Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Chains of Love

…Or, I love chains. Chain STORES, that is. Get your mind out of the gutter.

It’s true; I like a good chain store, especially for clothing. My regular haunts include New York and Co., The Limited, Old Navy and Express. They have the best sale prices, and their clearances are just SICK.

Today I am all about Express because of the essentials-of-the-working-woman’s-closet shirt I bought there last Monday for more than 50% off the regular price. Somewhere, Tim Gunn is smiling at me.

Ah, the ‘essential’ shirt – for me, there are two styles: the white v-neck T-shirt and the white fitted blouse. (By the way, I HATE the word blouse. It sounds so 1970’s working woman. “She complemented her kicky patterned blouse with a fantastic crocheted vest.” Blech. Let’s use ‘dress shirt’ instead, shall we? Thanks.)

I can never own enough white T’s and dress shirts. So when a quality shirt goes on sale for less than $20, I am powerless against it. I HAVE to buy it. Even if I already possess two or three (or four, or five… don’t be all judgy) of the exact same shirt.

Here’s how I justify the expense: I wear either a white T or dress shirt at least two or three times a week, all year long. I wear the things OUT. So I need (not want, need) multiples of the same item. See? I feel my reasoning is sound.

Anyhoodle, Express had their Design Studio dress shirts on sale last week for $19.50 – a 50 whopping cents under the dread $20 mark. Guess how much the shirts normally cost? $44.50. EACH. That’s almost $50. FOR A SHIRT. Am I crazy for believing that price is crazy? Yeah, I didn’t think so. $44.50 IS nuts.

But $19.50 for a fitted, fashion-y, cotton/polyester/spandex white dress shirt with a deep V-neck (but not too deep to be inappropriate for work) is just right, price-wise. So, I bought one. I could have bought two (or three… you’re still judging me, I can feel it), but I’m not supposed to buy anything for myself until after Christmas. Yeah, I’m doing really great with that rule, aren’t I? Sigh.

Shirt Of The Day: White dress shirt by Express Design Studio for only $19.50 – more than 50% off the regular price.
Now, I really have to get on that whole NOT buying anything for myself until AFTER Christmas thing. Can I make it for 14 whole days? It’s not looking so good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blouse, blouse, blouse!! Hee.

Actually, I feel the same way about that word. And the word davenport. Davenport is a city in IOWA. Not a piece of furniture.

In terms of nice dress shirts, I am willing to pay the $40-50 prices for shirts for El Jefe. His shirts from Jos. Bank are such good quality, DON'T NEED IRONING, don't shrink, and damn near last forever. Plus, if you are a member of their business club you can get additional percentages off. This also applies to their clearance sales where I have bought shirts for $15.00.

My tip of the day? Travelers Shirts (damn near the whole Travelers line, actually) by Jos. Bank, for the male in your life.

I do love the Liz Claiborne and Lands End iron-free shirts as well. But they are all $40 too. I think it worth it cause of the non-ironing. I can spend the time I would have ironed bitching about the word "davenport."

Anonymous said...

Hey, wait a minute. You don't even watch Project Runway. You can't possibly appreciate Tim Gunn the way we fans do.
Hee.