New items from PAG's blog sale

I think I now LIVE for blog sales LOL!  They're so great because A) I have access to items that are not available in Canada especially petite sizes;  B) I am almost guaranteed a great fit since seeing it on my fellow petite bloggers gives me a really good idea on how it will fit me; C) I can just buy something by emailing someone and tapping on my keyboard LOL!

Here are my latest items purchased from Jean aka Petite Asian Girl of Extra Petite from her blog sale:

First up - Banana Republic Navy Chain Shift Dress in 00P:

I can't believe how perfectly this fits me!

I love the exposed zipper :) And it's so comfortable as well.

 Next up - Trina Turk Silk Cashmere Cardigan XS:

This cardigan is so amazingly soft and cozy! 

And I absolutely LOVE the colour!

Last but definitely NOT least - Loft Petite V-neck Shell:

 

Jean was sooo incredibly sweet to offer this top to me through a private sale as she's sick of well aware of my complaints about not being able to get  my hands on Loft items ;)

I LOVE this top so much! I don't have anything like it and I love the way it fits.

Thank again Jean - it's truly, truly appreciated :)  The blogging community and the petite blogging community in particular have been just AMAZING! I know we are essentially all strangers but I honestly feel so connected with all the ladies I've met through blogging and through twitter.  If you don't have a blog connect with me and the other ladies on twitter or on the Alterations Needed Forum.  Never have I felt such openness from an online community before - it's such a warm and fuzzy feeling! :)

Shop similar items:

More Lands' End Canvas...

Because I don't have any post worthy outfits....

Still in that rut!  Hopefully I will feel more enthusiastic for the weekend.  The sun is starting to shine and this weekend is a long weekend for me - Canadian Thanksgiving!!!

I LOVE Thanksgiving - gathering with family, great food and pumpkin pie???  Seriously, what could make a weekend better?

Since I've been lacking the motivation to put any post worthy outfits together lately I thought I would take the time to blog about a few notable giveaways.

First up, one of my favorites -
Marilou of Twenty York Street

She has TWO giveaways going on:

Banana Republic "What a Statement Necklace"

AND

A pair of tickets to Ottawa Fashion Week!

Next, a well known petite blogger
Jean of Extra Petite

Win a $100 gift card to Rent the Runway - I can't enter this one since is US entries only, but the concept is intriguing!







Next - I truly admire this girl's style - 
her waise choice:

Celebratory Giveaway - Amrita Singh Cuff

She's celebrating 100 followers yay!


And if you have the time, check out my Petit Plume Giveaway ending October 18th!!!

The blogging community has been so welcoming and supportive, hopefully I can give a little of that back by blogging about others :)

Blogger Sale items received from PAG! Banana Republic Silk skirt and dress

I wanted to do a quick post of the items I received from PAG at ExtraPetite from her blog sale items.  I don't have access to BR petites so I jumped at the chance to get a couple of pieces especially ones that I admired on PAG.  These were just quick pictures I took to see how the fit was, I will post outfit posts in the near future.

First up BR silk skirt:

Silk Skirt:  Banana Republic size 00P

As PAG described it does run a bit big, but it's fine for me! 

I can turn the skirt around myself but it won't move on it's own :)

Pockets too!

See how this skirt looked on PAG here

Next up is the BR silk dress:

Silk Dress:  Banana Republic 00P

Fits really nicely everywhere but in the chest area - but I'm used to that LOL!

See how big the dress is on PAG here

Sorry for the wrinkles, I took them out of the package and threw them on to see if they fit!  I love getting stuff in the mail, it's so exciting!  Thanks again PAG - I love my new BR items!

More Gap Jeans - but this time they are winners!

I decided to give the Gap jeans another try (see my first review here) since I loved the feel of them.  Plus is was the Gap Give and Get days this weekend.  What luck!  Different sizes were available and they FIT!

First up, the always skinny CROPPED jeans.  For some reason they are not on the Canadian site but you can see them here.

Gap Always Skinny Cropped Jeans size 00 (vintage tint - faded wash)

The back on these fit much better than the pair I tried on last time.  I think the different washes also give different fits.

Details of the buttons at the bottom of the jeans:

I like that I can just flip them up really easily too.

Next the jean leggings - last time they didn't have size 00 in store, but this time it was my lucky day:

Gap Jean Leggings size 00 (dark vintage - faded dark wash)

The fit is MUCH better with the 00 size.

The 00's weren't available in the faded black wash so I ordered them online along with the slim crop pants which were reviewed by PAG here and by PetiteXXS here.  I'm worried they will be TOO tight on me since they are slightly big on these ladies, but I guess we'll see when they arrive.  My other purpose for ordering online was to assess how Gap's new shipping to Canada works out.  I will keep you all posted!

Petite Fashion Challenge #1: Petite Don't - Wide Legged Jeans

This post is my first wardrobe challenge - petite challenge that is!  Jean of Extra Petite had a challenge for us petite bloggers. 

The challenge was: 

Create an outfit for weekend brunch with your girlfriends. The outfit must include one garment that is typically notorious for being a petite "don't."

 

I have to admit I JUMPED right away into accepting this challenge....then as the days ticked away I actually got more nervous!  I'm SURE I have MANY petite "don'ts" in my wardrobe and I'm SURE I have not succeeded at making many of these Don'ts into Dos.

 

The most prominent petite don't item I own are my wide legged jeans:

 

Jeans:   Parasuco size 25

Ok, these jeans are really wide legged.  The bottoms measure 11 inches:

I also got these hemmed quite a bit so they were even wider to begin with.

It's believed that petites shouldn't wear wide legged pants since these types of pants tend to overwhelm a small frame and make the legs appear shorter.  To counteract the wideness of the pants I thought to pair it with a fitted top.  I also made sure to wear my highest heel to make sure my legs didn't disappear or look short.

Also, these jeans make me think of a great men's wear inspired look so I decided to carry that theme through with a vest.  Here is the look I came up with:

Vest:  Mexx XS

Halter:  H&M size 4

Shoes: Aldo size 7

To ensure the men's wear look was still feminine, I made sure to wear a really girly lacy top underneath and finished the outfit with a pink bag.

Close up of the shoes:

I'm relieved this challenge is done LOL!  I think I would totally wear this out to a brunch with the girls maybe a little dressier type of brunch.

These jeans may be a petite don't but I love them all the same!

PAG Allison Izu Premium Denim Giveaway

Some exciting news for the petite community!  Petite Asian Girl and Allison Izu are hosting a giveaway!!  AND it's open to Canadian Readers - how exciting is that?  I would love to get the word out on Allison Izu more - perhaps if there is more Canadian interest her products will be more readily available to us (read - lower shipping costs!).






Just click here for more details on how you can enter.

Plight of a Petite

The two bloggers that inspired me to start a blog of my own are Alterations Needed and Petite Asian Girl .  I am petite myself standing at a whopping 5'1 and 3/4" (yes...I ALWAYS include the 3/4") and I have always found it difficult to find clothes that fit.  I honestly just accepted it.  Clothes looked decent on, or as long as they weren't falling off I thought they were ok.  Being in my 30's (but still sometimes looking like a little kid - just ask the lady at the convenience store who asked for my ID when I wanted to buy a lottery ticket!) I think it's about time I felt good in ALL my clothes.  When I found out there was an entire community of fellow petites out there my outlooked changed!  I shouldn't HAVE to settle for ill fitting clothes.  I should be able to look just as chic and fashionable as my average height friends right?

And so I've been inspired.  Unfortunately living in Canada it seems there are even LESS options for petites here - on my budget at least.  Since I've been pickier with what I spend my money I've only been able to find a few tops at select stores in the city however on trips I've taken to Florida I have been lucky to find great fitting items from the Banana Republic Outlet in the petites section.

Here is one of the dresses I picked up on one of my trips:

Dress:  Banana Republic 00P

Necklace:  mark. by Avon

I really love the fit of this dress.  It fits well at the bust and under the arms and is very comfortable to wear.  It might be slightly shorter than I'm usually comfortable with for work, but I think petites can pull it off without looking too sexy or inappropriate.

Here is a close up so you can see the light blue line in the pattern:

It's really hard to pick up in the photo but you can see the subtle blue along with the charcoal.

Since the A/C is always blasting at work I paired with an old cardigan I have:

Cardigan: Old Navy XP

This would probably be one of my first real "grown up" work outfits :P