Review: Dear By Amanda Bynes

Recently, Steve & Barry's launched yet another celebrity-endorsed budget line of clothing, Dear By Amanda Bynes. Bynes is one of approximately 6 young actresses in Hollywood who does not have a criminal record, so she makes a fitting spokeswoman for a line aimed at the junior set.

What rocks:

The prices. As is the case with Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten, almost everything is priced under $20.

Beyond that, it depends. If you're a juniors shopper (tween, teen, early 20s), Dear has a lot of cute t-shirts, tanks, hoodies, jeans, etc. that your student-sized budget or your mom's budget will love. The store didn't have much in the way of accessories or shoes but I'm sure they will keep rolling in over the next few weeks and months like the Bitten stuff did. Dear certainly skews younger than Bitten, which might not make the clothes as appealing to adult shoppers.

I did however find an exception. I flipped for a trouser jean with coin pockets and silver buttons front and back. The style is simple and classic and frankly, I found it better looking than Old Navy's new trouser jeans (no stupid pleats on these). The fit is pretty similar to a lot of the trouser jeans in stores lately, fitting more like regular jeans through the knee and then going wide on the lower leg. For $14.98, why the heck not?

Pant sizes go up to 18, so I imagine the tops probably go up to XL or XXL.

The meh:

Since Dear is a juniors line, it runs smaller than size. I can fit into a Bitten 16, but for the trouser jeans, I had to go up to size 18. Still, it's rare to find a store besides Old Navy, Torrid, Target, or Wal Mart that will stock larger juniors sizes.