JOSEPH A Colorblock Short-Sleeved Tee

$54.00$39.99 by Joseph A at Lord & Taylor

I have been in the midst of a full closet freak out. I'm not inspired to exciting looks together and when I do, I'm not thrilled with how I look (harsh handful of honesty, I know). Needless to say, I decided that an emergency shopping expedition to my favorite plus size store and in my opinion NYC's best kept secret, Lord & Taylor.

Needless to say, I went IN. This gorgeous nude and coral Joseph A tee is going to be one of my Spring favorites (if it ever gets warm enought to wear it, that is). (Editor's note: the tee isn't available on the L&T website in plus, but call your local store & I'm sure they can help you out.) I also picked up this tee in navy & purple before all was said & done.

I'm making an earnest attempt to incorporate more neutrals and color into my wardrobe this year, thanks in large part to the lovely Eye4Style holding a black clothing intervention back when we used to work together.  I now plan to wear color obnoxiously and unapologetically just to remind her of those very days.

Shopping for Spring plus lady is never very easy. Generally, I hunt + gather + hoard until the weather's right. What's your strategy?

I have so much to say - please excuse me if this post is a little verbose. First of all, I've started a full time job again, so things may be a bit slower than normal (and you've probably already noticed my absence). Secondly, this less frequent posting schedule leads me to the second change. My OOTDs will no longer be dated. Gotta snap 'em when I can these days!

This was last Sunday's look, when I officially reentered the brunching world (my first in 10 months) with the fantastic Dina of Eye4Style. Naturally we ate far too much at Beauty & Essex and then slowly made our way to the Style Coalition lounge for a casual Emmys gathering. It was barely cool enough to wear fur, but I didn't care. I've been desperate to rock this vest since I purchased it in early September. Allow me to digress.

On the morning of the first day of Fashion Week (also known as Fashion's Night Out), Lucky Magazine invited us to Lord & Taylor, with the guidance of Suze Yalof Schwartz, to shop the trends complete with a $200 gift card. Who was I to say no? Naturally I headed right up to L&T's plus size floor (one of my guilty pleasures) and immediately to the MICHAEL Michael Kors assortment. And there it was, patiently waiting for me, the last fur vest in my size. Needless to say, I put that $200 gift card to good use (and then some). I'd love to show you the vest on the L&T website, but sadly it's not available online. Should you be interested in picking up one for yourself, head to the store - you'll fall in love.

Outfit details:

Sunnies: Tom Ford Nikita (no longer available)

Vest: MICHAEL Michael Kors, c/o Lucky Magazine & Lord & Taylor

Dress: Avenue (no longer available)

Necklaces: Swarovzki (a birthday present), Twittabling

Belt: Lane Bryant (no longer available)

Tights: One Stop Plus (no longer available)

Wedges: Torrid (no longer available)

Envelope clutch: ASOS (black leather no longer available, other colors here)

Photo by Dina, Eye4Style

(Editor's note: Style IT's Associate Editor, Lesley Forrester, played Girl About Town this week to view Lord & Taylor's massive overhaul of their beauty floor. Follow her electric pink hard hat as she guides you through the most state of the art beauty counters you can ever dare to experience. For more of Lesley's fierceness, join her at LesleyKat.)

Lord & Taylor invited a handful of lucky beauty ducks to get a preview of the renovations taking place on the first and second floors of their 5th Ave. store. We were all issued adorable pink hard hats and taken back into the thick of the construction zone. Our guide mapped out where a few different beauty brands will be located including Chanel, Shishedo and Bobbi Brown. He also told us about the Phillips lighting technology throughout the entire floor that is 92% complexion right lighting. We then toured a few brands that were already complete, including Clinique, Lancome and Estee Lauder. These three brands each introduced technology that doesn't exist anywhere else right now.

Clinique has updated the little slider bars. (if you have been to a counter, you know what I'm talking about!) They now have a touch-screen computer system that allows you to specify your skin needs and then prints you out a little ticket listing all of the products tailored to those needs. They have also set up differnt stations that allow you to play with products and browse without a sales associate. Hands on, baby!

Estée lauder has created the Foundation Fitting Room that allows you to test colors in different lighting situations, such as office (florescent), day (daylight), night (low light), etc... It was designed to help you find your perfect foundation match.

Lancôme has created their very first mascara bar. It allows you to try out every formula that they carry.

Each brand boutique has been designed with brand collaboration to really make each one a unique experience. All in all, this is a face lift that Lord & Taylor needed and they are truly delivering. One of the most impressive facts is that they are doing all of this in 9 months!

As beauty becomes more and more linked to technology, it is important for retailers and brands to keep up with the consumer and deliver unique and customized experiences. We can customize everything from our ringtones to our shoes nowadays, why not our makeup!?

Want more fun stuff? They had tons of brand reps and artist on hand to tell us about new an exciting products to be released in the next few months. Some of the highlights were:

Clarisonic: holy cow I NEED an opal in my life.

Mario Badescu: baby's FIRST facial!

Bobbi Brown: metallic cream eyeshadows, for the win! 
Coach: new "Poppy" fragrance, young, delicious, possibly on my vanity soon.
Theiry Muggler: new "Womanity" fragrance has notes of fig and caviar plus totally fabulous package design.
Fusion Beauty: I can't even begin to tell you the amazing beauty technology they are coming up with. It's BANANAS!
Laura Mercier: Eye serum + secret concealer + secret powder = WIN!

We all had a fantastic time and cannot WAIT to come back to see the project completed in the fall!

@fashionpulse tweeted & twitpic'd: "@lesleykat getting exfoliated @clinique & @lordandtaylor"