I frequently encourage you to cast a wide search net when you're hunting for items to round-out your wardrobe.  I certainly have my favorite stores, but I peruse lots of other places for new and interesting pieces. Shopping only from one or two places can often result in a wardrobe in a rut. So today, I'm reviewing the top 4 sample sale sites that you should definitely be checking out.
To join any or all of the sites (each is free) click on any logo below.

You might be asking - what in the heck is a sample sale site? Have you ever heard of designer sample sales in New York and L.A.? Did you see "Confessions of a Shopaholic?" The scene where all the women are let into the before-unknown warehouse location and duke it out for the few samples of highly coveted items? That was fairly accurate, and  these internet sale sites are the same concept, minus the fisticuffs. 

Last week I got to accompany my health coach Amber to speak to a large group (about 500) of teachers about our healthy weight loss program.  In my pre-married-with-kids career life, large conferences were part of my regular routine so it was a lot of fun to briefly revisit that era.  Mom's out there know, breaks like this don't crop up often so I jumped at the request to go and cashed in some airline miles for my ticket.

It's about time I started showcasing the pieces I'm buying to rebuild my new skinny wardrobe, so here's what I wore the day of the conference.

I accessorized the top with a really cool necklace that coordinates so great. I picked it up in Park City for my -15 pound reward. It has about 15 strands of tiny turquoise colored beads, anchored by a big dark wooden clasp. It's a substantial statement necklace and I dig it.

On the plane and to the BBQ that evening, I wore this:

I wore dark boot cut jeans and dark orange Nine West strappy sandals with gold accents that coordinated awesome with the orange striped tank. Tiffany blue polish on my toes that was hidden by the b/w slingbacks so I wasn't too matchy-matchy with my blue top, but went awesome when I switched to the orange outfit.
UPDATE! The above cardigan is the one I talked about in this Sucker Moment post.

I accessorized with a gold teardrop beaded necklace and large white Venice lace earrings that I DIY'd after seeing these in an Anthropologie catalog.

Unfortunately, my 6:55 am flight out of Detroit was canceled (plane wouldn't boot up) which made me miss my connection in Chicago to Salt Lake City. After 13 hours hanging around the Detroit airport, I finally got a flight out. But it was delayed (weather) so I missed my rebooked connection to SLC and had to spend the night in Chicago. I was rebooked on an 8 am flight to SLC, but at 5 am I received an automated call that THAT flight had been canceled (couldn't crew it). I went to the airport anyway- ready to lay waste to O'Hare airport - and the American Airlines ticket counter agent got me on the next United flight to SLC.  I finally made it home Friday afternoon.  Fun stuff! I certainly didn't intend for my travel outfit to be put through it's paces, but it was a trooper and kept me looking put together, instead of crazed and exhausted like I felt.    

Over Easter weekend Mr. Darcy, our girls and I drove a few hours away to visit some favorite relatives of mine; an aunt, uncle and cousins.  While there, my Aunt A. let my cousin H. (her daughter) and me give her a closet makeover. She told me she hated her closet, didn't like the outfits it was producing and was eager for the purge and subsequent style pump-up.
Once the rearranging began... here's what we found. 

35, that's right, 35 pairs of khaki's in varying lengths and tones of tan.
And 35 is just what was left after the first purge. I forgot to count at the beginning.

Enough polo shirts, mostly white, to outfit a golf pro shop. Second only to the number of polo shirts was the amount of white button downs.

I had a personal Pride & Prejudice moment a few days ago.  The L.L. Bean catalog arrived in the mail.  I've only mentioned L.L. Bean on this blog one other time, in this Top 5 Banned Wardrobe Items post. And I used them simply as an example of style-assassinating mom jeans. Even though I have never ordered anything from them, the catalog has continued to arrive. And the other night as Mr. Darcy and I lay snuggling in bed, I pulled it off my nightstand to have a good snark-session and chuckle at the unflattering pants and boxy shirts.
Until I got to page 9 and saw this.

Now, this may not be earth shattering to you. You might be thinking, "What in the world would make her pause on this?" Well let me tell you. A v-neck shirt with elbow length sleeves is extremely flattering on my particular shape. I think it's extremely flattering on many women, if not most. The v-neck draws the eye up to the face and opens the neck space to lengthen and slim much better than a scoop or crew neck tee.
But the sleeves are the real kicker. I greatly dislike t-shirts with short sleeves that cut across the widest part of my upper arm. That would be nearly ALL t-shirts that aren't long sleeve. It's infuriating. And yes, with all my recent weight loss my upper arms are much slimmer than they were a few months ago but there is still some under-arm waddle I'd like to keep under wraps.
So I stalk elbow-sleeve v-neck tees with great vengeance. If you also prefer these tees, then you know how difficult they can be to find! Hence, catalog pg. 9 stopping me in my tracks.
The next morning, I went to the LL Bean site to order one of these tees.
And lo and behold, I found a few other cute things.

Maybe the key is to shop in the Signature section, though the pink blazer is from the regular side.  One thing that L.L. Bean is known for, and I'll be putting it to the test shortly, is their quality. At my old company when we were choosing company logo-embroidered shirts for conferences, several people wanted to get L.L. Bean Double L polos instead of the generic corporate versions. That didn't get approved but they raved about the quality of them and I do need a good polo shirt. I've shrunk out of all of mine.
So I put aside my prejudice against the Bean and placed an order. (They offer free shipping, no minimum order. That's nice!)
If the t-shirt fits the way I'm hoping, I'll be getting it in multiple colors. I'll let you know as soon as my things arrive. Keep your fingers crossed!

As requested, I am working on a post about how to correctly utilize coverage tees.  While you're waiting, study these examples I found today.

Criminal Application of a Coverage Tee


No, no, no, NO NO!!!
What the...???
On what planet is this attractive?!?
Nothing in this solar system.
Nor anywhere the Hubble will ever find.


As I said last week in "How NOT to wear coverage tees," some clothes just won't work.  This looks like she put her swimsuit on over her cover up because she's REALLY worried about sunburn.

These examples came from Apricot Apparel, a company I had not heard of until today. I'm sure they make a fine product (lower the dang neckline!) but their marketing campaign is par for the course with their competitors.

Yes, there was more head bashing when I saw this shot.

It's time to revisit one of my favorite rants.  If you would like the primer for today's post, quickly check out Summertime Snafu from two years ago.
It really should be required reading for all modest dressers.
Done reading? Let's discuss.

When you make the decision to dress modestly you MUST come to grips with the fact that there are certain things you can NOT wear.  Attempting to modify any and all apparel will NOT result in flattering, good-looking outfits.

Case in point...

This display has been driving me bonkers ever since it hit our Costco. 
Please analyze it while I go bash my head against the wall.

Mr. Darcy has repeatedly had to hold me back from climbing up, ripping it down, and running around the store screaming, "THIS IS NOT ATTRACTIVE! If you attempt to wear this to a dressy function, people with a sense of style and half a brain will wonder what is wrong with you!"

This one annoys me less but only slightly so.  It's the casual vs dressy thing. 
Casual-layering gone wrong is easier on the eyes than dressy-layering gone so very wrong. 

The basic fact of the matter is that the silky vest should not have been an option. Or if she was absolutely set on wearing it, a jacket/sweater/blazer should have been added to cover the arms.  The third layer would have demoted it from a first-degree murder of style to involuntary manslaughter.

In order to look our very best, we modest dressers need to come to grips with the fact that spaghetti straps, deep cleavage, and sleeveless/strapless/backless items are no longer  options.  And that's ok!! I do not understand why there is such a war to incorporate these clothes into a modest wardrobe. At least in this unattractive way. 
I have some sleeveless tank-style tops/dresses that I like, but they ALWAYS go under a jacket or cardigan. They are the base layers, never the outer layers.  

When coverage tees first hit the streets the marketing was very logical.  The ads featured women wearing the tees to help cover the midsection when a shirt might rise up too high when the arms were lifted.  Or under a slightly too-sheer shirt/dress.  Or to fill in gaping underarms.  The key? The coverage tee was never the focus of the outfit.

It doesn't surprise me that these companies are trying to evolve their product into more of a center piece but a line needs to be drawn. For the sake of all things stylish, a line must be drawn by each woman in her own wardrobe. If you need some motivation, how about the threat of me and my phone camera finding you and featuring you as a What Not To Wear? I'm on a crusade, people.  It has to stop.

After posting last Friday about defrumping with fancy earrings, Leah requested some links to the earrings I featured.  While creating the collage for that post I had simply grabbed pictures of earrings already clipped to Polyvore but I did a quick search and was able to find that almost all of them are still available!

A few of them are available at different shops than originally listed. 
I added the adorable owl and bow earrings, because who doesn't love owls in the fall! 
And bows pretty much any time.
The one pair that is no longer available is the pearl chandeliers.  The bottom row above features other similar options.
You can simply click the picture for an easy way to link to all the featured earrings.

This week's "Frumpless Friday" tip is unbelievably simple -
kick your earrings up a notch to defrump your whole outfit. 

Let's say this is your outfit...

It's going to be a jeans & t-shirt kind of day, which for many women I know is every day. That's fine.  And if you have a T and jeans that flatter you, it's a perfect basic outfit that, depending on how you accessorize it, can go from cleaning the house to date night in a blink. 
But let's say we're spending the day mostly at home, maybe running a couple of errands.  To defrump your jeans and t-shirt simply add a great pair of earrings!
Either colorful, ornate or both.

With the earrings you're instantly defrumped! You've stepped straight into stylish.  And who knows, the earrings my inspire you to add some bracelets and a cool pair of shoes.  But if not, you're still in the land of "I look simple but great." instead of the land of, "yes, I've been cleaning and mothering all day. What of it?"

I know so many women who say, "I just don't wear jewelry around the house." Or "I save my jewelry for special occasions."  To which I ask, "Why??"  You're missing out on so much fun!  The earrings don't have to be heavy (I hate heavy earrings and don't own any that pull at my earlobes.)  Accessorizing is truly the exclusive playground of women and we should enjoy it.  It's your opportunity to personalize your ensembles.  I understand saving the super delicate diamond necklace but I'm betting everybody has a great pair of earrings they aren't using nearly enough.  And if you don't - you have my permission to shop!

Click here if you'd like to view the tip about defrumping with an apron.  And stay tuned - there's a delicious post coming up about defrumping your drink, as well as mixing leather and lace.  And I've hit another milestone! I'm excited to tell you all about it.

For a while now I've been wanting to post de-frumping tips on Fridays but I haven't hit upon a suitable title. Anti-frump Friday?  Frump-free Fridays?  Nothing is grabbing me yet but here's a little tip all the same.

A few months into the chaos called "newborn twins" I realized I was beginning to count the months, not merely the weeks or days, that I'd spent in schlumpy clothes.  I discussed it in a post about why I blog back in September.  As my babies have been turning into bonafide toddlers (how is that possible?)  I was noticing that it was still awfully easy to stay in my workout clothes, long after the workout was done. That I was reaching for the lounge pants instead of any of my other, just-as-comfortable, better-looking clothes. 
The thought process was that I didn't want to dirty my nicer duds, to spread kid-schmatza on clothes I wanted to "keep nice." 
But I ALWAYS feel better about myself on days I "get dressed."  When I catch my reflection in the mirror and I see the pulled-together wife and mom instead of the drained and dragging one.  I ALWAYS accomplish more because that little happy feeling that comes from looking good radiates through my whole day. 

But I also get grouchy if a top I particularly like gets creamed, literally, by the kids.

So as I began pulling out my nicer clothes more frequently, I also started regularly employing a handy little schmatza-deflecting device.  My apron.