Thursday, May 21, 2009

J.Crew: Slub Cotton Beaded Slash Crewneck Tee Review

This is J.Crew's Slub Cotton Beaded Slash Crewneck Tee (item #16334), which retails for $58.  It comes in white and warm sandstone online, and I tried it on in the natural color in-store.  It is alpha-sized, and J.Crew describes the tee as such:
Such a cool update on the classic tee silhouette, with a front slash, rolled sleeves, and subtle beading details at the neck, in our brilliantly soft, textured cotton. Fitted. Hits at hip. Import. Machine wash.
I tried this tee on in a small, and as I mentioned, in the natural color, which doesn't seem to be available online.  I think the tee fits true-to-size, and the slub cotton is its normal cool, soft texture.  The shirt is a tad thin, and is a teeny bit sheer.  You can even see a bit of the model's bra in the model photos, which I think is a good indicator, as J.Crew editors usually take care of those details.  As for the silhouette, it is a very basic tee, with the exception of the neckline, which I'll get to.

Because the slub cotton is a bit flowier fabric, it isn't as clingy from the side view, and I think the silhouette is a little blah.  It doesn't add any volume which is good, but it doesn't help with curves from the side.  Other than that, it's a pretty basic tee from the side.  I really do like the slub cotton fabric - it's fairly light, it drapes and flows nicely, and is very smooth and cool (temperature and feel-wise).

I just re-read the description, and it says there is a rolled sleeve, but I think it's fairly unremarkable, as I completely forgot about it.  I don't remember noticing it when trying it on, and I didn't even notice it when posting this review now.

The neckline is a basic crewneck with a slit (or slash, according to J.Crew) down the front, which is sort of stitched or knotted at the bottom.  I'm not crazy about the slash.  I think it kind of looks like you just took a pair of scissors and cut open the front of the top, which maybe is the point, but I think I would have preferred a simpler neckline, especially giving the beading.

As for the beading, here is a close-up of it.  The beading creates a sort of "jewel" collar on the tee, and the beading is really exquisite.  It gives the neckline a little bit of weight, but is really pretty in real life.  I think it's a really nice detail, but as I said before, I think it might have worked a bit better with a non-slashed neckline.

I left this tee behind because of the slash, and because I already picked up another beaded tee from J.Crew this season.  I did think the fabric and silhouette was really nice, and the beading is great, but I just didn't love this one as much as the other one, and I figured one beaded tee is enough for right now.

What do you think?  Do you like this tee?  Do you prefer this tee to the other beaded tee that came out earlier?  How do you feel about the "slash"?

4 comments:

Petunia May 21, 2009 at 10:58 PM  

I tried on this top and just felt like it was "blah", also. The beading was hard to notice because it blended in with the color of the fabric.

JTS May 21, 2009 at 11:53 PM  

Hi Petunia! I wanted to like this one, but yeah, it was just meh for me. I agree about the beading - I almost passed by it on the table, but then I noticed the beading, so decided to give it a try.

ashley May 22, 2009 at 11:06 AM  

pretty top but i agree it doesn't look like anything "special." thanks for the review!

JTS May 26, 2009 at 8:38 PM  

Hi Ashley - I agree. I much preferred the other beaded tee to this one!