Bargain Friday’s TPS Report: Criss Cross Drape Top – Plumbago Blue

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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Happy Friday! Today we're liking this top from Merona® Women’s Fit Solutions, which has a built-in Spandex “slimming layer.” It looks like a great basic for the summer. Shown here in “Plumbago Blue,” we also like the purple (“Martha's Vineyard”) and the gray (“Flat Grey). It's $16.99-$24.99 at Target.com, in sizes XS – XXL. Criss Cross Drape Top – Plumbago Blue (L-2)

Sales of note for 1/31/25:

  • Ann Taylor – Suiting Event – 30% off suiting + 30% off tops
  • Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20 off your $100+ purchase
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Up to 40% off winter layers
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off sweaters and pants
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – End of season clearance, extra 70% off markdown tops + extra 60% off all other markdowns

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

35 Comments

  1. These “fit solutions” pieces from Target are GREAT. I have been buying all of them I can get my hands on. The mesh underlayer is totally comfortable in the pieces I have – not too compressing, itchy, or hot. They wash well and look great. Awesome choice, Kat!!

  2. Really annoyed that I just wrote a long post and it got deleted. UGH!!

    Anyways, short story is that the fit solutions clothing suck, IMHO. The mesh makes my stomach look even poofier. I think if you’re somewhat on the slender side already, the mesh doesn’t do you any favors because it ends up looking prominent and draws attention to that place. I tried this top on and it literally took me 5 minutes to get off because the mesh made it so tight.

    1. So I ended up trying both my size (XS) and a size S. The XS was ridiculously tight. The size S wasn’t as tight, but as mentioned, it simply was not flattering. I would much, much rather wear a regular shirt and spanx underneath if I really felt that I needed it.

  3. Wow such polar opposite opinions! I’m curious if you ladies above tried your regular size in this or if you had to size up from your regular size?

    1. I have two pieces from the fit solutions line (dress and skirt) and they are both a size up from what I normally wear. I think if you try to go with your normal size, it’s going to be way too tight.

    2. I also have the wrap dress in black from this line. Although it did take some effort to try on (I totally missed the fact that it had the slimming layer when I picked it up) this dress makes me look great. I wear a medium, and bought a medium. Although the control layer is skin tight, the dress itself does not cling to the body. I got several compliments the first day I wore it to work, and it was comfortable all day.

  4. ok, i love love love target… and i tried on one of the merona wrap dresses with this spandex layer in it, and i was in the dressing room for seriously 15minutes. i could not figure it out to get on, i agree with the previous poster that the layer looked VERY tight. i was skeptical anyway to put it on because i never buy things with spanx kind of things in them, as i don’t particularly need them, nor do i want to feel “sucked in”… i was so disappointed. i couldn’t even hand the dress back to the dressing room attendant looking like a dress, I apologized purfousely…my boyfriend was waiting too and i came out SOO disgruntled, i was like ‘that was the worst dressing room experience ever!’ hahaha. otherwise i do like merona’s things :)

  5. Interesting concept — I have to ask though – Is the spandex layer comfortable to wear all day? Or did you want to peel it off at the earliest possible opportunity?

  6. Kat, your 6pm deal for Enzo Angiolini link brought me to the Stanford Shuttle schedule! =)

    1. LOL. Wow, seriously chuckling over that one. Spent the past 2 days running a conference in conjunction with Stanford Law, and was trying to send around an email to participants to warn them not to try to park on campus… and gave them what I thought would be a handy dandy bit.ly link. Geez I hope I didn’t give THEM the Enzo link and you guys the Stanford Law link. Oi vay.

      1. I actually wanted the khaki color, but the only one left in my size was the coral. We’ll see how it looks in person.

          1. Really wish people would stop deeming various colours to be ‘everyone looks good in them’. I look like a 3-day corpse in coral.

      2. I have the coral dress, but saw the cachi one in store – definitely more of a khaki color than pink. Pretty standard khaki color, I would say

  7. Random question (sorry) —

    I have a pair of black leather pumps, which I bought recently, that are dying my feet black every time I wear them. It’s beyond annoying & ruins my pedicure everytime (it dyes the nails, too). I can usually scrub it off with a pumice stone, and it has gotten slightly better with each wear, but it still happens & it’s incredibly annoying — this happens even through stockings & tights!!

    The shoes are really cute & comfy though, and I paid a quite a bit for them so I’m reluctant to just toss em in the donations bin. Does anyone have a solution?? I am sort of at my wit’s end!

    1. I had a pair of shoes that were too tight once, and I heard an idea of wiping them with rubbing alcohol to stretch them out. I wiped the rubbing alcohol inside the tight part of the shoe with a cotton ball. It didn’t do much to stretch the shoe, but it didn’t ruin the shoes, either, and the alcohol smell went away by the next day. My point is that you could try cleaning out the inside with rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball, and maybe wipe away the excess dye that way.

    2. i imagine there is some sort of product to prevent that–check with the local shoe repair store. also, you might try saddle soap. I don’t actually know if it will help, but it might, and it certainly won’t hurt if it’s real leather.

    3. If they were expensive and bought at a department store or directly from the retailer (i.e. not at DSW or something) take them back and ask them to either fix it or give you your money back.

      If taking them back isn’t an option, a cobbler should be able to tell you what product to use to set the excess dye.

    4. Not to be gross, but do your feet sweat at all? Perhaps using a waterproofing spray on the will lock the color in (and off your feet). I would put the spray onto a cloth and wipe it on – make sure you leave them to dry long enough before wearing.

    5. Thanks, guys! I will try all this, starting with the rubbing alcohol (since I already have some in my medicine cabinet). I don’t think it’s a sweat issue so much since my feet are pretty standard in that regard & it’s never happened with similar shoes. I think it’s just the dye (I had a pair of pink summer shoes once with dyed pink suede soles that turned the bottom of my feet pink for the first few wears — I think some dyes are just set better than others).
      I am not sure I have ever heard of saddle soap, but will do a google. I’ll let y’all know what works — the shoes were from BB by the way, so I was very surprised; but I have worn them too many times at this point to return. Plus they’re otherwise really nice so I kinda just want to fix them.
      Thanks again for all the great ideas though! Love the corporettes in action :)

      1. if you’ve never heard of saddle soap, I wouldn’t use it–it’s primarily used to clean leather things for horses (hence the name), where the leather tends to be a bit thicker. there’s kind of an art to using the right amount, and if you use too much, it gets a bit… icky. I used it for years on my horse-related leather things until it occurred to me to use it on other leather shoes.

  8. I guess it’s just me, but I think this looks very matronly. I like the color, though.

    1. I love me some Target tees, but I passed on this the last time I was there because I thought it was matronly too.

    2. I thought I knew what matronly meant but after seeing this shirt called that I’m not sure I do. What do you all mean by matronly?

    1. I don’t think there are many blue flowers out there from which to choose, but this is still more like a morning glory color than plumbago.

  9. Looks too much like a shirt made for nursing, in my opinion. Something about the cross effect in front.

  10. PLEASE STOP SPEAKING IN THE PLURAL (“Today WE are liking. . . “) — YOU ARE NOT THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND. Just sayin’.

  11. I love this–great color, interesting details, draws the eye up and away from my problem area (stomache). Excellent.

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