Stitch Fix #1!

So...yeah...it's been a loooong time on this blog. So long I kinda forgot I had it. But it still exists and it seems like the perfect place to post about my entree into the world of Stitch Fix. I joined courtesy of my friend, Katie and the below paragraph is copied directly from her fantastic blog: https://alltheserenity.wordpress.com/ (other than the referral link - that's mine b/c I'm not that selfless).

If you are not familiar with Stitch Fix, here’s the deal: Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service. You can subscribe for regular Fixes or just schedule them as you like. You fill out an extensive online profile of your tastes, sizes, and budget preferences and for a $20 fee, one of their stylist puts together a box of 5 clothing and accessory items to ship right to your door! You have 3 days to try things on, solicit opinions, balance your budget, whatever — you send back anything that doesn’t work for you in a prepaid envelope, and keep whatever you love! Your $20 styling fee is applied to anything you decide to keep, and if you buy the whole box of items you get 25% off the entire box! Prices vary but they say the average cost per item is $55 – 65. If you haven’t ever tried it and are interested, please consider using my referral link. If you use my link to schedule a Fix, I get a $25 credit towards my next purchase! (Note that I do not receive any compensation for reviewing this service; I just enjoy doing it).

So why am I doing this? For a long time, I was a devoted shopper at a local boutique in my little town. I have lots of fun pieces from there. But lately, the owner seems to be catering much more to the teen crowd (she's always done a thriving prom dress business) and those styles don't work for me. She is also hiring a lot of teenagers who will tell me things look great on me that don't. And I don't need that. So it was time for a change. Plus I don't really like shopping all that much. Therefore having someone else do it for me and it comes right to my house is a win-win all around.

In my style profile, I checked off a lot of casual/boho looks. Since I don't work outside the home, I don't need clothes suitable for the office, which means I can just get a lot of fun stuff. I also finally joined the dark side, aka Pinterest, and started pinning looks I like, which includes a whole lot of Cosima from "Orphan Black." Apparently all her stuff comes from Anthropologie, in case I ever feel like venturing to the mall. But onto the actual clothes!

First up: the THML Sanuk Lattice Detail Top. I thought this was going to be white b/c I peeked at my Fix before it arrived and googled all the stuff and every picture of this top was white. But it was navy with a red stripe. My stylist, Staci, recommended pairing this shirt with the jeans she sent, but I started with the pants I had on (white linen from Old Navy). (BTW - full disclosure, my 9 year-old daughter took most of these pictures so the quality is what it is!)

I liked it with the white pants - it's a nice flowy summer look. However, the top is fairly sheer, even in the dark color, and I have LOTS of navy tops already. So then I tried it with the Dear John Kyleigh Straight Leg Jean she sent.

Meh. I actually tried it on again later with some other bottoms and while I liked it, I didn't LOVE it. My daughter just said it didn't seem like my style. I realized there are lots of tops out there so...VERDICT: RETURN.

But here is more of the jeans:

I really like the way these fit up top. But they are kinda wide at the bottom - too wide to be really straight leg. Katie's comment was: "I love the way they fit you above the knee, but the wide leg/wide cuff around your dainty ankles feels a little Huckleberry Finn." My husband agreed. Plus they were too short to do anything except cuff them. There are better jeans out there. So even though you will continue to see these jeans in the pictures...VERDICT: RETURN.

Next up: the Diaz Crochet Detail Top. Another shirt I thought was coming in white. But it, too, is navy.

I so wanted to love this shirt. I SHOULD love this shirt. As soon as he saw it in the pile, the husband said it looked like a me shirt. But...no. The shoulders are fussy and weirdly poofy. Husband thought I had shoulder pads in. I have wide shoulders already so that's no good. Katie referred to it as "grandma chic" - she got the same shirt in white and sent it back.

So, alas, VERDICT: RETURN

But then we got to the Loveappella Contrast Trim Knit Top.

Yes all around from everyone. So fun. I love the fit, the feel, the look. VERDICT: KEEP!

Last up, the Loveappella Deanne Printed Maxi Skirt.

I love maxi skirts and dresses. Love them, love them, love them. The colors in this one are great - plenty of choices to pair with a top: black, white, tan, blue, maroon. It's super comfy and fits really well. VERDICT: KEEP!`

And there it is. My first fix and my first attempt at blogging about it. Full disclosure: I keep looking at Katie's blog and wanting to copy everything about it b/c it's all great. But she just hit Fix #40 and this is only my first, so I'll let myself be okay with the uninteresting formatting and tweak things as we go along. And it's nice to have this blog back in action...maybe someday I'll even write about books again.