mall of America

It all started when I decided I wanted to wear stripes. Yes, the Nautical, horizontal kind that make you look like you’re about to set sail. And yes, the same kind that every celebrity has been seen in them lately (albeit they’re all twigs and don’t have to worry about looking larger).  I clipped a page out of Vogue and studied pictures of Kate Moss and Sienna Miller (of course) both wearing them. But could I pull them off? Unsure, I put the magazine clipping aside and decided if I was meant to stripe, I’d stripe. I just needed to wait for a sign.

And then the signs just started coming. First, I saw J.Crew’s creative director, Jenna Rowley on Oprah.  And she was wearing stripes. (The J.Crew vintage bateau top pictured above) with a khaki blazer (similar to the solid lieutenant jacket –pictured above and on sale right now for 39.99!) and a lot of fun, chunky jewelry (also available at J. Crew.) And she looked really good and not at all wide.

And as I watched the interview, I started to fall in love with this gorgeous woman who apparently had recently given the store and the catalog a much-needed fashion facelift (last time I checked, it was all argyle and flat front pants- not that I’m knocking those things as I went through a serious preppy phase in college). And I decided that Jenna Rowley, whose name I’d only learned in the past 32 minutes, could wear stripes, then so could I! Yacht or not, celebrity thin or not, I was empowered to stripe. It. up.

Then the universe sent me another sign- literally. The day after Oprah, a J.Crew catalog ended up in my mailbox. And as much as I once loved their argyle everything and ultra-preppy clothes, I hadn’t shopped there in years (Sorry J. Crew, but I am back now!). So to find the catalog felt like fate. And I flipped it open to the middle- to a section called “Jenna’s Picks” (also can be found on the J.Crew website) full of everything from the Dahlia cluster ring (pictured above and on sale for only $29.99!) to a to a die for Jericho tote (pictured above) (and you know how I love my totes).

And I decided that not only did I have my next blog post because there’s a rockin’ J.Crew in Mall of America, but I had my answer. Yes, I could pull of stripes and now I knew exactly how to do it. And if I didn’t get so damn nauseous on boats (guess I need to stop fantasizing about going out on Diddy’s yacht), I might’ve just taken my stripes out to sea!