customer service

woahhhh we haven’t posted on here in a while! it’s not that we don’t love you guys- we’ve just been busy with our internships/study abroad. anyways, i have a little story for you that i’ve needed to get off my chest for a long time.

this past march, i ordered a diane von furstenberg (dvf) dress to wear to one of my sorority events (maybe formal or a crush event we have-can’t remember). i have been a very loyal customer of dvf for years. not only do i own many of her shoes, dresses, sweaters, etc., but i also have bought many of the more expensive pieces (i.e. lace dresses, etc.). needless to say, i’m a great customer.

i got the dress and it just didn’t look good. it was way too big and voluminous and just wasn’t going to work. even if i got it in a smaller size, the design just wasn’t flattering on me. i made the mistake of not sending the dress back immediately. i was in the middle of midterms and was slammed and just didn’t take the time to go mail it. i took the dress home for spring break and mailed it as soon as i got back from the dominican. based on the shipping label, i know that i received the dress on 3/1. based on my day planner (which we all know never leaves my side- i obsessively record everything in there), i know that i mailed the dress back on 3/18. i am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT positive that i mailed the dress back on friday, 3/18. i know that for a FACT because i mailed the dress back from my hometown and i went back to school the next day.

the dress had been shipped to me from the bal harbour dvf store for some reason (even though i ordered it online). there was ZERO paperwork in the box, so i returned the dress to that store. i even included a handwritten note with all of my information on it. i shipped the box certified mail, so i was supposed to get back to the store by like the 22nd.

for a month or so, everything was fine. then one day the box was returned to me with a note inside that said something like, “we didn’t receive this package until april x (can’t remember, but it was something RIDICULOUSLY after the date it should have arrived), therefore it cannot be exchanged or returned.”

dvf has an interesting return policy. you can return something for up to 18 days for a full refund. items returned within 30 days are subject to a 20% restocking fee. annoying, but fine. i would have gladly taken the 80% refund no problem. i guess what happened is that the bal harbour store let my package sit around for WEEKS before they sent it to the main headquarters. um, is this my fault?! NO. i spoke with customer service on the phone and via email several times, and they flat out refused to do ANYTHING. they wouldn’t take the dress back, wouldn’t refund the money, wouldn’t exchange it, wouldn’t let me pick something else out. NOTHING. i was left with a dress that was horrifically large and unflattering that i could do NOTHING with. even worse, i was out the money for the dress and the cost of the super expensive shipping.

this is a warning to you all. first, be VERY WARY of dvf. i can tell you that i will no longer buy items from dvf. this is unfortunate for both of us, as i truly love their items and they will lose a very loyal customer (who they may not even be able to tell is very loyal because i buy all my clothes from saks instead of directly from dvf). second, never EVER make the customer feel like she’s at fault. this situation was a problem with the store. clearly it’s staff is incredibly incompetent. i acknowledge that i made mistakes here (namely waiting to return the dress and not keeping the certified mail tracking receipt). dvf’s mistakes, however, were muchmuchmuch worse. this is THEIR fault. i 100% should have been able to return this item. i have no problem spending a lot of money on things, but i CANNOT stand wasting money or replacing items that i already had. third, make sure your company has strong pr and customer service. bad customer service=bad reviews=friends spreading news of bad reviews=loss of customers for you. lose-lose situation.

xo charlotte

time flies…

…when you’re having fun. or working all day, commuting and having some fun in between in my case.  sorry i’ve been completely neglecting the blog, i’m really going to try harder to post often (shout out to taylor who deserves more posts hah).  i’m going to update some stuff about life and work asap but for right now i have a quick picture and explanation for all of you.  friday char, my new friend from work caroline, our friend natalie and i went to the met and saw the alexander mcqueen exhibition.  to say it was incredible is an understatement.  because many of the pieces are from private collections, you’re technically not allowed to take pictures but i managed to sneak one in.

the lighting isn’t great (because i couldn’t turn the flash on) but i was blown away by the intricacy in every piece.  his collections are literally pieces of art and i recommend that everyone who loves fashion goes to see it.  the wait wasn’t too bad and the met in general is an amazing place to be.  i’ll be back to write more soon, i promise.  hope you all had a great weekend and father’s day!!

xx m

pin it!

the other day, my best friend cat introduced me to a new website called pinterest. i had zero idea what she was talking about when she first brought it up, but within like 2 days, i was HOOKED.

pinterest is SUCH a cool website. it’s a little hard to explain, so i’ll include some photos in order to do so. here’s how the company describes it:

once you sign up for pinterest, you drag “pin it” to your bookmarks bar. then you go around the internet and grab/pin images you want from any website. note that you don’t have to be logged into pinterest for your computer to upload the photos. you put the images into a designated board, and it creates really cool inspiration boards for you.

you can create as many different boards as you want. i currently have 7 boards: images, food and drinks, for the home, my style pinboard, books worth reading, favorite places and spaces, products i love. anyone who uses pinterest can see what you pin, and they can repin your photos, like them, or comment on them. in this way, pinterest functions like a social networking site. like on facebook, you have a minifeed with recent images you and your followers have pinned.

this sounds very confusing, but i promise that it’s not difficult AT ALL. it’s not a lot of work to pin images, but the final product is completely worth it. even i can figure it out, and i can’t even upload pictures to facebook! it’s really an amazing website, so you should definitely check it out! let me know if you try it out or need an invite! if you sign up, be sure to follow me!

xo charlotte

prep-cessity

to me, the absolute preppiest item out there is a barbour jacket. it’s very “old money in the country,” and it’s not pretentious at all. it’s also incredibly useful. i wear mine all the time. it’s the perfect coat for the entire fall season, but it’s especially great for when it’s raining. you’ll stay completely dry and warm underneath! note that they don’t automatically come with hoods, however! i find that SO strange and so frustrating. you can easily purchase one for like $50, but i haven’t actually gotten around to doing it yet.

the coat that all the girls have is actually the MEN’s version of the bedale. i’ve tried on some of the women’s jackets, and they fit SO differently. i find them awkwardly short and form-fitting. you want your barbour to be loose and oversized. they come in several different colors like navy and brown, but i prefer the green- i think it’s more classic. green: barbour :: orange: hermes (is that even how you do an analogy?! it’s been so long that i can barely remember). also, i like the waxed ones better than the unwaxed ones.

i’ve found that the best place to buy a barbour online is orvis. here’s a little size conversion cheat sheet for you:

happy shopping!

xo charlotte

bananas

i die.

rodger shut it down with the push present he got his wife, rachel zoe, after she gave birth to the couple’s first son. look at this 10-carat ROCK he gave her.

can’t wait to have kids haha! push presents and babymoons, here i come (maybe i should finish college and find a husband first though…)

xo charlotte

¡feliz cinco de mayo!

happy cinco de mayo, everyone! cinco de mayo is such a funny holiday to me. it really isn’t all that important to mexicans because, contrary to popular belief, it is NOT mexican independence day. it just celebrates mexico’s unlikely victory at the battle of puebla.

in america, cinco de mayo is celebrated solely for the excuse to drink. like st. patrick’s day, cinco de mayo really has nothing to do with the people it’s about. i don’t have a problem with this, however, as i’m a college student and therefore think that anything is an excuse to drink. our friends popped open a bottle of whisky as soon as osama was killed, after all. i just wish WEEEE could go out instead of studying for finals. i propose that all of you who don’t have finals tomorrow put on some mexican-looking clothes, whip up some guacamole, and blend some margarita-itas.

several years ago, my friend grace from dallas told me about an amazing mexican import store called la mariposa. it has SUCH cute embroidered clothes. i’m a huge fan of embroidered mexican-inspired tops and dresses, but i usually fall in love with (have my mom buy for me and buy) super expensive joie ones. la mariposa has adorable, authentic mexican clothes (that are handmade!!!) for such great prices. here are two of my favorite tops:

la mariposa also has fun things like piñatas:

these items would make for an awesome cinco de mayo party! now all you need are food and drankz (cause what cinco de mayo party is completely without drankz?). necessity #1 is guacamole. it is verrrry easy to make, and  i consider it something everyone should have in his repertoire. for those of you who are domestically challenged, here is a recipe from the food network. also, whole foods makes a mean guacamole if you’d rather just pick some up.

i know margaritas are the standard cinco de mayo drink, and they are delish, but why not be different and make sangria?! sangria is one of my favorite drinks. you can make it with red or white wine, but my all-time favorite type of sangria is cava, or champagne, sangria, since we all know i loverlylove champagne. here‘s a recipe for cava sangria.

i hope you all have a wonderful day, no matter how you spend it.

xo charlotte

fave ‘fits

last night was the annual met costume institute gala. this is a HUGE event that is known for the spectacular outfits its attendees wear. this year’s event was dedicated to alexander mcqueen, designer extraordinaire who died last year. literally every celebrity attends the event, all on the arms of the world’s best designers. the strangest combination to me was kanye west and tory burch. can somebody explain that to me?

here are a few of my favorite dresses from the events. i was really feeling the nudes and blush tones:

{taylor swift in j. mendel, her date}

{ashley greene in donna karan}

{jessica stam in tommy hilfiger- so feminine}

{dianna agron in michael kors, who accompanied her- i’m normally not a huge fan of red, but i really like this dress for some reason}

{jennifer hudson in vera wang- she looks AMAZING. i’m so proud of her for all of the weight she’s lost! she was gorgeous both pre- and post-weight loss, but she just radiates now}

xo charlotte

just a few things

hiii lovelies!

sorry we haven’t been around in a while. we’ve been naughty bloggers. this week was the last week of classes, so we had MAYJAH papers due. work 24 hours a day urryday. no time for ANYTHING, including eating or sleeping haha. def no time for blogging! but i’m here today and that’s what counts!

nothing too exciting happened this week, except that m got T.W.O. (!!!) internship offers! woohoooo- we’re SOOOO happy for her! so i figured i’d just throw some random things atcha because i know a lot of you are probably drowning in work too… we still have finals coming up, after all.

what do we think of kate middleton’s dress? i certainly think it’s elegant, classic, and perfectly appropriate for a princess, but i don’t loooove it. i think it’s the boob part that actually bothers me. m said it reminded her of cone boobs haha- like madonna. i also don’t really like how the train attaches to the back of the dress. it sticks out a little too much. it’s definitely not a seamless transition. however, i LOVE kate’s sister (pippa’s) dress. so sleek and beautiful. my favorite part of it is the fabric covered buttons that run all the way down the back.

on the topic of beautiful outfits, check out this photo (mupload) i took of some of my BE.A.UUUUUU.TIFUL friends before they headed out to an event last night. (i couldn’t go because i had two papers to write). they had soooo much fun, and i hope m and mary will share some stories with you later! they are both in this photooo! guess which ones they are…

hmm what else has been going on? ohhh, speaking of photos, i thought i’d share my sister’s friend’s photography blog with you. this girl is only 15 and her photos are AMAZING!!! take a peek at some of her safari pics!

have a greatttt day!

xo charlotte

shop for a cause!

my sorority is hosting an online fundraiser for multiple sclerosis. normally i wouldn’t pitch fundraisers on the blog, but this one is special for two reasons. first of all, one of my aunts has multiple sclerosis, so i obviously think MS is a good cause to raise money for. secondly, it’s a jewelry fundraiser. basically you just buy really cute jewelry, and ALL of the profits go to charity. this isn’t one of those stingy fundraisers where only like 5% of the profits go to the cause- all 100% of the profits go to fight MS! the jewelry is all by stella + dot, and here are the instructions for how to purchase jewelry:

• Go to www.stelladot.com/carlagreengrass
• Click “Find Your Hostess” in the upper right hand corner
• Enter “Kappa Kappa Gamma” as the first name and “Fundraiser” as the last, this will bring up a link for our trunk-show
• Click the link, and you will be shopping in our trunk-show

i picked out some of my favorites for you. the site does have silver jewelry too, but i’m a much bigger fan of gold so i only picked gold pieces, natch. REMINDER: mother’s day is less than 3 weeks away! stock up now!

{signature clover necklace– $59}

{stella vintage link bracelet– $89}

{goa pendant earrings– $49}

and the most “me” (aka delicate, gold) piece of all

{on the mark necklace– $49}

let me know if you buy anything!

xo charlotte

most important thing to bring to college

in my opinion, the #1 thing that every girl should bring to college is a cross body bag. it is absolutely ESSENTIAL for going out. when you go out, you have to bring at least your phone, money, and id(s). your outfit probably doesn’t have pockets, it’s not safe to leave your things in your coat that you throw in the corner of a frat, and it’s just completely impractical to bring a normal bag out (obnoxious to hold when you’re dancing, and it’ll completely get in the way when you’re trying to slither through openings in a bar). enter the cross body bag. perfect for nights out, fraturdays, tailgates, etc.

my dream cross body bag is the chanel 2.55 in black pictured above (which i obvi don’t have- YET), but i’ll share a few other bags that are a little more  reasonable (aka less than like $3,000).

i have this simple marc jacobs totally turnlock cross body bag. it’s very thin and i usually forget that i’m even wearing it when i have it on. it goes with everything and is super practical.

another cute option is this mini foldover foley + corinna bubble leather disco city bag. i loverlylove gold and think it works as a great neutral. this bag is a soft gold that’s pebbled leather. pebbled leather is actually really practical for a going out bag because it hides scuffs/spills/etc. this bag is cute because you can either hold it by the handles or carry it using the strap, in which case the top will fold over.

and of course, it would be remiss of me if i didn’t mention rebecca minkoff in a bag post! rebecca minkoff is my favorite bag designer of all. i love her MAC clutch and the spin-offs she does of it. these bags have a nice, substantial, rectangular shape and gold hardware. the cool thing about these bags is that they can be used either as clutches or cross body bags. aka when you’re asking your mom if you can put it on her credit card, you can say that it’s two bags in one!

{MAC clutch}

 {python clutch}

xo charlotte