I had a good day today. Fun with my Mom. I got a black dress, pumps with a strap to go with it, a coral tshirt, black cami, new underwear and some makeup and a day creme.

Where did I get that notion about brown? I'm having a far easier time accessorising that olive suit than finding a new brown one. Some of those muddy jewel tones are gorgeous ... bronze, berry-wine, ruby ...
There is tons of black and delicious greys out there. I guess that's for the emeralds, purples ... beautiful. You almost have to make a few trips and just scout what's available.

Mel makes me a bit jealous. I'm not much of a sewer, alterations scare me but, I guess, what's the worst that could happen?

Ok, must be the influence of this thread - since it was thunderstorming, I couldn't go for my scheduled run tonight (I promise to do my yoga instead like a good 3FC'er) and decided to stop by Marshall's on the way home. I bought myself a new leather Tahari jacket (the jackets in my closet are ridiculously large on me now, so it was a necessity - really, really it was) for $125 - it fits beautifully and I couldn't resist. Also a pair of grey pinstripe pants and a nice fall sweater in a size SMALL, who me, in a small???

details Rachel ... what colour is the jacket? what colour is the sweater? that small sweater

what do you call ruching if it runs up and down?

OK ... how about like this. But not chiffon and no sleeve things.
http://www.overstock.com/Apparel/Con...cid=99405&fp=F

The leather jacket is your basic black, hits about mid thigh and has a nice band across the waist (emphasizing the smallest part of my figure, as Stacy and Clinton would note if I were on What not to Wear - how much fun would it be to take the money they give away each week for a shopping spree). Nice leather too - it has that buttery feel to it, so I'm very pleased.

And as to that fabulous size small (!) sweater, it's royal blue which I am always drawn to. I have a bit of a mediterranean cast to my complexion, so I gravitate to bold colors or jewel tones. It has a "faux" white shirt collar and french cuffs sewn in.

As to what ruching is called when it runs up and down - well heck, I'd call it vertical ruching! (but I was never great with the fashion vocabulary)

Royal blue is amazing with the blacks and greys right now. You made some great choices, Rachel.

Susan - thanks for posting the link to the Pantone colors of the season. It was fun to look at.

The Overstock dress you posted is terrific. Did you order it?

No, I bought one in Winners ... cheaper I was trying to find something to show you guys. It's close.

I had a face-to-face encounter with the dilemma of a genuinely small person trying to find clothes that fit yesterday. What a frustration that is, thanks to vanity sizing!

My sister is visiting and she's 5' 6" but is small-boned and tiny (she has a totally different set of genes than I do, apparently!) She's a runner but isn't by any means too thin and certainly doesn't have eating disorders.

We decided to go shopping to look for a dress for her to wear to my DD's wedding. Petites aren't cut right for her because of her height -- their waists are in the wrong place and sleeves are too short -- but a regular size 4 is enormous on her. There were no 2's or even 2 petites in the store in fancy dresses. We found the perfect dress and went on-line to see if it's even made in a 2 so we could order it, but nope, 4 is the smallest size.

So her choice is to buy a dress that's too big and have it taken in or keep hunting for an elusive 2 or 0 in a dressy dress. She says she has this problem with everything she buys. She has a closet full of clothes that are too big! I told her she's got to make friends with a seamstress.

But how crazy is it that a small but normal-sized woman can't buy clothes to fit? It's harder for her to buy clothes than it was for me when I wore a size 22! I don't know why the range of sizes wouldn't include someone like her in the small sizes and me in the medium sizes (where I belong) instead of making me the small.

Heh my best friend is 4'11" and weighs around 110 lbs, she is a size 2 petite, sometimes 0 petite. She is TINY and finding clothes that fit is a nightmare for her. They are too long in the waist, too long in the arms. Whenever she finds something that fits well, buys it! She loves Banana Republic Petite and Nordstrom's, because they tailor for free.

My SIL, who is 5' if she stretches and probably weighs about 105-110 haunts high-end consignment shops, and gets great stuff for lower prices. She's a relator so needs to dress on the high end of business casual. Of course, she lives in a suburb of Boston, so the choices are better than if you live further out, but still.... In fact, when I visited my friend in Dallas in March, she took me to one and I got great bargains, including some Liz Claiborne black capris for like $10. Fortunately/unfortunately they are now too big and are going to the thrift store as soon as they come out of the wash. At least I won't have to find another pair til next spring - and who knows what size I'll need then?

I had a shot at putting it all together last night. We had a 'Buck and Doe' to go to. Comprenez?
The pinstripe suit jacket, a kelly green cami and dark trouser jeans ... and hiiigh heels. My friend's daughter told me I looked gorgeous! Felt good to put seperates together like that.
BTW ... both the jacket and jeans had to be tailored.

This is more summer shopping, but bear with me. We haven't really had much nice weather here this summer so the need to wear shorts hasn't really arisen (other than running shorts, obviously ). I've just been to italy for a few days and realised when I was packing that my old shorts from last year are too big, so I decided to see what I could find in the sales.

I ended up in Gap and found a pair that looked like they should fit me - but the label said that they were a US4 (UK8). If that isn't vanity sizing, I don't know what is, there is no way on earth I'm that small, but they fit me perfectly. I'm not getting too hung up on the number, but it still freaks me out a bit when I see it!

I haven't participated in shopping lately because I'm at a standstill, but I'm hoping to end that standstill.

I recently bought 2 pairs of pants at... Costco.. Size 16 short. I was amazed that they had short length and they fit pretty well except they are a bit too snug. A few more lbs down and they should stop looking like they are glued to my thighs.

What I'm really going to need soon is a jacket or coat for winter. I bought a snug wool coat after winter on sale but it is already too big on me. My lightweight jacket is too big on me and all other jackets are swimming on me....