How do I describe a sweater?

October 11, 2006 7:34 PM

Help me describe a sweater.

I'm looking for ways to describe a sweater. Last week a companion saw a woman wearing a sweater and fell in love with the sweater. I asked the woman where she got the sweater and I was told that it was a Betsey Johnson. The sweater was long sleeved, crocheted, was open weaved over most of the sweater body, and had something vaguely ruffly going on with the ends of the sleeves. I looked through style.com's archive of Betsey Johnson's shows and the product section of betseyjohnson.com and I don't see anything like it. I plan to visit the local Betsey Johnson store and have a look around. Meanwhile, I'd like to find ways to narrow my very broad google searches. I'm pretty sure that the sweater going to be out of my price range but I'd like to identify the style of the sweater now while my memory is fresh.

posted by rdr to clothing, beauty, & fashion (10 comments total)

Did you look at pictures on Google Images to see if any of them ring a bell? There are a few hits for Betsey Johnson Crochet, and other keywords would probably help too as some people, even retailers, mistake crochet for knit or don't even specify one or the other in a description.

The somewhat good news is that, relative to a lot of designers, Betsey Johnson's stuff isn't that expensive.
posted by padraigin at 7:52 PM on October 11, 2006

is it the second one down here? or similar?
posted by sergeant sandwich at 7:53 PM on October 11, 2006

Sgt. No that isn't it but looking at that picture gave me another parameter. The sweater is not a pullover. The front of the sweater would either button up or just remain open. I have no idea what that's called.
posted by rdr at 8:35 PM on October 11, 2006

rdr: "Sgt. No that isn't it but looking at that picture gave me another parameter. The sweater is not a pullover. The front of the sweater would either button up or just remain open. I have no idea what that's called."

A cardigan? A sweater coat? (Length being the big difference there.)
posted by Meep! Eek! at 8:39 PM on October 11, 2006

Is it more like this?


posted by padraigin at 8:46 PM on October 11, 2006

The button up front suggests a cardigan to me. As for the sleeves, were they actually ruffles or were they just not tapered? Could they be bell sleeves?
posted by phoenixc at 8:47 PM on October 11, 2006

WoHoo! Padraign that does indeed look like it except that while it was oversized it was not quite that big and I remember the weave as being more open. I think that's the exact color and it might be that I'm just being thrown off by the size.The sleeves were not actually ruffles and phonenixc's suggestion of tapered or bell sleeves look like it. I need to go to work now so I'll be offline for an hour or two but afterwards I'll have time to search on Cardigans and look at the Nordstrom's site. Thanks everyone.
posted by rdr at 9:04 PM on October 11, 2006

Don't forget to check eBay. A lot of clothing, especially designer, is sold new with tags but still at a discount from retail.
posted by padraigin at 9:56 PM on October 11, 2006

On closer examination Padraign nailed it. I had expected to get a pointer to something that looked like the sweater and it's a pleasant suprise to find the actual sweater.
posted by rdr at 10:11 PM on October 11, 2006

Update...

I found the sweater on EBay and gave it to my companion. It was a hit. Thank you all.
posted by rdr at 1:42 AM on October 29, 2006