Wills Lifestyle Sale!

Wills lifestyle was one of my favourite brands when they were new. But over the years I felt their collection was getting weird. Even 'Small' size was too big. There were hardly any designs. Gradually I stopped going to their stores completely. But after a long time I thought of looking at their collection with a fresh mind. And I picked up the year end sale.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the stock they had at the Select City Mall store. They had 30-50% sale on everything - shirts, trousers, jackets, tops, capris. Size 26 is generally hard to find, but they had enough! I was specifically looking for lowers, and this is what I have to say.

• Trousers: They had 3-4 designs. But the fit was not good. Tight from the waist and loose otherwise. Did not like anything.
• Capris: They had some cool linen capris, ideal for summer which is almost here. If I remember correctly, they had it both in white and black and in the range of Rs 1200-1300.
• Cotton Pants: I was lucky to be able to find a pair of beige ankle length cotton pants. I didnt't see too many of them. This was for Rs 1400 with a 50% discount.

They had a pretty huge collection of tops and winterwear as well, but I did not check them out well enough (cos I did not know that I would actually blog about them in the next weekend :)). One of my friends at office visited the Gurgaon store and this is what she picked up!

Grey Business Blazer. Price: Rs 4000. Discount: 30%

What I hated at the Store!!
The wait for the trial room!! Yes, it is understandable that sale season sees a lot of rush. But the stores must restrict the number of items to be tried to say 3. Infact that's what most stores do. Not Wills though.

Overall Rating
This review was not as thorough as that of Van Heusen Woman Sale posted in my earlier blogs. But based on the items I checked out I would rate Willl Lifestyle Yearend Sale a 3/5.

1: Don't waste your time 
2: Okay! Could find something if you're lucky
3: Certainly worth taking a look
4: Pretty good, must check out
5: Fabulous, Don't wait!

Where to Find that Right Fit for Trousers?

This is a question that I have often struggled with myself! I want something that is very normal and yet is is hard to find. This is how I like my trousers to be:

• Low Waist
• Narrow Legs
• Comfort Fit: The boss already gives us enough stress for the mind, at least the body should feel comfortable.  
• With Pockets: I need this since I prefer keeping my cellphone in the pocket.

My Experience with Ready-made Trousers:

I have visited all the popular brands like Wills Lifestyle, Park Avenue, Van Heusen and I have not been able to get that right fit. Most of them are high waisted. You can't fit into your right size, but the next size is too loose! Most of them do not have pockets either.

My Solution:

I realized that tailor made trousers was the only solution. And so I thought of trying out Raymond. I know that very very few girls think of getting those trousers tailor made, but I was very happy. These are customized in terms of design, fit, colour and fabric.

The Price:
Stitching charges vary by showroom which is a bit strange. I have tried the South Extension store. They charge Rs 600.
Fabric is available in a wide range of colour, texture and price starting from Rs 400 per metre.

So basically a tailor made trouser from Raymond can cost anything from Rs 1200 onwards. This is in fact cheaper than the ready-made ones and you can pick your color, design and fit.

You can find the list of Raymond stores on their website.
http://www.raymondindia.com/states.asp?st=Delhi

I am happy with my experience at the South Extension showroom. I will be trying out the one in the Select City, Saket mall soon.

Forever 21 is a Favourite Forever!

That was my first trip to New York City in 2007. I was loving every bit of it - the pleasant weather, the pretty people around and the shopping extravaganza. Sitting at Union Square with my friends, I gazed through the line of shops in front of me. 'Forever 21, that sounds interesting!', I said. And my friend emphasized that it was a must visit store for fashionable, trendy and not so expensive clothing.

She was damn right and I fell in love with the store at once. The shop was huge and had everything that a girl wanted! Some stuff they had was classy, while some weird, some trendy while some meant for only the advanced countries! But all in all it was a shopper’s paradise! They have several stores in NYC, all of them multi-storeyed and HUGE!! You would take a while to just see what’s around, and someone like me can spend hours there! Over the years I have always made it a point to visit Forever 21 even in my busiest weekends during my NY trips. Here are a few pictures to give you a feel of the size! (Pictures downloaded from the internet from different sources).

Forever 21 at Times Square

Forever 21 Interactive Digital Billboard!!

In Times Square, Forever 21 set up an interactive digital billboard that took pictures of everyone standing before it! It was pretty creative and cool. People were taking photographs like crazy!! And I couldn’t stop myself either.. Here are a few of them.

That's me on the billboard!

Forever 21 in Delhi

I was glad that they have opened a store right here, at Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj. So I thought, now I don’t have to wait for an office trip to be able to shop at Forever 21.. But with extra convenience comes an added cost. The $15 New York top is sold at Rs 1000 here. My friend actually happened to see the $15 price tag under her Rs 1000 top. This was a put off. I liked some stuff but honestly, I am already waiting for my next NY trip from office!

Van Heusen Sale, Some Stuff that I Bought..

I bought around 9-10 items from this sale over 2-3 visits. The best part was that they were adding stock regularly. This is quite a rare trend for most of the popular brands during sale. I am going to talk about 4 of my favourite items from the newly acquired collection.

I also reviewed this sale in my previous article here and rated it 4 on 5.

            Flared Low-waist Skirt

* Image from Van Heusen Catalogue

No, this is not me. I have taken this picture from the Van Heusen Catalogue. This is an evergreen black flared kneelength formal skirt. In fact this actually has been in their collection since 2007 (or may be even before). But I guess they are still selling it well to last even after almost 4 seasons. The fit is perfect, you don't have to worry about it being too tight for office. The skirt in a snapshot:

• Perfect flaired fit for office; not too tight, not too loose
• Soft fabric with a satin lining inside
• Available in 3 colors: Black, Light Brown and Grey
• You can also team it up with blazers of the same fabric and color (available in Van Heusen stores) to get a perfect business suit
• Reasonably priced at Rs 1195

Patterned Dress

 I had promised myself: No grey/ black/ white in my wardrobe any longer. But I guess these are the colors you simply cannot do without, especially when they are combined in a vibrant pattern with a couple of bright colors like this dress that I am talking about. Besides the pattern the other thing I really like is the bold black belt that the dress comes with. You can use this belt for any other pretty dress or top that you already have to give it the chic look. The dress in a snapshot:

• Bright patterns with a bold black belt
• A nice cowl neck, not too deep
• Soft fabric with a good fit
• Priced at Rs 1995. Sale price Rs 1077!!! (I think its a bargain for this price!)

Here are a few other items that I purchased.

Straight Mid-waist Skirt

* Image from Van Heusen Catalogue

Striped Cardigan

Van Heusen Woman Sale!

This is the sale season and we all want to make the best of it. But this is not an easy thing to do and can actually get a little frustrating. The good items are discounted by just 10%, and the 40% stuff is not even worth looking at! This is the most common experience that we all have.

But Van Heusen Woman is not exactly the same story. Being a Risk Management Proffessional with a leading MNC, I have to have a resonably good collection of office wear. (What is reasonable is always debatable in case of girls). Unfortunately there are very few brands in India for good office wear for women. Van Heusen is my favorite amongst them. They have a good collection of skirts, dresses besides the usual trouser and shirt, Not to forget, they have some nice casual wear as well.

Specifically talking about the sale, they have a decent stock on discount: 25% and 40% off. The best part is that for the Diva members, they are offering an additional discount of 10%. So the 25% becomes 33% and the 40% becomes 46% sale. Here is a brief description of the items on sale.

I have also uploaded the pictures some stuff that I bought from the sale in another post here.

25% Discount:
Dresses: 4-5 designs. Price range: Rs 1795-2195. Easy to like atleast 1 of them.
Blazers: 2-3 designs. Price range: Rs 4995
Trousers 2-3 designs. Price range: Rs 1395 approx
Skirts: 2-3 designs (Mostly straight): Price range: Rs 1195-1395. Some of them pretty nice.

40% Discount:
Casual Tops: Many designs, wide price range
Shirts: Many designs Price range: Rs 1295 approx. Stock clearing, could find some good stuff.
Blazers: 2-3 designs. Price range: Rs 4000 approx. Good bargain.


Overall rating: 4/5
1: Don't waste your time 
2: Okay! Could find something if you're lucky
3: Certainly worth taking a look
4: Pretty good, must check out
5: Fabulous, Don't wait!

Why I got tempted to write this blog..

Looking good makes us feel good. And we all want to feel good.
  Sporting the latest in fashion makes us look good. And we all want to look good.

But where do we go to get the latest in fashion? We have been blogging since 2007. But when I wanted to read about the kind of stuff that are available in this sale season, I could not find much. And so I thought, why not write about what I feel and also hear what the others have to say.

Everyone loves shopping, and so do I. I just had my year end appraisal and got to know about my bonus, and I was certainly not happy. What did I do about it? Argue with my boss?? No, that was not even an option. So, I simply got off at the Select City Mall at Saket while on my way back from office and bought some nice clothes from Van Heusen Women.. Yes I spent a part of my already shrunk bonus, but I still felt good! I just acquired something new to add to my ever expanding wardrobe!! I know we have all been cured by the retail therapy at some point of time.

With the desire to shop comes the ability to afford it and the art of choosing. So through this blog I want to help people make an affordable choice! I will write what I feel about the latest in the popular brands: office and casual for both men and women. (I may start writing about children's wear a few years later :)).

Disclaimer: I will not write this blog as if I am writing a business proposal to my VP. I will be spontaeneous and honest and not meaure every sentence that I write. If you do not agree with me, please let me know, we can argue about it. And, if you like what I write, please let me know most definitely!!

** Picture from Google Images