A few weeks ago I went shopping with some old girlfriends from college. We stopped into J. Crew after lunch just for a quick look around. I love J. Crew! I work in non-profit and still have pesky student loans so oftentimes the ridiculous price tag at J. Crew keeps me away (Examples: One, two and three! Absolutely uncalled for, and sequins are my favorite!) Luckily, J. Crew does amazing things with their sales. I think you can tell the true state of the economy by what I buy in winter; last year I got Banana Republic silk shirts and silk taffeta dresses for $7 and $15 respectfully, this year I’m getting them for $15 and $30. Likewise, J. Crew isn’t exactly giving things away quite like they were in January of 2009. Perusing the sale rack I felt disappointed, until I got to the shoes. Of the dozen or so shoe boxes lying around only one was marked in my size and it was marked down the lowest of all of them. I picked up the pretty yellow box expecting ugly sandals or painful pumps but instead I saw the prettiest little pair of satin ballet flats.
They were a light camel with black piping and small bows, the gold insole just screamed “wear me!” The price was right and they were beautiful so I stood in line for 15 minutes to buy them. During my wait I thought about a few things. The first was, these are a winter shoe but they’re satin. Satin stains like silk but I don’t wear silk on my feet. Where would I wear these? The second was, I should have tried these on (I was wearing riding boots that were too hard to remove) but they should fit, right? And the third was the voice of my dear friend Natalie telling me about Everytime that I considered not buying them I looked at their pretty, delicate bow and changed my mind immediately. If I didn’t buy them I would think about them and be upset with myself for not buying them because that’s what I do.
So, I made the purchase and took them home. But I didn’t wear them for two weeks, still torn on whether I should return them or just wear them already.
Yesterday, I grabbed the box determined to return them, they were silly and impractical. I could only wear them around the office and they were kind of uncomfortable. But then I noticed the outfit I had on which was A LOT of black with a light pink polka dotted cardigan and I realized that my shoes would be absolutely PERFECT with this outfit. Plus it was cold and I had a slight hangover from a self-induced wine pity party the evening before and the shoes just looked, well, happy!
A day later, I can’t tell if I regret the decision or not. The shoes were cute and I received lots of compliments but they were uncomfortable and I basically tiptoed all day to avoid destroying them also, I’m not sure they go with anything other than the outfit I had on yesterday. But, for approximately 9 hours I was happy with my footwear and that should make me happy, right? Ask me this weekend when I’m scraping the barrel for wine money! I should just repeat to myself, "things that make me happy, things that make me happy..."
Do you have an abnormal, shameful love affair with any of your clothes or accessories? Thanfully, so did the always fabulous Elizabeth Taylor and her affair was so extreme that she wrote a coffee table book!
Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry, Amazon
I have a shameful addiction to trying on beautiful headbands, but never purchasing them. I saw an adorable one yesterday at AT Loft, and it had a delicate, flouncy flower on the side of it. Looked fab, but I couldn't imagine spending $19 on a headband I would only wear a few times :(
ReplyDeleteYou need to make a trip out to Arundel Mills Mall where they have a small JCrew store. It's sort of an outlet store, but they always have good deals.