<p>We’ve had these kind of threads before, but I don’t feel like digging.
Now that I am older, I just don’t know where to shop anymore! I don’t need to dress up for work, but I would like to move beyond long sleeve tshirts and black pants – maybe some cute skirts and cardigans, that kind of thing.
I am short, which complicates things (5’3) and while thin, I am not a perfect size anything. Sometimes a 6 fits, sometimes it doesn’t.
Where do you shop for nice, casual, but grown up clothes? J Jill? Coldwater Creek? I’d love to hear!</p>
<p>White House/Black Market, J Jill. For me Coldwater Creek is too old ladyish. Ditto Chicos. I don’t have to dress up for work so Costco works for me too :)</p>
<p>Dbwes, there’s a thread in the Parent Cafe:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/786548-dressing-young.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/786548-dressing-young.html</a></p>
<p>where folks solicit and swap fashion advice. I personally shop a lot at Kohls, Macy’s, Penney’s, and Dillards. My clothing budget is unfortunately much smaller than most who post on the Dressing Young thread!</p>
<p>Try Talbots. They have petite sizing and the quality is good.</p>
<p>TJMaxx and Marshalls first. If they don’t have it…I try other places.</p>
<p>I agree with ebeee on the White House/Black Market. Usually can find something there. Also Ann Taylor can have some nice things -hit or miss though. If you need a stand by-everytime you go you’ll find it-store, I would say Nordstrom. Yes, they can be pricey but you’ll get what you need everytime.</p>
<p>I shop at T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s first, Nordstrom Rack, Target, Zappos. Sometimes regular Nordstrom and Macy’s, L.L. Bean, Garnet Hill. I like Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, but have to try those on as sizes are inconsistent. </p>
<p>I like to look at T.J. Maxx and Nordstrom Rack about every six weeks and do pretty well with that approach. I don’t like to shop too long, just buzz in and check it out regularly. I like to find bargains on nicer brands.</p>
<p>I like sale tees & jeans from Jcrew, tdresses from Garnet Hill, light jackets & activewear from REI. I never find anything except maybe shoes at Nordstroms & I would rather shop at a neighborhood boutique for shoes ( or zappos)
I don’t go to either J jill or coldwater creek and while I do have some unstructured things ( eileen fisher) I generally like a little more tailored.</p>
<p>I have gotten things at target especially in July for " back to school shopping". You have to really luck out though because the small sizes are gone fast.</p>
<p>A lot depends on your age. i just turned 50 and suddenly I feel like some things are off limits. I am only 5’1" so i need petites and that limits my options quite a bit. I shop a lot at Marshall’s and TJMax but i aso do reallly well at Ann Taylor Loft. Even Express can have some good finds if you are careful to avoid the really young looking, clingy stuff. One thing that makes me crazy is the short dresses and skirts. I hate my knees!!!</p>
<p>I was just saying to my sister today that some manufacturer needs to design flattering dresses and skirts for the over-50 market. I want my knees and upper arms covered, no cleavage, no clinging fabric, no empire waist, and not too tight. Try to find a dress like that in a store today. There are a whole lot of women over 50 who might wear those dresses if they could find them. We need the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans approach for dresses.</p>
<p>^^^
Yes! And if they could make them in petites I would be a very happy shopper! I would love some casual dresses that I can throw on with some casual boots for work. I did find one cute one at Land’s End last year and i get lots of compliments on it but it is very hard to find dresses in petites that fit the bill.</p>
<p>I rarely ever go shopping. For one thing, I live in a rural area and while there is some shopping an hour away from where I live, it is not that extensive. I have been a catalogue shopper for a long time. I do like clothes. I have occasionally popped into the Dressing Young thread but some of the fashions discussed there are beyond my budget. I also do not have to dress up for work as I work for myself out of my home and so I own a lot of casual sportswear and casual dresses and not a lot of real dressy stuff (a little bit) also given that I live in the country, and I don’t have office type clothing. </p>
<p>That said, (and also I should mention I am 54) while i use several catalogues for myself, the ones I likely use the most are: J Jill, Garnet Hill, Boden, Eddie Bauer, and occasionally Wrap London, Poetry, Talbots. I have also ordered shoes online at Zappos and shoes.com.</p>
<p>Over the years I’ve occasionally tried a more “trendy” style, but keep coming back to more tailored clothes – up-to-date, but still more on the tailored side. Talbots often works for me, and since losing some weight over a year ago, I’ve had good luck at Kohl’s, especially for pants, capris and shorts. I also do pretty well at Macy’s. As far as I can tell, they’re ALWAYS having a sale and/or I have coupons. Can’t remember the last time I paid full price for anything there. For whatever reason, Not Your Daughter’s Jeans don’t work for me – or, at best, they fit the same as other brands that cost considerably less.</p>
<p>My height challenged friends (I’m almost 6 ft tall and all legs and zip torso so I can poke fun since I’m at the other end of the spectrum) seem to wear a ton of Talbots and Ann Taylor. I’m fairly random in my shopping, generally I’m looking for something specific and I look everywhere until I find what I had in my mind and I don’t follow trends. I’m also notorious for hauling thirty year old clothes out of my closet (like all the old Diane VonFurstenberg wrap dresses I bought way back whoo hoo). I used to like J Jill and all their linen (which i adore) for weekend wear but lately the stuff is running huge and it’s getting alittle “flowy and pastel” for my taste and I’ve migrated to Garnet Hill in the past couple years for on-line weekend clothing shopping. Work is a mosh pit, I tend to jackets and skirts or dresses and I find great jackets and tops everywhere…even Goodwill. Every year Target has something cheap that brings my wardrobe into the current decade. Their Liberty of London stuff last year was fun.</p>
<p>I work in midtown Manhattan in educational sales, but the only time I see customers is when I am exhibiting at a conference or asked to travel to make a presentation so it’s not the kind of office where I need to be dressed in suits. I generally wear nice slacks or skirts and twin sweater sets or camisoles and cardigans. I do like Ann Taylor although they seem to be turning more and more Ann Taylor stores into Ann Taylor Lofts which are okay also but I don’t like as much. I do shop a lot at Banana Republic and even some of the better quality Gap. If you are a Luxe customer at Banana, you get free shipping and free alteration. Lord and Taylor and Macy’s are my department stores of choice. I shop both for shoes but order shoes also from Zappos and Nordstrom.com. I also will also check the sales at Anthropologie, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales.</p>
<p>Banana Republic has petites and if you are near an outlet, great deals</p>
<p>I am 5"2 ish & I have long legs for my height ( 31" inseam), but I find I can wear regular lenght skirts and often dresses that will hit me at my knees or so.</p>
<p>Jeans I have to get the shorter length cause regular seems to be about 33".
I have skorts, skirts & pants that I got at REI, that fit really well, and wear like iron. Royal Robbins or TNF lines fit me pretty well on the bottom, I get Prana or Patagonia or The North Face for tops ( or Columbia " youth sized" shirts cause they fit me better for long sleeves & are about $30 cheaper than women’s + you get a little tag to write your name on!)
( I seem to be running up to D2s school about once a month this year, for misc & there is an REI in the little shopping center by her apt., so I find myself stopping in there when I am waiting for her)</p>
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<p>Bingo - you’ve pretty much summed it up for me. I’ve taken to wearing sleeveless dresses with shrugs, cardigans or blazers to work. I’ll be 49 next week and am just starting to feel a little funny about wearing certain styles. High on my list - short baby doll or empire waist dresses with high heels. Today I tried on a skirt at Talbots and decided it was too ‘poufy’ for someone my age. I don’t want to dress too old but I don’t buy into the theory that 50 year olds should dress like 30 year olds from head to toe. There are definitely items that cross all age groups but some things just look silly on more mature women.</p>
<p>I have good luck at JJill, Talbots, Ann Taylor (sometimes the Loft but it tends to be a little young for my tastes). Belks, Macy’s and Dillards are the department stores I shop at the most (sadly, no Nordstrom’s here).But I tend to shop where ever I can find something I like - I’m not too discriminating.</p>
<p>I had an important function last week end and went shopping for a nice “dressed up day dress” NOTHING had sleeves. I am in my mid 50’s and although I don’t think I would be considered fat, I do have a bit of extra weight and def do not want my arms to show. All the sales clerks could tell me was to buy a shrug or sweater. I REFUSED to buy a dress where I HAVE to wear a sweater. I wouldn’t mind it as an option but not as the only way to wear the dress. Most women over a certain age loose it a bit in the arm area and I prefer to keep mine covered especially when dressed up.</p>
<p>I couldn’t believe there were no dresses with sleeves. The whole thing made me crazy and frankly I was offended that the clothing “powers that be” could be so narrow in their thinking.</p>
<p>I found a really nice linen jacket and pants from Ruby Road. I felt fine in it, but I still wanted to wear a dress. Why can’t they make clothes with some sensibilities for us middle agers that keep in mind our body issues with out making us look like our moms?</p>
<p>Thanks for the chance to vent.</p>
<p>I agree totally with the lack of sleeved dresses. Years ago, when more dresses were available I still had trouble finding things I liked and that fit. Waists far above mine. Sleeves well above my wrist. Nothing going to my knees (then they went with the mid calf length and women stopped wearing dresses because of those atrocities).</p>
<p>Lucky short people when it comes to clothes buying. Back in my teens “junior” sizing was too short for me. They don’t always make the good looking stuff beyond small sizes- tall and average proportions makes you too large. Gain a little too much weight as you age when you’re tall and you bump up into “women’s” sizes, where the selection is even worse. They also often don’t add length when they increase the size- either for the torso, sleeves or overall. Most dresses are too far above the knees for me- not like back in my miniskirt HS days… I have an ugly indented scar on an upper arm from melenoma surgery (8 years now- cut and cure) so I like sleeves, along with my flabby arms. It is so much easier to be short and fat than tall and even a bit overweight.</p>
<p>I never had luck finding clothes that fit, or money so I never became much of a clothes horse. Even finding shoes is hard- only a size 10, but few made in that size and they sell out quickly. I am also by nature a casual dresser (childhood picture at age 3 or so in the late 1950’s- 3 little girls out to play sitting in the grass wearing dresses, one in shirt and shorts…3 avoiding the camera, one not).</p>
<p>I usually wear long or short sleeved T-shirts and shorts or casual pants. Discovered Penneys St Johns bay has larger (XL vs 1X for fit) and longer T-shirts than Kohl’s brands- sleeve and torso lengths. I like to keep my middle covered when I bend over, and have the thigh length to wear longer shorts and still have them inches above my knees. I’m cheap and it’s all about comfort and simplicity in dressing for me. The “fancier” even moderate fashionable places don’t carry my size, sigh. And I’m not as fat as the short people who can buy there.</p>
<p>I own a couple of dresses for summer when it’s too hot for pants that aren’t too bad. I gave up on being fashionable a long time ago- when things didn’t fit or I disliked what was available. I would say men have it easy except that they don’t make much men’s clothing in small, much less extra small (boys sizes don’t come in the same styles as I have learned buying for my nonshopper H).</p>
<p>The more expensive department stores lack good large sized clothing selections- even in just 1X (or 2x hips). When I worked I spent most of my time in scrubs- not a fashionable physician.</p>