Whitney and Zach Bates - Part 3

[melon]

Bradley and Kaci are both beautiful children.

[Joyfully Available]

J.Crew alert. Whitney is sporting a (fairly short!) dress from J.Crew & Jessica Simpson (pretty sure) platform sandals from Belk. I think it's safe to say she is not thrifting. Someone has come into a pretty steady shopping allowance. 

She looks great, as always. Her kids are so cute. 

[Carm_88]

I really like the colour of Whitney's dress. 

[FlamingFundie]

Im all over the JCrew site and can't find that style dress. Id love to check it out in person for my 8/A shape... Unless it's an earlier style and she did in fact thrift it.

[Joyfully Available]

2 hours ago, FlamingFundie said:

Im all over the JCrew site and can't find that style dress. Id love to check it out in person for my 8/A shape... Unless it's an earlier style and she did in fact thrift it.

You might check out j.crew factory. It may be there. They always have great finds & probably a dress very similar to that style ,if not the exact dress, right now. 

** just clicked around there for a few seconds... check out the daybreak dress. Her exact dress is there as well as other colors. $89 but everything is 50% for the holiday weekend. 

[FlamingFundie]

Found it now on the j.crew factory site, many thanks @Joyfully Available Im especially glad to see the black with white stripes!

[JermajestyDuggar]

16 hours ago, Joyfully Available said:

J.Crew alert. Whitney is sporting a (fairly short!) dress from J.Crew & Jessica Simpson (pretty sure) platform sandals from Belk. I think it's safe to say she is not thrifting. Someone has come into a pretty steady shopping allowance. 

She looks great, as always. Her kids are so cute. 

I hope she understands that allowance will go down with each new blessing's arrival. 

[Joyfully Available]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I hope she understands that allowance will go down with each new blessing's arrival. 

She has to realize that is a consequence. It makes me wonder how many blessings they are really planning to accept. She's very into fitness right now too... not exactly super compatible with being constantly pregnant. 

Is anyone else questioning why all the sudden Whitney has become a fashion plate super into hair & makeup? She's always been cute & looked nice but she's really almost verging on a Christian fashion blogger status. Maybe aiming for that? Keeping hubby's eyes on her? It just seems... unusual? 

[FlamingFundie]

14 minutes ago, Joyfully Available said:

Is anyone else questioning why all the sudden Whitney has become a fashion plate super into hair & makeup? She's always been cute & looked nice but she's really almost verging on a Christian fashion blogger status. Maybe aiming for that? Keeping hubby's eyes on her? It just seems... unusual? 

Or perhaps trying to catch the eyes of advertisers. Not that I classify these people as "celebrities," but they can make a decent income on pushing sponsors. Especially if payment comes in the forms of products and/or gift cards. When you consider clothing an entire family, things can get expensive fast. Imagine the cushion for the budget if you didn't have to buy the clothing in the first place, and then you were able to consign or sell the higher-end pieces once outgrown/outworn. 203K instagram followers isn't something to smirk at, even if it's not Kardashian level.

[VelociRapture]

3 minutes ago, Joyfully Available said:

She has to realize that is a consequence. It makes me wonder how many blessings they are really planning to accept. She's very into fitness right now too... not exactly super compatible with being constantly pregnant. 

Is anyone else questioning why all the sudden Whitney has become a fashion plate super into hair & makeup? She's always been cute & looked nice but she's really almost verging on a Christian fashion blogger status. Maybe aiming for that? Keeping hubby's eyes on her? It just seems... unusual? 

I don't think it's too odd. They may have more money available for that stuff right now and she's just indulging a legitimate interest. Or it could make her feel more like a human rather than a spit up target when she takes time to look nice. Or maybe Zach is interested in eventually running for office again and she's preparing to look the part of a politician's wife. 

(Please don't let him actually run for office again...)

[season of life]

I think Whitney just likes fashion and clothes. I would like to think she has a good set of outfits and tries to avoid taking Instagram photos of the same outfit, which would make it seem like she has a bigger wardrobe. 

[Hmmm_idolatry]

21 hours ago, Joyfully Available said:

 

Is anyone else questioning why all the sudden Whitney has become a fashion plate super into hair & makeup? She's always been cute & looked nice but she's really almost verging on a Christian fashion blogger status. Maybe aiming for that? Keeping hubby's eyes on her? It just seems... unusual? 

It seems to me like she's trying to get some publicity and/or sponsorships.  Most normal people would just respond to questions about where they got their clothes by saying, "Oh, thanks! I got it at ______".  They wouldn't go out of their way to label everything and make stories about it.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if she's angling for some sort of advertising/sponsorship deal with Belk.  She's mentioned them quite a bit.  

[doubleT]

I think she likes fashion and then those that follow her ask where she got things from. 

I think this time she labeled everything so that she didn't have to reply to several followers who ask. 

[Carm_88]

I'm not sensing an announcement from Whitney and Zach yet. Whitney looks great! Although I've been known to be very wrong!  

[season of life]

Oh, I remember, Kaci turns one this June! I will be watching for any baby announcements. 

[HarleyQuinn]

Maybe Whitney is taking a page out of Amy Duggar's book and trying to get sponsors on IG? I remember I thought Erin might be trying to do that too with her nail polish photos. 

[nokidsmom]

On 5/29/2017 at 3:42 PM, VelociRapture said:

I don't think it's too odd. They may have more money available for that stuff right now and she's just indulging a legitimate interest. Or it could make her feel more like a human rather than a spit up target when she takes time to look nice. Or maybe Zach is interested in eventually running for office again and she's preparing to look the part of a politician's wife. 

(Please don't let him actually run for office again...)

Now I wouldn't be surprised if Zach eventually ran for office again however maybe he's just too busy with job, family and UP show to bother with it just yet.   

However, my take on Whit is that she just likes clothes and she currently has the money and freedom to indulge herself. I myself went on a major clothes spree for a year or two after I married, namely because I had more money as well as the freedom to do it.  Also did a lot more with makeup and hair.  Coming from a family of lesser means who some goofy hangups about clothes / makeup, it was nice to go out and buy something and just have fun with it.    Not saying that Whitney had the same issues, but knowing that she had a difficult upbringing, maybe she didn't have the means to indulge herself like she can now.   

Not feeling like a spit up target counts for something as well.  

[Georgiana]

Make up and fashion (and mommy blogging) are also fundie-approved pursuits for women.  It may be that Whit has found that she needs some personal fulfillment outside of being a wife and mother, and these are easy and acceptable areas for her to expand into where she can have a personal identity and potentially use it as an income source for her family.  

Also, people do just develop different interests.  When I was young/in school, my make up was simple af.  Black eyeliner, mascara, and concealer were all I cared about.  In my mid-20s, I really got into make up as a hobby.  Started buying and using more products, switching up my looks, expanding into Asian Beauty and skincare, learning about the history of cosmetics, etc.  No real reason WHY.  I just realized I had a passion for it.  

Just like how when I was a kid I could take or leave hockey, but a few years ago I suddenly realized how AWESOME the sport is and became a huge hockey fan.  Sometimes things just don't click with you until they suddenly do

[JordynDarby5]

15 hours ago, Georgiana said:

 Just like how when I was a kid I could take or leave hockey, but a few years ago I suddenly realized how AWESOME the sport is and became a huge hockey fan.  Sometimes things just don't click with you until they suddenly do

My brother and his family just got hooked on college hockey this passed season.  His boss gave them tickets to a game in the beginning of the season my brother figured their son might think it would be fun. Since then they've become hooked. Going to games all season long. They can't wait for next season to start up.

[HereticHick]

On 5/28/2017 at 10:09 PM, Joyfully Available said:

J.Crew alert. Whitney is sporting a (fairly short!) dress from J.Crew & Jessica Simpson (pretty sure) platform sandals from Belk. I think it's safe to say she is not thrifting. Someone has come into a pretty steady shopping allowance. 

She looks great, as always. Her kids are so cute. 

I don't understand the common statement on FJ that " [insert fundy name here] was photographed wearing [insert brand name here], therefore they aren't shopping at thrift stores."

I'm wearing a Banana Republic sweater that I purchased at Goodwill last year.

About half of my wardrobe was purchased used at consignment stores or thrift stores. I also occasionally buy used accessories on Ebay. [I personally haven't purchased from ThredUp, but I have friends who do]. I have multiple J Crew items that I've purchased used.

There are plenty of consignment stores in my area, some of them so high-end a lot of the merchandise is out of my price range. I also love thrift shopping when I travel abroad. And I am extremely picky about the quality of items I will buy used.

There are numerous consignment/used clothing stores in East Tennessee, including a Plato's Closet location.

 

tl;dr  There are many ways to purchase used brand name clothing today. Don't assume that someone spotted wearing a "label" purchased it new.

 

 

[Coconut Flan]

Hi, I moved the beauty product discussion over to cosmetics: 

 

[Joyfully Available]

9 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I don't understand the common statement on FJ that " [insert fundy name here] was photographed wearing [insert brand name here], therefore they aren't shopping at thrift stores."

I understand what you are getting at with not automatically assuming because you truly can't always tell where items came from. I also agree with you to a certain extent BUT in Whitney's case, nearly everything I've seen her in I can spot as a recent mall find. In the case of her J. Crew dress, it was in fact online & is currently for sale on the J.Crew Factory site. I can also pretty confidently say she's not thrift shopping because she has started tossing brand names around on the regular. 

I stand by my assessment that Whit is definitely not thrifting. Lol.   

Also, just another thought, but I think we (myself included) point out the brand name use & wear because it's so hypocritical when they do it. It's like "let's rub this thrift store b.s. in everyone's face & pretend to be an uber frugal mega family going against the grain of consumerism for Jesus but then we'll go to Belk/ Nike/ Nordstrom, etc. & do the exact opposite of what we pretend to represent ." 

Sigh... that hypocrisy is part of the reason I'm so intrigued by fundies. 

[imokit]

I read that in New York, the kids in designer clothes are ether rich or poor. The kids in poverty get designer stuff because that's what ends up in the charity shops (that's what the rich kids are wearing and donating) so judging money based on clothes brands can be risky.

[Carm_88]

Seems like quite a few of the Bates were ziplining in West Virgina. Zach looks more and more like Gil every day. 

Oh and the guy Carlin is courting is sucking up in the comments. Butt kisser 

[Bazinga]

On 6/1/2017 at 7:03 PM, Joyfully Available said:

I understand what you are getting at with not automatically assuming because you truly can't always tell where items came from. I also agree with you to a certain extent BUT in Whitney's case, nearly everything I've seen her in I can spot as a recent mall find. In the case of her J. Crew dress, it was in fact online & is currently for sale on the J.Crew Factory site.

I agree with everything you say. I think the fact that her clothing can easily be found online on sale NOW, there is a good chance she did not thrift it. Even on the clothing blogs I follow, the ladies will specify the brand and that it was thrifted. Maybe Whitney would appear more sincere if she would label the clothing thrifted. (Ex. Dress is from JCREW (thrifted)).

I do agree the hypocrisy is ripe with fundies. The problem is, their followers really do need to "buy used and save the difference". Most stay at home moms, with a billion children, can not afford JCREW. Heck, I only have a few children and I can't afford JCREW. Let alone Apple products and NIKE gear. At least not brand new. While I think she is hoping to get a lucrative payout shilling products on Instagram, I believe her demographics are off. They present themselves as frugal fundies, chances are most of the moms following Whitney don't have much disposable income.

What I never understood, is how can their followers not understand that they are bring in the $$$$ with this television show. They will come to the defense immediately about how they thrift and always buy used. The same with the Duggars. After their first few specials, the Duggars were looking a little more shiny. By the end of it all they were going on nice Vacations, sporting the latest Iphones, and nice clothing. While there is nothing wrong with spending money if you have it, people are foolish to believe that the Duggars/Bates aren't fully embracing a lifestyle of more wealth.