Tznua as Couture? Project Runway All Stars Think So

As I've mentioned on the blog before, I'm a big fan of Project Runway. There were many times this All Star Season 2 when a dress or outfit looked to be tznius for a moment (read: it had sleeves) but then either the fabric was sheer, there were cut-outs, or there was no back. Ho hum. Such is life.

But then Episode 11 brought us Couture Week. And, apparently, "couture" means dresses with lots of material, sleeves, and long skirts. Or, at least it did to Emilio and Anthony Ryan.

While I loved Anthony Ryan's dress, his sheer fabric and lack of lining made it, unfortunately, un-tznius.

However, Emilio's tznius dress was a style that many of us who have attended frum weddings are used to seeing, albeit in a fabric that cost €175 per meter. (Since it was a couture challenge, the contestants each had a €3,000 budget for materials. I'm not even going to attempt to estimate what this dress would cost to get custom-made in this fabric by your local seamstress.) But, even though I didn't swoon over his dress, it was pretty and he came in second place in the challenge to Anthony Ryan. Plus, the judges loved it, including Isaac Mizrahi. (You can watch the critique of Emilio's dress from the 24:29 - 25:56 mark of Episode 11.) And, the back of the skirt of Emilio's dress is similar to the back of the skirt of my wedding dress.

Here are the front and back pictures of Emilio's dress:





P.S. Sorry for the long break between posts. The whole pregnancy/having-a-baby/haven't-done-a-whole-lot-of-clothing-shopping-for-myself thing got in the way.

Fast Fashion's Tznua Dresses

So I got some flak for my Nordstrom Anniversary Sale post. Apparently many of you don't like to spend $600 or $800 on dresses. I'm truly shocked to learn this. With day school tuition so inexpensive, I figured we all had tons of extra money laying around for expensive clothes and trips to Israel. But I digress.

Out of respect for pretty much everyone and due to some super sleuthing by one of my coworkers, I bring you two dresses from fast fashion chains that are relatively affordable, even at their regular prices. And, even better, they are from the chains' fall fashion lines, so you should be able to find your size, assuming the store produced it.

First off is the $59.95 dress from H&M in aubergine. The top has a really interesting criss-cross drape that adds elegance to this solid dress. It's made of a combination of CUPRO and elastane. CUPRO appears to be a silk substitute that is made out of cotton linter, is similar to Tencel, and is machine washable. And as you've probably figured out by now, I love everything to be machine washable, mainly because I only remember to get my dry cleaning done once per year and I don't like spending $15 to get a dress cleaned. I think this dress would look great dressed up and worn to a wedding with heels and shiny jewelry. Dressed down with a belt, flats, and chunky jewelry, it could be worn shopping, out with friends, or to work. Unfortunately,  H&M doesn't offer online shopping yet, so you'll have to find this at your local H&M store. I know how hard it is to force oneself to go to the mall.

UPDATE 8/8: This dress hasn't yet arrived in H&M's warehouse, so no store has received this dress. This dress likely won't be available for purchase for another 2 - 3 weeks. If you are interested in knowing if it will be available in a store near you, call H&M's customer service at (855) 466-7467 after 8/22 and refer to item # 678880. This dress is in the "Modern Day Classic Wear" collection and could be available in most H&M locations.

UPDATE 8/29: I've been trying weekly to get information about this dress from H&M's customer service phone number and I got a different explanation every week I called. Two days ago, I asked the woman I spoke to at customer service if there was anyone else I could talk to, and she referred me to H&M's US Support Center (which is basically their headquarters for their US operation). I called, and the woman couldn't help me much over the phone because all of H&M's buyers are located in Sweden, but she contacted them and got back to me this morning. Here is what she told me:

"The dress is from our Trend label and the order number is 35216. It has been in our stores for about a week. Our US warehouse has only received a little less than 900 pieces and it will not receive any more shipments.

Our suggestion is to contact your local store that carried the ladies trend line to see if they have any in stock. We hope this information has been helpful."

In the DC region, I believe the "Trend" store is the one on F St NW in DC, close to Metro Center. I'll call them today and update this post with their response. If you are not located in the DC area, I suggest calling H&M's Customer Service line at (855) 466-7467 to find out which store(s) in your area carry the "Trend" line, then calling that (those) store(s) directly.

This second dress, the Long Dress with Leaves, is more appropriate to wear to weddings. Most likely, if you're a mother of the bride or a bridesmaid. it's long-sleeve, high neck, long skirt, and perhaps a slight bit matronly. It's from Mango, so I'll assume that the matronly bit is in style. That being said, it's a machine washable special occasion dress that you're really  not supposed to dry clean. And, did I mention that it's only $169.99? I'm not sure many people have found less expensive bridesmaid gowns than that, even at gemachs. And, it's at least half the cost of getting a dress made (and will likely fit better, too). I wouldn't wear too much with it because the leaves are a bit sparkly already. But, there are always chunky rings and pretty earrings that would look really nice with this dress. You can purchase it online, and it's possible a few stores will sell it, but I would definitely call the store you want to buy it from before going out of your way to get there. Hopefully, they'll sell it at some of their many stores in Israel, too.

Cute Maternity Dress for Fall

We all know it's hard to find a dress that's tznua off the rack. It's even harder to find a maternity dress that is tznua off the rack. But I found one!

Here is the Lantern Sleeve Dress by Maternal America at Amazon.com. It's really cute, flattering to many figures, and relatively inexpensive at about $50 for the dress in gray and $60 for the dress in black. This dress would be great for a fun evening out with friends, Shabbat, a casual wedding, or a pre-baby date night. And, since it comes with a belt and there are buttons on the turtleneck, very little accessorizing is necessary. Just throw the dress on and you'll be ready to go out!

Please note that the description of the dress says that it's dry clean only. The dress is a rayon/spandex blend. Based on the material, I believe that it could be hand washed or washed on a delicate cycle in the washing machine. The only issue with these washing methods is that the dress would likely dry wrinkled. If you have a good steamer, it should take care of the wrinkles. Otherwise, you'll probably have to spend the money on dry cleaning when you need to clean the dress.

Please also note that Maternal America often sizes their clothing slightly smaller than Motherhood Maternity and A Pea in the Pod do. If you're in between letter sizes, you may want to consider sizing up (i.e. if you're a 6 you may want to consider purchasing the medium instead of the small).

Project Runway Season 10

As is not surprising, I'm a big fan of Project Runway. Season 10 kicked off last Thursday with 16 designers. Several of the designs incorporated sleeves and hemlines that weren't super short, but the designer who came in third place for the week, Melissa Fleis, put an actual tznius look down the runway!

This look was one of two looks Melissa put down the runway. This particular look was her "homework assignment." It was shipped ahead of Project Runway's taping and was meant to represent who she is as a designer. I thought it was great that she would choose a look that was tsnius to represent herself. Her second look, which she only had a day to create, was not tsnius, but she only had one day to make the second garment, so I'll let that slide.

I personally love this look. I think the skirt of the dress is very flattering and the vest adds great texture and an interesting neckline. I think it would look great in a variety of colors, especially a more equestrian color palate of a deep red dress and a dark camel or dark brown vest. I could see other more playful color combinations looking great as well.

In the interest of full disclosure on the blog, I learned based on the Tim Gunn critique of Melissa on Project Runway's site that the dress' neckline is asymmetrical and not tsnius on its own. It's either the same as or similar to this dress on her website. However, the vest was never taken off on the runway (or at least the TV-edited runway), so I'm going on the assumption the dress with vest is a complete look and meant to be worn together.

Shout out to Destination Maternity at the Willow Grove Park Mall

It's not everyday I get a thank you note from a store. In fact, I have only previously received thank you notes from a few online stores, but never a store where I physically shopped. That changed this week when I received a thank you note from Jennifer, the Assistant Store Manager at the Destination Maternity store in the Willow Grove Park Mall in Willow Grove, PA.

I only spent $113 on seven shirts and two skirts without being in the store for more than 30 minutes. And all the items I bought were by Motherhood Maternity; I bought nothing in the A Pea in the Pod side of the store. But I got a hand-written thank you note.

If I hadn't spent over $1,000 on maternity clothes when I was pregnant with my son and over $460 so far this pregnancy, I would go shopping again right away at a Destination Maternity-owned store! (I already had spent over $200 between two other Destination Maternity stores within three days of my visit to the Willow Grove Park store.)

Here's a picture of the note I was sent.

If you're having reading the picture, the text reads:

Allison,

I just wanted to thank you personally for coming in and shopping with me on the first! You were a delight and looked great in everything you tried on! I hope that you'll come back and shop with me again next time you're in the area!

Jennifer
Assistant Store Manager

Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale

My favorite sale of the year is Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale. It's Nordstrom's only sale where they discount products meant for an upcoming season and discount wardrobe staples. This year, they have some pretty great tznua high-end designer dresses on sale, as well as a designer skirt and a few shirts.  I'm highlighting my favorite five items from the sale, but there are other tznua items on sale that are a bit more trendy and do not suit every taste.

The Anniversary Sale begins July 20 and ends August 5 (prices go up August 6). Nordstrom credit card holders can shop the pre-sale in stores and online going on now.

First, the dresses.

I love this dress by Lida Baday.  It will be on sale for $599.00 and cost $1,060.00 after the sale. I know it seems pricey, but a tznua suit by this designer at Nordstrom costs $1,295.00 for the suit jacket and $625.00 for the skirt. So, this dress is a relative bargain at $600. And while my lawyer friends wouldn't necessarily be able to get away with wearing this dress in a courtroom, I think that this dress would be a great suit substitute for most job interview and job-related presentation situations.  This dress is made of wool and is fully lined, so you may not want to add this to your summer wardrobe, but its tailoring is impeccable.

Also of note is this jersey dress by Michael Kors in "blackberry."  This dress will be $799.00 on Anniversary Sale and $1,395.00 afterward. Surprisingly, this dress is not lined, so I'm not 100% certain how forgiving the top will be, but I believe the tailoring of the bottom will be very forgiving. It's definitely much more expensive than the lower-end Ralph Lauren dresses available last winter (the American Living version was featured on my blog in February). I wouldn't recommend it as highly as the Lida Baday dress, but if you're a big fan of Michael Kors, any tznua dress by him is a great find. The dress is also available in black for the same price.

Next, the skirt.

I know first-hand how hard it is to find any tznua pencil skirts. The ones that are long enough are generally way too tight. So, you can imagine my excitement when I found this skirt by Nic + Zoe. Other than the fact that it's a matte dark brown and not black, it's pretty much a perfect pencil skirt; it's slimming, interesting, and not tight. It's like a pencil skirt miracle! And at $78.90 for the sale (and machine washable!) it's a steal compared to it's future regular price of $119.00.

And finally the shirts.

So you're probably waiting for me to post an item that's affordable to the masses. I have it right here. This long-sleeve cotton crewneck tee by Caslon, which comes in 15 different colors, is only $15.90 on the sale and $25.00 after. I can attest that these shirts are made incredibly well. They do not shrink when washed properly, they are a perfect length, and will not ride up to show your back or belly. They also last forever. Plus, Nordstrom provides free standard shipping for every purchase, so you won't have any surprising costs when you checkout!

The last featured shirt is a dressier long-sleeve crewneck tee by Norstrom Collection in stretch modal fabric. It comes in two colors - ivory and red. It will be on sale for $64.90 and cost $98.00 after the sale. This shirt is intended for situations where cotton isn't dressy enough - such as at work, at shul, or to wear under a blazer.

Full disclosure: I was employed by Nordstrom throughout much of college. They were a terrific employer and the job has helped me get every job I've held since. I have not been paid by Nordstrom since 2004 and I don't get any commission from my blog.

Maternity Skirts for $30 or Less!

When I was pregnant with my son, who will turn two on Shabbat, I had a terrible time finding tznua maternity skirts. I ended up paying a small fortune for skirts that I didn't love, didn't fit right, and didn't really last through my entire pregnancy.  It was very frustrating.  However, I did love the few Secret Fit Belly skirts I bought from Motherhood Maternity, Pea in the Pod, and Pea in the Pod Collection.

Well ladies, the dark ages of maternity skirt shopping are over! Destination Maternity (the site featuring my three favorite maternity skirt stores) has at least eight tznua maternity skirts for $29.99 or less!  That's, right, 8! I'm featuring four of them below, but you can explore the site.  Please note that through Sunday, Destination Maternity is offering an additional 30% off all sale and clearance items, so a few of these skirts will be more than $30 again as of Monday.

Work Skirt #1: The Black Maxi

This was the most elusive skirt to find two years ago. I ended up spending about $70 on a black pleated skirt at a tsnuis store that lost its pleats after a couple of washings and didn't fit past month seven.  It was the only long black tznua maternity skirt I could find that looked OK on me.

Flash forward two years and we have this black maxi skirt by Motherhood Maternity.  At only $29.98 regular price, it's a bargain compared to what I went through two years ago!  Here's the picture:




Work Skirt #2: The Black Midi

I actually managed to find a couple of black midi skirts while pregnant with my son.  Neither wanted to stay on me, however, even at eight months pregnant.  Would I have loved a Secret Fit Belly midi!  Now, Motherhood Maternity is selling one for all of $26.98 regular price!




Denim Skirt #1: American Star Denim Maxi

I was never able to find a denim maxi skirt when I was pregnant with my son.  I found one at Motherhood Maternity that went to mid-calf, and that was the best I could do.  Now, Destination Maternity is offering two denim maxi skirts and they're both on clearance! Both are currently $29.99 on clearance with the additional 30% bringing the price down to $20.99!  I almost think the non-pregnant ladies should jump at that deal and buy these up!

The American Star Denim Maxi is lighter in color, features a frayed hem and a Secret Fit Belly, and is an affordable denim maxi maternity skirt!




Denim Skirt #2: Blank NYC Denim Maxi

At the same price as the American Star denim maxi, any preference between the two denim skirts is primarily a matter of taste.  Since they're both sold by Destination Maternity brands and feature the same Secret Fit Belly, I would presume they should fit the same. (Note: I never had any issues with the fit of the clothing from these companies two years ago and I was the same size in everything I bought from them.)  The Blank NYC denim maxi is darker in color than the American Star denim maxi, has five pockets, and features a frayed hem and Secret Fit Belly.  At $20.99 (or $29.99 after June 3rd), it's a steal, especially since the regular price was $99.50!