This is why I LOVE YLF!!! Your thoughts and honesty are so appreciated, believe me.

I tried a little test this morning when getting dressed - I already had the black EF dress on as the start to my outfit today and popped on the cardigan and asked myself "do I want to rip the tags off and wear this today"? And the answer was a resounding NO. My gut reaction this morning was quite clear in that this cardigan does not meet two objectives: it is not JFE (just flattering enough) for me; it does not evoke "urban" the way I want it to.

So it is going back with a smile

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

I totally love this from the front, but have to agree with others about the back view - it's very boxy looking. Would love to see with skinny pants, to see if it's the line parallel to the dress hem that is bothering me, or whether it's the cardi itself.

It's so awesome with you hair!!

And you still have your fund to do some shopping for something you love ;-).

I'm also glad it's going back, Shannon. It doesn't seem to drape in the best way. It's neither round nor angular. Next. xo

I must have looked at the pictures and read the post 4 times yesterday - could not figure out how to say or what to say. But then Deborah, as others have noted, hit it on the head. And another comment about it not quite being what it wanted to be (the design) made me realize the exact issue I had with Olsen clothing and why I stopped buying them. Just not quite there with being edgy or urban - even though they tried. Posts like these where YLF'rs take the time to comment thoughtfully are SO valuable. I love this group:) And, Shannon, I'm glad it's going back too - as I know how expensive these pieces are. There will be so much more coming into stores soon to choose from!

Great way to work through it!
I think that is the great dilemma--I seem to need to bring some things home in order to really analyze them--the up side is that if I don't, I may pass over some things that could really work just because I don't have the right things on when in store (or of course buying on-line you can't always "see" how it will work). So then the danger is just keeping something once it's made it over the threshhold, even if it's not quite right, because these things start to put down roots.. It's the almost-rights that are the worst for that--great colors, great fabrics, ticking 3 of 5 boxes or whatever.
So I'm trying to get better at realizing something like that is great to stir my imagination and help me keep an eye out for the "next," but I don't have to keep it.

I wanted to ask you to try it in one size down, but I see I am too late, and now agree it was not really the thing you needed/wanted. I also think the material looked too lightweight and unstructured for the thoughness it was supposed to suggest. I learned so much form this thread, Sannon, thanx for posting it! I often am attracted to the same kind of pieces, and then, wondering why they don't work. Now, I got my answer.(I really liked the one Debs was showing, and so it downed on me there are so many different kinds of animals in the same branch:-)).