Golden Tote is a box company for women's clothing. Rather than a traditional subscription, buyers choose to purchase or not purchase a box month to month.  When going to the Golden Tote Website, you are given several different shopping choices, mostly indicating the size and cost of your "Tote" or box of clothing. Most months they have two choices: a forty-nine dollar tote consisting of two to three items of clothing and/or accessories, or a one hundred forty-nine dollar tote that consists of five to six items.

 The unique thing about Golden Tote is that what items you receive are partly your choice- and partly theirs. For the smaller, more inexpensive Tote, you get to pick one item from their choice of selections; for the larger, more expensive Tote, you get to pick two items from a choice of possible selections. What items you can select from changes each month, and most of the time there is greater selection when you purchase the larger Tote, so some items can only be purchased if you are buying that one. The items are generally mid-range items, often from labels that can be found in stores like Anthropologie or Nordstrom, to give an general idea of the items' typical quality and retail value. Sometimes the items are exclusive to Golden Tote and sometimes they are not. The clothing selection for each Tote size can be perused before you make a decision about purchasing. Once you've indicated what your clothing item(s) or choice will be, a stylist will pick out the rest for you. But how do they do that?

In order to purchase from Golden Tote you must set up an account. Part of creating an account involves filling out a "style profile" which involves sharing the standard height/weight/size answers, but also incorporates several other questions. They ask you to pick from several outfits to get a better understanding of your style (examples include "Classic" style; "Preppy" style; "Bohemian" and "Casual" style) and if there are areas of your body you either want or don't want to show off. Additionally, they also ask about what types of occasions you might be purchasing their clothing for, such as work, weekends or special occasions. They also ask if there are any types of items, such as dresses or pants, that you do not want to receive. Based on these answers, company stylists will choice from their clothing collection, which may include things not seen on as for purchase the website, making what you get a real surprise.

Golden Tote also has two other purchasing options. Occasionally, such as this month or right after the new year, "Surprise Totes," where you get a specified number items that are all chosen by Golden Tote, not you, can be purchased. This month's Surprise Tote is ninety-nine dollars. They also have a Boutique section of their website where individual items may be purchased without committing to a Tote. However, as most items are in the thirty-five to fifty dollar range, it is often just as economical to get a Tote. One advantage of the boutique however, is that clothing from previous month's selections may still be for sale there.

You all know I love getting things in the mail and you know I love clothing, so Golden Tote was guaranteed to intrigue. I'd been meaning to try them out for a while know, actually, but, despite different "styles" to choose from on their questionnaire, in practice most of the clothing really seems to cater to a certain style. They tend to have a laid-back feeling, with a touch of  the bohemian to it. All in all, not quite my style. Still, I'd check up everyone once in a while and after seeing one item I was interested in, I decided to give it a go. After all, the shirt retailed in their boutique for  $35.00 plus shipping, so I wasn't really adding that much risk, finically, to see what would come in a Tote along with the shirt. Below you can see on the right the shirt I chose. It is made by Blu Pepper. On the left was the "surprise" item that came with it, a dress from White _______.


And, alright, to be honest, I was not super impressed. The shirt I chose was, I knew, going out on a sartorial limb, but I was trying to push myself. It is not my favorite, with a bit more of a trapezes shape to it than I'd realized, but still very nice. The "surprise"  dress I straight up hated. On me, it looked like a potato sack. I'm not a big person and the shapelessness just seemed to add weight and overwhelm me by making me look shorter than I am. However, both items are of fairly good quality; they just were simply not quite my style. Along with the box came a tote bag (hence their name) with a lovely, gold pattern on it. They seem change up graphics on their bag designs quite often. Also included was a small bracelet set with red beads and many tassels. Once again, pretty if not quite my taste. This was mailed on 3-day priority and, while the box and presentation is fairly minimal (which may or may not be a bonus depending on your preferences around others), there was a sticker that told you which Golden Tote Stylist picked our your extra piece(s). That seemed a small, but nice touch.

Basically, it is a good company with pretty good services whose aesthetics just don't always match mine- but they may match yours! For those interested,  the boxes go on sale the first Monday of each month, and every month features different items in Golden Tote's Boutique.They do sometime restock items that sold out quickly. If you ended up unsatisfied with your Tote, you can return it. Their return policy is all or nothing; you cannot return just one or two pieces (well, you can, but you are charged for everything), and things must be returned within 14 days of getting the Tote.

*All images come from the Golden Tote website or Instagram account.