Tuesday, November 19, 2002


3 cheers to marie wright

long-time readers may remember that i much admired the marie wright yoga cover-up skirt. finally i bought one last friday on my lunch hour. it's the usual e-commerce thing, i thought: checkout, click, get the confirmation email.

got busy on friday afternoon, didn't look at the confirmation email. on monday, peeked at it, thought, hmm, maybe i ordered the wrong size. maybe i need a medium in black, not a large. better phone. so i call at 9:30am santa barbara time, and i actually spoke to marie herself, who turns out to be one of the sweetest individuals. just a doll.

marie informed me that she couldn't change the size because the item had been shipped friday afternoon, apparently just a couple hours after i clicked submit. can you believe it? none of this amazon "ships within 24 to 48 hours." i think we're talking like a 3-hour turnaround or something (gotta do that timezone math. . .) marie ships usps priority 2-3 day for a shockingly reasonable fee; no outrageous markup.

marie suggested that i try the skirt on when it came, and if it was too large to call her. can you believe she actually offered to ship me the smaller skirt after my call with a return envelope so i could ship the larger skirt back when the smaller arrived? as i am used to the standard die-online-customer-we'll-ignore-you returns policy so many etailers have, i nearly fell out of my chair. doing business with marie is pure delight, honestly.

i started talking to marie, and one of the things i asked her was where her clothes were made. she assured me that they are sewn in california. no sweatshop, completely ethical. unlike some of those fancy designer $$$$$ yoga clothes, you don't have to ask yourself if there's an ahimsa problem in their manufacture.

the lovely hawaiian kapa (barkcloth print fabric) style ginger-flower design comes from hoffman fabrics, also in california. marie was totally honest -- she didn't know the original source of that fabric. so what the heck, i called hoffman and spoke to their rep, frances. she also was quite honest: this textile would just be too expensive if made in the u.s.a., and that the cloth came from offshore, but that for competitive reasons she obviously couldn't tell me who her supplier was. frances however also assured me that this fabric didn't come from an oppressive situation.

ordered friday, received this morning. open the package! o wow o wow. the skirt is much nicer than the pictures on her website indicate. the print is unusually crisp and clear, no overprinting or misregistration at all. the colors are vivid without being loud: pink, crimson, maroon, spring green, hunter green, maize, khaki, white, dove gray, and a really interesting shadowy dark mauve-grape color.

the print is that charming big retro floral -- totally the santa monica ivy -- and makes you look more "blue crush" surf-girl than "auntie's sofa." worried that you can't wear the pattern outside of sunny california? the retro-pacific dream is back, even here in new york.

further, the skirt itself is cut to a flattering a-line that falls mid-calf. it's full. the narrow waistband ties and gathers in the back around a little keyhole, so you present a sleek front and a rather J.Lo back. the finishing on the skirt is excellent -- not a loose thread anywhere. further, you can easily see that marie makes an effort to match up the pattern at the front darts, where it would be noticeable.

i tried on the skirt, and found i actually enjoyed the size, especially in the front. the waistband does dip in the back a bit (comfy!) and then there's that baby-bustle gather to enhance your, um, assets. since the fabric is 100% cotton, it will shrink a bit. i think i'm keeping the larger size. those of you who don't enjoy the little gather so much might consider staying true to size for more overall sleekness.

i called marie to tell her this and she still said, well, look at it for a couple of days -- you can still return it unworn. isn't that amazing? this skirt is better than just a toss-on cover-up; you could even wear it out in warmer weather with a delicate little sweater. . .

marie herself told me that she does both iyengar and bikram yoga personally. i have to say that from my dealings with her, she is living her yoga and doing her business yogic-ly, with honesty, generosity, non-greed, and kindness. add her to your yoga supplier list. you won't regret it.

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