Sponsored: Ann Taylor’s Fall Collection

31 Comments

1. Yay, Kat, you know me b/c I LOVE Ann Taylor! The manageing partner has put a 3 week moratorium on my purchaseing. He say’s I need to wait until the after LABOR DAY sale’s to kick in. FOOEY b/c men stare at me with my new clotheing! Even Noah was looking at my boobie’s over the weekend. I need to convince him to MARRY me. Is the hive abel to share any trick’s here to get the guy to MARRY me? I am getting to old for the dateing stuff. I think I just need a HUSBAND. YAY!!!!

   1. If Noah is already looking at your breasts, show them off a bit more (all in the name of medical science), and he will probably go for more. Before you know it, he will marry you, you will have a house in the suburbs, and you’ll be car-pooling 2 or 3 of your own rugrats to summer day camp in a few years. Good luck, Ellen! We’re rooting for you!

2. I really wish Ann Taylor would make more in the way of tall dresses or make their hemlines more decent on their regular dresses. None of the dresses featured here are available in tall sizes. Their tall dresses are a separate collection that aren’t as stylish and don’t fit as well (think like what J. Crew Factory is to J. Crew). I’ve never tried on an Ann Taylor regular size dress that wasn’t indecently short on me. I find their regular size dresses to be shorter than a lot of other brands, including The Limited, which is frustrating to me because Ann Taylor is geared towards working adult women in their 30s and up, whereas The Limited’s audience includes teenagers and college students.
   Every year I see their beautiful collection online or in a magazine and I get my hopes and go into the store and every single year I’m disappointed.

   1. I agree on the hemlines. I’m just under 5’7″ and find the dresses much too short for work.

      1. +2. I’m the same height and everything I’ve tried on recently is at least 2-3 inches too short. Even if the dress came in tall sizes, the rest of the proportions would be off.

   2. I came to this post to say exactly this: the regular dresses are way too short, and I’m ony 5’5. And, there isn’t enough material on the bottom to pull out the hem, which is even more annoying.

      For those looking for dresses with a bit more hem length, I’ve had really good luck with Maggy London, Boden (tall, but sometimes regular works too), Tahari ASL, and sometimes Eliza J dresses. Also, Nordstrom and Boden are great about posting hemline lengths so you always know how long a dress will be.

      1. I agree – I have several AT dresses from prior years, and the hemlines were better. Just another 2 inches would be perfect! I’ve had good luck with WHBM, although a lot of their dresses have too much bling for my office.

   3. I really want to wear Ann Taylor, I love so many of their things, but whoever does the button placement on their shirts has obviously never dressed anyone larger than a B cup. Anything I buy from them the buttons fall completely wrong. like in that if they just placed this button 1/2 an inch up or down it would be perfect, but no. I only seem to have this problem with their tops, and yet I don’t learn and end up ordering them anyway. Sigh.

      1. Oh god, AMEN.

3. PSA-Wait until there is a sale. Ann Taylor regularly has 30-40% off sales. I never buy anything full price from them.

4. Gosh, I like (almost) everything featured! The main exception is that cropped sweater. I just wish they would make their maternity clothes so fashionable and work appropriate!

   1. +1 I LOVE everything. Looks like I’m going to have to make an AT trip soon!

5. I’m actually wearing the tweed suit featured above right now. It’s ridiculously comfortable and I still feel stylish. I wanted to wait until it went on sale but I tried it on and loved it.

   As far as fit, it’s got some give to it, it’s slightly stretchy. I went a size down in the jacket and a size up in the skirt. The skirt is an appropriate, slightly longer length on my 5′ 7″ frame.

   I highly recommend it if you’re looking for an interesting suit but still slightly conservative.

6. Three of my in-laws are coming for the week of Thanksgiving, and I’d welcome any advice you have. I live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in D.C. with my husband. They will be staying in a hotel. Do you have any suggestions for festive things to do together? I’d also appreciate tips on how to handle in-law visits. They are very energetic people. They usually love to have their schedules packed from morning to night, while I am more laid back. I like to do one or two things a day and have time to myself (which won’t be happening during their visit, so I’m trying to prepare mentally for this). Also, I’m worried about the preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. I love to cook, but am worried that my mother-in-law will want to direct everything. Last Christmas, we spent a day baking cookies at her home, and my mother-in-law was totally in charge of every little step and ended up getting in an argument with my brother-in-law because he started doing “her part” of the process. I’m just worried we’ll all be stuck in a tiny space with too many people trying to take the lead in cooking on Thanksgiving. Since this is my home, I’d like to play hostess, but she may have other ideas. I’d love to hear what you all think.

   1. DC is a great city for hosting guests because you can just hand them a stack of brochures for museums and go back to sleep.

      For dinner – what if you had things prepared in advance and had a schedule of when things go into the oven? Then it’s not you – it’s the printout from Martha Stewart dictating the kitchen.

   2. This definitely won’t work for everyone, but can you book something for her to do (i.e., a spa treatment, a walking tour, etc.) while you’re cooking?

      Option 2 is what I do: assign her one specific item (dessert is good) and then make/prep everything else ahead of time. I had hyper-controlling relative show up and the turkey was already brining, stuffing was prepped and in the fridge, baked mashed potato recipe was queued up, carrots were prepped, etc. (Caveat- if they’re showing up more than 48 hours before the meal, I’m not sure that this works.)

      I like to prep everything the day before so the day of, all I have to do is heat sides and roast the turkey. I get frozen apps from the grocery store, make them (a toaster oven actually works great for this!), put out a nice cheese plate and pour many, many glasses of wine. I’ll tell ya- two glasses of a nice white and my controlling relative was sitting on a stool chatting and confessing that she was thrilled to not be cooking for once.

   3. Depends on your relationship with her, but if this were me, I would lay down the law. Your kitchen is too small to have several people cooking at once, and if the person hosting Thanksgiving wants to cook, they get to do that. Can you email her in advance and just tell her that because your kitchen is so small and you’re exicted to host, you’re happy to be in charge of cooking and just let everyone else relax? Tell her you’ve already planned the menu, and so forth.

      Also, make some dishes the day before while they’re out sight-seeing. That way there’s not even the option for her to try to take over.

      1. I agree with everything here but the method of communication. E-mail is tricky. Get on the phone after he calls his folks. Chat a bit about travel plans, say what you want to about cooking, chat a little more about Day-After-Thanksgiving plans.

   4. Why don’t you send them out to do stuff while you cook. Insist that they are your guests and cannot lift a finger. Then you get alone time and your cooking is not micromanaged.

   5. Wild idea: Can your husband be in charge of the kitchen? That way his family is his problem?

   6. This is timely! I live in NYC in a tiny apartment and my in-laws announced that they were coming for Thanksgiving, then cancelled, and just this past weekend decided that NYC Thanksgiving is “on” again. DH one of four children, so if the parents come, the siblings and their SOs will all likely be in tow. The silver lining is that they will be staying in a hotel).

      It is difficult because we always go to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving. I am from here and would love to actually spend the holiday with “my” family if we are going to be in the area. If the in-laws come, I do not have space for my (large) family and an additional 10 people. I toyed with the idea of bringing them all along to my mom’s or my aunt’s house, but that is a lot to impose in these tight spaces. (“Hi! I know you are hosting 25 people today, but mind if I bring 10 more?).

      Bonus = my in-laws are the people who come to my apartment and criticize everything (“There is not enough light in here! Your cabinets are crooked!”) Not looking forward to having the whole gang in my apartment while DH and I cook a meal when I will be disappointed about “missing out” on my own family’s Thanksgiving only a few miles away. I will definitely be using these kitchen suggestions, though!

7. I know this is late, but does anyone have experience with AT shoes? I’m eyeing the tortoise flats.

   1. They used to be great, but have declined in quality (like everything else at AT). Still not bad for the price, though. I find they run very slightly large, but not quite enough to size down.

   2. Agree with SW – I used to love them. I have a pair of seal gray heels that I wore into the ground, and then searched out again on eBay. But the quality has declined. The leather used to be more buttery and soft. They feel stiffer now and not in a good way, but a cheaper way. Still awfully cute, but I think of them more like “fun” shoes than my wardrobe workhorses.

   3. Agreed. Quality is not worth the price unless it’s a bottom of the barrel sale where you get them for $19.99. I like Banana shoes more, and the price point is similar. Pretty sure my AT heels are going to have the heel rip off sooner than later (bought them in December, and I honestly don’t wear red suede shoes all that often… so it’s not from over use!).

8. I used to live in Anne Taylor, but recently the quality has gone terribly downhill. Beautiful looks, but thin shirts that look cheap on, skirts that shrink 3 inches after 1 wash have ruined AT for me.

   Banana’s quality has remained pretty high to me, but I also now turn to Talbot and White House Black Market.

   http://Www.yousaucyminx.com

9. I wouldn’t wear a keyhole neckline under a suit jacket. Also, I yearn for the olden days when I could get a silk shell at AT. Now it’s all polyester but for natural fabric prices!

10. I’ve been watching that keyhole blouse in blush, but I like the wine color as well. On my definite list (assuming that they fit well and are as cute as I hope): black turtleneck dress (I’ve been looking for one for forever!), cream moto jacket, and high-waisted blue trousers. I wish they had some higher waisted tweed trousers – that would be great with the cream moto. I’m thinking about the tweed skirt, or the zip tweed that you showed. I also really like the black ankle boots that they show in the ad with the turtleneck dress. They’d be great as shown or with dress pants.

    I love seeing non-silk blouses at AT. I wear my silk blouses infrequently because I’m worried about cleaning, staining, and sweating. For some reason, I always sweat in silk, but in the blends, I’m fine.

    I’m not a fan of crop tops – not even in the sweater – although the Ann sweaters are back to full length sleeves, so I’ll probably pick one up when they go on sale. With AT’s sales all of the time, who pays full price?

    I’m not a fan of AT suits – the jackets are too short and too trendy, and I haven’t seen any suits or jackets (or dresses for that matter) that I’m intrigued with. I like the new fall line, but they need to fix a few things – like the hemlines on dresses, more washable dresses & skirts, and better fitted jackets with some heft. For the price, the quality has dropped on a lot of things, so I find it’s hit or miss with AT. Still, some of the pieces I love enough to drag myself to the mall.

11. I really like the midi skirt, but clicked through and the slit goes way too high for me. I’d feel scandalous in it at work. Too bad. I love the JCrew Telegraph pencil skirts for this look, but they’re pricier (and suiting material wool).

12. This is just great, ah how i love business fashion :)

13. over the last few years Ann taylor hems keep falling undone. I think the quality has really gone downhill.

    Also I just ordered something from their 60% off sale but I found out 3 days later the item was sold out even though I was charged. So they returned the money.

    I would figure Ann Taylor would keep their website very up to the minute. It’s not like it’s the SAKS sale.

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