bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

Our Spring Shopping List: Light Jeans

   

Once we had a friend visit us after she spent six months overseas. She showed up in jeans, in a super light wash. We were like, "We don't care where you've been, but you have to change those jeans before we go anywhere." We were not so pro the light wash. That, however, was a long time ago now, and we have changed our position. Radically. Nothing is saying spring to us at the moment like that super pale wash. Sort of like these above, though we'd be happier if they were lighter. J Crew jeans, $108

These are the ones we really want, though we're well past the days when we would close our eyes and spend $200+ on jeans. Actually, that was only once, and we still feel guilty about it. Paige jeans, $225

These are more likely the ones we'd buy, though doesn't something look strangely off with them in the hip? And actually sort of all around? Beggars, choosers, etc., we're thinking. Gap jeans, $49.50

[P.S.: What is going on with the applique pom-poms and bizarre "flirty ruffles"?

Argh.]

They Are Vexing Us

We love Madewell. We like Shopbop. Madewell + Shopbop should = happiness. And yet: these jeans—and believe us, we're not completely against the new-old denim aesthetic—but: how much? $80? Since they're all beat up and everything? $100, because surely it's lovely, premium denim? $150? Maybe it's sewn with gold thread? No. $200.

We're not entirely against shelling out when shelling out is required: We have an entirely too-light winter coat—er, jacket—that cost exactly that much. We think it is really just the visual mismatch of distressed jeans that cost $200. It is a sad reality that this sort of formerly innocuous (still annoying, but mostly innocuous) disconnect wouldn't have as so offensive even a year ago. But: Shit changes. And it's just, like, is it us? Or is it 2007 in here? And of course the original Madewell still doesn't have e-commerce.

Honestly. We're going to J. Crew now.

Above: Madewell for Shopbop ex-boyfriend jeans, $200

We Still Want More From the Gap

We always hate these ads with those little instructional quotes: "The new bell leg is the jean silhouette of the season. Wear it long, so that your hem skims the floor." We saw this as former Gap Kids employees—the Gap basically taught us how to dress, as unbelievably worrisome as that sounds—but we do not believe the new bell leg is the jean silhouette of the season, and we do not appreciate the fib-telling.

Today's small contest:

We love these small wipes! V. convenient. Just tell us your jean silhouette for fall, or your new favorite denim brand. Winner takes the wipes! And an array of British chocolates.

And yesterday's winner: Jess! Be sending the delivery address!

Jeans On The Cheap

Yesterday we were talking with Dear Friend about jeans, and she showed us a pair she was most interested in. They were worn, with holes and such, the cut was cute, but our eyes nearly fell out of our head when we saw the price tag. They were $240 for a pair of jeans with holes. We couldn't believe it, and promptly told Dear Friend that we would fight her if she spent that much money on a pair of jeans with holes.  We then got into a discussion about pricey jeans and we told her about our recent find.

Delia's jeans.

We know we've posted about them before, and we generally try to stay away from teeny stores. BUT. In this day and age, with our economy as it is, and our money managing skills still not where they need to be. We will always need new jeans, and we got an email from Delia's today - jeans and pants are buy one, get one half off, and get a $10 coupon for trying a pair on. We figured out the math:

1. Try on 1 pair of jeans
+
2. Buy 2 pair, with an average $45
-----------------------------------------------
$57.50 ($45 + $22.50 - $10)

Two. Pairs. Of. Jeans.  For $57.50!

Not a bad deal, and we'll be heading over to Delia's this afternoon to see what we can find. We don't claim these are the best jeans ever, but we've been pretty happy with them (and the minor sting on our credit card).

Taylor jeans, $44.50

-LB

This Is Why We Will Always Advocate Skinny Jeans (Katie Holmes Edition)

Fact: baggy jeans make everyone (including Katie Holmes) look ... like that. Argh!

Reader Mail: The Favorite Things

We're keeping the magic alive here this week with more amazing reader mail questions—again, we're measuring contest success by the number of comments this time, so the author of the post with the most comments wins a super excellent Jocasi bag. Clearly earlier posts have a comment-gathering advantage, so if you have a reader mail entry for us, be sure to send it over, stat!

Today's entry is from S.:

 

What are your favorite staple clothing items—the kind of thing you buy five of in every color or multiple versions of because they're so perfect for you that you never want to wear them out/run out in case they get discontinued—horrors! Mine would be:

 

- American Apparel tri-blend v-neck shirts

 

- These Demise skinny jeans from Forever 21 (above, $29.80) that are awesomely fitted yet stretchy and look like vintage Levi's—but updated!

 

- Flats from Rainbow

All we will say about this is that we seem to be a new American Apparel hoodie every time we lose ours—though we are hoping we will stem the losing thing now that we've embroidered a giant Gothic-print D on the chest.
Also, black Havaianas, even though our current ones seem to have been infested by some sort of trip-inducing evil spirit.

Tell us yours!

HauteLook: BS Hearts

We really thought we'd had enough of the online sample sale, until we heard that Lil Bunny got two Foley + Corinna bags for about $5 at HauteLook. We. Are. Converted. Aggravatingly it's too late to partake of that one, but NB: William Rast is up today. These above are seriously on sale, but we're sure HauteLook will have some equally excellent buys. Consider the Kool-Aid ingested.

William Rast flares, were $249, now $99

The Hated Thing: Reader Mail

So we've never smoked pot, but we have been on the loser's end of a gas leak the last 13 hours, so ... we're really not sure if we can assemble a subject-verb sentence at the moment. We are wondering if this is what smoking pot is like. We are guessing no, but with significant loss of brain cells. Anyhoo, in today's Reader Mail—and by the way, more than ever, you'll be helping us out if you have a reader mail question to email us:

Dear BS:

I know I've read here before that you hate capri jeans. Me too! But I'm obligated to wear them at my summer job. Can you find one pair you like, please?

Thanks!
B.

Oh! We do hate them, and fiercely. They are designed to make short people look shorter, an unpleasant situation by any measure. But we will say we particularly hate the shorter ones, that come right below the knee. We were in Dubai last week, and noticed loads of fellow Westerners in them, skirting by the whole no-bare-knees thing. (We very grumpily wore ankle-length jeans the entire time.) But if we were forced to wear them, we'd wear these—these are practically ankle-length, in any case.

We do love those chunky heels as well, btw.

We're wondering: Does anyone else hate capri jeans as much as we do?

Above: William Rast capris, $190

The First Job Wardrobe: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

I just finished grad school and am about to start my first real job with real benefits and stuff. I was a Peace Corps volunteer before grad school, so I've really never done the professional dress thing. I'll be working for an NGO in Washington DC and basically need to buy a whole new wardrobe of office worthy stuff. Most of my money will be going towards my student loans, so I was wondering if you or your readers have any tips on being thrifty and professional—any staples I should have? Stores I should know about? Any advice would be appreciated!

We've apparently gotten much more comfortable with posting questions we can't personally answer, because this is definitely one of those. One of the funny things—oh, ha ha!—about being freelancer  is that you can basically judge your periods of feast and famine by your clothes, because you'll buy a whole bunch of things when you're actually making enough money to support yourself, and then go eight months without buying anything. The good thing, though, is that you can pretty much get by as long as you have your interview dress (we're still looking), the dress for when your friends get married (H&M!), and leggings (American Apparel). But to the question above—as we say, we don't even have the interview dress. We go to the store and think we've found it, then bring it home and realize that we definitely have not.

When we get really desperately broke we'll work in an office, as we did this past very-early-spring, and we swear we wore the same sweater at least three times a week. But we hated them so it didn't matter.

So we're really looking for outside information: What's your number-one office staple? And where do you buy it?

We think ours would be some professional-looking jeans, but what do we know? Nada. Joe's Jeans trouser jeans, $174

The Friday Sponsor Shout-Out

Above: Lately all we want is Diane von Furstenberg. We will say that we quite like her American Express—it is American Express, right?—ad, where she goes out and talks to the trees. DVF sandals, $275

And these may be exactly the jeans that we need. Dark, slight flare, etc. It's well past time we returned to the flare \ flair. People's Liberation jeans, $180