High waisted - why?

I recently acquired a pair of American Apparel's 4 Way Stretch pants in Navy. They were on sale to the degree that I felt I had nothing to lose.

There's always something to lose. 

They actually fit me similar to how they fit the model save the extra fabric at the bottom because I'm a short one. I defaulted on their 26/27 size because of the shorter inseam. In the minds of American Apparel, you can't have a 27/28 waist and be short - the inseam increases to 31 inches from 29 inches. In retrospect, it might not have actually been that big of a deal. 

Before, I had tried on some of these pants in a different color, one size up and on one occasion, they fit wonderfully. The following time I tried this, the pants were considerably bigger. Yay for American Apparel's inconsistent sizing! I know I've complained about it before, and theroretically, I should know better, but sales happen. Given American Apparel's return policy, when sales happen, you better be sure that what you want is what you want since the downfall of getting something in the sale section is it being Final Sale. You could always go the route of ordering items full priced and then returning them when you know they fit, then wait for it to go on sale but that involves a lot of lag time. 

C'est la vie. The pants are now listed on eBay right here.

Last rant before I continue on with my work is: why are high waisted pants popular? I've read people discuss that they like the flat silhouette without the muffin top, but how does one sit down comfortably in high waisted jeans? If they're relatively tight, your waist will get pinched in when you sit and there's still some kind of muffin top. They look great if you intend to stand all the time, and not eat, but that's just not a practical existence for me. I definitely fall in with the midrise crowd. I am too old to deal with high waisted pants discomfort. Heels? Sure. Tight pants? No thank you.  

Like Twice, Black Friday, AAHAUL?

Sorry, but not sorry for not posting much. School is killing all my time. I'm still on a procrastination mode from Thanksgiving trying to get things out of the way early, but I've already got homework yelling in my ear.

You know I don't shop a lot, right? For one thing, my fair trade mind limits me to: Mata Traders, American Apparel, Threads 4 Thought, and People Tree

Do I have other options? Yes. I'm sure, but time is not on my side.

American Apparel

You know I have a love-hate relationship with AA? Love their clothes, hate my lack of money. I came into some around my birthday and spent quite a while trying to figure out what to get. Fate intervened when my tire blew out in front of a Discount Tires and my money decided to go towards a new set of rubber accessories for my car.

Anyway, as someone who really likes American Apparel, this HAUL business seems to be quite the Black Friday gimick. In the days leading up to Black Friday, the 5-10-15 sale was going on. The second Black Friday hits, everything from that sale doubles in price. WTH? To be quite honest, the best AA sales are the ones not associated with a "big sale" day. I still have the 5-10-15 sale link on my computer's memory and when you see the items - with their brand spanking new and more expensive prices - and the categories they fell under...yep, I lost out. A $5 shirt is now $18 for sale purposes.

Black Friday

I recall being thoroughly disappointed in the American public last year for the...7 Black Friday related deaths? Yes. Well, no deaths this year, so that's a plus, the most I heard was a fight over a barbie.

Like Twice

I recall on countless occasions commenting on how I really need to get my selling on. I have a lot of clothes that I don't/didn't wear and I needed to either put them up on eBay or Etsy on something. A sad realization that I came to was that: 1) eBay really sucks to use these days. 2) Clothing resale values are really low. Why do I even buy new? Anyway an ad on Facebook for Twice came up. I watched the video and...it was delightfully easy. You sign up, get a selling kit in the mail. Look at the accepted brands, load up your clothes and send off. No real expense, just time.

This required a bit of a heart to heart with my clothes as I had some attachment issues. What sold me though, was trying on clothes and realizing that I had other things in my wardrobe that were just easier to wear. By that, I mean that if you have a sweater that makes you feel...alright, you have to squint and think more about how you wear it oppose to another sweater that you just throw on and feel great in. Sentimental value or "I paid this much" sentiments don't exactly translate to $$. After going through bits of that, it was easy to just chuck clothing.

About 2 weeks later, I get this:

It was a much better return than I expected. A sad truth is, it's probably a lot more than what I would get off of eBay. I wish I had known about it earlier since I lost a fair amount of clothing to consignment - it didn't amount to much. Either way, Twice is a good call for downsizing the closet.

American Apparel: Knit Sweater Crew Neck Dress

Here's the sweater dress I mentioned last posting:

Pardon my experimentation with figuring out what shoes to wear with it. I can fully appreciate fashion bloggers now because styling clothes is kind of difficult. 

Anyway, this dress is awesome. 

I love you, I hate you - more American Apparel

Between standing stores, the eBay outlet, and the online store, American Apparel really lacks cohesion when it comes to prices. It's not so bad all of the time. For whatever reason, prices in one area are not reflective of the prices in another area. It's not so bad. 

I was in the Round Rock outlets today. The American Apparel store there is not an outlet store, it just happens to be in an outlet mall. I came across the Knit Crew Neck Sweater Dress which I had been mildly curious about. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it on. I remembered it being moderately expensive on the website. Well, it looked mighty fine and for some reason at that store, it was marked down to $20!!! There was an additional discount of 30% so I bought two dresses each being about $14 originally priced at $65 which is the running price online at the eBay store. 

Pictures & reviews to come soon. 

American Apparel, you confuse me sometimes, but I love you. 

Check out American Apparel stores this holiday season. 

Product Review: American Apparel Fine Jersey Short Sleeve Leisure Shirt

Product Overview/Story:

I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some collared polos and these were $2 at the time!! That's enough to peak my curiosity.

So how did sizing work out?

Product Review: American Apparel California Fleece Tulip Skirt

Product Overview/Story:

I love tulip skirts, they're my favorite style so when I saw these I already had a bias towards them. I like that they're casual and light enough to wear in hot weather and I can wear these out in the same manner I would just throw on a pair of jeans. 

Reviewing Reviews: Dear American Apparel...

Dear American Apparel,

I love your site, merchandise, and the fact your clothes are sweatshop free and you pay a fair wage to your workers. I would just like let you know that the majority of the reviews on your website are veritably garbage. Except for the review listed below. Given that user generated feedback is a good reference for any holes in your item description, I think the focus on good quality reviews would be in your best interest. Please don't end up like Amazon.

by kay April 28, 2009  Share

i am 5'4 & my measurements are 37-27-37. i got this in evergreen, size M. reaaaal cute. i was worried it might be too small for my taste--i dont usually like tight-fitting clothes for day wear. however, its a pretty good fit--a little bit tighter than how it looks on the slate model, but certainly not indecent or anything. the length is good too; i can wear it around my waist and it is plenty long. the color is great, too! Fits? -- Recommend to a friend? -- 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No Reply to this Review

Sincerely, 

Concerned Consumer

Woo! Flea Markets!

So, like I said, it was SXSW last week. Big music event, Carniville, SWAG, you name it! Oh, and cold weather, that was a bit of a downer.

Anywho, guess what else made an appearance? The American Apparel Flea Market! (For some reason I'm of the impression that this only excites college students.) Apparently, it's a traveling flea market that sets up in a giant tent...it's odd, but what the hey - American Apparel, at a discount, why not? I took the liberty of buying some sweat socks there since my only pair is developing holes. I also got some really cool leg warmers. I found a rather nice track jacket that reminded me of my quest for a red leather/pleather/pvc/vinyl jacket to complete my Michael Jackson "Beat It" look. It was only $15 so I didn't have too much to lose.

Seriously, I feel like a bad mama jama

It's my favorite light jacket now. Sometimes you just never know with these things. It looks awesome when I'm dancing. It has this really cool MJ, Bruce Lee, Kill Bill feel to it.