Nordstrom is having a big shoe clearance, so we swung by to see what, if anything, struck our fancy. We lurrve this interesting take on the classic slingback — the yellow accents really make the navy pop. We like that Bruno Magli was judicious with the use of yellow — it’ll peek out a bit from beneath your toes, be visible on the strap and footbed at the back of the shoe — but not the heel itself. Lovely. These were $390, now $257 in sizes 36-40. Bruno Magli ‘Cartosio’ Pump
(N.B.: The peep-toe pump is not appropriate for all offices; know your own environment well.)
(L-2)
Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
We love this large satchel/tote (8″ shoulder drop) from Cole Haan, with its woven leather exterior, and rich, sophisticated red color — we even love the name of the red: Lacquer Red. Like all Cole Haan bags there are special pockets inside for your technology, and the bag is roomy enough that you should be able to fit everything else, as well. It’s $431 at Zappos. Cole Haan – Genevieve Small Carpet Bag (Laquer Red) – Bags and Luggage
If you’ve recently seen a great work piece you’d like to recommend to the readers, please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line. Unless you ask otherwise, we’ll refer to you by your first initial.
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Reader L writes to us, wondering:
Can you do an article about how to wear brooches / pins? They always look so nice on Michelle Obama. I bought two of them and have no idea if they are work-appropriate or what to do with them…
Personally, we love brooches. (Pictured above: Nonogram Pin, available at Brooks Brothers for $29.60 (was $148).) Back around 2003 it was all the rage to wear 2-4 of them (at least, it always seemed like that’s what Stacey and Clinton were advising folks to do); now, thanks to Michelle Obama, they’ve regained popularity. We’re not sure they ever went “out of style” completely, though—in other words, if you like the way they look and Michelle Obama stops wearing them for some reason, you can still wear them.
There are lots of ways to wear brooches, obviously. On the lapel of your jacket or blazer is the most obvious place — this works best with more delicate-looking
brooches, but can be done with larger brooches as well. We’ve seen Michelle wear them as ways to keep a cardigan closed; we’d advise going with a fairly muted, large brooch (the one above is a bit fancy, but would work well for this purpose) and positioning it in the middle of your abdomen — well below your breasts. We’re a big fan of wearing a large, colorful brooch with a solid-colored turtleneck or scoopneck; wear the brooch not on your chest but in the region between your clavicle and shoulder. Finally, for work, we’d also include the brooch-as-hair accessory — if you’re doing a low ponytail or a half-up do: try pinning the brooch in your hair so it anchors to the elastic — it’ll just look like a really lovely barrette.
The more shiny/sparkly a brooch is, the less appropriate it is to work (at least, for our $.02). We’d wear these kinds of brooches to dinner parties and black-tie dinners, though; pinned to the dress at the waist (either centered or at the side), or pinned to the shoulder/clavicle region. If you have two matching brooches you like, you can try to pin them to your dress at the shoulder–we’re thinking of some old scene in a Claudette Colbert or perhaps Katharine Hepburn movie where the heroine wears a sleeveless, Grecian-type drapey dress and does this.
In general, keep in mind that the brooch — worn for work — should bring attention to your face; not your chest or your outfit.
Readers, any opinions on brooches?
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Today’s reader mail has to do with office-appropriate jewelry…
I noticed that you said, “We’d wear it with a white cardigan or a cropped jacket, and maybe one or two long, simple necklaces” in a recent post. You, as usual, are accurately tuned into to what I’m thinking. Please help! Where can I find fun, simple jewelry that’s appropriate for the work place? I feel as though I wear the old standbys (pearls) or a gold necklace every day I throw on a necklace. I usually wear pearl or Tiffany silver ball studs for earrings—but what other earrings would be okay? I’m a summer associate at a medium-size firm and I’d like to show my personality, but still be appropriate. I’m looking for inexpensive jewelry, but am willing to spend more if it’s a piece that will last a long time in my wardrobe. Usually, I grab a piece or two from Ann Taylor or Banana Republic’s sale bin, but lately nothing has really excited me. Do you have pieces that a girl can’t live without?
We recently ran an open thread on this that might be helpful to you. For us, our standbys are huggy earrings (we can’t stand earrings with posts). For the long necklaces we mentioned, we’ve bought things in the past from Maria Chavez and really loved them. From her current collection, we’d suggest something like the 950-S, pictured at right (available at MariaChavez.com for $275). For our $.02, we’d rather buy one piece that’s made of real material (sterling silver, gold, gemstones) rather than buy 10 pieces that you get at a bargain store — but that’s a very personal preference. Etsy can also be a great resource for jewelry; we’ve also been eyeing the collection at Erin Gallagher recently.
Readers, anything to add that you didn’t say in the open thread?
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Ah, office jewelry… too much and you run the risk of looking like Tess, pre-makeover (from Working Girl
). Today’s reader mail:
I adore jewelry, and I can pull of a bit chunkier necklace, but I hate wearing earrings or bracelets at the office. Bracelets always end up hurting my arm when I’m writing, as my watch goes on my left wrist and I’m right handed, and earrings always poke into my head when I’m on the phone. I’ve gotten around it by wearing only necklaces, or taking my earrings off when on the phone much like the ladies on Designing Women, but I’d love a more modern suggestion, and to know what jewelry others are wearing!
We totally agree — it can be tricky. For our $.02, we’ve mentioned our dislike of bracelets before: bangles are too noisy and distracting, and even tennis bracelets dig into our wrists while typing. As for earrings, we haaate, hate, hate wearing post earrings for precisely that reason. Our solution has been to wear earrings with what we believe is called a “European” back — far more comfortable! — but it can be hard to find ones that are small enough to be acceptable for the office that are nice yet reasonably priced. We end up wearing a lot of “huggie” earrings (like the ones pictured at right), which hug the earlobe. (At right: Perfect Huggie Hoops in Yellow Gold by Jude Frances
, available at Amazon.com for $480.) We would argue that earrings that dangle farther than half an inch from your earlobe are a bit too distracting for work, but maybe that’s us.
In terms of other jewelry, keep in mind that office jewelry should be about restraint — you want to garnish your outfit, not embellish. You might want to pick a few small pieces, like a ring, small earrings, and a watch or necklace. You might want to pick one big piece, like a very chunky necklace (or several necklaces for a layered effect) or a cocktail ring, to be worn with bare ears and wrist or very plain accessories.
Another piece that we often mention is the brooch — they’re not as “in” as they were a few years ago, when the trend was to layer several brooches on a sweater — but we do like the way one nice brooch looks on the lapel of a blazer or cardigan, or even as used to “close” a cardigan, a la Michelle Obama.
Readers, what do you think? What do you wear in terms of jewelry at the office?
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We got this request in from a reader, and thought we might resurrect an old feature — The Hunt — in which we look for a great basic, available now, in a variety of price points. Here’s the request:
As an incoming summer associate at a large NY firm, I’ve been wondering – what kind of bag would be appropriate? I’ve been told that Longchamp is too casual, and would be interested to hear your thoughts on it. I don’t want to break the bank before I’ve even made my first paycheck, but would like something nice and versatile that will last a long time. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
We would actually disagree with that — we think Longchamp is fine for a big tote bag. It’s functional (fits a ton of papers), is made well (is strong enough to carry a ton of papers) and — especially if you get the black on black versions available in Canada or at the physical stores in New York City, quite appropriate for work.
However, it’s a bit doubtful that a) you’ll HAVE that much paperwork to lug around over the summer, and b) NEED to lug that much paperwork with you to or from work functions like lunches and client meetings. For your purposes as a summer associate, you should be on the hunt for a purse large enough to hold a notepad (preferably legal-sized), but not so huge that you can’t tuck it under your seat at the work-sponsored theater outing. Ideally, look for something with multiple compartments — you should be able to zipper up your personal items like make-up and feminine supplies, yet find your pens and Blackberry quickly. You’ll also want something fairly sleek — something you can wear over your shoulder (leaving your hands free for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, of course) yet keep close enough to your body that you won’t run the risk of knocking other people’s cocktails out of their hands. We’ve looked for bags in black, which can be worn with any color; if you wear less black you may want to look for a bag in white or brown. Leather looks nicer, but canvas or nylon is much, much lighter. The current trend seems to be for bags that are more vertical than horizontal; if you get one of these we’d suggest having anything you might need quickly (lip gloss, pen, business card) in your jacket pocket rather than the bag so you don’t have to dig through it — nothing’s more unprofessional than being up to your elbows hunting around your bag.
That said, it can be challenging to find this ideal bag, particularly in a reasonable pricepoint. Our first line of attack would probably be to try discount stores like TJ Maxx, Filene’s, and DSW.
That said, here are our suggestions from what we could find online…
This one is slightly more expensive, but looks more standard and has a bit of a designer name attached to it — Ben Sherman’s briefcase. The 9″ straps are definitely big enough to put over your shoulder; we also like that it has feet, so you can set it on a restaurant’s floor without too much fear. We wish it had more by way of internal compartments, but it’ll do — especially given that it’s only $109 at Endless.com. Ben Sherman Nylon Hold All Briefcase
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Don’t be too alarmed by the neon orange — the bag also comes in a slew of other colors, including black. Again, we wish this came with more interior pockets, but we like the size, the lightweight nylon, as well as the leather accents. Available at Nordstrom.com for $325. kate spade ‘union square – simone’ satchel |
We’ve heard great things about the Foley + Corinna tote — we particularly like that it can be used as a regular purse when you don’t need to carry papers with you, but it converts to a North/South tote if you need the space. Available at ShopBop for $444. Foley + Corinna Supple Mid City Tote
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We’ve been fans of Kooba bags for a few years now — the leather is so supple and the bags are thoughtfully designed — to wit, interior pouches and pockets abound here. We particularly love that the Natasha bag expands via the twist-lock flaps on the side. Was $645, now $452 at RevolveClothing.com. Kooba Handbags Classic Natasha Bag in Black
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| We featured this one in blue a while back for one of our TPS Splurges, but we thought we’d mention it again in black. We like that this one is definitely contained — it’s just big enough for a notepad and your personal items, which is perfect. It’s available at Neiman Marcus for $995. Marc Jacobs Casey North-South Tote |
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Hello, gorgeous. If you’re in the mood for spending your first paycheck (and then some!) on a bag, we present to you: the Nancy Gonzalez crocodile-skin bag, also available in black. Available at Neiman Marcus for $3,650. Nancy Gonzalez Croc Tote |
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About a week ago, we asked what kind of hair accessories were appropriate for the office. As always, the poll is still open, but the preliminary results are in — roughly 50% of you said that as long as the ‘do and the accessory was conservative, anything was ok as long as it worked for you, including jeweled elastic bands, claws, headbands, and more. Another 34% of you thought that “fanciful minimal” best described it — simple, hair-colored type accessories from J.Crew. 13% of you thought bare minimal was best for the office — to the point that the elastic holding your hair back should match your hair color. Only 3% said that anything went, including the feathered headband we’d used to illustrate the quiz.
Commenters lauded a ton of different brands, including:
- Goody Colour Collection was designed to match any color hair. Available at drugstores like Walgreens, Duane Reade, and Target (with limited availability at drugstore.com). Their collection includes pretty much everything you can think of — bobbypins, elastics, claws, clips, barrettes, and so forth. Pictured at right: elastics for blonde hair.
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- One of our favorite brands has always been Colette Malouf. Available at Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, and other boutiques, the twice-yearly sample sale in New York is well worth a trip if you can spare the time. (This is one of the only brands we’ll trust for more fanciful things — we’re a bit bummed we couldn’t find a picture to illustrate some of the more understated yet beautiful elastics and accessories with things like felt flowers and multi-colored glass. Check out some of her previous collections here, here, and here.) Pictured at right: Brown leather teardrop ponytail holder, was $63, now $19 at Bluefly.com
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- A number of readers extolled the greatness of France Luxe, a brand we previously were unaware of. Sold at Nordstrom, a number of readers noted the “excellent quality” as well as the “comfort and durability.” At right: France Luxe Cutout Jaw Clip
 , available at Nordstrom.com for $34.
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- While we’re mentioning Nordstrom, we will note that it seems to have the best online selection of work-appropriate clips and barrettes and claws. Check out, for example, Ficcare ‘Maximas’ Hair Clip, available for $38.
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- Other places to check for great hair accessories include J.Crew and H&M (surprisingly, neither have much online in this department!).
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Liking these posts? Follow Corporette on Twitter — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale.)
- Personalize your Blackberry with happy, fun decals and stickers. [Coveroo] (Warning: some are cute, some look like “tramp stamps,” and some make you wonder how there could possibly be so much overlap between the Barbie and Blackberry crowds.)
- Younger women may be more vulnerable to layoffs — watch out, ladies. [WSJ]
- Is it productive to embrace your femininity at the office? This thoughtful article asks the experts. [The Glass Hammer]
- Forbes reviews the luxury purchases you can make now that will “last a lifetime.” [Forbes] (Our $.02: focus on the kinds of purchases where you can haggle — think jewelry and watches.)
- Hot! Filing supplies. [Jeri's Organizing & Decluttering News]
- Take advantage of some of the inaugural specials some spas are offering — they’re coming up with some amusing ways to, uh, say goodbye to Bush. [Gothamist]
