I took a trip recently, and of course one of the pluses was being able to go to a lululemon store and do about 34982 try-ons. Here are my thoughts on some of the recent (or recent-ish) releases. Stay tuned for 2 more posts coming with more try-on stuff.
What I reviewed in this post:
Yin to you sweater – heathered light grey
Mesh with me tank – inkwell
Breezy tank – parallel stripe heathered parfait pink
Tech mesh high times pants
Heathered speckled black cotton rolldown wunder under pants
Fatigue green chevron shuffle luxtreme wunder under crops
Just breathe pants – animal swirl deep coal
Hot hot shorts – animal swirl deep coal
For reference, I am 5’3″, and I typically wear a size 2 in lululemon tops and bottoms. Unless otherwise noted, that’s the size I’m wearing in these pics.
Blegh, this thing. First of all, I didn’t like the fabric. It felt very heavy, by which I mean it literally felt like it weighed a lot. That said, the knit appeared loose (you could see my skin color easily at the shoulder, for example), which made me think it might not be all that warm, since the heat would escape through the hundreds of tiny holes. The loose fit wasn’t appealing to me either, especially the loose, bulky sleeves. I think slouchy fits look better when the fabric has a nice drape. This had no drape, it was just sort of a heavy cotton knit box, and the neckline seemed to look bulky to me too. The side slits weren’t helpful to fit either, on top of just being straight up odd.
This tank was so close to being nice. The styling in the back is neat, and the silhouette was flattering. But the front is kind of a disaster. The mesh portion of the neckline comes up very high (just a tad too high IMO), and the solid part is definitely cut too low, which I feel like is pretty clear from these pics. Not to mention, I felt like I was in danger of a nip slip, and no one wants to worry about that while working out.
This one was unexpected. I actually loved this tank. I thought it was cute and flattering, plus soft and lightweight. Great spring/summer tank, especially for hot climates. Online reviewers say they have had issues with the straps slipping off the shoulders, and I could see how they would say that. During my brief store try-on, I didn’t experience this myself, but if I was actually out and about, I’m not so sure. Even though I liked this, I left it at the store, because $48 for a casual cotton tank isn’t something I could justify right now.
Lots of people have loved these, but this was my first time trying them on. They felt like a normal pair of tights, which was good, since a lot of leggings that have massive amounts of mesh like this can sometimes end up fitting funny or can be hard to get on and off. The high rise on these didn’t feel quite as comfortable as rolldown WUs to me, but still was fine. The length of these was nice–there was a little bunch at the ankle, but not the usual piles upon piles of bunching I get with WUP. This is especially good since hemming this style would be difficult. The ankle was a little bit loose on these, but nothing super-noticeable. All that said, the pair I picked up were sheer during the obligatory bend test. If you can find an opaque pair, they’re quite nice.
Heathered speckled black cotton rolldown wunder under pants
Oh sweet mercy, these pants are divine. I hadn’t ever tried on cotton wunder unders (shame on me), and they were every bit as glorious as people had told me. These were incredibly soft and comfortable, and opaque to boot. The color was nothing special, but perfectly good as a neutral. These don’t work for my workouts (except maybe very mellow yoga), which is the main reason I hadn’t ever tried them, but I’ll consider a pair like this for casual wear.
Fatigue green chevron shuffle wunder under pants
Like the other luxtreme WUs that have come out lately, it has that very slick finish that some people really dislike (doesn’t bother me personally). One issue I noticed is that the pattern placement made it such that there was a bit of distressing of the pattern right on both of my inner thighs. Not really that noticeable, but potentially a little awkward. These passed the bend test easily, no sheerness at all. I think this pattern is pretty cute, but doesn’t really fit in my wardrobe. I would definitely like this pattern better if it featured different colors.
As a slight aside, I want to take a moment to be grumpy about the new WUC length. The inseam was increased from 20″ to 21.5″ just a few short months ago, and while the old length was great for me, the longer length is not. They flare out at the hem since it hits at a lower (i.e., narrower) part of my short legs than whoever this pattern is made for. In my opinion, flarey hems on crops look sloppy and are a giant pet peeve of mine (incidentally, this is also the reason I don’t own any inspire crops). Meanwhile, my Splits59 crops are a similar length and fit great around the hem, so the length itself isn’t necessarily the issue so much as how they’re cut.
Unfortunately, I live 2.5 hours from a store, which means if I want to fix this on a pair of crops, I either have to pay for a local tailor who may or may not do a satisfactory job, or not be able to wear the crops for a couple of months until the next time I am near a store. If lulu wants to brag about their free hemming and use that as justification for longer lengths, they need to work on better options for those of us who aren’t able to just hand them off to a store for alterations.
Ok, taking off my complainy pants and moving on.
The just breathe pants have been really popular since their release a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I just can’t get on board with them. First off, these were absurdly tiny on the hanger. I’m a pretty little lady, but even to me they looked like children’s pants. But to my surprise, I was able to get them on just fine. And even after shimmying into them, I found them to be opaque.
Unfortunately, I thought they were incredibly uncomfortable. The whole waistband situation did not agree with me at all. Frankly, I couldn’t wait to get them off and the WUs I tried on afterward felt like heaven in comparison. I also feel like the proportions of the mesh side panels didn’t work. Maybe this is a function of the smaller size (i.e. the width of the mesh panel not being scaled for each size), but I felt like the location of the seam where the mesh panel and the regular fabric met was just odd-looking.
Also odd-looking: there was a lot of “waviness” around the seams of the individual mesh seams as well as a big curve in the seams at my hips. For the record, I tried a size up and the same thing happened. Although I’ve seen others look great in these, I really, really did not like them.
My normal size 2 was not available in these shorts, so I had to go up to a 4. These shorts are really cute (albeit pretty skimpy), plus they were not sheer during a bend test. Since I was wearing a size up, they felt like they shifted around a little as I bent over and moved around, which definitely would’ve made me uneasy during a workout, so I would suggest sticking with your regular size. The luxtreme fabric and the drawstring details make these a cute alternative to boogie shorts.
Hi I was just wondering what top you’re wearing with the hot hot shorts? Is that a neutral blush crb?
Yes it is! I have more pics of it that will be in an upcoming try-on post. It’s actually a pretty nice color, although it seemed a wee bit thin.
Yeah it actually looks very pretty in your picture- the first I’ve seen. Online it looks terrible on the model- kind of an ugly pale mauve that really washes her out- so I decided to stay away but it looks very flattering in your pic. Thanks for posting!
I feel ya on the new WUC length! I’m 5’3″ also, and get that horrible flare at the bottom. It drives me nuts! I also find that hemming them doesn’t always fix the problem because of the cut :(
I haven’t had to have a longer pair hemmed yet, I really hope it doesn’t turn out badly like you mentioned. : That’s the other crappy thing about hemming–once it’s hemmed, if it’s still not to your liking, you’re pretty much stuck…something tall people don’t have to worry about.
this is awesome!! and a LOT of work for you to do! you manage to make even some of the questionable lulu look good!thanks for this amazing post!
Thanks!! :) Gonna start working on the next one shortly. :)
I have the Tech Mesh from last year and they’re not sheer at all. Love it!
Lucky lady! :) They really are nice when they’re not showing your goods to the world, lol.
Mesh HT pant totally sheer in the bend test…. Soooo sad:( I have been waiting for these to come back. I bought them in my tts 4. I am 5’7 118 and lean for refernce, certainly not trying to squeeze in. This really irritates me seeing as though I wanted to wear these to work out….. AA, do you really thing trying another pair would help? Different batch of fabric? Hello quality control people!?!?! Omg the two Athleta bottoms that I have tried recently have 0% sheerness….. Come on Lulu give us a break. So insulting! On another note, my hit your sride animal swirl skirt came today and I love it! Just need to wait until my Midwest legs get a tan to actually wear it;-)
There have definitely been bottoms that some people have said are sheer and others have found opaque (I think the black cherry HT were this way), so it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some batch-to-batch variability. If you come across multiple pairs and you really want them, I would try each of them.
My store will always ship any hemming for free! I just mark mine with a safety pin on where I want my hem to be, send them on their way and get them sent back to me.
In other words, you don’t actually go to the store, right? I suppose shipping to them isn’t too costly, just a few bucks. Better than nothing, but not as good as the days when I didn’t have to do the hemming song and dance at all. :P
Thank you for doing this – it’s very helpful. I’ve been tempted by the cotton roll-down WUs, but have read a few reports of them stretching out over the day. I’d love the comfort for my work from home days, but not if they come with baggy knees in an hour.
Yeah, that may be true. I only had them on for a little while, of course, so I don’t know if they would’ve bagged out by the end of the day or after a few wears. That’d be a serious bummer, they’re so nice otherwise.
I have 2 pairs of cotton roll downs and I don’t find they bag out at all. I also have 3 other pairs of practice cotton crops from Lulu and they also do not bag out. They all maintain their shape pretty well IMO.
Thanks, that’s good to hear. I think I might give the new earth toned roll-down WU crops in cotton a try. If they bag out, I’ll return them.
I have three pairs of cotton RD WU’s and I love them, I wear them for between three to six hours of teaching dance, Pilates and TRX at a time. With the dance I do a lot of crawling round on my hands and knees with preschoolers at certain times and I find any bagging minimal, even with that kind of usage. If I got to wear them for a normal gym session or yoga class they would be fine. I know I can use them as casual wear with a nice pair of boots and there’s no bagging at all.
Thank you all for your feedback. Mine came today and they’re going back (heathered black/inkwell). They just don’t fit me properly. I tried a pair of the full length in cotton and luon crops. The full-length pair are incredibly tight across my calves. Since I have really muscular calves, that’s not particularly surprising, but I never have that problem with luon. I had them on for five minutes and when I peeled them off there was noticeable wrinkling in the fabric behind the knee and lines along the inside of my calves from the seeming. I’d think that I just had the wrong size but they were fine in my thighs (also a problem in skinny pants) and hips/waist.
The crops fit perfectly everywhere but I had the same gap as AA on the calves. That’s odd because my calves are ridiculously big; I have trouble stuffing them in tall boots even at my leanest. They’re a funny length on me and maybe they’re intended to hit higher up than they are on me.
TLDR: No to cotton WU, no to WU crops. I’ll stick to full-on luon roll-down WUs.
I thought that weird split sweater looked really nice on you!
Thanks!! :) I wish I’d liked it a bit better myself–I could always use more non-wool sweaters.
actually it is merino! but it doesn’t feel like it. it’s so soft.
You’re right! Momentarily lapse of reason. :P
Thanks for the great reviews! I’ve also not tried on the cotton WUs for the same reason. Hmmm. I might have to try on the mesh tank–not for workouts but for a sexy summer tank.
IMO the mesh tank definitely looks like a workout tank, but you might be able to make it work. Worth a shot. Aside from my neckline gripes, it’s a nice tank. You might be able to snag it on MD if you wait a while, I don’t think it’s selling super-well at the moment.
I so wanted to love the cotton rolldown WUP, but they are a disaster, at least my pair is. I have them in the heathered black, and I think the quality varies color to color, at least that’s what the on-site reviews seem to indicate. I got mine in December and they already look years old, despite careful handwashing and line-drying. Serious pilling in the gusset and on the outside of my thigh where my purse brushes, and the overall texture is fuzzy and looks worn, they also bag out like CRAZY! I’m constantly pulling them up. Sucks cause they’re so comfortable.
That’s a shame. As you said, it must vary either from color to color or from batch to batch. Lulu blows chunks at being consistent lately. For the price, I sure would like to know what to expect, ya know. Sorry your pair is a POS. :( The store/GEC would probably replace them if you brought them in. P.S. Love your avatar. :)