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I get a zillion emails a day (seriously, it's in the range of 500 or so) — but the one must-read email for me every day is my Salemail from Shop It To Me. I've written before of my love for the company and service, and that has continued, unabated.
If you're not familiar with Shop It To Me, here's the scoop — you tell it which brands you like, and what your size is, what percentage of sale you want to know about (I'd say do 30% off if you're building your wardrobe and buying a lot, but do something higher if you don't want to be tempted so often! Mine is normally set at 60%, I think). And then you pick the frequency of the email — it can come as little as once a week, but I think I get the most value out of it when it comes daily. And then, pouf! Every morning you get an email that tells you what's newly on sale in your size. It catches the special one-day-only sale codes, and it tells you when something's Final Sale, right in your Salemail. They've also recently added a brilliant “search” feature where you can log in and see *everything* that's on sale in your size (and not just what's newly on sale). It's nice that you can easily adjust the view in the search — only show me things under $150! Show me things only 30% off! Only show me belts, on sale, in my size! I'm actually signed up under 3 email addresses — one to watch for my sizes, one to watch for my husband's brands and sizes, and one to watch for my mother's brands and sizes. (Pictured: an example of a dress I recently found in my Salemail — Kay Unger Mini Check V-Neck Dress, was $200, now $120 at Saks.) The service can be particularly great when you're shopping for one particular event (e.g., a holiday party) or a particular item (like a velvet blazer to go with your new party dress.)
So when Shop It To Me reached out to see if we'd be interested in a giveaway, I jumped at the chance. And now, you can enter to win an item or outfit from your Salemail — up to a $150 value. Here are the rules:
1. Sign up for Shop It To Me, if you're not already — you must be a SITM member to win.
2. Leave a comment about holiday party wear by Monday, 12/20, at 12 pm ET. If you're already a member of SITM it could be which item or outfit you'd want from your Salemail, or — if you've only just joined — perhaps a general comment about holiday parties (what you're wearing to your office holiday party, which party mistakes you've seen…). Please be sure to fill the “commenter form” in with the email associated with your SITM account (I do not recommend leaving it in the body of the comment itself).
3. We'll announce the winner on Monday, 12/20!
I've already pictured one of my favorite dresses above, but here are some of the other great pieces that have popped up recently in my Salemails, and might be my choice if I won…. I think all of them could be dressed “down” for a holiday party at the office (add a blazer, keep your hair and makeup normal) or dressed “up” for a friend's holiday party (add dangly earrings, a smokey eye, some killer heels…)
 Polly Sleeveless Dress, was $368, marked to $184, comes to $147 with code EXTRA20. |
 Green printed stretch woven draped front dress, was $158, now $95. |
E.
My office party is always immediately after work (sometimes even eating a bit into the work day) and people don’t wear anything too special – sometimes seasonal colors or accessories, more often not. I’m glad this is the case because I’d find selecting a special outfit for such a function to be more stress than I need this time of year! Though I’ve also got to say that I love the Bluefly green dress linked to above. It’s adorable and if it weren’t so cold in NYC right now, I’d wish I had it to wear to a family event over the weekend.
SF Bay Associate
I *love* my SITM. It’s a daily must-read.
Re: holiday party wear – I’m getting a lot of sheath type party dresses in my SITM, but given my pear shape, I really need more a-line options. Please more A-line/fuller skirt, SITM! And for inexplicable reasons, I am also totally drawn to the sequin shift dresses I keep seeing in my daily email. They look so fabulous in the pictures. But I need one of those like a hole in the head though… right?? I may end up satisfying that itch with some sequin/glitter holiday party shoes, also showing up daily in my inbox thanks to SITM.
m
I too love my salemail email, but sometimes I have to refrain from looking at it because the deals are too irresistible. I think I set it to only email me things that are over 50% off. I am looking for a nice jacket to wear with dressed up outfits.
GildaLily
I wore some great calf height boots I found from endless via a salemail for just $60ish to our neighborhood holiday party. Threw on a cute black and white print dress, red cardigan, green retro-style earrings and I was good to go!
Teddie
Our office holiday party is today, in a couple of hours. Because it’s in the middle of the workday, people are dressed “office appropriate”. I have added a festive red sweater, red shoes, and red white and black argyle scarf to my normal black pants.
hailey
Love SITM and Corporette — I am going to add Kaye Unger to my SITM “brands list”…I love this dress. It would be a great one for both my family Christmas party AND a fancy NYE party.
Sei
Our office party is also during the day, and it always involves messy foods (pizza and home-made desserts). It can be a real trick to look fancy, festive, and professional, all while wearing clothes you wouldn’t be horrified getting pizza sauce on! I’ve usually put together a nice outfit and then worn a (washable) black blazer over it, sometimes with a festive pin. When I’m no longer worried that someone will trip and launch pizza at me, the blazer can come off.
Lobbyist
I love SITM. Wore a red dress I bought there on Monday.
Marta
Our holiday party was in the afternoon, so I chose to go with color and fun – in a dress I would still wear to work otherwise. So I wore a red DVF dress with patterned tights and a bold chain statement necklace. The fun tights with the big sparkly necklace and colorful dress made the perfect office party wear – and the pieces are such that I can wear them individually to other events too!
I personally love color for a party, so I think it’s a great way to have fun at the holidays.
carmen
i just signed up for SITM! I work for a university which is too large for an office holiday party so i unfortunately don’t go to one! When I used to work for a big law firm, we’d have a very fancy holiday party, and the dress would be “business formal” so I would usually wear one of my nicest suits with a more festive top underneath.
Veronica
I bought a beautiful black satin ruched dress from Nordstrom for my office holiday party. I looked like a million bucks in it…or would have, had not the damn zipper broken as I was getting into it, 30 minutes before the party started. I actually ended up walking around my neighborhood stuck in the stupid dress trying (fruitlessly) to find a tailor to fix the zipper. I ended up wearing a black cashmere Theory sweater, pants, and shiny heels, thus cementing my reputation as the office prude.
lawDJ
I love SITM, though I’ve had to stop looking at it because there were too many tempting things to see and want to buy :) I didn’t buy my holiday party attire this year from there, but I have seen quite a few interesting things. This year I was pretty conservative: black pantsuit and red shiny silk button-down. I felt festive and super professional. Didn’t see any major faux pas (although that would’ve been fun).
Lyssa
I’m mostly a solo attorney. No holiday party for me :(
j
ahh, wayy too tempting to have shoes emailed to me every day
Marie
Treadjack: The UBS banker dress code (covered in WSJ today) mentions something about buttoning/unbuttoning suit jackets — buttoned when standing, unbuttoned when sitting. Makes sense, as my jackets ride up/poof out if they are buttoned when sitting down. But, how to go back and forth between buttoned and unbuttoned without looking like an idiot? Especially when there are multiple buttons, so it cannot be executed with a single flick of the wrist? I noticed men just tend to leave unbuttoned, but I don’t always want to reveal that much of the shirt I’m wearing, if it’s a tank or tee, for example. Any tips?
Amy
I just signed up, but I think it’s going to be my new favorite thing.
My office had an extremely causal holiday party. I wore a plain red sweater dress and I was neither over nor under dressed.
My husband’s holiday party is in January and it is a “black-tie optional” affair. I just ordered a sequin dress and I’m really excited about it.
J
Just signed up for SITM, and trying to get my husband to do the same. I wore a simple black dress to our office party, with some awesome red shoes. When else would I get the chance to wear those babies?
Aibrean
I love SITM! For a while, I had messed something up, so I was getting multiple emails per day, but they are so useful–I found my winter coat (which I had been coveting) on super discount through them!
Melissa
I’ve been a member for ages. It is a nice study break when I get the emails.
I am actually dressed for a holiday party now. Plaid dress, black cardi, boots. I’ve been feeling particularly preppy lately (probably because my SITM is filled with J Crew goodness.)
in-house
I just signed up for SITM. I didn’t wear anything special to my office holiday party, it was on a Friday afternoon. There were a few sequins on my cardigan.
Aibrean
Feel free to delete my previous comment. I forgot to talk about party wear!
I love SITM! For a while, I had messed something up, so I was getting multiple emails per day, but they are so useful–I found my winter coat (which I had been coveting) on super discount through them!
I’m currently hoping a Marc by Marc Jacobs dress drops again in price. It’s navy and has curvy-figure-flattering ruffles.
fresh jd
I have been a member of SITM for a while, but I am going to take Kat’s suggestion to adjust my settings to 60% off so I’m tempted less often :)
I am partial to this dress as suggested by my SITM this week:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/3117155?origin=category&siteId=BolFSqx4S4U-9QbblyuODTdrVRFyizttbw
My holiday party is tomorrow and I am excited! Wearing a black shirt and beige tulip skirt.
Ru
Our holiday party is being held during office hours, so I’m going with a brown velvet dress as a compromise to dressing up while keeping my entire outfit professional enough for the rest of the day. For me, it’s always a challenge to not be too dressed up, since engineers inherently dress casually and I’m one of the few women here.
DC Lawyer
Our holiday party is featuring an ugly Christmas sweater contest. Probably not what most of the Corporettes are planning to wear, but I’ll be sporting my best Rudolph sweater!
govvie girl
That is funny, though…at least there’ll be some laughs!
A
I wanted the adorable shopbob nanette lepore honeysuckle dress that I saw this morning in my SITM email, but at 70% off, I waited too long – it sold out quickly! Oh well – there’s always next week ;)
zee
just joined!
My holiday parties at work are always frumpy and boring, so I don’t have the opportunity to have fun with it. Usually a dress and jacket or bolero.
k
My go-to holiday dress is a knee-length BCBG number. It is made up of a black pencil skirt on the bottom and a sheer silver top. The top is loose with short sleeves and a geometric pattern in a bib shape across the collarbone.
Employed 3L
I love SITM – It’s my favorite email of the morning. I’m looking for a necklace just like one I missed on an SITM sale to wear to my firm holiday party on Friday night!
JAS
I love SITM! Because of the specific settings I ALWAYS see dozens of things I like.
My office holiday party is during office hours. I am on the hunt for a shimmery red or green sweater to wear with a regular outfit…maybe some cheesy earrings, too!
LSM
I really loved an outfit one of my colleagues wore to our work event this year. She had on a black pencil skirt and cowl neck fitted sweater with a beautiful gold brocade-ish jacket. She looked festive and professional at the same time. It made me want a jacket like that!
RR
Just signed up. My office party is just a lunch, so I’ll be wearing a suit. I may get really festive and wear a red sweater underneath. Ooooh…hold me back.
CJB
What a fabulous service – it’s going to save me tons of time! I’m hooked! I really love the red Kay Unger v-neck dress – that would be perfect for a work holiday party and/or dressed up for a nice dinner out!
LKS
Just got my first email from Shop It To Me and I love it already!
I have a few holiday parties this week, but they’re right after work. I’ll be wearing work clothes. Maybe I’ll go crazy and wear a sparkley sweater or a gold belt!
Stephanie Ann
There is one super cute Nicole Miller Red dress I would love to have for the holidays!
L
I just joined – this is fabulous.
For my holiday party, I wore a black 3/4 top with a little chiffon on it and a black lace over red skirt. I was a little bit fancy, but the other female associates (2 of them) had on strapless dresses. Maybe next year I will wear a dress! :)
Ab
My holiday party already happened and I wore a patterned skirt with riding boots and a sweater cami combo. It was a pretty laid back affair with pool and buffet style finger foods.
sgb
I have three great cocktail dresses. Two are red, one keyhole in front and back. Looks great with silver wrap or black. One is silk and has flower-y “thing” on the right side.
Just signed up. Great site. Hopefully I’ll score some suits and heels!
Summer
Less is usually more with holiday party officewear. I prefer to wear a simple dress with funky heels!
AEJ
Since my work party is at the office, after the workday, I’ll just make my workwear a bit more festive that day. Probably a pretty cardigan and a skirt with some sparkle in my jewelry.
annie n
I love holiday parties because I can dig into my extensive vintage dress collection. I have a great black wool one for an upcoming party – just above the knee, pencil skirt, long sleeves with a deep, draped surplice bodice – can be worn either demurely or provocatively, depending on the occasion. Black heels and black on black polka dot tights with simple jewelry…voila.