I say this all the time, but my darn personal shopper is WAY too good at her job.

Before I get to the reviews from my fitting room escapades, I wanted to share with you that our personal shopper at our local J.Crew told us that they would not be stocking our store with any of the cashmere items anymore.  I'm not sure if this is just our local J.Crew, or all J.Crews.  Apparently corporate told our store that it wasn't worth sending out the cashmere items because they don't sell in the stores as well as they do online.  Anyone else hear about this?  One of my friends was very disappointed because she wanted to try on one of the cashmere sweaters.  Anyway, just wanted to give everyone a heads up on that in case you make a special trip to the B&M to try on cashmere and it isn't there.

Switching gears, onto the reviews.

Blythe shirtdress in poppy

This dress was on my favorites list for the Crew's new fall arrivals, so when I saw it when I walked through the door, I grabbed it.  I couldn't help myself.  The bright gorgeous color made me do it.  Here's a closer shot:

I must say, when I first tried the dress on, I was a little disappointed.  I am so in love with my Blythe blouses, and the dress fell a little short of my high expectations.  However, the longer I had it on, the more I liked it.

Price: $178

Size:  4

Pros:  Wearing the silk felt luxe, and the color is bright, but very wearable. 

Cons:  The dress felt a little too drapey at first, and the belt didn't give it the shape that I had hoped it would (that's why I just gave up and tied it, as you can see in the photo above).  Here's a picture from the side to illustrate the draping:

I think overall, I just like my clothes to be more structured, and when I let go of that notion, I liked the dress quite a bit more. 

The Maisie dress in getaway green

I bought (and reviewed - see the link above) this dress in abstract floral, but my personal shopper threw the getaway green color in my dressing room, so I tried it on to review for you guys.

Price:  $178

Size:  4*

Pros:  The color on this dress is much brighter - and prettier, IMO - than it looks in the stock photo on the website.  It was very flattering on both my friend (who has similar coloring) and me.  The dress flows beautifully, and the fit is loose and comfortable.

Cons:  None that I could find

I left this dress in the store, but only because I was already buying the abstract floral Maisie, and I couldn't justify paying almost full price (I used my educator discount) for both dresses at once. 

*A note about the sizing: I actually bought the floral dress in a size 2.  I really couldn't find any difference in sizing other than with the 2, the elastic waist is a little higher up, to give the dress more of a babydoll vibe.  On the 4, as you can see in the picture, the dress has a more boho vibe because the waist sits lower.  I sized down on this, so if you generally wear a 4 and you're not too tall, you could probably size down, too. 

Liquid silk skirt in dark navy and bright dahlia

I tried this skirt on in three different sizes: 4, 2, and 0.  I took pictures of all 3, so I'll show you those first and explain the differences.

Size 4:

The size 4 sat very low on my waist, and I wasn't a fan of the length when it was on my "natural waist."  The site has the model wearing it on her natural waist, and the measurements are for your natural waist, but I like things to sit at the smallest part of my waist instead.  This skirt really fit much better all around when it sat there.

Size 2:

This is the size I ended up buying.  The fit was much more flattering and comfortable, and with heels, the length will look much more flattering (I tried on the leopard wedges with this just to see how it would look with heels, so those of you who are shorter that are considering this skirt, I'd say go for it and pair it with a pretty heel.).  BTW, love this with the boatneck painter tee in navy stripe.  So much so, in fact, that I bought the tee to go with the skirt.

Size 0 in bright dahlia

Sorry that this pic is blurry.  Nonetheless, you can still see that though the size 0 fit my waist, it created an odd fabric flow/draping pattern.  This is the reason I went with the 2. 

I feel like I covered the pros and cons with the explanations of sizes, so I'll just say a couple more things about this skirt.  I really had no intentions of buying another skirt, but this skirt can so easily be dressed up or dressed down that I think it will be extremely versatile.  I just got a vintage navy pleated skirt, so I went with the bright dahlia skirt instead.  The jury's still out on whether I'll keep it or exchange it for the navy color. 

Today is my last day of summer vacation :( so be on the lookout for a first day of school outfit post soon!  I'm not sure what I want to wear yet, so I might need some help :)

Enjoy your evening!