No One I know Likes to Shop for Blue Jeans!

Shopping for jeans usually ranks right up there with shopping for bathing suits. As women, most of us hate it! Often times, if we find a pair of jeans we love, perhaps they fit but they don't really flatter. More often than that so many pairs just don't fit. There are so many to choose from it's overwhelming. Finding the perfect pair can take on the feel of a full time job.

Now there's a web site with a tool that can help you find your perfect jeans, www.zafu.com. You simply answer a few easy questions about your body and how you like your jeans to fit, and up come several options. (If you'd like some tips about building a jeans wardrobe, check out my May e-Style Tip, where I've already raved about zafu.com.)

Even as wonderful as Zafu is, there are still a couple of problems. (Don't get me wrong, I love it, but unless you're buying on line, there are a couple of problems.) First, when your jeans come up, they all have a name. When you're shopping in the store, you can't always find the name on the jeans. If you can find a good salesperson, they can often show you the jeans even if the name isn't in plain sight. The other thing is that while Zafu has tons of jeans, they don't have every jean on the face of the earth in their system. Basically, what all of this means is that while you can arm yourself with your Zafu list, you may still have to try on a good number of jeans.

Or in my case, you might rush out the door without consulting your list like I did last Saturday. I had a client in the morning, and having used Zafu to help a client find a pair of jeans, I was inspired and decided to shop for some jeans for myself after I was done with my morning client. Not being a morning person, I didn't even give Zaful a thought before I left the house. However, I was determined to find some jeans that day.

Really, even just answering the Zafu questions can help you be aware of your body type and how to ask a salesperson to help you.

My first stop was Nordstrom. They have a large selection of David Kahn jeans. I have clients and friends who love these jeans, and since there are quite a few styles, I thought surely I could find a pair to fit. Wrong! One thing I've learned is that because I have a short waist and an undefined waist, I need extra low rise jeans. All of the David Kahn's were a hair too high waisted. Next, I tried Kut From the Cloth jeans in a couple of styles and even some good old Calvin Kleins. None of them worked. This wasn't even a fraction of the jeans they had at Nordies, but I was really looking for some kick around jeans and didn't want to spend over $100, so I decided to forge on into the mall.

I was heading down to Macy's since I had a coupon to use and had found some cute jeans for a client there when I saw the Levi's store and went it. The guy there was pretty helpful, and I might have stuck around longer to try a few more pairs, but I was so hungry I thought I was going to pass out! And since Wetzel's Pretzel's, my favorite shopping snack, was right by Macy's, I went back to plan A.

Once nourished albeit a little discouraged, I headed into Macy's. (That is so usually not me. I was kicking myself for forgetting the Zafu list!) As I was passing the Junior department, I thought why not! I've bought a couple of pairs of junior sized jeans in the past, but I thought they were flukes. Nevertheless, I picked up a couple pairs of American Rag jeans and headed up to Missy jeans.

I was dismayed that I couldn't find any "popular priced" jeans in a long length. Do the buyers think that when a woman reaches the age where junior sizes don't fit, she has suddenly gotten shorter? I determined that this must be why I see so many women wearing pants that are too short. I tried on an entire stack of jeans, and they were all too short.

Then I tried on the Juniors. OMG, they were amazing! Actually, extremely comfortable, but hard to believe a little too big. I was about to head back downstairs to find a size down when I decided to take a look at the department that sells Paige, (my favorite,) Seven's, Citizen's of Humanity and the like. These jeans are always long enough. They should be, they're crazy expensive!! At this point I didn't really care about the price. I wanted some jeans!

Then another shock happened! I met the nicest salesperson, Kayla, who offered to find me a fitting room and even went downstairs to find the junior jeans. (I was totally convinced a smaller size wasn't going to work.) The American Rag junior jeans fit and since I was so proud of myself for enduring and finding such a good price ($39), I also treated myself * to a pair of Citizen for Humanity jeans. I believe the style is the Ingrid. (*I had coupons and I don't want to go jeans shopping again for a really long time.)

For what might seem like a lot of rambling, there are several morals to this story.

• Don't leave home for a jean shopping trip without consulting zafu.com.
• Make sure to have a snack when you're hungry and feeling a little down.
• Be open minded.
• Like toilet paper, if you can afford it, buy a couple pairs of jeans at a time and save yourself the hassle of another trip.

"Clinton Makes Fun of Her Fashion Sense

According to an article in US Weekly, Senator Hillary Clinton admits her fashion sense is not nearly as sharp as her political instincts. As an image consultant, I have to agree, but truly, I have so many mixed feelings about this issue.

(Click on the link above to read the article and see several old photos of Clinton where she has made humorous comments about her fashion choices.) Of the coat on the right, she says, "I'm a big believer in recycling--even carpets!"

First, I appreciate the fact that she can make fun of herself. I mean, she's usually pretty dry, as many politicians are, but the fact that she wasn't too threatened to make jokes about her clothes lends a certain charm and "everyday woman" quality to her.

On the other hand, (and you're not going to believe an image consultant is saying this,) it drives me nuts that the media is making any mention of her clothing. Doing a bit of research for this blog post, I Googled "Hillary Clinton, fashion." Quite a few articles came up. I failed to find any articles with the media bashing any of the male candidates. Why is "fashion dissection," limited to women? Hillary Clinton may not win any fashion awards, but other than the above pictured coat, her clothing isn't wretched! The reality is that society is still focused on women's clothing and not men's.

Back to my other hand though, Hillary Clinton is campaigning for the President of the United States! She admits she has poor fashion sense, so why wouldn't she use an image consultant to dress her and show her at her very best at all times? Using a seasoned political image advisor, Hillary could easily manage her image to where it's a non-issue or at the very least, create a buzz about how amazing she looks. Honestly, she has much more important issues to think about than what to wear.

Think you can't afford designer clothing?

I was shopping with a client the other day at Saks. I have to say, this isn't the best time for shopping either for winter clothes or spring clothes. However, my client was in true need of some winter clothing.

The fall clothes have either been shipped out or the selections are really spotty. And the spring collections haven't been fully shipped. Truly, it's a pretty dire scene at most of the stores, but Saks had a pretty large selection of sale items left. I actually think they may have had things shipped in from their larger stores.

While I was pre-shopping, my trusted salesperson, Joanie, mentioned, "We have some things on sale." (She works in the Chanel department, where they have the best dressing rooms.) At first I didn't see it, but then she led me to a back corner where there were several racks of deeply discounted DESIGNER CLOTHES. I'm talking Max Mara, Escada, Armani, Akris Punto, and more.

My client found among many other great sale items, an Akris Punto jacket that was originally $1000, marked down to $397.

While it's a gamble, sometimes it can pay off to wait until the very end of the season to find some steals. If you don't think you can afford designer clothing or even to step foot into stores like Saks or Neiman's, think again.

While $400 is nothing to sneeze at, the designer quality you're getting is far superior to what you'd find at Anne Taylor or Macy's where a typical regular priced jacket $228. In addition to getting a piece that you won't see all over town, cost per wearing goes down, since you'll be able to wear it much longer.