I have been doing a lot of shopping on line--pretty much whomever is having a great sale. TJ Max, Ross, and consignment stores are also on the list. I really hate paying full price for clothes, and my job (which I leave on March 2nd, hopefully never to work again!) doesn't require fashionable stuff.

Back when it did, I really loved Victoria's Secret clothes. Their catalogue has some really cool things, silk suits, tweeds, jersey knits, wonderful 100% cotton blouses and silk blouses...all kinds of cool things, and if you wait for the "white wrapper" special sales and jump on it the moment they happen, before things sell out, you can get some really beautiful clothes.

They are having a sale right now, BTW, although nothing is really leaping out at me, especially not the current crop of suits.

My favorite suit ever was a tweed in cream, oatmeal, various browns, all the way up to chocolate brown, with a short skirt and long jacket. I still love that suit. Put a silk or cashmere turtleneck under that and hot didn't even begin to describe it. It needed a very conservative blouse since the skirt barely cleared the jacket in length. They also have the regular length skirt suits of course, but i waited and waited for that one to go on sale. I was so happy when it finally did!

I wish the stores carried their regular clothes, but the customer service is so wonderful, I don't mind shpping on-line or by phone with them. They are really good about telling you exactly what things look like, and even going and trying them on while you wait. My shoulders are broad, and so I was always about a 10-12 on top, but my hips were small, maybe a 4 or 6 in pants and skirts, so it was tough to buy suits. They would go check for roomy jackets--whatever I needed.

Once they had a great sale on a jersey dress, and it was so cheap, (like $18!) full skirt, belt, tighter bodice, long sleeves, really a nice work outfit, black, would have looked good with boots. Anyway, I asked the lady about it and she said, "It looks good in photos but unless you are at least 5'11" I haven't seen one person who can wear it. It drowns anyone shorter than that, and ends up shroud like. Almost everyone is sending it back. Only one girl here can wear it, and it looks spectacular on her, but the rest of us look like crap in it.

So, I passed. I like that kind of service. Also, they send you return shipping labels and have never been anything but co-operative exchanging for size or credit if you don't like something. If I waited for sales, the (for example) silk suits were better quality than say, Macy's, and less than half the price.

When I do shop -- which is not nearly often enough given the paltry state of my current wardrobe rotation -- I go to Banana Republic or discount stores like TJ Maxx, maybe Daffy's.

Last time I went looking for pants at Banana, they didn't have my size, 36x34, explaining that very few of those are stocked because of lack of demand. Their computers confirmed that this size could not currently be obtained at any Banana Republic store on the island of Manahatta.

What's funny is, that very same night I watched a routine by comedian Greg Giraldo, about his discovery that he had turned overnight from a happening young guy into an "old man." He'd gone into Abercrombie & Fitch, where the saleskids turned to look at him "as if he were walking through a playground with his c*ck in his hand." He asked for 36x34 pants and was told they had to get the ladder out, because that size was placed way up high on the shelf... "yeah, because no one goes in there to buy fat old man pants." Ha ha.

Anyway I usually wait till the Banana people send me a 20% off card in the mail and then get a bunch of stuff at once. Or hit the sale rack in the hope that there's something good among the usual XS and XXL castoffs.

It kills me to spend significant money on clothes. On a lark I once tried on $150 pair of jeans at Urban Outfitters that me and my shopping partner really liked. But to drop that kind of cash on denim... man, it felt like it would require a major revolution in my brain, overturning my entire upbringing and that of my ancestors. I walked away.

Tell me about it. That's why I shop a season behind. I could take your hundred-and-fifty bucks, hit the discount racks at Target, get six or seven shirts, two or three pairs of pants...and still have enough left over for a DVD (so I wouldn't feel it was a completely wasted trip).

Me too! I splurged ($100) on a "better dress" for Christmas Eve from Dillards. Halfway through cocktails at the restaurant my three-year-old buries his nose in the skirt and leaves me with a big snot streak right across the front.

My closet used to be full of Lands' End, until about eight years ago all their colors got so muddy looking. Still love their swimsuits! Coldwater Creek is dead to me with the exception of their jeans, which have lycra in with the denim. Their tactics for making certain items disappear during their sales is fishy, IMO.

If you're looking for a lightweight but warm "three season" jacket, this one from Lands' End rocks. I have the original, not the "improved" version.

I like the Isaac Mizrahi stuff from Target. I recently started a new job that sometimes requires something a little more formal than my usual Levi's and Converse sneakers, and I've found some really nice trousers and blouses there. The construction quality's not that great, but the separates only cost about $15-$25 each, so it's not like I need them to last for years or anything. The only thing that sucks about my town's Target is the shoes. Luckily, I saved so much on clothes I had enough left over to buy a really nice pair of semi-dressy Doc Martens. Those suckers last forever.

I am also a frequent customer of Banana Republic, mainly because I can run in, grab my size and be pretty certain it'll fit me. Jeans included. And their jeans are really the best jeans for me (screw all that Seven for Joe's Citizens of Republic, Denim and Cloth). However, I will drop a small fortune on jeans, mainly because I wear the ever loving hell out of them, so I don't feel guilty spending a lot. I just need to save up a bit before I do so.

I also frequent H&M for reasons stated above. If I want to try a trend, I'll buy a $15 shirt there and wear it a few times before looking at it three months later and thinking, "What in God's name was I thinking buying this? Burn all photographic evidence of me in this."

I should go to TJ Maxx, Century 21, Loehmann's more, however I have a total phobia of these stores. I don't dig for the deals, I'm a terrible bargain hunter, and crowds and inconsiderate walkers make me insane. I do have an awesome friend who thrives in these sorts of establishments, she's like a brand label predator, and we're not the same size so if she sees something she likes but is in my size only, she'll pick it up for me since she's pretty good with my taste. She's never been wrong once. I love that I have an accidental personal shopper.

Random fashion complaint: Why did Uggs make such a strong comeback so soon? It pains me so.

My biggest complaint with them is that they occasionally try to move forward with the times and I can no longer buy the exact same thing I've bought for 15 years. I still miss my nice-fitting, non-lumpy, unshrinkable sweat pants that I stupidly used to paint in one time, thinking I could get more.

Same here, floundering. I still haven't forgiven them for screwing around with the original All Weather Mocs.

I agree, floundering, they "improved" their jacket/cardigans from three low buttons to five and no padding in the shoulders at all and took it from slimming to dowdy in one shot.

I only go to Century 21 as soon as it opens. At that point it is just organized enough that I don't break out in hives and I only do it once a season.

I do most of my shopping at Old Navy for weekend/going out and Banana Republic and New York and Company for work, with a few trips to Macy's when they are having huge sales.

Improved just means cheaper to make for them, I am guessing.

I shop at Banana Republic and Target. I hate trying on clothes and I know what fits. I do most of my shopping online. Always at the sales.