The Material Girl Collection Review

Out of sheer curiosity, I shopped the Material Girl Collection at Macy's today. As I entered the store and approached the merchandise, I was a bit surprised to see the racks looking relatively untouched and nothing short of pristine well after the store's 10 am opening. This particular Macy's stocked mainly summer items such as tulle skirts, tank tops, body con tank dresses, bandeau tops, and mini skirts. Sorely lacking were the studded motorcycle jackets, the jewelry, and the peplum dresses. Upon inquiring, I was informed that the jewelry would arrive later in the week.

In terms of colors and prints, this collection had it all: stripes, florals, plaids, animal prints, blue, purple, cherry red, lemon yellow, heather gray, and so on. Studs and lace inset panels seemed to be strong features on a few items, as were form-fitting silhouettes. Price points hovered under the $40 mark, and comfortable but stretchy cotton spandex blends seemed to be the norm on many items. As far as sizing, the collection runs true to Juniors sizing, with the only exceptions being the embellished t-shirts, which run big.

Although I gravitated most towards the body con tank dresses, I was disappointed that the collection wasn't more fashion forward. I found that many items in the collection are similar to things that stores such as Topshop or Forever 21 were selling 6 months ago: studded leggings, poufy tulle skirts, trompe l'oeil t-shirts, studded cross body handbags, and mini skirts with sporty exposed zippers.

After peering at almost every item, I narrowed down my favorite choices to a handful and marched to the fitting room for some photos. As a reference for sizing, I pulled smalls in the tank dresses, a size 3 in the cargo pants, and an XS in the blue lace inset t-shirt.

Although I liked (not loved) each piece, I decided to pass on the floral skirt, lace t-shirt, and cargo pants. The two tank dresses fit well, were comfortable, and made of sufficiently thick cotton with 5% spandex. So I brought the two tank dresses to the register to pay, but after waiting for two minutes, with no employee in sight, I decided to leave. If Macy's can't keep an employee at the register (or within sight of the register), I wasn't going to wait around. I'm not usually that impatient, but I didn't feel motivated to wait, and I'm not sure the customer in line behind me was motivated to wait either.