<p>I like the Zappos and Saks approach - you can even watch models sashaying around your screen in the piece of clothing you are mulling over… :)</p>
<p>I was just in Ann Taylor today and was thinking I should have a new black dress - just in case. They had a couple of cute dresses on sale and the truth is, sooner or later I am going to need a funeral dress. I just wasn’t in the mood to try anything on, but I know it would be a good idea to have something in my closet so that when the time comes, I have one less thing to worry about. </p>
<p>Funny story. Several years ago, an older woman in my neighborhood went shopping and bought a lovely St. John navy blue dress on sale. She took it home and showed her husband who said, “Looks like something you would wear to a funeral.”</p>
<p>Her feelings were a little hurt, so she put it in the back of her closet.</p>
<p>You know how this goes, right? About two months later, her husband died and her daughters offered to take her shopping for a dress. She declined and said with a smile, “No, daddy told me I had the perfect dress.”</p>
<p>This same woman got a credit card that offered bonus points towards travel. When she told said husband about THAT, he said something about what would she ever buy that would earn any trips. </p>
<p>So, at the funeral director’s when it came time to discuss costs, she pulled out the credit card and asked if she could use it to pay for the funeral. She looked at her daughters and said that she guessed daddy was wrong about never earning enough to travel.</p>
<p>wnp, I like that story. I’m not sure what it means exactly but it resonates. And fwiw, I can’t stand black anymore, much prefer navy or really dark purple or green. Oddly, black seems too cold.</p>
<p>And regarding Amazon. I love 'em. Order tons of books and things like filters for my water system and vacuum cleaner bags, etc, etc . . . but cannot bear to browse clothes on Amazon. </p>
<p>Saks site is the best, followed by Bloomies. And there will always be a place in my heart for Zappos.</p>
<p>The new Sundance catalog came today and DD is stalking me, trying to get me to order her a bunch of stuff for college. Yikes. This kid needs to go earn some money and buy her own clothes . . .</p>
<p>Am I the only one who finds the Nordstrom site to be difficult to navigate and oddly organized? Just today I was going to browse the Sale and ended up with a mix of sale and regular priced items on the page; them clicked on “apparel” at one point and ended up only with accessories, jewelry, shoes etc. rather than a list of apparel categories from which to choose. I love Nordstrom but wonder if I’m just not cool enough for the site.</p>
<p>^ agree - the Nordstrom website is lousy.</p>
<p>I will sometimes shop for an item on Saks site and then go buy it wherever it’s cheapest. The Saks site is wonderful, especially the videos that show how the dresses move.</p>
<p>Net -a-porter! Best clothing interface out there, IMHO. Saks is pretty good too, I agree.</p>
<p>Neiman online is horrible, even worse than Nordy’s. At least at Nordy’s I can perform a pretty decent keyword search, like “silk jersey dress sale” and get a decent hitset without any non-sale items. I like Net a porter, too, and it’s clearance site Outnet. Stylebop has a good site with complete “looks”, too, and some of its clearance is not a bad deal. Yoox has a pretty lousy site for the company that claims to maintain several designers’ online shops.</p>
<p>anyone else find the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale to be weak this year?</p>
<p>I do. Maybe I became too picky, but IMO, the choices, even during the presale, weren’t too impressive.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[Book</a> Review: A Quick Study on Fashion - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337792192851860.html?KEYWORDS=elizabeth+cline]Book”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337792192851860.html?KEYWORDS=elizabeth+cline)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[‘Overdressed:</a> The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion’ - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304356604577339773209946632.html]'Overdressed:”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304356604577339773209946632.html)</p>
<p>Has everyone else already read Cline on this subject? Maybe it’s already been posted someplace on the board.</p>
<p>At one point she writes about deciding to change her shopping approach…instead of buying a whole lot of cheap shoes, to buy one really decent pair.</p>
<p>*At one point she writes about deciding to change her shopping approach…instead of buying a whole lot of cheap shoes, to buy one really decent pair.
- *</p>
<p>…and after her Labrador puppy got through with her new shoes, she decided to go back to buying five pairs at once. ;)</p>
<p>I haven’t even gone to an anniversary sale for quite a while, and there used to be a time when I actually planned my month around it. ( but not as bad as my MIL & her daughters, they behaved as if they were getting miles) 
Maybe I will make a “no-tax” shopping trip to Portland this summer.
That reminds me, youngest is going to Portland this weekend to see her sister & I promised her some money for a shopping trip.
Not only does Oregon have no sales tax, but their used clothing stores have a better selection than what I’ve found in Seattle.</p>
<p>I’m still reading about Cline on-line. With my recently pared-down wardrobe providing an outfit for almost every occasion (since my lifestyle allows repeats), I am considering the possibility of just one purchase for fall/winter/maybe even spring… which would still be within the clothing budget I’ve established. There is a beautiful red commes des garcon coat in W this month. Of course they aren’t a US company and did collaborate with H&M. So maybe not a Cline choice.</p>
<p>At this stage of life, I don’t have to worry about puppies or toddlers ruining an expensive item - although I’m pretty bad about spilling on myself.</p>
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</p>
<p>I kept trying to find something I wanted on there but finally gave up.</p>
<p>Okay, so the Sundance catalog showed up in the mail and I am lusting for these absolutely lunatic shoes. They are not pretty. They are not cool. They won’t go with anything at all in my wardrobe but I am completely obsessed with them. Something about the weird moccasin fringe, teeny heel, and the zipper at the back:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sundancecatalog.com/product/womens+clothing/womens+footwear/womens+boots/modern+moccasin+boots.do?sortby=ourPicks[/url]”>http://www.sundancecatalog.com/product/womens+clothing/womens+footwear/womens+boots/modern+moccasin+boots.do?sortby=ourPicks</a></p>
<p>Sewhappy - most of the time I LOVE the things you pick - I am not sure where those shoes fit into your wardrobe! LOL! </p>
<p>May we discuss stretch in jeans. I just bought a pair of cute jeans at Limited.
[678</a> Colorful Skinny Jean | Women’s jeans | THE LIMITED](<a href=“http://www.thelimited.com/678-Colorful-Skinny-Jean/8518548,default,pd.html?dwvar_8518548_colorCode=499&start=1&ppid=c1&cgid=new-jeans-denim]678”>http://www.thelimited.com/678-Colorful-Skinny-Jean/8518548,default,pd.html?dwvar_8518548_colorCode=499&start=1&ppid=c1&cgid=new-jeans-denim)</p>
<p>They look more mustard than yellow and when I bought them I did NOT buy them as form fitting as shown in the picture. My daughter encouraged me, gave her strong approval and I have them on now. Very comfy. However, as soon as I had them on for a couple of hours they start to get a little baggy in the rear and slide down my hips. Do everyone buy jeans super tight to allow for this? I hate buying something that doesn’t fit at the time of purchase, hoping it will stretch and fit once I have it on for awhile. I am all for a little forgiveness in the material - but not to the point where I now have a pair of jeans that are too big. </p>
<p>End of grumbling!</p>
<p>^ Have myself on lockdown, wnp, not ordering the dumb sundance moccasins. For one thing, they are not in budget.</p>
<p>Those are very cute jeans and I love the punchy colors. I have given up on trying to get a truly form fitting stretch jean. Mine also are either like tights or they bag in the wrong places. Actually, I’m concluding that I just don’t really like to wear jeans. Prefer chinos or cords.</p>
<p>I am doing a great deal of virtual window shopping but not actually buying anything. It’s because I have “important” things to do that I don’t want to do.</p>
<p>I like having a few pairs of really comfy & good shoes (which I do). I generally can wear them for many years with very little maintenance. I did have a cobbler put “heel savers” on the bottoms of them, to help them last longer. I’m not a fan of shopping, nor are our kids, so we like to buy quality classics and have them last pretty much as long as possible.</p>
<p>Sometimes, we will splurge & buy something fun and colorful, but our mainstays are mostly classic pieces. Have never been good about buying much on-line & prefer to be able to try things on to be sure I like the fit. Even within the same brand, fit can change over time.</p>
<p>Sewhappy look into the Minnetonka version of the shoe. It won’t break the bank.</p>
<p>HImom, I had the same clothes philosophy for many, many years. I loved the notion of classic clothes. Most of wardrobe was from LL Bean and was good quality, understated, relentlessly and self-consciously tasteful. </p>
<p>When I hit my 50s I just changed. I realized clothes are a fun means of expression. I also realized that I’d been eating well and exercising and generally being a good girl about controlling my weight and staying fit for decades but not allowing myself much fun in terms of enjoying clothes. There’s a sweet spot to be found in all this. I have friends who have literally needed professional interventions because they have just about bankrupted themselves over clothes. No need for that. But humans have always liked to adorn themselves, dance around the campfire, fashion skirts and crowns and necklaces to decorate themselves. We are hardwired that way. And so, it’s fun to hunt down a silly shoe that I might wear two or three times this year, then not at all, then suddenly wear again and smile when I think of what was going through my crazy head in the summer 0f 2012 when I bought it.</p>
<p>Mom60, you’re spot on. Minnetonka has several that fill the bill at a third the price.
[url=<a href=“http://piperlime.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=866626&locale=en_US&kwid=1&sem=false&sdReferer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dminnetonka%2520%2520%252B%2520moccasin%2520%252B%2520zipper%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D10%26ved%3D0CG8QFjAJ%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.piperlime.com%252Fproducts%252Fminnetonka-moccasin-hi-top-back-zipper-boot-P866626.jsp%26ei%3D-K4RUIbLDoL_6wHFrYBo%26usg%3DAFQjCNHuM4JeFGPF99QNE061b5GrV1JzNg]Piperlime[/url”>http://piperlime.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=866626&locale=en_US&kwid=1&sem=false&sdReferer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dminnetonka%2520%2520%252B%2520moccasin%2520%252B%2520zipper%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D10%26ved%3D0CG8QFjAJ%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.piperlime.com%252Fproducts%252Fminnetonka-moccasin-hi-top-back-zipper-boot-P866626.jsp%26ei%3D-K4RUIbLDoL_6wHFrYBo%26usg%3DAFQjCNHuM4JeFGPF99QNE061b5GrV1JzNg]Piperlime[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Why I don’t like shopping.
Needed to get some Chaco sandals from REI ( I have very high arch and my ortho recommends them) & take back the extended iPhone battery I got for D that she didn’t want. ( heh, I thought then she would have to call me back).
Apparently it is fall now! ( with anticipated temps * in Seattle* in the upper 90s this week) They had two pair on the sale pack- that would fit H. Sad.
REI website equally disappointing. Thank the goddess for Zappos!
( BB - Chacos used to be made in Colorado- now they are made in Michigan- you can even do custom designs on their website)</p>