My Shopping Entourage: Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, I shopped with an entourage of women training to become image consultants. While I originally volunteered to be their "client" as a favor to my former instructor, I got more out of the experience than I ever imagined I would. (More on what I learned later- let's get to the clothes!)

The (awesome!) team pre-shopped for me for several hours and took me on a marathon shopping trip for several more hours. First, let's give them some props for their stamina. Second, they took me to 8 or 10 stores, several of which I have never stepped foot in before, and I was pleasantly surprised in several of them.

So, picture this: every time I walked into a store, I was accompanied by five other women (4 from the image consulting class, 1 very good-natured friend from out of town- love ya KK!). We would sweep into a store, someone would ask the first sales person they saw for the items on hold for Ellen, and they'd usher me into a dressing room for that store's round of try ons. Every time we found something we all loved, they'd put it on hold for me, and we move on to the next shop.

So here are just a few of my clothes-centered discoveries/unsolicited comments/rants:

1. Calvin Klein rocks: Nobody's getting between me and my Calvins again. Seriously, the clothes are modern without being boring, work-appropriate, a decent price point, and the service was excellent. And they have some fab sales. Dress, at the top left, from CK. And that picture is a rare glimpse of me without sunglasses, so soak it up while you can.

2. MaxStudio, I heart you. Purple dress (above) is stunning on and beyond comfortable. A new love affair is blossoming; sorry Anthro.



3. Express makes some decent work pieces. I must admit to some snobbery on my part about this store, given that my need for slutty club wear is virtually non-existent. But I got something in the order of 5 new work items there, and I love them! 3 of the tops, immediately above.



4. Arden B: who knew?! This funky going out top was scored there.

5. I absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, shop at Zara. Their clothes don't fit, the store is crowded, the dressing room is hot, and the whole place is throbbing with bad music. This particular experience was complete with a screaming baby in the next dressing room.

6. BCBG dresses are still fab. I knew this already, but my last visit to the store just reinforced what I knew all along: they have some pretty hot stuff.



7. I still adore accessories more than practically anything else. Of the above items, I am now the proud owner of the hot pink pumps, the amazing blue clutch, the black belt, and the cuffs. Part two of this post will discuss all of these in more detail...

8. Max & Co, you can bite me. Your sales people are snotty, your clothes are insanely expensive, and according to you, I wear a size Ginormous. So you may go to hell.

Overall, this was a fun, fascinating, and exhausting experience (I was trying clothes on non-stop for like 5 hours straight, people). More to come in Part 2.