J.Crew: Soft Tee Ruffle Top Review

This is J.Crew's Soft Tee Ruffle Top (itme #16068), which retails for $39.50. It is available in the following colors: black, navy, heather light grey, fresh melon, natural, heather graphite, weathered stone, and warm blush. This top is alpha-sized. J.Crew describes the top as such:

A sweet ruffled style that's as soft as your most comfy broken-in tee. Pima cotton/lightweight Modal® rayon. Scoopneck. Fitted at chest. Self ruffles across chest. Import. Machine wash.

I tried this top on in a size small in the fresh melon color. I would say that this top runs on the bigger size, but I also think it is made to be loose. I did not try on an extra small for comparison, but I would say that if you don't want it super loose, then try to size down if you can. The small itself fit comfortably and fit well, especially in the bust and shoulders, where it is most fitted.

The fabric on this top is really light - it was much lighter than I was expecting. I was actually thinking that this was going to be more like a somewhat-lightweight jersey fabric, but it is much lighter than that. It is also very soft. This color was not sheer, but you might want to watch out for that if you are trying it in the lighter colors. The fabric moves and drapes very nicely. It's a very loose and flowy top.

The cut of this top is very generous. The most fitted part of the top is around the bust and the shoulder straps, and even that is not very fitted. There is a lot of fabric here, and even though it is light, it still an extremely loose-fitting top. I would say that the cut is fairly forgiving on the middle, but I also think it looks best on straighter figures. As you can see in my pictures, the bottom of it bunches up at my hips, whereas on the model, it stays pretty straight. This is probably due to a combination of the length and my hips.

As for the top ruffle, I think it's okay. I think it actually minimizes the bust (again, might be a combination of the ruffle and the cut of the top), but not sure if this would hold true for all sizes. There is one very large ruffle on the front, and a couple rows of smaller ruffles. I think it's a cute enough detail, but I kind of don't get it.

That being said, I do think it's a pretty cute top, and I think it would work well with a lot of different outfits. I especially think that you could do a lot with the neutral colors, in terms of color pairings and outfit stylings. As for dressing it up and down, it looks like a fairly casual top to me. They've managed to style it on the model so that it looks dressy enough, but I think the pictures are a bit misleading, to be honest.

I left this top behind because I wasn't in love with it. I really liked the fabric, and I would love to pick up some tees in that fabric, but the top just didn't really do it for me.

What do you think? Do you like this top? Have you seen it or do you own it? Which color do you prefer? How would you style it?