Snooze Shopping

Sewing Diva Phyllis and I met today at The Natick Collection. The Natick Collection is a mall that opened last fall in, go figure, Natick, MA. It features Neiman Marcus and Nordstroms as anchors, and lots of boutiques: Anthropologie, Michael Kors, Max Mara and the like. We decided to meet for brunch then go snoop shopping.

Snooze shopping is more like it. Honestly, there was very little I even felt like trying on. I saw one coat in the Max Mara store that was just beautiful. I can't find a picture of it online. It is a deep olive green with a slightly raised waistline. The sleeves are the coolest feature. The front has cut-on sleeves with a gusset for the side front. The back sleeves are your standard set-in. I wish the salespeople hadn't been all over us. I would have snapped a picture. The back had a cool design too - the back skirt of the coat was pleated. I really loved the effect. But then I tried it on. I tried on a size 8. I should have gone with a 10, since it was close cut at the bodice. The waist and hips fit fine, but when I took a breath, the covered snap closure popped open at the bust. Unfortunately, that was the least of the problems, because the correct size would take care of it. There were two other problems with it. Phyllis noted right away that the pleating actually splayed out once it hit my bum. Now, I don't have a big booty. On someone with a little more curve to the butt than me, I'm afraid it would look like a Peacock in half-display.

The problem that I noticed was puckering at the right sleeve cap toward the back. This wasn't a fit issue. It was a distinct pucker caused by inadequate easing of the sleeve cap into the armscye. For $1460, I expect better easing. Makes me glad I sew.

We next went into Nordstroms, where nothing outside of the shoe department even caught our attention. I fell in absolute love with a pair of Manolo Blahnik peep toe pumps. They aren't on the Nordstroms site, but you can see them here on the Bergdorf Goodman site:

Image: Bergdorf Goodman

I will say, though I was less than impressed with the clothing, Nordstroms has one of the best lingerie departments around. I didn't have time to drag Phyllis through, but they have Lise Charmel and other high end French designer lingerie. Those babies pick you up and make it seem like you never had babies, if you get my drift. You do pay top dollar there, but as you know, the right bra makes all the difference. Hint - if you are in Manhattan and downtown near the WTC site, check out Century 21 for the same lingerie at 30% to 50% of the retail price. Guess where I buy mine?

We also hit up Neiman Marcus, where I saw an absolutely stunning Akris dress. Can I find it on the website? No. But it was beautiful. It was a deep red, long-sleeved knit sheath, with black inserts at the shoulders. The only one they had was on the mannequin, so it was probably a size 0. I didn't ask to try it on.

There was a light gray cable knit skirt we saw in Anthropologie (Good God, don't any of these shops keep their websites up to date? It's in the stores but not on the site. Grrrr....). It wasn't something I could wear, but it's a super cute look, especially with a close-fitted top (Cindy Anne!)

Finally, we walked back through Neiman Marcus. I wanted to look at the Louboutin shoes, and Phyllis wanted to check out the Chanel bags. Girls can dream, right? Color me less than impressed with the selection of Louboutins in the suburban Boston stores. If I hit the lottery, I'll go to Paris to buy them. But boy, did we hit gold for Phyllis. She wants a Chanel bag, and they had one that was so gorgeous, I lusted after it! And that is unusual - I'm not usually a Double C bag gal. But we found one, in a wonderful bittersweet chocolate, that is to. die. for (no, she didn't buy it - we all need to play the lottery first):

Image: Kaiser Karl's folks. It's gorgeous.

You know, though, it was really disappointing walking through the stores. There isn't anything that is "Oh-my-gawd-I-need-this-for-fall." Phyllis says it's like the 70s. In 20 years we'll all look back and say, "What were we thinking?" She may be right. In the meantime, I'll keep working on my Sexy Secretary skirt, which should be done tomorrow. Until then.

Happy Sewing!