Boden Weekly Review Roundup: Emily, Her Skirt, and My New Hair.

Hey, all!  Happy Friday!

Just in time for this weekend, I have finally gotten a few moments together to get all the pressing Boden reviews in order for you all.  The sale that is on right now (wrote about it here on Monday) ends this Sunday evening, so hopefully some of these reviews will help you in your decisions about sale purchases.

I believe new arrivals (from the Summer 2014 line--did a picks post here) should be in very soon, probably next week.  I am pretty excited since there is just so much color there in the pieces.  We have had a really long winter here in the US, and I think so many of us want to shake off all the wool and drab colors and put on something fresh, light, colorful, and airy.  I have a few pieces coming from my preview order, so hopefully the next BWRR can include a review or two from the order.

My good blog friend Lou (of What Lou Wore 365) let me know there was an article about Boden sales worldwide, and it turns out that 55% of sales now are from outside of the United Kingdom.  Woah!  Remembering when Boden was just this teensy weensy presence in the US clothing marketplace, I say BRAVO!  That's great, and kudos to Johnnie and his team!  You can read the whole article here.

My other blog friend from Fashion Mommy has written up a post with an emphasis on the summery shades of yellow and bright blue, and all the yummy dresses you can find in these two hues at Boden.  Take a look at the blog post here.  So many choices!  I love that we are spoiled for choice...

Okay, then, onto some reviews.  :-)

Regular Boden:

Emily Skirt.  Size 6 Long.  Fits true to size, but since I will always wear a smaller skirt size if the skirt portion is full, take what I say with a grain of salt.  My waist measures small compared to my hips, so I will often wear the 6 rather than an 8 in styles like this.  If your waist runs bigger, you may want to size up.  This waist measures bang on at 29.5, which gives me about an inch of wiggle/breathing room.

I have been waiting so long to wear my pretty summer/spring clothing (never have to normally wait this long here in VA, just this year), so I said, "screw it, I am wearing tights and a cardigan with the skirt," even though this type of skirt is best worn bare-legged, with a tank and a cute pair of sandals.  In the end, it looked cute like this, so I am glad I was forced to "winterize" it.

I wore this outfit to church, btw, and since I spent all of church running around after Angus, I can assure you it is both comfortable and flexible for any woman who has a need look nice but has to be able to sprint off at a moment's notice.

FWIW, I published a photo of me wearing this at my FB page.  I noticed I had an uptick of new FB "likes" this week, and I appreciate it.  I try to stay on top of my FB page and if I ever have a quickie look-see at something, I will publish it there first since FB makes it easier.  Just a little shoutout to see if a few more of you wanted to join in on the fun.  :-)

At first I didn't love the black waistband, and definitely don't think it's the nicest they have ever made, but it has grown on me since it really does flatter the curves.

The length is nice, I always need longs in skirts, just to get to my knees.  Since I have a high waist (my true waist is right where the band is), if I don't have extra length, all skirts, regardless of any moniker given to them by companies (looking at you J. Crew), will be short on me, often barely making it past mid-thigh.  So thank you Boden for really making longs quite long.

The pattern is very pretty, and appliqued onto the border of the skirt.  It appears that they took some seersucker stretch cotton fabric and machine appliqued them onto the skirt.  It is well done and an interesting feature, especially since usually applications like this appear on solid fabric and not striped fabric.

Pockets are adequate, but not especially deep.

The detail runs round to the back of the skirt.  I felt a bit like a Scandinavian princess wearing this.  :-)

The only real issue I had was with the lining.  I really feel (just like with the Nancy Dress--review of that one here) that Boden cheaped out on the lining.  It is super thin, not of high quality, and very poorly applied.  I am *this* close to ripping it out.  That's a problem to me since Boden IS better than that.  I hope that someone from there reads this and sees that some of us are noticing the shortcuts taken.  I would have paid ten dollars more for a better lining.  Seriously.


Emily Skirt.  Backordered all around, and only 10% off.  Boden knows that it is a good seller and is unlikely to reduce it by a whole lot.


Must Have Tee.  I wore this one recently as part of a casual, "let's go to the kids' school and watch a play," kind of outfit.













Boho Ankle Boot, Penny Loafer, Fashion Pointed Flat, Mya Bag, Palermo Tote, Modern Stripy Top, Printed Pocket Top, Brigitte Sweater/Jumper, Darcy Sweater/Jumper, Blenheim Blazer, Cotton Biker Jacket, and Boyfriend Jeans.  Awesome Avril photographed herself wearing these items that she was able to try on at her friend's big Boden party.  There is a lot of lovely on view.  :-)

Nancy Dress and Bistro Crop Trousers.  Boden Bits & Blog has some recent photos on their tumblr of two bloggers dressed in these fine pieces (dress here and trousers here).  I normally don't link to a blogger unless they give me permission, but since Boden's tumblr itself shows them off, I figure it's fair game.  ;-)  *Use hyperlink in the trousers name since there is no direct link in my affiliate's directory.*

Clearance Boden:

Amelie Dress.  Seeing as how a few of these pretty dresses are left in clearance, I figured I would put this ootd photo here for you all to see (even though I have plans to properly publish it in its own ootd post).  I am wearing the 6 Long, like I would in all fit and flare knit dresses (and most woven, too) from Boden.  I wrote my initial review of this dress here (and its summer 2013 sister here).  There is another incarnation of this dress for this season, which can be found here.  This version may be my favorite, though, I think the longer sleeve and slight boatneck take it over the edge for me.  A lady saw me in this yesterday (this is from yesterday, shocker!) and said she just LOVED this dress.  I had no problem pointing her to the direction in which she could acquire it.


Amelie Dress.  Selling out, nearly, but still a few sizes left, especially in the version I own.

Okay, that's it for tonight.  I don't think I missed anyone, but if I did, please do let me know and I will amend this post (if before Friday at 11:59 pm) or I will include you in the next roundup if later.