This month marks one year that I’ve been trying out the Stitch Fix* service. I’m a happy customer! Yesterday, my 9th box arrived, just in time for a Fashion Friday! I was very excited to see what warm weather pieces awaited me.

Box #9

Before I review them, if you’d like to read previous reviews, you can check them out here:

Stitch Fix Review #1

Stitch Fix Review #2

Stitch Fix Review #3

Stitch Fix Review #4

Stitch Fix Review #5

Stitch Fix Review #6

Stitch Fix Review #7

Stitch Fix Review #8

I think my experience over the past year with Stitch Fix has helped me hone my sense of what I define as a “keeper.” I’ve become a little more clear about what pieces I definitely want to send back, and I also think I’m doing my own shopping with a keener eye. I’ve noticed that I’m willing to try new and different pieces more than I used to be. Yay for getting out of my fashion rut!

My Fix this time was mostly easy to make decisions about, but I do have one piece I want your input on. Let’s start, though, with the things I’ve already made up my mind about.

at first glance

When I opened the box, I had mixed feelings. The top piece was the exact same colors as a piece I sent back last time, a dress that I didn’t like for several reasons, color combination being one of them. I love navy, but salmon isn’t my friend (not to mention it gives me an 80s vibe that I can’t quite get over). I tried to maintain an open mind, though, because I noted that the piece was made by 41Hawthorn, which is the brand of many of my very favorite Stitch Fix pieces over the last several months.

Franklin Striped Side Gathered Short Sleeve Shirt

It’s kind of cute, but I’m not loving it. If it were just navy and white, or if the salmon were another color (kelly green! true red!) I might’ve been more enthused about it. Verdict: return.

I was really excited to see a pair of skinny jeans in the box. As you might recall, I’ve been wanting some skinny jeans, and Stitch Fix has sent me two pairs so far. In both cases, though, they didn’t work out. The first pair was a bit small and they cost far more than I was willing to pay; the second pair was cute and well-priced, but they were too large. I had high hopes for the pair I was sent this time. Plus, they were white! I love white pants and jeans for summer, and the truth is I’ve been wanting a pair of white jeans ever since my last pair wore out a few years ago.

Vinny Ankle Length Colored Skinny Jean, by Liverpool

But it turns out that “skinny” is a misnomer. These aren’t really skinny jeans at all. They are just regular ankle-length jeans, and not particularly flattering. I honestly can’t figure out why they’re called “skinny” jeans – there’s no real stretch to them, and they aren’t shaped liked skinnies at all. Also, they are too big:

Bummer! As you can see, my kitty is equally unimpressed. I guess I’ll have to keep hunting for the perfect pair of skinny jeans. Verdict: return.

The next piece was a no-brainer:

Reanne Cap Sleeve Polka Dot Dress, by Collective Concepts

I was happy to see a dress in the box, and the print is very cute (love me some polka dots!). It was also VERY nice to get something with cap sleeves, instead of sleeveless; the cap sleeves completely covers my tattoo without making my arms look like sausages. However, this dress is entirely too short for me to get any wear out of at all. I would never wear it to work and I have things I like better for going out. This seems like a dress that would like great on someone half my age, but not me. Verdict: return.

The next piece had me from the word “go.” The color alone had me hooked.

Abrianna Longsleeve Knit Cardigan, by 41Hawthorn

It’s called “light blue,” but I call this “beach glass,” and I adore it. Absolutely one of my all-time favorite colors for spring. The cardi is long and it’s long-sleeved, but it is super-lightweight, almost sheer, so I think it will be perfect for work, even in warm weather.

I absolutely adore it, and while I think it is totally my style, I don’t have anything else in my closet like it. Win! Notice, too, that it’s also made by 41Hawthorn – wish this was a brand I could get my hand on directly, because I clearly love their style. Verdict: keep, keep, KEEP.

So those four pieces were all very easy decisions for me. The last one, I’m on the fence about.

Roma Cowl Neck Jersey Knit Top, by Market and Spruce

I have come to adore wearing jersey tops and dresses, thanks to Stitch Fix. And this color, labeled as “Soft Orange” but which I think of as peach, isn’t like anything else I own. The neckline is interesting but wearable, and I could see wearing this for work as well as out. But is it flattering?

I’m not entirely sure. My inclination is to keep it, but I’d love more objective opinions. I could see pairing it with a white pencil skirt and heels for work, or with dark skinny jeans for going out. Maybe a fun colorful necklace for some pop.

love this color

In looking at these pictures, it comes across as too tight in the bust, though it didn’t seem like that in person, and it definitely didn’t feel like it. It’s a thin, drape-y material that I might be able to arrange in a way that looks a little less snug. At any rate, I’m interested in input. (Though, as always, I reserve the right to do whatever I want!)

Okay, y’all, verdict is in. After considering feedback here, on Facebook, and on Instagram, I tried the top on again and played around with the styling. No matter what I did, it wants to cling through the bust (even when adjusted to put extra amounts of the drapey fabric there it still has those dreaded horizontal lines). I bummed out, because I love the fabric and the color, and I’m always looking for another top for work, but this isn’t it. I’ll have to look for something else in this color. Verdict: return. Thanks for the input!

Stitch Fix #9

So, that’s Stitch Fix #9. I remain a happy customer! I may take a bit of a break- I don’t feel I need more summer pieces right now – and come back to it in the fall. In the meantime, I’m excited to break out some of my first Stitch Fix pieces from last May and June. The weather has finally turned beautiful here, and I’m so happy to be able to wear warm-weather clothes at last!

*Stitch Fix is a personal shopping/styling service – you fill out a style questionnaire on their site so that they get a sense of your “style profile.” Then you pay a $20 “styling fee” and they hand-pick five items for you, based on your preferences. They ship the box to you, you try everything on, and then you select what, if anything, you want to keep; the $20 styling fee goes toward the cost of anything you choose. If you don’t want to keep anything, you ship everything back in the package provided (they keep the $20 styling fee). If you decide to keep everything, you get a 25% discount (minus the $20 you already paid them). I do not receive any compensation from them for reviewing my experience with them.

But I *do* get a credit towards my next Fix if you schedule a Fix for yourself via my referral link: here. If you have questions about how it works, you can see their FAQ here – and I am more than happy to answer any questions based on my experience, too.

My eighth Stitch Fix* box arrived on Wednesday night, just as I was leaving for a meeting. I tore into it anyway, just to get a glimpse of what awaited me when I got home, and I liked what I saw. I’ve been trying this service out for nearly a year now, and I never fail to get excited when that box arrives!

So now here we are, at my eighth Stitch Fix review. If you’d like to read previous reviews, you can check them out here:

Stitch Fix Review #1

Stitch Fix Review #2

Stitch Fix Review #3

Stitch Fix Review #4

Stitch Fix Review #5

Stitch Fix Review #6

Stitch Fix Review #7

In some ways, this box was easy, because sizing and pricing made some of my decisions for me. Actually, regarding pricing, I have to say I was overall super-happy with the pricing in this box. I found the prices very reasonable for most of the pieces I received; the best total price I think I’ve seen (or close to it).

I was most excited to see that I’d been sent another pair of skinny jeans. Last fall, I got some skinny jeans that I fell in love with, but they were both too tight and too spendy. This time, the price was perfect, but the fit was too loose. This isn’t a problem I’ve ever had with Stitch Fix pieces, as the opposite has tended to be the case, even though everything I’ve been sent has been technically my size. Anyway, I love the jeans they sent, but they’re too big in the waist.

I’m obviously not even sucking my stomach in (the way I would normally do if I were showing you a shot of my tummy), and there’s still too much of a gap there, especially for skinny jeans. They’re also a little baggy in places in the legs. The price is so right, though, so it’s a real shame. However! I think I have located these jeans, or some that are very similar, online elsewhere – the first time I’ve successfully done this with a Stitch Fix piece – so it looks like I’m going to be able to try these one size down. I’ll report back!

The next piece had the opposite problem – too small!

polka-dots!

(You can also see in this picture how baggy the jeans are in a few places – wouldn’t be a problem for normal jeans, but not the right look for skinny jeans). I love these polka dots, but the top is overall a bit small and the sleeves in particular are too tight for comfort. I don’t know if you can tell, but there are two zippers on the front (outlined in red) – a cute idea, but unless they are unzipped (which I would never, ever do), they create some weird lumps because of the stiffness of the zippers.

The next piece I would’ve kept, except for the price.

silver necklace

This is very much my style, and I think it’s really cute. But it’s $48, and it just doesn’t seem worth that to me. I know I always sound cheap about jewelry, but I’m just really particular about what I spend my money on in that department.

So those three pieces were easy to decide about. The next one I was initially on the fence about. It’s a 3/4-sleeve navy cardigan, and I totally love it, but I was afraid that it, too, was too tight.

navy cardi

It seemed the buttons were straining a bit – and that’s a look I really dislike. However, the more I have tried it on, the less it has done that, because the sweater is stretchy. I tried it on first without anything else on under it (since I was afraid that something under it would make the buttons strain even more).

But then I paired it with a dress I received in my very first Fix:

with chili pepper red dress

And YES, this is a definite keeper. This cardigan makes this sleeveless, plunging neck dress totally work appropriate, don’t you think?

I like the cardi open, too (though not for work when paired with this dress):

with cardi open

I think it’s going to be a perfect layering piece for spring and summer, plus it’s only $38. Perfect! Yay!

So that’s three I’m sending back, one I’m definitely keeping, and one more I’m on the fence about. It’s this lightweight sweater:

I love the feel of it – it’s very lightweight and soft, a nice transitional piece (which I am always in need of at this time of year). The teal is very pretty (up close, it’s actually blue, white, and yellow):

The lighting is off in this photo, but it gives you an idea of the stitching. The seams along the edge of the sleeves and the body are raised, and I like the cabled raglan detail as well.

I’m just not sure it’s all that flattering, and I try really hard not to buy things unless I’m going to feel great in them. So it’s a tough call, and I know it’s hard to tell much from the pictures, but if anyone has any opinions about it, I’m interested. Especially if you have ideas about styling. I could just consider it Saturday knock-around-the-house wear, but it’s a bit pricey for that – I only want to keep it if it’s something I would wear, to work or elsewhere.

Stitch Fix #8

*Stitch Fix is a personal shopping/styling service – you fill out a style questionnaire on their site so that they get a sense of your “style profile.” Then you pay a $20 “styling fee” and they hand-pick five items for you, based on your preferences. They ship the box to you, you try everything on, and then you select what, if anything, you want to keep; the $20 styling fee goes toward the cost of anything you choose. If you don’t want to keep anything, you ship everything back in the package provided (they keep the $20 styling fee). If you decide to keep everything, you get a 25% discount (minus the $20 you already paid them). I do not receive any compensation from them for reviewing my experience with them.

But I *do* get a credit towards my next Fix if you schedule a Fix for yourself via my referral link: here. If you have questions about how it works, you can see their FAQ here – and I am more than happy to answer any questions based on my experience, too.

Last night, I was happily surprised to come home to a Stitch Fix* box at my door. I say “surprised,” because I didn’t get a shipping notice this time so wasn’t quite sure when it would be on its way. But there it was, and I was thrilled. So now here we are, at my seventh Stitch Fix review. If you’d like to read previous reviews, you can check them out here:

Stitch Fix Review #1

Stitch Fix Review #2

Stitch Fix Review #3

Stitch Fix Review #4

Stitch Fix Review #5

Stitch Fix Review #6

Since my last review (in early January), I’ve gotten good wear out of the two pieces I kept from that Fix. In fact, I wore the red-and-black striped shirt from that Fix just this week, and was totally amused when Little Buddha came walking out of his room in his favorite shirt – also red-and-black striped.

mother-son matchy-matchy

Fun!

Anyway, before I show you what I got, a couple of caveats. First, I don’t know WHAT is going on with my hair. Please try to ignore it and don’t tell my mom I posted pictures of myself all over the internet with my hair looking like a rat’s nest. Secondly, there’s such a huge difference in the quality of pics when I take them with my real camera (instead of with my iPhone), that I really want to make that my habit. However, I also wanted to get this review posted today, and loading pictures from my camera to my computer has become a real trial (I really need to get the 40,000 pictures from iPhoto off my hard drive) and I couldn’t have done that and gotten this review posted today. So please excuse the low-rent nature of the photos. And, as always, also excuse the mess of my bedroom and my smudgy mirror – but please to note that I did finally change the battery in my smoke alarm and close the cover!

All right, without further ado, my review.

First up, a chevron print dress. My stylist this time actually noted that she had looked at my Pinterest board and seen that I liked printed dresses. That’s the first confirmation I’ve gotten that my stylists were checking out my Pinterest – how cool! – so I better get to updating it.  At any rate, I wasn’t sure about the dress before I tried it on – the light orange and dark blue weren’t really ringing my bell – but I tried to have an open mind.

chevron print dress

But no, it’s not for me. It’s just not a flattering cut for me at all – too blousy and billowy, especially up top. My Old Man said it looked “matronly.” I actually thought the opposite – I could see a much younger person, with more of a waif-like figure, pulling this off. It has an 80s vibe that might work for someone who didn’t actually live through the 80s.

While I had the dress on, I went ahead and tried on the cute little denim jacket they sent:

denim jacket

As you can see, it’s far too small. But I wouldn’t have kept it anyway, as I just bought a very similar denim jacket from Eddie Bauer just last spring (one that fits!). I’m glad to know that my jacket will still be on trend! My Old Man also noted that the dress looked much better with the jacket on, because it covers up the problematic parts of it (the blousy top part, the billowy part right under the belt).

Up next was this jersey top from 41Hawthorn. I’ve had good success with this line in the past (if I remember correctly, a jersey top I kept from my very first Fix was also this brand), and I was immediately in love with this deep teal (it reads in this pic as blue, but it’s more of a teal).

Milano Twist-Front Crew-Neck Top

(forgive that big smudge in the mirror – it’s more of a scratch and I can’t get it to come off)

I LOVE this top!! I have nothing else like it. Love the neckline, love the fit, love the color, love that it’s jersey. This is going to be perfect for work, and will go great under jackets or with a belt on top of it.

It’s just my style without being like anything else I already own. Definite keeper.

Next up was a dark grey a-line skirt. I haven’t had great luck with Stitch Fix skirts in the past – I haven’t kept any I’ve been sent. As someone who has sewn a lot of skirts for myself, I have high standards for store-bought skirts. Skirts are the easiest thing to make, and can be quite inexpensive, even with very nice material. So spending $60 or $70 on flimsy skirts made out of t-shirt cotton isn’t something I will ever do. If I wanted a flimsy skirt, I could make one myself for less than $10. So I was VERY pleasantly surprised to receive this:

Jordanne A-Line Skirt

It’s simple but perfect. The material is on the heavy side without being stiff at all – it’s perfect for winter (and fall).

side view

This isn’t a great picture, but I’m trying to show the nice waist band and perfectly spaced darts. The way I’m standing makes the skirt look lumpy, but it’s not. It lays perfectly flat around the waist, and it fits great. It will work with a blouse tucked-in or a top on the outside. It’s my ideal length and I adore how it looks with my boots.

I love this skirt so hard and it fills a hole in my wardrobe – I have all kinds of black skirts of various lengths and styles for winter, but nothing grey (surprisingly) and nothing of this particular material. Love it. Keeping it.

The fifth piece I got was a pair of earrings:

mesh triangle earrings

(Not sure why they’re called “triangle” earrings)

Another pleasant surprise. I love these earrings! They show up so great, even in my crazy tangle of hair, and I love that they are silver, which will go with almost every other piece of jewelry I wear. And they were only $28, significantly cheaper than the last pair of earrings Stitch Fix sent me (which I nevertheless kept and have been in heavy rotation ever since). In fact, the prices of everything in my box were very reasonable. Yay! Totally keeping this earrings and can’t wait to wear them.

So in the end, I am keeping THREE items from this box – that’s the most I’ve kept so far. And I’m super-happy that everything I’m keeping is stuff I can wear for work.

Great Fix!

I’m so super-pleased with this Fix, and, as usual, I will be scheduling my next Fix as soon as I can. Thank you to Megan, my stylist this time, and to all the folks at Stitch Fix for making this so fun! And thanks to you, gentle reader, for peeking inside my bedroom and withholding judgment about my mess, my mirror, and my hair.

*Stitch Fix is a personal shopping/styling service – you fill out a style questionnaire on their site so that they get a sense of your “style profile.” Then you pay a $20 “styling fee” and they hand-pick five items for you, based on your preferences. They ship the box to you, you try everything on, and then you select what, if anything, you want to keep; the $20 styling fee goes toward the cost of anything you choose. If you don’t want to keep anything, you ship everything back in the package provided (they keep the $20 styling fee). If you decide to keep everything, you get a 25% discount (minus the $20 you already paid them). I do not receive any compensation from them for reviewing my experience with them.

But I *do* get a credit towards my next Fix if you schedule a Fix for yourself via my referral link: here. If you have questions about how it works, you can see their FAQ here – and I am more than happy to answer any questions based on my experience, too.

On Tuesday, with more than a foot of snow on the ground and the windchill at something around -35, I received my sixth Stitch Fix* box. What a delight, on a day when I was hunkered down inside, to have the FedEx man come to my door! I’m so happy to have a chance now to write my 6th Stitch Fix Review. To see my previous reviews check them out here:

Stitch Fix Review #1

Stitch Fix Review #2

Stitch Fix Review #3

Stitch Fix Review #4

Stitch Fix Review #5

My last review was in November, and I’ve been looking forward to receiving this Fix since then. As I’ve mentioned before, the wait time has gotten longer than when I first started last May – I’m guessing that more and more people are catching on to the funtimes provided by this cool service.

what’s inside?

That moment of opening the box is always so exciting! I never peek at my account ahead of time to see what’s on its way to me, so it’s always a surprise when it gets here.

first impression

My first impression was good! Love the print on this top.

I unwrapped everything and got a nice wintry vibe from the package:

wintry!

I love grey, I love black, I love white. And it was fun to see the deep red and the dark teal-ish blue, too. And of course – stripes! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to get more stripes in my wardrobe. At first glance, I thought this might even be my first time of keeping everything in the box (in which case you get a 25% discount on the whole thing).

I tried on the grey and white striped top first.

It’s very cute, but hard to imagine wearing anytime soon. In my climate, I just don’t wear 3/4-sleeves in the winter, even inside. Of course, I could hang on to this for late spring, but the truth is, it’s a very flimsy top, and I have one almost exactly like it – but in solid grey and with full sleeves – from Target. I got that one for less than $20; this one is $54. Not worth it.

The second piece I tried on was this adorable cardigan. I absolutely love these wide stripes and there are some sweet little details – a little gold butterfly sewn on the waist (I got a close-up but it was too blurry to use here) and these cute little buttons:

with matching collar facing

(I see now that this picture is blurry, too – oops!)

But then I tried the cardigan on.

too tight! not flattering!

Waah! This is the biggest bummer about Stitch Fix – if you find something you love, but it’s too small (or too big), you can’t exchange it for one that fits. You’re basically just out of luck – you can either keep what’s in your box or send it back, but you can’t get an exchange. It just doesn’t work this way. I don’t know if you can tell from that picture quite how tight it is, but I didn’t even bother buttoning the buttons where the tightness was most obvious.

I suppose I could’ve kept it and always worn it open:

unbuttoned

But again, not worth it. I don’t want to pay good money for a cardigan I can’t properly button.

The third piece had me on the fence. It was the only one in the box that I immediately thought of as work-wear – a nice, silky-feeling, geometric-print dolman top. I could see pairing it with a silver belt and a black skirt or trousers. I’ve enjoyed the solid black dolman top I got from Stitch Fix #4, but in this case, something about it didn’t seem entirely flattering. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…

is this a maternity shirt?

So I posted a shot online asking for feedback and suddenly Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr all told me exactly what the problem was: it makes me look pregnant! This is NOT EVER the look I am going for. Yuck! Back in the box it goes.

On to the fourth piece.

striped knit v-neck

Total winner! I loved this from the moment I put it on. I did second guess myself a bit afterwards, thinking it (like the piece #1) is a flimsy somewhat cheaply-made top. But when I tried it on for my husband, he completely agreed it was a total keeper. I absolutely adore this dark red, and the stripes are so fun. I’m really looking forward to wearing this!

And finally, the fifth item – a dress! Hooray! And it was a nice, heavy knit, perfect for winter. Only as soon as I unfolded it, I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be too tight, too short, and not flattering. Because it reminded me just a little bit of a huge fail from Stitch Fix #5:

hmm, is she pregnant or is she just dressed that way?

But y’all! I was so wrong! The dress fit perfectly, and it wasn’t too short, and it didn’t make me look pregnant (well, as long as I don’t poke out my belly, which I try very hard not to do).

houndstooth print knit dress

I LOVE THIS DRESS. It is so fun!! It does have that slight babydoll cut, since it’s got a bit of an empire waist, and those always have the possibility of looking like a maternity dress on me. But I think it works (please don’t tell me that it doesn’t, because I’ve already kept it).

fun!

I love the print, I love that it’s warm, and I love how it looks with tights and boots. I think the only thing that’s missing is maybe a deep red scarf around my neck. Wouldn’t that look good?

So I have two excellent pieces I’m keeping from this box, and I’m thrilled. I generally feel satisfied if there is just one thing in the box that I love and get a lot of wear out of; to have two such pieces is icing on the cake. And after my last box (the first time I didn’t keep a single thing), I am especially pleased. And even the ones I didn’t keep weren’t terrible – they just weren’t flattering enough to keep.

I was also really happy this time that the prices were much more reasonable (and more in line with the price parameters I set in my Style Profile) than in my last box (which had been, frankly, absurd). In truth, most of the pieces in most of the boxes are priced a bit higher than I would normally pay in a store (except in the case of the three dresses I have kept so far – they have all seemed very reasonably priced). To me, it’s a trade-off I’ve mostly been willing to make – paying higher prices for the convenience of having things picked for me and shipped to me (and the fun of having a “personal stylist” who surprises me in each box).

I’m scheduling my next fix as soon as I can. And maybe by the time it gets here, I will actually have cleaned up my bedroom and finally put batteries in the darn smoke detector (instead of leaving it open to remind me it needs batteries), so I don’t keep showing you the mess of my room in my review!

*Stitch Fix is a personal shopping/styling service – you fill out a style questionnaire on their site so that they get a sense of your “style profile.” Then you pay a $20 “styling fee” and they hand-pick five items for you, based on your preferences. They ship the box to you, you try everything on, and then you select what, if anything, you want to keep; the $20 styling fee goes toward the cost of anything you choose. If you don’t want to keep anything, you ship everything back in the package provided (they keep the $20 styling fee). If you decide to keep everything, you get a 25% discount (minus the $20 you already paid them). I do not receive any compensation from them for reviewing my experience with them.

But I *do* get a credit towards my next Fix if you schedule a Fix for yourself via my referral link: here. If you have questions about how it works, you can see their FAQ here – and I am more than happy to answer any questions based on my experience, too.

So on Monday, I received my fifth Stitch Fix* box.To see my previous views check them out here:

Stitch Fix Review #1

Stitch Fix Review #2

Stitch Fix Review #3

Stitch Fix Review #4

That last one was a full two months ago, and I have been anxiously awaiting my next Fix almost ever since. The wait time has gotten longer than when I first started last May. I was pretty excited to finally get a box.

good mail!

It was wrapped a bit differently than past boxes, perhaps because some of my items were bulkier. I didn’t see a list of the items with the prices (and in fact never found it until I was putting things together to ship back). So I tried everything on without knowing the prices, which turned out to be unwise of me.

When I unwrapped everything, things looked promising:

nice neutrals

Some white, some charcoal grey, some navy, some stripes. Looking good so far. I love neutrals (especially grey), and I’ve been wanting more stripes.

The second set I unwrapped looking even more promising:

Sweater! Jeans!

In my last Fix, I received a blazer that I dearly loved, but it was way too small. I asked if I could have the same piece or something similar in the next size up. My stylist indicated they didn’t have that piece in a larger size, but she picked out this heavy cardigan for me instead. I adore brown, so I was happy to see this yummy chocolate-y color. And jeans!! This is the first time I’ve received any kind of pants or jeans in my Fix and I was super-excited. On with the trying on!

white button-up blouse

I love a crisp white button-down blouse, but this was so long and billow-y I didn’t know quite what to make of it. I’m not really sure how I would wear it. The collar and sleeves are very cute, and I love the pleats, but I feel swallowed up in it.

jersey skirt

This was cute enough, but the flimsy fabric feels like a summer piece to me. Nothing about this looks or feels like fall/winter, and I’m not sure why it was sent to me in November. I would have loved a new fall skirt, but this is not it.

hmm, is she pregnant or is she just dressed that way?

Oh, y’all, WHAT THE HECK. This is a dress but there is no way I was going to show it to you without some kind of pants on because the hem hits at the upper thigh. I checked to see if maybe it was supposed to be a tunic, but no, it is a dress. Also, the stripes. Do you see how they curve upward, by design, at the top of my midsection? It makes this look like a babydoll-styled maternity minidress. Also it’s really tight. This would probably look really cute on someone half my age. It looks anything but cute on me. (Also, note the 3/4-length sleeves. This does not strike me as a fall/winter piece, which, again, is what I would be hoping for in late November.)

brown geometric print cardigan

Now we are getting somewhere. I like the cardigan, even though the geometric print isn’t something I would gravitate towards on my own. I love the toggle buttons, I love the chocolate trim and cuffs, and I love how this looks with my brown boots. This seemed a possibility, especially paired with the skinny jeans (as shown).

skinny jeans!

I’ve been wanting some true skinny jeans for so long. I have some jeans that are sort of skinny, but they aren’t quite tight enough in the lower leg, so I struggle to fit them in my boots. These jeans were for real skinny, and they had this sweet brown leather detail around the waist. I was instantly in love, and my only concern was that they looked too small. They seemed it going on, but I managed to shimmy into them, and I found that, with the lycra, they expanded to accommodate me. Well, sort of. The waist hit very, very low, but with the right top, that would be okay (perhaps this is the point of the voluminous white blouse?). They were still really, really tight, but they weren’t exactly uncomfortable. I was really digging them, though they weren’t perfect – I felt that one size up probably would’ve been ideal.

cardi+jeans

I was definitely liking the two pieces together. The cardi also wasn’t perfect – you can see the little side pockets, right? Those hit right at the hip, and from a full-on front view have a tendency to make the sweater – and its wearer – look pear-shaped. Still, I was considering keeping these two pieces. I have a nice little credit in my Stitch Fix account, thanks to you lovely readers, and I figured I could splurge and keep two pieces.

Then I finally found the price list.

price list

WHAT. I can’t even. WHAT? My previous boxes have all totaled $250-300 for five pieces (less with the 25% discount, which you get if you keep all five pieces) (but from each previous box, I have only kept one or two pieces, all reasonably priced). $458 for this box? And guess which prices are for the two pieces I thought I might keep – that’s right, the 3-figure ones. I liked the cardigan well enough but certainly not $106 worth. That was easy.

But the jeans. Oh, the jeans. I had fallen in love with them, despite their seriously low waistline and their too-tight fit. I really wanted those jeans. And using all of my credit to keep them it would’ve been like spending nothing. But y’all. $148 for jeans? I just couldn’t. Not even with a credit that made them seem free. Call me cheap, but I’m just not a person that wears $148 jeans. I just really couldn’t stomach it. Also, they were made in China. I certainly buy things made in China all the time, as most of us do. But again, the idea of spending three figures for a pair of jeans that someone in China was getting almost nothing for? Couldn’t do it.

$458 worth?

Do I sound judgey, cheap, and/or up on my high horse? I hope not. But whatevs, y’all, this box was a BUST. It’s the first time I’ve not kept anything. Psychologically, this set-up really makes you want to keep at least one thing so your styling fee can go toward the cost of that, rather than just be something you spent to get a box of clothes to try on and not keep. But seriously, I’d rather be out $20 than $128 more on top of that. I’m disappointed, especially since the style questionnaire explicitly asks you to name your preferred price point for each type of items, and in no case did I select anything over $100.

At any rate, I went ahead and scheduled my next Fix. Sadly, it won’t come until the new year (like I said, the wait time has gotten a lot longer since last spring, I’m guessing because more and more people are joining). Sorry not to have a better report this time, but here’s hoping for something nice to show in the new year!

*Stitch Fix is a personal shopping/styling service – you fill out a style questionnaire on their site so that they get a sense of your “style profile.” Then you pay a $20 “styling fee” and they hand-pick five items for you, based on your preferences. They ship the box to you, you try everything on, and then you select what, if anything, you want to keep; the $20 styling fee goes toward the cost of anything you choose. If you don’t want to keep anything, you ship everything back in the package provided (they keep the $20 styling fee). If you decide to keep everything, you get a 25% discount (minus the $20 you already paid them). I do not receive any compensation from them for reviewing my experience with them.

But I *do* get a credit towards my next Fix if you schedule a Fix for yourself via my referral link: here. If you have questions about how it works, you can see their FAQ here – and I am more than happy to answer any questions based on my experience, too.