Showing posts with label Eddie Bauer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eddie Bauer. Show all posts

Monday, September 22, 2014

Inlets and Outlets, Part I ~ Outlets

After breakfast, we stopped at an outlet mall on the main drag (so to speak).  We did a lot of window shopping and a little real shopping.  We started at one end of the mall and went into most of the clothing stores.

Our first serious stop was at the Hanes store.  Hanes owns Bali, Playtex, Maidenform, Lilyette, Barely There and more.  My favourite bras are from Bali.  My favourite panties are Vanity Fair (not a Hanes product).  There were some great sales.  I was disappointed that the camisoles I loved were not on sale ($17 each!) but a Bali style I'd never seen before was on sale, as were Bali panties.  They had several different styles: hipster, bikini, hi-rise, and others, and a wide variety of colours and patterns.  Panties and bras were discounted more if you bought three of each.  I only needed one bra, but Charity bought two that were on sale as well.  I also bought six panties in three different styles.

To state the obvious, it's much more comfortable shopping for bras and panties en femme.
my new bra.  Alas, not me.

The bra, by the way, has full coverage, only two hooks, and instead of wire a wide band below the breasts.  It is amazingly comfortable.

I also picked up a new Maidenform waist cinch (also on deep discount) to replace my go-to cinch which was starting to fray.

Needless to say, I didn't try any of these on at the store.

Another stop was an Eddie Bauer store where I did try on some clothes.  I didn't find any dressy clothes I liked there but I did decide I could use a pair of Bermuda-length shorts.  I didn't see shorter shorts I liked but I had two pairs of shorts: one, jeans shorts, the rivet that held the button in front fell off; the other, khaki, were tight.  I picked up two replacement shorts (which, as I said, I did try on but did not wear during the trip.)  I consider these passable when I am in non-Meg mode.

I also picked up a passable pair of black slacks which I have worn to work.  They're size S12 (I believe the S refers to "short" which I'm not but they allow for hemming; these are not the first women's pants I bought for work that were S and fit right.  They're also from their "slightly curvy" line.  They make a variety of shapes, for different hip-waist ratios.  They have a "boyfriend" line which I believe makes more sense with my hip-waist ratio but I didn't see any of those.

The 12 was a bit loose but I thought it was tolerable, even though the shorts were 10s.  Wearing the slacks to work I realised I should have gotten a 10 as well.  But I think they look fine, with only one problem: the back pockets are minuscule, fairly useless.

Again, if you're going to be trying on women's clothes, it's better to be a woman while doing so.

Oh....  Breakfast for me means drinking copious amounts of coffee.  That meant a stop at the ladies' room of which there was only one and it had about twelve miles of stalls.  It wasn't very busy but there were enough ladies there that I didn't dawdle to adjust my makeup before leaving.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

Shopportunities

While I was at the mall getting my haircut, I went to several mall stores, department stores as well as smaller shops.  I'm still looking for a polo shirt or two.

Too girly, right?
Old Navy suggested Eddie Bauer.  Eddie Bauer only had a shirt that looked more uni than it really was, once I got it home.  No problem.  It just goes on the other side of the closet.  I think if I had bought a more "neutral" colour (I go purple) it might have passed.  I may still bring it and wear it in Arizona.  It has a bit of a scoop neck, five or so (smallish) buttons, and it's not a single colour.  It has lighter purple patches on the shoulder and elbow ~ you can see it here.

I looked at a table of shirts and a woman came over and asked if I was looking for a particular size.  I said "large" and we found one in the stack I was looking through (white, at the time).  I brought it over to the register and the same woman was there.  I asked if I could try it on.

This is new for me.  I've (rarely) tried on women's clothing while in drab, but never brought attention to it.

She said "are you sure you wouldn't want to..." as she pointed to the men's side of the store.  I interrupted with a "yes."  She shrugged and we walked over to the fitting rooms.  She unlocked one for me and it fit rather well, but I wasn't sure about the white.  I looked at the other colours and chose the purple.

I then walked over to Land's End where I told the helpful woman who asked if she could help that I was looking for a polo shirt.  She said "women's?" and I answered in the affirmative.  She said they had a sale on summer clothes and pretty much everything was gone.  I did find an oxford-type shirt and a sort-of denim shirt: it wasn't really denim, but a lighter cotton in about the same colour.  I bought both and tried them all on on "dress night."  They fit fine.  Now I have two more girl shirts for the boy side of the closet and one seriously maybe.  If I do wear it (in Arizona), I think it'll raise eyebrows but it may get glossed over as an east-coast style.

I haven't decided.  And here it is, packing day!