Splurge Monday’s TPS Report: Engineered Ottoman Knit Jacket

87 Comments

1. Threadjack:

   My mom has lost a lot of weight recently and needs new jeans. She (still) has wide hips and thick thighs relative to her waist. She told me she hasn’t gotten new jeans because Liz Claiborne was the only brand that fit her well, and the department store in her midsized midwest town has stopped carrying them.

   Can anyone recommend another line of jeans flattering to pear-shaped, thick-thighed women? (Ideally they will be widely available so she can try them on in-store, not being much of an internet shopping person; also, ideally they will be relatively inexpensive.)

   Thanks!

   1. Curvy jeans from Anne Taylor. The list price is $88, but can be better with sales. (I got mine when they had a 40% off if you buy 3 items sale. The saleswoman reminded me that tights were items.)

   2. I know you said no internet shopping, but Lands End has a variety of cuts, in both “mom jeans” and more modern styles (boot cuts, even skinnies) that tend to be more forgiving in their fit, especially for pear shaped ladies. I think they are reasonably priced, and there’s always some deal going on.

      1. Sears also carries some Lands End items, and I believe you can return anything you order from Lands End to your local Sears store.

   3. If she doesn’t find anything in person, ordering online from some place like Zappos with free shipping & returns may work. She can order multiple pairs (or you can for her) and then return whatever doesn’t quite fit.

   4. I am pear shaped and thick thighed. I bought a pair of fabulous jeans from Ann Taylor (they might very well be the curvy brand that the other person recommended here). I ended up getting them for $30 on sale, so it was a steal. They are dark wash and bootcut. The only caveat is that they are somewhat low rise, but not so low that they are trashy.

      I also have a pair of CJ Cookie jeans from Nordstrom that I purchased for about $100 on sale. They are specifically designed for pear shaped/curvy women and I also think that they cater to older women too. I don’t love them (something about them screams mom jeans for some reason) but she should definitely check them out. They are mid-rise, which I like.

   5. Chico’s platinum denim line works wonders — I always thought boot leg was the way to go to balance wide hips, but their staff convinced me to try straight leg and I’m hooked. They also have some fiber in them that lets them stretch, so they’re not as confining as all-cotton jeans.

      1. Definitely have her check out Chicos. The waist is higher than some of the others and might feel more “old school” while still being a major update to her wardrobe. Also Not Your Daughters Jeans at Nordstroms if you have it.

         1. Second the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans! Maybe a little out of your mom’s price range- I know my mom choked when she first saw the price tag, but now she won’t wear anything else.

            1. NYDJs regularly show up at Marshalls and TJMaxx, so check there as well.

   6. My favorite jeans are all from Banana Republic’s curvy cut (now called urban, which gets a side eye from me). I also second the recommendation for trouser style jeans. The Gap has offered great trouser jeans in the past.

      1. Hah, I found this out (i.e., urban = curvy) after I bought a pair thinking that “urban” meant “hip, edgy”. Weird branding move.

   7. I would recommend “Sweetheart” jeans from Old Navy. Made for curvy women of all sizes. I have a pair in size 4 and my girlfriend has an 18, we both love them. Also in different lengths.

      1. Seconded. These are the only jeans that really fit my curvy hips well – plus, they’re dirt cheap!

   8. Thanks, all! I have passed along the advice to my mom. Hopefully she will heed some of your wise words.

   9. A lot of great suggestions. I also picked up some “curvy” jeans from Express a few years back and they have a very small waist relative to the hips/thighs area. Love them. And they were around $40-60, I think.

   10. JCPenny’s carries Liz jeans and they are great on my mom’s body as well. Get them online.

   11. Eileen Fisher and Calvin Klein. I have a substantial hip-to-waist drop, no matter whether it was my former size two or my present size twelve, and the Calvins have fit me through all my weight permutations.

   12. Check out Gap’s “Perfect Boot” jeans. I have something like a 15″ difference between my hips and waist and these things are pretty miraculous–not a gap in sight (which is a little ironic given the vendor). That being said, they are not the best quality jeans. When I was in college, I used to alternate between two or three and wear them pretty much all the time, and I’d go through them every 6-9 months. They’re around $75, but you can usually score a good sale every few months.

2. I understand Liz Claiborne is now sold in JC Pennys. Perhaps she can check there.

3. As a thick-thighed, pear-shaped woman, I would recommend trying on trouser-style jeans. I HATE shopping for jeans, and have yet to find a brand that consistently fits me, but I have had more luck in the past with wide-leg or trouser style jeans. One of my favorite pairs is from Target, but haven’t seen much there lately. I believe the rest are from TJ Maxx…

   1. Kat – I hit reply, yet my comment didn’t end up there.

   2. I have tried the Merona jeans for Target with success; they are often relaxed cut through hip/thigh.

   3. I agree. JCPenney’s Worthington line offers a trouser-style jean and they are very flattering to my (pear) figure.

4. I’m attending a supplier diversity gala for work in December. The invitation says “Black Tie Optional,” which I’ve always taken to mean that a dressy cocktail dress or a floor length gown is appropriate. However, many of my coworkers (young women in their early-mid twenties) say they’re wearing long dresses. I was not planning on buying a new dress, as I have 6 cocktail dresses in my closet, and a couple of them are *very* formal.

   So, Corporettes, do you think that a long gown is necessary? And if so, any suggestions for places to try for dresses less than $250, but still nice? FWIW, I’m in Houston, so there are many in-person shopping options.

   1. I think a short dress is fine – you can wear one of the more formal ones. Plus, black tie is often short dresses now anyway.

      NB – I am not in the south, so if it is very regional, please correct me.

   2. Short dress is more than fine, especially if they’re more formal. No need to be matchy with your co-workers :)

   3. Black Tie Optional – Although there will surely be women there in short dresses, I think that a long dress is more appropriate.

      1. I have been to several “black tie optional” events recently, and the women in long gowns were definitely the exception, not the rule. The ones in really elaborate long gowns especially stuck out, and not in a good way. I think a dressy, formal cocktail dress would be absolutely fine.

         1. I agree, and I will add that the long-gowned ladies were the older ones. So if you are 26 and in a long gown, you may look more out-of-place than if you are 56 and in a long gown.

         2. Same here. I live in a large midwest city, FWIW, and at most “black tie optional” events I’ve been to, I can count on one hand the number of people who opted in. And they were also generally the wives of the principal attendees (i.e., at a business event, the business -women generally went mid-length/cocktail and the spouses of the businessmen were the onels more likely to have gone all-in).

         3. Agreed. Short dresses were more common to all the black-tie optional events I have attended in the past few years.

   4. I’ve never tried Rent the Runway but plan to the next time I need a black-tie affair dress.

      http://www.renttherunway.com/howrtrworks

      According to the site, you rent one dress and they send you a second size if you’re worried about sizing. Dresses are reviewed by others who’ve ordered them. Interesting concept especially if you don’t want to spend a large sum of money and don’t plan on wearing the dress again.

   5. I agree that a nice, short dress is fine.

      Slight threadjack: I always thought “Black Tie Optional” meant a small step down from Black Tie. However, I’ve heard others say it means you can come in Black Tie, but you don’t have to as it’s optional (and then come in something much more casual than the ‘small step down from Black Tie.’). Whenever I’ve done “Black Tie Optional,” I’ve always gone with a v. nice but shorter dress, and I’ve been perfectly comfortable. Meh?

      1. “Black Tie Optional” means wearing black tie (i.e., renting a tuxedo) is optional, and if you don’t a step down from black tie (a dark suit) is okay. In some places, that means everyone will be in black tie and long dresses anyway, and in some places, it means everyone will be in dark suits and short dresses. Sometimes it means what it is supposed to mean; that some of the guests wear black tie and some don’t.

         1. This is why I personally think “black tie optional” is stupid. The attire is supposed to tell people how to dress, not leave them guessing. Men who wear tuxedos and women who wear floor-length dresses always seem to feel/look overly dressed up when I’ve been to these events. Then again, I am also in the South.

            1. I am from New York City, and I agree with you, If it’s black tie, call it black tie. If it’s just formal, call it that.

5. I am not a fan of this jacket. Plus, it still looks like a bandage dress to me, just in jacket form.
   I like the idea of wide leg trouser with a jacket shaped like this & closely cropped, but in a different fabric.

   1. I really agree. Looks a bit trashy for work.

6. I do really like this. Would have to make sure the jacket was big enough to wear over a shirt, but it would look awesome with wide leg pants.

7. I’m not a fan of this one – it looks like a flightsuit from Battlestar Galactica.

   1. yes!! I was trying to figure out what bothered me about this outfit. Thank you for nailing it down for me :)

   2. lol that’s what I like about it! (for the weekend of course), but wouldn’t pay more than $80 for it.

   3. Well, C doesn’t often address the wardrobe concerns of the busy viper pilot …. j/k, but I do think its more than a little off, especially with all the ribbing.

   4. Love the BSG reference!

8. Whole Lotta Cash for rayon (sniff).

   1. When Kat picks polyester, people scoff because it’s not a natural fabric. Now she picks something made of a natural fabric, and people scoff anyway. Poor Kat.

      1. Indeed. Natural doesn’t necessarily mean better. And you could almost say rayon is natural, since its processed celluose.

         Besides – I’m not sure you could make the feature item today with any natural fabrics.

         1. Huh. Always thought rayon was synthetic, guess I learnt something.

            1. Well, there is a lot of processing that goes into it, but its not petroleum based the way polyester is. We actually talked about the different ways cotton gets processed to form different types of end product fabrics in a polmer/macro-molecule class I took.

9. Love this outfit – but I think it depends on having the skirt, too. Would wear it to the office with matching tights, nothing under the jacket. Rayon is a very classy fabric these days – it is not your mother’s rayon.

   But…I don’t pay this much for clothes.

10. Reporting back on the Brooks Brother’s classic pumps that were mentioned last week for $48–got mine on Friday, and they’re beautiful. They do run a tad small–I would bet that even though mine said size 9, they’re actually cut from a European size 39 mold because they were made in Italy (which is somewhere between a size 8.5 and a size 9 US). Looks like they still have a few pairs in lucky sizes 6.5 and 9.

11. Threadjack: help! my Martin skinnies from Banana Republic have shrunk (washed on delicate and then dried on Extra Low — I guess I should have line-dried) — can anyone suggest any replacements — I was wearing these pants 3 days a week. I am a 2P-4P but with relatively large hips in proportion to my waist and legs on the longer side (30-31″ inseam) so not all petite pants fit. What I liked about these: slim but not tight, stretchy material (see, big hips), body skimming rather than body-hugging and nice heavy material.

    1. Have you tried re-washing in cold water, and trying to pull/stretch them while wet? Sometimes this helps when I dry my denim made with spandex. If they really did shrink for good, I would try to exchange them, depending on what the tag said about machine drying. Good luck!

12. Is anyone trying to save up the 20% down to buy a house? Especially anyone in an expensive market? I’m on the cusp of starting the savings process and the thought of needing to have $170k+ in cash for a down payment is both terrifying and nauseating. I’m a junior associate in biglaw, and the hubby is a government attorney with a lot of student loan debt, and thus can contribute little to savings. At a VERY aggressive savings rate, bordering on ramen consumption, I can maybe get to $170k in 3 years. Maybe, and barring any job changes and other negative impacts to income. Meanwhile, I’m pushing 30 and starting to contemplate having children, which of course will affect our income and expenses. This also keeps me in biglaw longer than I might have wanted.

    How do people do this?? Please tell me it is possible.

    1. I am an associate in Biglaw Los Angeles. My advice is to not rush into buying a house. There are fantastic houses in LA (and I would assume other California markets) for rent – find the perfect one and settle in for the next several years. You’d be surprised how much cheaper it is to rent versus buy a house, even with many bedrooms and a pool.

       The home prices in Cal are not going up any time soon, and it’s quite likely they’ll actually be declining for years to come. This is what my husband and I are doing, while saving up for when that perfect house comes along.

       1. Depends on where you are. Maybe home prices are declining in Davis, but in some markets (e.g., San Francisco) they have gone up in the past year and probably will stay flat or slightly increase in the near future. So renting is a waste.

    2. How to get rid of debt and save money for a house? In the words of Dave Ramsey, “No vacations this year, Christmas is a craft, and shut up about yer birthday!!” :) The trick is to get on a written budget. Cut your expenses down to the bare necessities. In the south where I live a decent 3 bedroom home costs about $180k. We are on schedule to have at least 90k saved up for a downpayment in 3 years. My and my husband bring in about 5k a month, but our expenses are only $2200/month. We don’t have internet or cable tv. We don’t eat out. I cook quick, healthy meals every night. We paid off our car and school loans (a total of $18k) within 6 months of getting married by sticking to a budget. Take a look at last month’s credit card statement. How much of that stuff could you have done without? Dave Ramsey’s book “Total Money Makeover” really encouraged me to get debt-free and start telling my money what to do instead of wondering where it goes every month.

       1. A decent 3 bedroom home costs about $180k?

          Wow. Just wow. I’m also kind of impressed by school debt and car loan totaling $18k. Different level of daunting than Freaking Out is talking about. Same principles, yes, but completely different level of daunting.

          1. Yes, a decent 3 bedroom home costs about 180k-250k. It’s a lower cost of living. Average income around here is about 40k though.

             I had scholarships that paid for my education; unfortunately, my husband did not. But, he paid for most of his education by working a lot. He did have to get a 12k loan though. And, I paid mostly cash for my car, but I got a 6k loan.

             1. M-kay. Decent 3-bedroom in my neighborhood is about $300k – $350k. My law school debts totaled about $75k upon graduation, and that was with 2/3 covered by scholarship at a school in a low-living-cost city. It’s a big hole to dig out of, and the bottom rung on the ladder is high.

                But still much to be grateful for–I mean, I have an education and a job. It’s just daunting, so I can see where Freaking Out is coming from.

       2. Sorry, but I am one of those people who can’t get on board with this “suffer to save” mentality. I like having internet and cable at my house; that way we don’t have to go to the movies much. I like taking vacations and feel like vacations are an important part of spending time together as a family. I like making sure my son has a good Christmas, and that he has clothes and toys similar to those his peers have. I like going out to eat once or twice a week and spending time with family and friends when we do it. I like having nice clothes and looking professional. We don’t buy retail and we don’t shop recreationally. We bought a reasonably-priced house with a very traditional mortgage and even with the meltdown it’s still worth more than we owe on it.

          I am not going to put off having nice things, going places and living my life until I retire because who knows when that will be, or even if I will live that long? I am glad my husband and I went to Europe when we were still young enough to hike, walk long distances and climb steps and didn’t have to be bussed around like the old people. I don’t agree with profligate spending but miserliness doesn’t appeal to me either. I think it’s totally possible to bring in more than you pay out, have a smart and generously-funded savings plan, and still have a life where you can LIVE it without fussing over every little penny spent. To me, that’s not living, that’s slavery, just like being in debt is. There should be a happy medium for everything.

          1. I’m with you. I grew up poor. It sucked. I have no desire to voluntarily recreate the experience.

             1. I don’t think living on ramen and counting every penny is good for anyone. Enjoy your marriage and time with your husband and go travel and eat out. Once you have kids, you will need to spend a lot less time and money on yourselves. And then maybe you will regret the three years you lived miserably saving for a house.

    3. I saved it up over about 14 months, basically a year of saving and 2 bonus cycles. I set up an automatic transfer from checking to savings on every payday, and did not allow myself to dip into savings during the month. It is doable, just is a daunting number.

    4. Your husband may be able to join a credit union through his work. If so, you may be able to get a good rate with a less than 20% downpayment. I know some of the mortgages offered by my government husband’s credit union still only require 3% down.

    5. Keep in mind there are different types of savings accounts that can get you a higher interest rate, which will cut down on the time it takes you to save up the amount you want. I had an Orange savings account with ING for years, and while the interest rate varied (between 1-7%), it was still MUCH higher than my usual savings account rate (between .1-.25%). Also, have you thought about CDs/other investment tools? I don’t know a whole lot about them, but I know they’ll make your money grow faster… :-)

       1. CD’s won’t, at least right now. Interest rates are waaaay too low. However, e-trading in some mutual funds might be a better answer.

    6. There isn’t any secret. People, if they decide its worth it, do it with patience.

       1. You probably don’t have to have 20% down.

       2. Seeing three years as a long time to save for a downpayment… where are you getting this from? People save for a downpayment for a decade. A house is a big purchase. A very big purchase.

       You can have plenty of the things you want you just can’t have all of them, you can’t leave biglaw and have an expensive house in a very expensive area extremly soon.

    7. I only wish I were in a position to start saving up my down payment! I’m still in pay-off-student-loans mode, and will be for several years. I will almost certainly welcome my firstborn child into a rental home, but I doubt it will scar him/her for life :)

       1. Nope. :-) We were going to buy a house with room for kids before having kids (or at least a second bathroom?). But it didn’t work out that way–baby #1 came before he was requisitioned. And it’s been just fine. A little cozier than we had planned, but fine. And no, I don’t think he’ll be scarred for life for not having his own bathroom or having to share his nursery with the guest room.

    8. It is absolutely not necessary to pay 20% down to get a mortage, and at market rates too.

       Is a 850K house really your only option, though? If you don’t want to stay in biglaw forever (and it sounds like you don’t), do not create a lifestyle that requires that income.

    9. If you’re talking San Francisco . . . these are the only ways I’ve seen coworkers do it:
       a) Family money;
       b) Two spouses in Biglaw (who plan to stay in Biglaw);
       c) The person who bought did so after making partner; or
       d) Some combination of all of the above.

       For me — I’m happy renting. It would cost nearly $1.5 million to buy a flat similar to our apartment in the same neighborhood, and that’s just a ridiculous amount of money. So it’s not happening. I also have no interest in commuting in from as far as I would have to go from the City and County of San Francisco to get to a $500K 2BR house that wasn’t falling down.

    10. Mid-level Biglaw associate in San Francisco here, with husband working in gov’t with a lot of debt. Same situation. We bought a house this year and I am happy I did it and would never go back. Interest rates are so low now. Why do you want to put down 20 percent, other than that it’s a very responsible way to do it? I think you can get a loan while putting down only 10 percent, and that’s much more acheivable.

        1. Yes, I am in San Francisco, too. If what Amy H says is true, then what applies to us is (e) none of the above. No family money, not both in biglaw, and partnership is a distant light down the tunnel with an obstacle course in between. I guess I thought with the implosion of the housing market, the only kind of mortgage available these days was the 20% down 30-year traditional mortgage. But a 20% down in San Francisco is enough to buy a house outright in other places in the country. For those of you living elsewhere, yes, you really do need around $850k for a small 3-br/2-ba house if you want to live in a relatively safe/nice area. The most popular family neighborhoods require at least $1m for a single family home. It doesn’t help that a chunk of this small city is taken up by spectacular mansions that only the most wealthy could afford.

           Congratulations to Anonymous @4:33 who somehow managed to pull it off! That’s very inspiring.

           1. I am 4:33 anonymous. I had a few things going for me that were not identified by Amy H. (I also am a “none of the above.”) I saved money for a few years before law school and invested it in stocks, which I liquidated to buy the house, so I had about 30K in cash. I also got a clerkship bonus when I started at BigLaw which, after taxes, was somewhere in the 18K ballpark. That put me at 48K going in. I saved like crazy my first 2 years at the firm–all bonuses went straight to the bank and a set amount of each paycheck went to the bank. I did not suffer–we still took vacations and went out to dinner and I bought some nice pieces of clothing. But I was very frugal about other things–no car, no cable, no expensive gym membership–and I cobbled together enough for the down payment on a house in the 900K range. I was setting aside something like 3K a month.

              It really is possible. I do not think you even need to put down 20 percent right now if you have great credit and proof of stable income. You also should think about whether you need a 30 year fixed mortgage. That is what I got, but I am considering refinancing to a 10-year ARM. ARMs are dangerous, yes, but only if you think you will be underwater in 10 years. I just don’t think that will happen in the SF market, which seems like it will stay flat.

              I have friends who bought great houses in North Berkeley for 600K or so. I wanted to be in the city, so we pay a big premium. And yes, all of you out of towners, it really is true! I shopped aggressively to find a little 1200 square foot single family home for 900K!

13. maybe consider a less expensive house? I know its difficult in many parts of CA, but $850K?

    1. Also – consider paying off all the student loans first, before buying. Clear one debt load before you take on another.

       What’s the rush to buy? Especially so expensive?

       1. This is bad advice. Student loan debt, especially with non-private loans, is considered good debt. If you consolidated and your interest rate is low–around 4 or 5 percent–then paying off your loans all at once is not financially wise.

    2. completely agree, a house that expensive (even if you had the 170k down) would almost REQUIRE you to stay in biglaw. Someone once gave me this advice and I think it’s words to live by: get a mortgage you can afford to pay on one of your salaries (after all other necessary expenses). I’m in a big city where a 1.5br condo could cost you $500k easy, so I know all about expensive — but I recommend you look at other communities in your city. yes it will involve longer commuting time, but you will be much less constrained and would be able to buy faster.

       If your husband has lots of debt that is higher than 4% interest rate, you should consider aggressively paying off his debt first. And if you’re really intent on buying a house soon, make sure you are not paying too much in rent. So many newly-minted biglaw lawyers I know are paying double what I pay in rent to have a shorter commute (or sometimes just as far of a commute, but a nicer apartment) … this adds up to over $15k a year I’m saving and they’re paying to live …

       1. If you buy a house at 850K and put down 85K, your monthly mortgage payment will be something like $3,600 for a 30-year fixed. I do not think that requires you to stay in BigLaw forever. It requires you to be able to allocate about $4,200 a month to mortgage and property taxes–much of which you will get back in the form of tax breaks. A Biglaw associate should be able to do this AND save money on the side, and then that savings will be a good cushion to subsidize her payments if she leaves BigLaw. She can’t leave for a $40K/year public interest job, but even having two government salaries from her and her husband–a total combined income of somewhere in the $180K range–would be able to sustain the costs.

    3. My home city is Sydney, and there’s a frightening amount of housing stock that costs closer to a million than half that – my personal response is to consider never buying there…something to regret, perhaps, but my risk-o-meter can’t cope with that sort of mortgage, or more pertintently, the life choices I’d have to make to keep paying off that sort of mortgage.

14. Anon, I never said we lived on ramen. I love to cook and we eat a lot healthier than most americans. Being wise with your money does not mean being miserly. We give over 10% of our incomes to our church, we budget for gifts for family and friends, we do a lot of stuff, but the point is we know where our money is going and have a plan for our financial future. Every successful business has a budget and a plan. We are anything but miserable. I’m 22, a licensed CPA. I have a great husband. Just because we choose not to sit in front of a tv for every night does not make us miserable.

    1. Oh, of course. You’re 22, so obviously you have all the answers, for everyone, all the time.
       I miss those days.

    2. I owned a home at 21. I was certainly not miserable, but I did not have much extra money to travel or have many luxuries. I realized when I was 25 that I needed to have a little more flexibility at that stage of my life and ended up selling. The reality is that this rush to buy is what got us into the economic situation we’re in now. Not everyone is in a position to buy- be it because it doesn’t make sense financially, because they need more flexibility to be able to switch jobs (which seems like the case for the OP), or for a variety of other reasons. Many people are now realizing they can rent comparable properties for much less than they’d have to pay to buy it. Just because you don’t own a home doesn’t mean you have to be stuck in a one-bedroom hovel. There are plenty of nice homes out there for rent.

15. Black tie optional means your host would prefer you to wear black tie, but is acknowledging some people may not have access to those items/be able to afford to purchase appropriate items/understand the dress code correctly. Personally, given my understanding of that, I would always turn up in black tie as my host has expressed that preference, I would feel rude otherwise, but YMMV.

16. You rent for several years, in a place that is somewhat below your budget. You save the difference. You then buy a starter house. You fix it up and sell it for more. You buy a bigger better house. Etc. The “dream house” will be about house # 4 and you will arive there after 20-25 years. You will really appreciate it.

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