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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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.
There are so many fun colors out this season, but sometimes you just want a simple black bag — either so you don’t clash with what you’re wearing, so you tone down what you’re wearing, or just because, well, who doesn’t want a good black bag? These are all in what I’ll call the “mid-expensive” category (in that they’re not light decisions, but you don’t need to skip a rent payment to buy the bag), which is my favorite category to buy from, both for work and otherwise. As always, I’m sure great deals can be had if you stalk an item online, or haunt sales IRL. Readers, what color bag do you think of as your “basic”? Purchased any great bags lately?
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How do you start wearing prints? Reader T wonders…
I’m wondering if you can do a post on incorporating prints into one’s wardrobe. I looked at my closet the other day and realized that about 90% of the clothes I wear are solid colors. I seem to always gravitate toward very saturated bold colors, but never to prints. I guess I sometimes feel that wearing prints looks loud” or will make me stand out too much at work. I know how to use prints with accessories (shoes, scarves) but I’d like to specifically see a post on buying clothes with prints.
We’ve talked about how to mix prints, but we haven’t really talked about how to start buying prints. I think T has a fear that is shared by a lot of women — looking too loud, too out of place. So here are my suggestions for how to dip your toe into the waters of dressing with prints… (Pictured: Fabric, originally uploaded to Flickr by ChristopherTitzer.)
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Reader Y wonders about flared pants, but I think she brings up a great point about hems and women who commute in shoes other than their office heels. How can you solve the hem length dilemma — and what is the proper hem length, anyway?
I’m a 25 year old working in Boston, usually in nice business casual offices. I don’t need to wear a suit, but I do need to look good. I have a number of flared (not too heavily) in my wardrobe and I don’t know if I can wear them to the office. Do you have any tips on length? What shoes can/should I wear (especially since I put on other shoes for the commute from and two work that are often flat)? Will they drown my height? If they can’t be worn…can I get them hemmed or something? It feels like such a waste to have them sitting there.
When I first saw this I honestly thought, oh come on, of course you can wear flared pants! But then I started wondering if perhaps this is just a peculiarity to my age (35), since I grew up seeing lots of flared styles (and still think the bootcut is one of the most flattering pant shapes of all time). By contrast, skinny trousers and capris often look inappropriate to me — too 1950s, too Audrey Hepburn gamine to be taken seriously for the office. But then I thought of some of the extreme flared styles we’re seeing right now and thought, ok, fair question — I dislike those because they’re too 70s. My advice is that if anything is too reminiscent of any particular era other than “right now,” be careful about wearing it to the office. For example, the “Galaxy Groove Trousers,” pictured, seem a bit too, well, galactic and groovy for the office. (They are marked down if you’re interested, though — were $178, now $80 at French Connection.)
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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.
We’re heading into prime sheath dress weather right now — not only is it great for layering in spring (beneath blazers or cardigans, or occasionally on top of blouses), but it’s a workhorse in sticky hot summers. I actually meant to write about black sheath dresses (especially since I’m in the market for one myself) but was so unexcited about all of the black sheath dresses, and instead found so many great colorful sheath dresses, that I thought I’d feature those instead. Readers, have you gotten any great sheath dresses recently? Have you bought any colorful sheath dresses in the past that became favorites?
(Psst: if you like the picture at left, please consider Pinning it on Pinterest! You can follow me here.)
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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.
Pumps are all well and good, but if you’re like me — particularly while it’s still tights weather — they can be a little hard to walk in. This is why my closet has always contained a lot of Mary Jane heels, as well as other heels with straps. It can be a bit tricky to find some that don’t a) visually cut your leg at the worst possible point, and b) make you look like a little girl — so I thought I’d round up a few. Readers, how often do you wear heels with straps? Any favorite brands, or great steals recently?
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