May 2019 Shopping Reflections

This doesn't look like too eventful a shopping month, but things may be in place for a potentially much livelier June on that front. I have a few orders coming in, including from the recent APC sale, and from my recent search for a summer dress. Time will tell if I end up keeping anything!

With regards to the summer dress purchase, I ended up deciding to order that Elizabeth Suzann ("ES") Georgia dress and Asawa belt combination in mid-weight linen that I was so taken by last month. I've ordered it in black, that most reliable and versatile of colors. With their typical production times, it'll take another week or two before the company makes my items to order and ships them out. With their store credit-only return policy, this purchase does mean that I've made a soft commitment to spending at least $265.00 on something from ES, whether this specific order works out or not. I'm not too nervous about this, because there are at least a few other ES items I could see myself wanting to try. Also, given how popular the brand's items are secondhand, I imagine that it shouldn't be too difficult to recoup the vast majority of the cost by selling the store credit on the secondary market if need be.

About a week after my purchase, I saw in their Instagram comments that ES was planning to offer the belts in silk in the next month or two. That made me wonder for a moment if I might have wanted the Georgia and Asawa combination in silk instead, if I knew that option was coming. After thinking about it for a while though, and taking into account silk's more flowy texture when compared to linen, I think the linen would probably still be the best choice for me if I wanted to wear the dress belted. In my experience with both fabrics, the same combination would have a different look and feel, depending on the material. In theory, I think I might prefer the mid-weight linen for this particular look, I expect that it'd have just a hair more "structure" and hold its shape a bit better, rather than skim and flow over the body more closely. 

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Among other ES items I could see myself wanting to try is the silk Bel skirt. I've been thinking about silk slip skirts for a few months (though I think it might be a highly trendy look, one that better suits women that are taller and less curvy than I), and I even had the opportunity recently to buy one of the exact ones I was looking at, the Vince knot-detail silk midi skirt in an intriguing mineral green, on sale and at a substantial discount. I ended up deciding against it because the best price is on Vince's website, but it's final sale, and the look might potentially be unflattering if the knot detail isn't placed just right. In looking at that Vince silk skirt, and a few other Vince skirts on sale, as well as some from other brands, I feel like the ES Bel skirt stands out because it's got more volume, but not too much, and that's something I'd feel more comfortable in. 

I ended up ordering that drape-y Club Monaco Claudine trench coat I mentioned, but didn't like either the olive or blue shades for my wardrobe. Neither color would go that well with most of my clothes, the way a more traditional camel or beige-colored trench coat would. The tencel material does have a suede-like texture I thought felt very nice. It is a bit heavier-feeling than the cotton canvas of my Everlane trench, which I didn't like for NYC weather patterns. This experience makes me think that I might only like trench coats in the typical camel color for my wardrobe (a niche already filled by my Everlane coat), thus there might be no room for another trench coat in my closet at present. Oh, and I ordered that APC Clare dress (on sale almost everywhere) to try. 

Fashion - (TOTAL: $148.21)

• Ray-Ban Wayfarers, black - $148.21*- This purchase was made quite early in May, while I was on vacation. I'd been thinking about getting a pair of "real" sunglasses for a while, rather than relying on the dinky, unbranded ones I got for 9 Euros from a beach-side stand many years ago. I never actually feel like I need sunglasses when I'm walking around NYC, there simply isn't that much direct sunlight on my face most of the time, it's blocked by buildings all around. Maui was definitely a different story, there was enough sunlight every day that I felt like it was necessary to obtain a pair of sunglasses for which I had some confidence in and relative certainty about the level of UV protection I was getting. As Sherry pointed out, it may have been best to get the polarized ones instead, for extra protection. (Our eyesight is extremely precious!) But because I don't drive, am rarely out in much sunlight, and am usually wearing my corrective eyeglasses anyway, I don't anticipate spending much time in my sunglasses except when I'm traveling. 

*Indicates that price includes sales tax.

And that's it for this month! I do have a strong suspicion that June will be a far more substantial shopping month, and it's still difficult to predict how my entire shopping year will look overall. How was your shopping month? How are you feeling about your shopping and spending year? In non-shopping areas, including for taxes and for medical things like my new glasses and contact lenses, my 2019 has been quite spend-y so far. I'm hoping things will calm down a bit going into the second half of the year.