How do you do black tie on a shoestring budget? Reader J wonders…
I am a law student who will be working at a firm over the summer. I am expected to attend a black tie event, but I don’t know what to wear nor how to find the dress without breaking the bank. I am also hoping to find a dress that is multi-purpose, so that it won’t gather dust in the closet until the next black tie affair comes along.
Congratulations — black tie events can be a lot of fun, and I don’t think we’ve covered them in quite a while (see my advice for what not to wear to a black-tie, as well as how to dress for a black-tie affair at the last minute). Here are my tips:
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As I mentioned this morning: Nordstrom’s Half-Yearly Sale is on. I’ve picked out a few favorites in a range of prices below… a few other things I noticed (just sort by “sale” if it doesn’t automatically come up):
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I thought a fun conversation today might be about trends — specifically, about which trends you’re completely, totally, “why won’t it go away?” over. Obviously, there are a ton of trends that filter through to business clothes — neon accessories (which do look kind of great with gray dresses), peplums, boldly patterned “party pants,” colorblocking, cut-out details, and more — but for purposes of today’s discussion, let’s broaden it to any trend. For my $.02, I’m sick of:
- Peep-toe booties — they just do not make sense to me and my New York/Midwestern sensibilities! They’re way too hot for the summer, and if it’s snowing or raining the last thing I want to be wearing is peep toes.
- Hi-low dresses. This trend’s only been around for half a second but I’m already over it.
- Cropped shirts. See above. Can’t we just leave the cropped shirts in the early ’90s, where they belong?
- Short suits. I think they’re cute for socialites and other ladies who lunch, but they just confuse everyone else who thinks they’re appropriate for the office.
- Daytime sequins. No. Just… no.
Ladies, what trends are you sick of? Are there any used-to-be-a-trend-now-it’s-just-a-modern-look (like skinny jeans or extremely strappy sandals) that you’ve accepted the longer they’ve been around?
How do you deal with back-handed “compliments” in the office? Reader B wonders…
I am a 30 year old lawyer working in Washington, DC. My late 20’s/early 30’s professional female friends and I have experienced a strange and disconcerting dynamic amongst women in the workplace: getting negative comments from other women for being smartly/well- dressed. These outfits, I believe, would objectively be considered professional, age-appropriate, and well-fitting: tailored suits in feminine cuts, pencil skirts to the knee, or pumps with a modest heel. They would certainly be similar to those depicted on the Corporette website. The comments often take the form of backhanded compliments, such as, “That shirt makes you look soooooo thin.” They may also be cautionary, like “Wow, you had better be careful not to hurt yourself in those heels”. This feedback comes from women at a similar professional level and more senior employees. It most often comes from women whom are a generation older and seem to be, at times, more about our size and age than what we are wearing. It also seems to be more of an issue in government and non-profit environments, as we haven’t noticed it to be a problem in the private sector. How should we respond to this type of feedback? At what point should we give in to workplace pressure to dress in a more bland way versus continuing to wear clothing that makes us feel sophisticated and professional?
This issue comes up a lot, and as your friendly blogger I see both sides of it: the younger women wondering why these older women are giving them these back-handed compliments, and the older women asking me how in the world they tell someone they’re dressed wildly inappropriate for the office in a casual way. I’m curious to hear what readers think about this. [click to continue…]
Sure, we all know what basics professional women are supposed to have in their closets, but if you’re buying one for the first time or replacing one you’ve worn into the ground, it can be a pain to find exactly the right incarnation in stores. In “The Hunt,” we search the stores for a basic item that every woman should have.
I’ve gotten a few requests for suggestions for “lightweight blazers” for hot summer months, so I thought I’d round up a few for today’s Hunt. For my $.02: if you’re really going to be wearing a blazer outside or in another hot environment, linen is the way to go — it just breathes so well. Silk is another good choice, but the tradeoff for all that, um, breathing (for both linen and silk) is the mad wrinkling that occurs. Cotton holds up much better (and I always think a cotton pique fabric looks pretty but professional, while a cotton seersucker can be classic) — if you can find a linen and cotton blend, or silk and cotton blend, that may be the holy grail. Right now I’m seeing a lot of blazers with eyelet details — I honestly don’t think they’re appropriate for most conservative offices, but they can be another option if you’re attending an outdoor event. Readers, what is your favorite type of blazer to wear on hot days? Do you have any tricks to keep linen or silk from wrinkling?
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Do you have to wear pantyhose in the summer? The pantyhose-at-the-office question comes up so often, but I don’t think we’ve addressed it in a while — and Reader N wonders…
I had a question about wearing pantyhose. I’m about to start my first internship in finance (a mid-sized hedge fund) this summer and I’m really confused as to what to wear. It’ll be in London, so I don’t know if that changes business formal guidelines. Anyway, I’m 20 years old and a southern girl, and I’ve never worn pantyhose in my life. Is it really necessary to wear pantyhose with a skirt suit, even in the middle of July? I’m tempted to just wear a pant suit the first day and see what everyone else is wearing, but then I’ve heard people say that pantsuits aren’t conservative enough and I should wear a skirtsuit the first day just in case.
Obviously, I have no idea what I’m doing. Oh dear.
Congratulations on your summer internship — it sounds excellent. There is a really big range in what’s acceptable at conservative offices, and so — for my $.02 — it’s always best to get started on the right foot, which is to say the safest foot. You don’t want people’s first impression of you to be of your clothes — you want it to be of your work, your accomplishments. So for the first day — probably even the first week — I would suggest wearing: [click to continue…]
