Monday, November 7, 2011

Coats, Coats & more Coats

I swear winter has crept up on SF literally over night. Last week, we had beautiful sunshine with 70 degree weather. Over the weekend, we had lots of rain, fog and dreary cold weather. I fear and hate the cold so I'm on a mad hunt for a thick cozy coat to keep me warm.
I decided to return the Aritzia - T.Babaton Bromley Military Coat. Initially, I was going to keep that coat but the tailor I brought it to said that type of wool is very high maintenance and needs constant dry cleaning. She kind of encouraged me to return the coat and I thought yeah, I'm not up for keeping a expensive high maintenance coat.

Anyway, I have purchased 3 different coats and hopefully one of them will fit.



From Left to Right:
Mackage Ashley Rib-Trim Wool Coat. Size XS. Purchased @ Nordstrom for $399, but not available on the site.
J. Crew Petite double-cloth lady day coat with Thinsulate. 00P. Color hthr majestic. $234.75 after 25% discount.
J. Crew Petite double-cloth metro coat with Thinsulate. 00P. Color hthr caramel. $238.50 after 25% discount.
Promo code on J. Crew's site.

Here's a funny story I have for you ladies...

So i went to nordies this weekend because of their sale...
I stopped by the studio department at nordies...tried on a few coats and everything was too big.
The sales lady was determined to sell me something....of course.
She pulled out the Mackage lookbook and showed me all the coats they carry and insisted that the XS runs very small and would fit me.

She points to her Asian coworker who is older (maybe late 40s-early 50s) and petite. She says my petite coworker wears a size S and can't even fit into an XS.
Well its hard for me to gauge someone's size so i asked her if she wears Ann Taylor. I assumed every old lady wears AT or has worn it. :P
She gives me this weird look with raised eyebrow and walked away. I just thought to myself ohh okay she probably doesn't understand English. My SA said something along the lines like, ohh no no no....and blah blah. Haha! I wasn't paying attention because I was concerned about finding the Mackage coat in my size. At this point my SA was trying to call a couple of stores that had my Mackage coat in a XS.

Btw, I said to her isn't Mackage (I pronounced it like package with a "m") made by Canadian designers and the SA corrected me said it's "me - khage" and it's italian. Hahaha! Italian my @$$!

So when I left, my bf was said did you see the look that the Asian SA gave you when you asked her if she wore AT. I said yeah, I don't think she understands English. He said no, didn't you hear what your SA said? I said no, what did she say? He said your SA said "oh no no no! she only wears St. John!" The Asian SA gave you the look of death because you thought she would wear cheap AT.
HAHAHAH! Whatever!! What a snooty SA!

I actually had another co-worker tell me that I should be wearing St. John. I was thinking, are you smoking crack? Do I look like I'd wear St. John?

Anyway, i ended ordering the Mackage coat and the XS better fit or else I'm throwing a fit.

24 comments:

  1. Mackage is very popular in Canada (it is a Canadian brand from Montreal, maybe the designer is Italian, I don't know)!

    I'm pretty surprised by that snooty comment by the SA and tend to think of St. Johns as a brand for older women anyways.

    Can't wait to see the pics when the coats arrive.

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  2. Lmao!! Love your story! I get so annoyed with crabby/snobby SA...I thought it was just a Vegas thing! Sorry to hear you have them in San Fran, too! Our waiters/waitresses in town are pretty crappy, too. :( Wouldn't you think people want to keep their jobs?!?

    I really hope one of the coats work for you!!

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  3. Oh wow. Okay. A lot of drama at Nordies.
    I love the blue J Crew day coat. It's perfection.

    http://www.thegirlieblog.com

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  4. hahha..What a funny story, Ping! Sometimes I get intimidated going to Saks or Nordstrom. made my husband dress up one day to go see a Chanel purse at Saks...lol..I hope one of those jackets will work out for you. Looking forward to see your review.

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  5. lol that SA IS snooty. yikes!

    Can't wait to see you try on these coats for us...I am in need of a black coat and haven't found one I really really loved. :(

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  6. did they have xxs mackage?
    they carry mackage xxs here in canada at aritzia...
    can't wait to see the reviews!

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  7. Funny story. I definitely feel intimidated going to Saks, Nordies is ok because there are more customers around and I don't have to feel self conscious. I initially thought of St. John's Bay or some drab brand sold at JCPenny's. I googled St. John and there doesn't appear to be anything special. I think it's stupid to only wear one brand. Thank gooodness for online shopping and not having to deal with pushy/snooty SAs.

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  8. LOL wow I wouldn't buy anything from her after she gives me the attitude, if I was gonna pay $$$ for mackage I'm gonna call it a mackrel if I want to! like how I was gonna go to chanel and ask them for a channel bag when I bought mine hahaha but i chickened out last minute

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  9. Oh man what a story! I hate feeling intimidated in stores - we have a department store Holt Renfrew - everytime I go in there I feel like I'm a student that can't afford to eat lunch!

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  10. hahah that Asian lady is hilarious.

    Mackage isn't prounounced like "package with an M". It's more like "garage" (like what she said). The lady is wrong about where it's from though. I hate those snobby SAs. It's def. Canadian.

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  11. Oh I totally forgot we're talking about coats here. LOL The blue one doesn't seem timeless; the last one looks good but looks long on the mannequin. Hope it won't be the case for you!

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  12. Hi! I love your blog and own a few Mackage coats so I just wanted to give you some feedback on sizing. I hate to say this, but you will probably need a xxs in Mackage. I am 5'3 with measurements of 33-24-33.5 and an xs in Mackage is comfortably loose on me (meaning enough room to stuff lots of layers underneath). Their coats are glorious though. Definitely worth the investment!

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  13. Rites of Beauty-- Yes, it is definitely Canadian!

    Michelle-- there are snooty people everywhere, but I was quite surprised coming from nordies because i shop there all the time and have never gotten this before!

    Girlie Blog-- I don't have any coats that color! I'm excited to see what it looks like in person.

    Sydney-- ahahah! i can't believe you made your husband get dressed up!

    elle-- i have so many black coats and wanted something diff. lol we have the opposite problem.

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  14. anon @7:45-- unfortunately nordies does not carry xxs! they were having such a deal on the coat, i thought if the xs is big i can always get it altered and it'll be cheaper than buying it full price. we'll see...

    anon @ 10:02-- i definitely agree and it is not my style either...

    Julie-- haha exactly!! mackrel it is. :P

    Elaine-- I know what you mean. I avoid stores like neiman and saks, because honestly i hate going into stores where i have to check price tags on everything!

    Jessy-- Yeah I figured it wasn't pronounced like package. LOL!

    Anon @ 11:42 -- thanks so much! i appreciate it. i had a feeling the xs would be too big. thanks for the heads up though. :(

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  15. ooh im excited bc i've been wondering abt the 2 jcrew coats.

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  16. What a hilarious story Ping!! I can't wait to see all of the coats on you :)

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  17. I can't wait for your review of the coats. I just bought the Metro coat today knowing it might be too long (there weren't any petite reviews of it yet!) so hopefully alterations on it will only be for a hem.

    And yes, Mackage is actually Canadian. French Canadian to be exact -- hence the pronunciation -- "Mah-khage". (not "Me-khage" as the snooty SA incorrectly pointed out.)

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  18. Winter definitely came overnight here in the west!! I hope those coats work out for you. The perfect coat is essential! :)

    I'm always scared to go into nordies too, because they're way out of my price range and SA's are constantly bothering me! ah!

    www.longliveclassy.com

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  19. Haha. That's a funny story, but actually her pronunciation is closer. Mackage is french, they are based in Montreal. So it's actually "Mah-khaj". ;) St. John, huh? I guess in a way it's not really a bad thing. I mean, when I see ladies wear it they always look polished and put together. But they are always OLD. LOL.

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  20. I have the J. Crew lady day coat and I love it!!

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  21. LOL about your shopping story - especially the part about every old lady has worn Ann Taylor :D

    Very interested to see how your coats work out for you. I'm especially drawn to the blue J. Crew - such a stunning color!

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  22. I noticed that my co-workers coat (bought last year) is faded so yeah, we did the right thing by returning. I'm curious about these J.Crew ones. So gorgeous but pricey. If it works, I may buy that.

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  23. Haha, good story. We don't have a Nordies in Canada so hopefully snobby SAs aren't a common thing there.

    I hadn't heard of St. Johns before so I googled. Google knows your in Canada when the first sites that come up for for St. Johns in Newfoundland. Anyways, terribly expensive. Only old ladies can afford it, haha.

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