Ten years ago, you could not have paid me to step foot into Gap or Old Navy to actually shop for anything. I went in occasionally with my family or friends, but I just wasn't interested in what they had to offer - everything seemed to be branded with logos, and I am a staunch believer in not giving a company my money in order to be a walking billboard for them. If I'm going to advertise a company by blaring their logo across my clothing, they had best be paying me for the privilege.
Well, I still feel that way.
Somewhere along the way, though, my passionate hatred of Gap and Old Navy faded and was replaced by me finding the occasional things I really like about them.
It's a pretty recent development - this post here over on the personal blog was the first time I had worn a Gap shirt in a very, very long time. And I've been adding Old Navy jeans to my closet here and there for a while as well. Then, I had a baby, and discovered the BabyGap is one of the few places that sells a decent amount of non-pink clothing for girls.
Gap, and Old Navy both have a serious length problem - I can tell they're mostly selling to teenagers and skinny college girls, because they just crank out the cropped tops like an assembly line on cocaine. Shirts are never long enough, and if they are, they're poor quality material that shrinks after one wash. Old Navy's exception to this rule is in their tank tops and camis, which I find hilarious - why would you make a tank clearly meant to be worn under your other shirts longer than the shirts it's meant to be worn with?
I'm obviously not the business genius that those running Gap and Old Navy are.
In any case, the tops just aren't long enough, on average, which means that when I do shop there I primarily shop online, allowing me to troll the 'tall' section to see if they have anything I like in a length that won't have me flashing belly every time I have to grab something off a shelf.
This stripe-sleeved top did the trick.
I won't lie - I mostly ordered this shirt in order to get to Gap's $50 limit to get free shipping. I had ordered a couple of things for the baby, and I hate paying for shipping if I don't have to. At worse, I throw something I'm not sure about in the cart and then return it later, right?
I figured this would be one of those shirts. The high boatneck and flat color on the body could easily make me look like a mack truck coming and going. I gave it a shot anyway, just to see.
Turns out, I love it.
I love the slightly faded darker blue color and that the shirt ends up emphasizing that my waist is narrow when compared to my hips, instead of flattening me out like I thought it would. I love that ordering it in the tall means the sleeves go past my hands and the hem is below my hips.
My only issue is that the thin cotton, while soft, is not terribly forgiving on a stomach that is still showing the after-effects of baby-havin'.
Ah well.
I love it anyway.
These are not gray pants.
But Katie! I hear you saying. They are clearly charcoal gray!
Nope.
When I bought them? They were flat black. I bought this pair because I wanted (and still want) black jeans, and couldn't find any at the time that weren't skinnies that were nothing less than terribly uncomfortable. Old Navy had these pants on offer - not jeans, but comfortable and a dressy black appropriate for a business casual workplace like the museum I used to work at.
Then I washed them twice, and now they're charcoal gray.
I keep wearing them because I just like them that much, but would still like a pair of inexpensive black jeans, NOT skinny jeans, to wear with shirts like this. Do you guys have any advice on that? They need to go into the lower plus-sizes.
I can't say I didn't get my money's worth, though, since I bought them on sale three years ago and I'm still wearing them pretty consistently.
I just wish they had stayed black longer than two months.
This necklace is a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law, kind of in honor of having had Audra last year. I wear it all the time. It's pretty funny, because I tend to buy large, clunky, insanely colorful necklaces but I love simple things like that that you can wear with anything and everything.
I have this, and a pretty starfish necklace (seen in the earlier link to the Gap T-shirt post from the other blog), and those are my two simplest wear-with-anything pieces of jewelry.
Well.
Um.
Other than my, uh, wedding band.
Outfit Details
Striped boatneck tee - Gap, available here.
Black pants - Old Navy, similar here
Shoes - Skechers at JCPenney, similar here
Necklace - Christmas gift from my mother-in-law
P.S. Please forgive the wonky lighting/focus issues. It's super gray, rainy, and dreary here today and I really did the best I could with what 5:45 pm light could offer me.
P.P.S. Today on the personal blog? I tell you a little story about my drive to work on Monday, and it's at least a little bit funny if I do say so myself. Check it out!
