looking back, peering ahead, year-end thoughts

It's the time of year for retrospection - magazines,  newspapers, print and web, look back and tell us the year's twelve best this and twelve worst thats. I have my own little bunch of non-repeatables, mistakes I won't make again.

For instance, after only two wears, this sweater
required some very serious grooming.
bad lighting, didn't want Himself to notice
that I was actually photographing this
It's generally acknowledged that the Target/Neiman Marcus Christmas-time collaboration was a bust, with minor exceptions for some cute dishes. I won't stay up late waiting to play the iPad off the big computer again, that's for sure. I did that with great success on the Target/Liberty collaboration, the shirts have worn like iron, the little hats for the Teeniest Gluttons are still being passed around, and I have .... but those days are past.
This year's J.Crew collaborations have  had mixed results at best. Signor Blahnik was a perfect gentleman, most of the Altuzarra pieces lingered in mark-downs, and I still don't get droopy pants. A quick survey of the web shows that a solid majority of people who are interested enough to mention those, agree with me. And the Margaret Annie shirt that I stalked with such deranged hope  and determination - markdown and promo. I am proud of having avoided the H&M collabs, though.
What will I do again? Well, when it comes to food, I have developed "mental tastebuds" that tell me that when I didn't care for the taste of moss and lichen in the Pioneer unit at Girl Scout camp, I will like it even less when it costs $80 the plate at a trendy restaurant. I want to develop another set of "tastebuds" that will be as sharp and self-protective when it comes to fashion consumerism. As much as I rant when I make a mistake, or have a narrow escape, I have not learned enough. This strikes me as odd, because I learned early on that "local specialty reserved for honored guests" is just as likely to mean "kitchen staff is lined up staring through the pass to see if you'll actually let it near your mouth" as it is to mean "we hope you'll come back for a social visit when things are quieter." I have this sense when I pass a store window, I have this sense when I scoot through a store,  but this past year most of my daytime hours were otherwise committed and much shopping took place at very odd hours. Thus I learned that I need to develop my protective instinct to work more effectively from catalog shots.

That protective instinct may be shaping up, after all, because when I saw a $1500 (YES, $1500) alligator Edie bag at the J.Crew Madison Avenue Collection Store, in a lovely muted olive color, I decided I was hallucinating, completed my return and fled. A day or two later, I poked my head in, and they had the same bag - $1500 (YES, $1500) - in a lovely bordeaux color. The hardware is your basic Edie bag hardware, and when we get into this price point, I would like to see a real leather lining - I said see, not buy - and so I didn't even start to do the math on my student/teacher discount, or to wonder if this would look shopworn by the time it reached second markdown. This morning I learned that I had not been hallucinating after all. The Huffington Post has picked up on the bag, and makes the unsurprising point that this is a lot of money to spend on a J.Crew bag. Someone at HuffPo must have sworn that she's clipped off her last dangling thread.

I got tired of  the jean-jacket-over-everything look at about the same time I wearied of the gray-tee-over-everything look, so it's with a touch of regret that I note an early sign of the return of the jean-jacket-over-everything. A little too reminiscent of desperate suitcase stuffing, I think. Or perhaps She Who Must Be Adored is, after all, a One-Trick Pony.

2012 was going to be the year when I got back into Real Cooking and Had People Over. What happened in real life, was that People did not cooperate. They had Food Intolerances, odd part-time employment, awkward relationships. I'm going to try again on this one, because I still think it's worth trying.

Travel plans for 2013 - none yet, except for family visits. I 'm glad we did what we did when we did it. A friend used to say that when the Texas state legislature was in session, no man, woman or child was safe. I'm feeling that way about Washington. Then again, I'm still on my first cup of coffee and haven't yet turned on the news.



20 comments:

  1. Dearest Fred - you, as they used to say when I was a kid an watched Laugh-In on its first run-through, are right on!

    my goal is to stick to blogs and avoid the on-line shopping like a plague except on very rare intervals. It is too easy to get caught in the moment. I have boxes of "moments" and bags of "moments" heading to consignment and to the JCA community.

    I tired early on about the grey tshirt issue, mostly because grey does not really look so grand! It has been replaced by not only by the jean jacket, but by the ubiquitous chambray shirt. I am thinking of pulling an Ophelia, getting me to a nunnery and bring back the black down and veil and wimple. And then you wait and see - the Sartorialist and Gayle will be doing it!

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    1. Hi, WMM, I was told to wear a jean jacket UNDER the late Jeweled Jardin Jacket to "dress it down." Oh, the adventures I had trying to buy that jacket and then, once I had it, trying to wear it.

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    2. I am with you - My "VPS" is sweet but she has often told me that things were "flying out the door" and then I would see them linger for months and months (since I do not live anywhere near a JC, had no way to tell!) That would have been quite a look if you wore it under! That's a lot of extra bulk to "dress something down" - she could have just suggested a white tank!

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    3. i don't think these so-called stylists really have any training, I think they get a list of the current season's "looks," and another list of items to push. Bound to be right for at least some customers, no?

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  2. Awww, I liked a few things from the NM/Target collaboration, priced too rich for my blood until they were 50% off. Obviously I am on the Target end of the spectrum. I grabbed the Lela Rose dress and the Proenza Schouler sweatshirt ($50 and $15, respectively).

    Otherwise, I agree--I bought too many things from J Crew this year that I would be embarrassed to consign or even Goodwill. Straight to the ragbag for my previously beloved perfect shirts. Fortunately my mini-glutton has become a crafter this year--fabric decoupage and rolled rosettes will be coming soon to a weekend project near us. Perhaps I can send some to Jenna, she can feature them as a "Jenna's Pick"?

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    1. Hi, Danielle, I loved the look of that sweatshirt, just couldn't deal with the feel of the fabric.

      Sounds like you've got a real little earner in your house! We haven't seen a lot of Jenna's Picks lately, they just seem to be going through the motions, so you may be on to something.

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  3. That is some terrible pilling on your sweater. I have a similarly-styled sweater in navy with white piping from Tommy Hilfiger. It's cotton/cashmere and a few years old now. I wear it often and have only had a few tiny pills in the armpit area. J.Crew's lack of quality never ceases to amaze me. I keep hoping they will step it up.

    The price of the alligator handbag is out to lunch without a leather or suede lining and the same hardware as the regular bag. It's the old "lipstick on a pig" trick IMO. Sadly, some people are still fooled. At least they are easily identified.

    ITA on the jean jackets and chambray shirts. Add the Jules dress to you list of repeats. Things are looking pretty tired at J.Crew these days. One trick pony indeed!

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    1. hi, xoxo, I suppose to people who are used to paying the price of a small car for a handbag, the JC gator version is "cute." On the other hand, those people probably are accustomed to luxurious fittings and linings... it'll be interesting to see what happens to this bag. HuffPo was told that only 9 of them were made. Hah. I was told that about the Jeweled Jardin Jacket, and about the first sequinned slacks. Hah indeed.

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  4. Oh, the pain of introspection!! I wholeheartedly agree on those lost 'moments' when you find you've suddenly ordered that damn silly thing you've been obsessing over...
    I did learn my lesson about j crew cashmere last year- much as the colours make me drool, the pilling on the featherweight cardis is obscene! And then I picked up a couple of cashmere pieces from Joe fresh that don't pill at all!!!

    That purse is obscene- just a waste not to do it properly!

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    1. hi, thatdamngreendress, I've heard a lot of interesting things about Joe Fredh, and 2013 is going to be the year I see for myself.

      If in fact the purse is real alligator, craftsmanship wpuld be key to its holding its looks more than a week. Sadly for the poor gator, I don't put craftsmanship and J.Crew together in my head.

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  5. I'd need that bag to have diamonds scattered across the lining before I paid that ridiculous price. I'm pretty good shopping online - I'm usually half asleep so never have the energy to go through the payment options!

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    1. hi, Sulky, my semi-conscious shopper seems to have a different girl in mind when she clicks late at night -- taller, with broader shoulders, independently wealthier... I've never met her in daylight hours, but I spend a lot of time returning the clothes she sends here.

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    2. Lol wff! That sounds so familiar, except my semi-conscious shopper is an insomniac pop-back addict and does her clicking at 5am or so!

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    3. Very funny. That same shopper uses my computer and credit card at night! Just who does she thinks she's buying this stuff for?

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  6. $1500 for Edie? No, thanks, I never even liked Edie with its cardboard box wrapped in leather shape. The pilling on the sweater is horrendous but I am sad to say it happened to me with some more expensive brands (but not Brora). I really hope to shop my closet in 2013. We will see how that goes... Wait, I am already showing a wrong attitude, like it did not depend on me, it does. Of course.

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    1. hi, ajc, cardboard box indeed! well, if they spent a little more on the leather, it's for us they economized somewhere else.

      I'll be in the Closet Brigade too!

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  7. I like my $90 two-tone Edie but $1500 for THAT? I don't think so.

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  8. if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...

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  9. Shocking! Just last night I was reading about the hand-stitching and layers of leather/alligator that go into a Hermes bag. Betcha J Crew made this bag on a machine in a factory in China.
    Count me in for closet brigade. I've just cleared mine out of "clothes that irritate me" and there's very little J Crew left hanging in there. Very telling.
    Happy new year Fred!

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    1. Happy New Year, Dani! Yes, there's some very expensive real estate being taken up by unworthy articles... their time has come.

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