After last month’s bad box, I expected yet another new stylist. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve been through, but apparently, unless you super-love a box and keep most of the items, they switch you to a new stylist. It’s both good and bad – you don’t get stuck with a stylist who may not ‘get’ your style, but constantly flipping through stylists means a lack of consistency and boxes that are ALL over the map. This is Fix #12, and here’s the note from my stylist.
Happy Fix Day, Melissa! It’s a pleasure to welcome you back to what now makes Fix #12. I’m am so sorry to see that you’ve been disappointed in your past few boxes. It’s my mission to ensure that you LOVE this experience, so I am all ears! I fully intend to wow you, so I went through prior feedback & your Pinterest board to get a great handle on what makes you tick. I love your retro vibe, so I included this 41Hawthorn black & white knit dress. The bold pop of green looks fabulous layered over top when you wear the Skies are Blue cardigan. You can add a chunky belt to help create that hourglass silhouette. For some patterns play, try the KFTK skinny jeans with the striped Colette knit top & then rock this funky Dear John bomber jacket over top. Do these styles feel more like you? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts! xo-Jess
Well, it was closer to the right idea this time, but unfortunately most of the items had fit issues. I keep saying it, and I know I’m a tough shape/size to fit, but they’ve gotten it right before, I’m not sure why/how this was all so off. I’ll get into that in each item though. The box basically made two complete stand-alone outfits, and I love it when the stylists do that so it takes a bit of the pairing guess-work out of the equation for me.
Item: Colette Chaves Pop Color Cuff Knit Top
Cost: $48
Paired With: Jeans and jacket (this Fix), Shoes (mine)
First up is the striped top with green accents. I actually got a very similar top a few fixes back (I didn’t post that Fix – I had given the husband the camera to help, but he ended up focusing on the background, so ZERO of the photos came out), but it had skinnier stripes and red accents on the cuffs and collar. This top is much too long for my short torso, and you can see it’s nearing dress length, hitting at my fingertips – the waistband of the jeans is about where the cuffs are. The fabric was nice, and if it had been 5 or 6 stripes shorter, I might have kept it, even though it would be a bit of a duplicate piece.
Item: Kut from the Kloth Connie Frayed Hem Skinny Jean
Cost: $88
Paired With: Top & Jacket (this Fix), Shoes (mine)
The jeans were really comfortable, but again with the fit problems. They were too long and bunched up around my ankles. Also, I just don’t like the whole frayed hem trend. I guess I prefer my clothes to be more classic silhouettes with trendy/fun prints instead of trendy cuts that won’t be wearable within a year. I have jeans from almost 10 years ago, and while I probably could’ve hemmed the frayed end off to make the length right and put on a proper hem, that’s a lot of time that I just don’t have, and no doubt they’d have ended up sitting on the sewing machine for months. Plus, if I’m already paying $88 for jeans, they should fit without having to spend extra time/money on alterations.
Item: Dear John Casco Bomber Jacket
Cost: $78
Paired With: Top & Jeans (this Fix), Shoes (mine)
If Jess had scanned through my Pinterest Stitch Fix board, she’d have seen there was zero camouflage in there. Solid olive, yes, but no camo. I just don’t like camo print clothing. The fabric of the jacket was nice, and it fit well (maybe a smidge too big), but I just can’t with the camo. If it were a solid olive color, I’d probably have kept it. It’s also a wee bit too cold to wear this in southeastern PA right now too – it’s about two months too early.
Item: 41 Hawthorn Bella Knit Dress
Cost: $74
Paired With: Green Cardigan (this Fix), belt (mine), shoes (mine), red cardigan (mine)
I wanted to show this dress two ways to show what a poor fit it was. The bust had SO much extra fabric and was fit for someone with .. huge tracts of land. I’m not that person. I think nearly every dress I’ve gotten from Stitch Fix has had this same problem (I had that one winner in the beginning, but even that was a little loose up top). It’s funny because every dress I get from Torrid, an actual plus size clothing company, their clothes fit like they were custom made for me, but Stitch Fix keeps trying to assume HUGE BOOBS, and I don’t understand who their fit model is because it’s really absurd. Annyyywayy, on the right, that’s with my own cardigan and the top of my hand is where my waist actually is – you can see the waist of the dress is hanging 3 or 4 inches lower since my lack of *cough* material *cough* to fill in the bust means extra fabric that droops down. On the left, I added a belt, but you can still see the fabric bunched up over the belt. The dress fit well through the hips and all, but the bust was just massive. Then the fabric was that awful cheap, bouncy polyester with no structure to it, and it just doesn’t lay nicely over plus sized gals – it clings to every last lump and bump and there’s nothing flattering about it. My favorite dresses are nearly always 100% cotton or cotton blends, so this was just a huge miss all around. It’s a shame, because the idea is right, but the execution between fit and fabric, was WAY off.
Item: Skies are Blue Abela Cotton Blend Cardigan
Cost: $48
Paired With: Dress (this Fix), shoes (mine), belt (mine)
Well, this is the only piece I kept out of the whole fix. I wear cardigans like this all the time and they’re easy to throw over a silly, nerdy t-shirt with jeans and look more put-together than yoga pants and a hoodie. The fabric is nice (cotton blend FTW!), it fits well, hangs nice, and I love the bright green color.
So, overall, this was another miss, but as I mentioned in my notes on Stitch Fix, the idea was right, but the fit issues made me return more than I normally would have. I said last month that if this box was a huge miss again, I’d be cancelling, but this had the right idea, so I’m going to do one more. I also made myself another 3 years younger in my profile in hopes of getting more fun prints. Polka dots and stripes are great, but there are so many missed opportunities for prints, and I feel like, again, it’s because of my age that I’m getting more sedate pieces. For pete’s sake, I just bought a dress with an all-over book print, so I’m not afraid of bold prints! Go wild! Give me prints or give me death! (Unless it’s camo or animal print, I mean, I have my limits).