What should one wear if you’re officiating a wedding? Reader W has a unique question, so I thought I’d tackle (even if it is a bit farther than our usual topics)…

I suppose because I’m an attorney and all-around upstanding citizen, I’ve been asked to officiate the wedding of a very good friend this summer! I’ve actually performed one wedding already and I wore a somber black suit that was appropriate for the occasion. However, this time around the wedding and reception will be held during the day at a Northeast yacht club in July (meaning WARM) and the dress code is more of a summery semi-formal. Probably not a black wool suit occasion! I was hoping for your advice on what would be appropriate dress. Naturally, I’ve asked the bride what she thinks and was no help at all (“Wear whatever you want!”), but I still want to be respectful of the bride with NO possibility of upstaging/distracting and taking into consideration I will be feature in the ceremony photos. My initial thoughts are no wacky colors, sleeves or a blazer which can be removed after the ceremony, and minimal accessories. Does this mean I should wear a shapeless beige sack? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

First, congratulations; I think that’s quite an honor. I might first ask what the wedding colors are, and if the bride wants you to work within those parameters. Here are my tips:

1) Wear black. Here in NYC, most women wear black for everything, including weddings, but I know in other parts of the country it’s poor form to wear a black dress to a wedding.  I’d talk to the bride about it if you feel uncomfortable — considering that the groom and his men will likely be in black tuxes, it will be a nice visual for all the pictures.

2) If not black, go for a sedate, dark color. If you’re really not comfortable wearing black to a wedding, think navy or gray.  You’re doing something serious and studied, and I think your clothes should reflect that.  Another reason to go for a somber color: as the officiant, you should blend into the scenery. It is the couple’s day, after all — all eyes should be on them when they’re standing before you. Ask the bride what the bridesmaids are wearing and try to choose a color in that family — if you can get a swatch of their fabric that would be best to make sure it doesn’t clash.

3) Wear a dress. This is my $.02, but you do want to be festive! If possible I would stick with a pencil or straight skirt, versus a wider, fuller skirt, but that’s me. A sheath dress would be great, or the Nordstrom faux wrap dress by Suzi Chin (pictured in black above; available in other colors and plus sizes also) would be a great one to wear to officiate, provided the cleavage isn’t too low. (See above re: all eyes should be on the couple.) Maybe I’m crazy but a knee-length dress sounds better than a floor-length dress, but the bride will know better.  If the bridesmaids are wearing shorter dresses, I would particularly consider a knee-length dress.

4) Consider a sparkly wrap in a matching sedate color.  This can be a great investment, as you can reuse it for black tie events — but this way if you have a sparkly wrap with you and feel underdressed, you can wear the wrap around your shoulders.  I’ve pictured a gorgeous one by Armani (for $535 at Saks), but there are much less expensive ones, such as these solid-colored sparkly ones at Yoox for $118, or this lace and sequin one at Macy’s for $38 (available in black and champagne).

5) Wear a pair of sparkly shoes.  If you’re wearing a sedate dress, your accessories can be a bit more on the fun side — sparkly shoes that you can dance in will be fine.

6) Don’t wear satin or other bridesmaidy type things.  Maybe I’ve been a bridesmaid too often, but I always think of the bridesmaids and groomsmen as being the couple’s best drinking buddies.  That is, of course, a high honor as well — but as the officiant you should be a bit more than that.  More serious, more reserved, more respectable.  In other words, no shots until after the wedding ceremony.

If none of this sounds right, think “mother of the bride” type dresses.  I went to one wedding recently where a family friend, a female judge, performed the ceremony, and she looked festive yet serious in a dark navy or black MOB-type sheath dress with a sheer beaded jacket.  For your money, I think you’ll get more mileage out of a simple non-MOB sheath dress plus some great accessories (as recommended above), but it’s up to you.

I’m curious, readers — what would you wear to officiate a wedding?  If a girlfriend were officiating your wedding, what would you want her to wear?

Reader D has a unique question: what to wear in the field?  More specifically, to visit a factory (and ride in her client’s plane!)

I am going on a site visit to a factory near Seattle.  The visit includes riding in a small plane and then visiting a large factory so I will need to be casual, wear flat comfortable shoes, yet still look professional.  Any advice?  Although I am a senior associate I will be the sole representative for my client and want to make sure I come off as professional as possible.

Congratulations on the opportunity — it sounds fun (riding in a private plane is on my Bucket List) and like a good career opportunity. As far as fashion goes, I think my answer depends on one question: can you wear denim around your client? If so, I think a pair of dark (preferably black) jeggings, tucked into flat boots, topped with a button-front and blazer, and accessorized with your normal work jewelry, would probably be my best guess for an outfit. (Update:  There’s a lot of disagreement with me in the comments, which is fine, but just to be clear: when I say “jeggings” — I mean skinny  jeans that have a bit of extra Spandex in them to make them more comfortable, but are still primarily denim.  E.g., these, these, or these. Not these.)  Here’s my thinking:

- Factory = boots. While ballet flats and other flat shoes have many things to recommend them, on the off (off) (off) chance something falls on your foot, you should be as protected as possible. Also, I think if there’s any uncertain footing that requires delicate stepping (e.g., over pipes), you’ll want to be in shoes that you know will not fall off. Oh, another reason: if it’s at all muddy or dusty on the runway (or in the factory), you’ll want the dust to stick to your boots rather than your pants.

- Factory and small plane = pants. See above re: delicate stepping.  I think it’s also possible in the factory you could be walking on grating, or on metal stairways, with people walking or working below, such that you wouldn’t want to wear a skirt.  I could also see there being some awkward stairways to get up to the plane (although it’s entirely possible I’ve just watched Arrested Development too much).

- Factory and small plane = tight-fighting, non-voluminous clothing. You wouldn’t want to get a flowing cardigan or skirt caught on a piece of machinery, or (ack) in some part of the propeller.

- Professional = blazer, dark pants. I would suggest that you carry over the jewelry you normally wear with suits to this more casual outfit — if it’s pearls and diamonds, do it; if it’s a statement necklace that you always wear, do it. Part of this is for a continuous look: the client has seen you wearing the jewelry before, and even though you’re in a different type of outfit now you’re still, at the core, the professional lawyer he knows. Another part of this is to help YOU feel confident and be in your zone for your most professional self. For me, for example, that means putting on my good watch whenever I have a business meeting, no matter what I’m wearing… even if I don’t wear the watch when I’m lazing around the house or hanging out with friends.

So all of these thoughts, above, send me to jeggings, flat boots (get ‘em shined before you go!), a nice top, a blazer, and your work jewelry. There are some non-denim leggings that have enough weight to the fabric that they can be worn as pants (despite the popular Buzzfeed “am I wearing pants” flowchart) — I got a nice ponte pair from Ann Taylor earlier this year. If you really would rather wear proper trousers, I might still advise wearing flat, knee-high boots beneath them — that way if conditions are really horrible you can tuck your pants into your boots.

A few other considerations: plane and runway = wind, so I might suggest pulling your hair back from the get-go. Keep in mind, though, that the factory may require you to wear a hardhat, hairnet, and/or goggles… so I wouldn’t do anything too fancy that will interfere with those requirements.  In other words: low “on purpose” ponytail, not a French twist.

Readers, have you had to visit factories (or, speak up ladies, how many of you have ridden in private planes)? What would you wear?

Reader M has an interesting question that brings us back to that old classic: what do you wear to workout or exercise in front of coworkers?

I am an articling student at a mid sized law firm and I have a “law day fun run” coming up, hosted by the law society. It just occurred to me that my running outfit (mini skort and a skin tight tank top) might not send the right impression even though it’s what I actually wear when I go running. I have seen male lawyers biking and running in skintight and/or revealing outfits before but I am not sure if I can get away with that as a female lawyer.

What should I wear?

I offered my advice on what to wear to the corporate gym way way back in 2008, and I’m curious to hear what readers today have to say about it. More and more companies are offering on-premises gyms for their staffers’ use, and even if they don’t, many people go to the gyms located near the office, where odds are high that you’ll see coworkers. (Pictured: Printed Chase Skort, available at Athleta for $54.)

Runners particularly can get into trouble here. Half of the runners I know rely on old (ollllld) t-shirts and shorts — the other half buy shiny, new, TIGHT clothing — running tights, sports bras-as-tops, and more.

A lot of this depends on your personal modesty. For my $.02, the skort and skintight tank sounds fine to me, if that’s what your comfortable running in. A few notes, though:

a) Whether your shirt is tight or not — please make sure that your sports bra is a good one and actually stops the bounce. If you have a less than stellar sports bra, not only is it bad for the girls, but wow, talk about distracting.  As someone with a larger bust myself I’ve always sworn by Enell bras (such as Enell Maximum Control Wire-Free Sports Bra, available at Bare Necessities for $64.)

b) Wear an opaque shirt. Even though I don’t think twice of passing women on the street wearing nothing but a sports bra, it’s a wee bit different when you know that person in a working capacity. So wear a shirt, and wear an opaque shirt at that.

c) Whatever you wear on the bottom, make sure that it’s something vaguely flattering. Avoid pants that are skintight (and, please, pants that emphasize too-small underwear, as well!).  If it were me, I would also gauge whether my shorts or skorts were overambitious, given the state of my legs.  Don’t get me wrong, I wear a lot of shorts during summer months if I’m working out in the apartment or going for a run near the apartment — but it’s just a different calculus, for me at least, when I consider wearing those shorts to anywhere near the office.  In fact, a friend was just telling me about a line of workout clothes featuring shapewear built into it — Apifeni.

Ladies, what do you think?  Should shorts/skorts be off-limits entirely? Should only loose tops be worn?  And what about hair — would anyone advise a friend to not wear a ponytail or pigtails?

Reader L has a question about what to wear for a business meeting in the Bahamas…

Unlike many of your readers, I am not a lawyer but am an MBA grad working in Investor Relations. After a couple of years of trudging through the economy, the management team has decided to have our small strategic planning meeting in the Bahamas next month (yay!); however, I am at a loss when it comes to attire. The information provided says “resort chic”. I’m assuming that means clothing which does not consist of a printed hibiscus sprawling across ones chest. Can you give me some suggestions where I can go to find classy resort wear? Thanks a bunch. I’ll toast a fruity drink to you!

Well, I’ll do anything to have a fruity drink toasted to me. :) Honestly, though: why do companies keep doing these kinds of awkward retreats, without specific advice for women? The men who attend this meeting will show up in khaki pants and a button-front shirt and be A-OK; if they’re more formal some may have a linen blazer with them, whereas others may wear shorts with untucked button-front shirts (with the sleeves rolled up, of course). Either way you slice it, the margin of error will be fairly small for the men. Whereas for women — when one says “resort chic” my imagination runs from the casual hippie clothing like a maxi dress to the more high-fashion model look of someone 6′ tall wearing short-shorts, 4″ heels, and perhaps an expensive blouse, loaded up with jewelry and a sour expression. Or, of course, a great bikini… but none of those choices really seem ideal for your situation, because you don’t want to confuse vacation with a business meeting  (Pictured: Bahamas Gazebo, originally uploaded to Flickr by bryce_edwards.)

As a woman attending such a meeting, here’s my $.02:

a) Check with any other women attending the meeting what they’re wearing, no matter whether they’re junior or superior to you. Ignore anyone whose outfit involves a flower in her hair or a midriff-baring top, and sift through what’s left.

b) Figure out where the actual meeting will be held (you can call the meeting spot in the Bahamas directly to get this info if you want to). Inside in an air-conditioned conference room? Or outside on a sweeping veranda, with possible issues from heat, wind, and bugs? (If it’s held outside and you have hair that is long enough to pull back, I would advise doing that at the beginning of every day you’re in the Bahamas on business.)

c) Build your wardrobe around a few basics. For example: lightweight trousers in a cotton or even a linen can easily be paired with a t-shirt (either brightly colored or not) for a no-fuss wardrobe; you can add a cotton or linen blazer to the ensemble to make it more formal, or a colorful wrap to make it more casual. Being that you are in the Bahamas, I might bring sandals instead of pumps (but make sure you get a pedicure before you go). Other basics that might serve you well (with little space) would include a sheath dress, which you can wear to dinner by itself if you go somewhere nice with the team, or with a blazer for a meeting if things are more formal than you anticipated. Depending on how you feel about shorts personally, you may even want to pack a pair or two if they look good with a blazer. Personally I would avoid skirts and dresses for the meeting — just thinking of my own collection of sheath dresses for the office and jersey dresses for play, it seems far too easy to swing either too casual or too dressy for the meeting.

Even with those caveats, I must say I’m jealous you get to go to the Bahamas on the company dime.  Try to take at least a day or two extra for yourself (and your honey, if you can) to enjoy the tropical retreat — and pull out those maxi dresses/short-shorts for those personal vacation days.

Readers, what are your thoughts on business attire for a meeting in the Bahamas? What does “resort chic” mean to you?

Today’s reader K asks a great question…

I’m a junior associate at a large corporate law firm, and I’ve been working a lot of weekends. During the week, I’m one of the more formally dressed people on my floor (there’s a fairly wide range). However, I walk about an hour to work as my exercise on the weekends, so I’m usually wearing sweats and a hoodie while I’m working on Saturday and Sunday. Personally, I figure that if I’m coming in off business hours, I can wear whatever I want as long as it’s clean and fairly neat. I have never run into a partner, and I usually just keep my door shut anyways. However, I have run into associates while going to grab food/coffee etc, and I’m wondering whether it’s inappropriate to let them see me in my truly casual clothes. Should I be wearing jeans, or something at least a little more fashionable?

I wrote a post on what to wear on a working weekend a long, long time ago that got some flack when it was picked up by Above the Law — I believe one of the AtL commenters said if they were working on the weekend, they felt they could come in wearing tighty-whities and roller skates for all the senior management had to say about it.  In honesty, that post was inspired after I’d spent a weekend filing a brief with a partner — I had shown up at 10 on Saturday wearing jeans, wet hair pulled back, and a sweater, having finished the Friday night work around 3 AM on Saturday morning.  The partner didn’t bat an eye, but the temp secretary I had to supervise (who had about 20 years on me) — well, that was a different story.  She took one look at me, rolled her eyes, and (I think) perhaps even asked if I was a lawyer.  Gee…thanks.  (Pictured: Working on the weekend, originally uploaded to Flickr by jfranklin.)

So I think it’s important to distinguish situations when you’re working on the weekend.

• Sweats are fine if you’re running into a colleague in the coffee room (or, hey, tighty whities and roller skates).  (Personally, I’ve decided the Athleta catalog is my new inspirational “gee I wish my life/weekend fashions looked like that.”)
• If you’re working closely with a colleague or superior, though, I’d say to make it “nicer” casual clothes.  To that end, think trouser jeans or dark rinse jeans, and perhaps a top or cardigan from your workweek collection.
• Dress for respect if you expect to supervise people — whether it be junior colleagues or secretaries.  To that end, look for an authoritative blazer or cardigan.  (C’mon, you know I love a blazer.)  You can have fun with it, also — wear a hoodie under the blazer, or a concert T.

Readers, what’s your working-on-the-weekend outfit style? What are your thoughts on sweatpants, jeans, and blazers?

Today’s reader mail comes from a reader who will be second-chairing a federal trial that is expected to last for more than a month…

First, do you think I should wear skirt suits every day or can I wear pant suits and save the skirt suits for days that I may actually get to examine a witness?

Second, how many suits do you think I need to keep on hand so that it doesn’t look like I am wearing the same suits over and over again?  Any suggestions for making the same suit look different other than wearing different accessories?

And finally, any suggestions on where to find nice looking suits in petite sizes without spending an arm and a leg since I will not need that many suits after the trial is finished.

A good friend of ours did mock trial in law school (and did very well), and passed along her (esteemed) coach’s advice:  wear skirt suits and be sure to cross/uncross your legs often if the other side is making a good point, and wear a lot of perfume.  See?  Golden advice.  Whoever says sexism is alive and well is just crazy.

In all seriousness, though, wardrobe during trial is one of those times where the guys really do have it easier, because we guarantee you that they’ll wear, at max, three suits and five ties throughout the entire trial and not give a second thought to it.  For you, though, we recommend sticking to dark suits, which, practically speaking, means we’d limit ourselves to three or four suits.  One black, one navy, and maybe one in brown or gray.  (If you’re prickly about your accessories matching, go with all black accessories and choose the gray suit.)  Where possible, we’d get both the skirt and the pants to the set — J.Crew, Banana, Ann Taylor, or Theory all make separates (and, we think, petites).  (For the petites question, we’ll be lazy here and link to our old post on professional dressing for petites for reference, as well as the blogs Petite Asian Girl ExtraPetite and Alterations Needed, both of which we have recently discovered and been meaning to point readers towards.)

In order to change up the looks, we’d recommend switching up the layers beneath the suit.  For example:  one day wear a collared shirt beneath the jacket; another day wear a jewel-necked silk t-shirt with a strand of pearls; another day wear a turtleneck with a brooch or a longer necklace (or, if you can pull it off, a silk scarf).  Your goal in dressing should be vanilla – you don’t want the jury to notice your clothes in either a good or bad way.  Absolutely avoid logo bags, as well as anything with sparkles.  (This includes jewelry — if you wear diamonds you may want to skip cleaning them; if your engagement ring is particularly large and blingy, you may even want to remove it.)  We’d even advise to avoid noticeable accessories, such as red-soled shoes like Laboutins.

As for skirts versus pants — we absolutely recommend wearing a skirt the first few days, if only until you get a feel for the judge and the lay of the land.  After that, go with your gut.  (We’re guessing pants will be acceptable, but take your cue from other, more senior women on your team or your opponents’ side.)

Finally, a note on undergarments (because, really, who else is going to say this to you?) — make sure your bras are not distracting.  I.e., avoid the quad-boob look, avoid lacy bras beneath silk blouses, etc.  Stock up on simple camisoles (we like Old Navy’s, honestly), as you’re less likely to wear them twice without washing them, and you’ll probably be too busy for laundry.  Along those lines, know that men can get away with dry-cleaning their suits only once a season because they wear boxers — if you can, wear boy shorts beneath your pants suits rather than thongs.

Before we turn it over to our readers, we also asked a friend who worked on a nine-month (plus?) bench trial, 3000 miles from home — she stressed comfort.  Her full response, below:

During trial, I had 2 black pant suits, a navy pant suit, a khaki-color pant suit, a dark green pant suit, a grey pinstripe pant suit, and 1 black pinstripe skirt suit.  I rarely broke out the skirt suit though — with the long court days, followed by the long nights prepping for the next day, I much preferred the relative comfort of a pantsuit.  And as the weeks wore on, I actually took the khaki, navy, and dark green pant suits out of the rotation because it took too much energy figuring out what shirt and shoes to wear with them.  (Admittedly, 99% of my work wardrobe is black, white or grey, so it takes a considerable amount of time for me to coordinate with any other color.)  To that end, I would suggest sticking with colors and pieces you already feel comfortable with, rather than getting things that are different just for the sake of diversifying the trial wardrobe.  Otherwise, on top of all of the trial stress, you’ll find yourself wondering if your outfit looks weird.

She also asked her colleague to weigh in:

I think I just had a black, gray, and beige pants suit, and a black skirt suit, but agree it was never as appealing to wear the skirt suit. I think part of that is that we were working in a borrowed office in a different city and so we were hopping into cabs, and then not getting home to change at all– just returning to the office to work all night in whatever we wore to court that day.

Ah, the glamorous life of a lawyer.  Readers, any other advice on how to dress for a month+ in court?

Pictured:  The Good Wife, which we’ve been hearing amazing things about but have not yet watched.

(L-0)

Something on your mind? Chat about it here.
Pictured: Mikasa “True Blue” Espresso Cup/Saucer, available at Macys.com for $16 (was $23).

One of the most difficult things to figure out is what to wear to a professional conference. In theory, you’re there to network, meet your colleagues and the “superstars” of your field — and, of course, to learn a bit in the process. The whole process becomes a bit more confusing when you add the “vacation” vibe that many conferences strive for, by holding themselves in sunny places like Hawaii. It seems to us that you need to take a number of different considerations into account. (A lot of these problems are alleviated if you only attend conferences in Second Life.) For example:

1) Are your work colleagues going? If your work colleagues are going then, by default, you shouldn’t wear anything you wouldn’t wear to the office on a weekday.

2) Are you at all involved in running the event? Is one of your colleagues speaking? Is your company or firm sponsoring the event? If so, wear a suit. Depending on the kind of conference and the location, we might suggest a pantsuit rather than a skirt suit — you’re not interviewing, and, after all, you’re quite possibly doing glamorous things like manual labor.

3) What is your purpose in going? Even if it’s just to get a ton of professional credits while surreptitiously playing Brickbreaker all day, let’s pretend you’re there to network and meet people who can help advance/guide your career. Either way, we advise against pulling out the sweats you wore to your grad school classes.

No matter what, we would pack a blazer for the event — air conditioning frequently runs amok at conferences, and a blazer is a professional way to stay warm. Wear it with trouser jeans if you think the conference is uber casual; wear it with a jersey dress if you’re in hotter weather (Hawaii); wear it with trousers and a blouse if you think it’s business casual.

We would also recommend thinking of your entire visit, including your time on the plane and in your down time at the hotel, as “work” time — dress and act as professionally as possible (while, of course, having a nice time).

Readers, any other words of advice for professional conferences?

In this feature, “What to Wear To…” we tackle attire for office events that are outside the confines of the 9-5 office day.

If you’re lucky enough to have a gym in your workplace (or nearby enough that there’s a good chance of running into people at your office), you may be wondering what to wear to the gym. Obviously, you’ll want to leave the thong-leotards and short-shorts at home, but what does that really leave you with? Particularly on a hot summer day, the choices can seem limited.

Choose moisture-wicking fabrics. These fabrics tend to cost more than your basic cotton or nylon, but they breathe more, wicking moisture away from you.  This means you’re drier, lighter, and cooler — which then means that you can wear pants rather than shorts, even on hot days.   Look for words like Dri-FIT (Nike’s brand), ClimaLite (by Adidas), and Double Dry (by Champion).

TRANQUIL D/F CAPRI, $50	, $60	, $30

If you must wear shorts, go for modest ones. For example, these Moving Comfort Aero Shorts have the equivalent of a bike pant beneath a loose short — you won’t have to worry about what’s showing when you stretch. , available at Paragon Sports on sale for $23.

Watch your bust. Not literally, of course — we’re just saying that a good sports bra is essential. (Let’s face it, a good sports bra is ALWAYS essential, but in the corporate gym you’ll be making a scene if you wear a regular bra for a cardio activity.) If you’re busty, we can’t recommend Enell enough — sure, they’re ugly as sin (see the pic at right) but these things do the job.

Finally, wear a shirt. This is not the time to show everyone your rock-hard abs (but congratulations if you’ve got ‘em!) — cover yourself up. Our reasoning is simple: Do you want to see YOUR supervisors without their shirts on?  It isn’t a man issue or a woman issue, it’s just a let’s-not-see-more-of-each-other-than-we-really-have-to issue. That said, there are tons of ways you can go with the shirt. You can stick with the trend and get a mositure-wicking fabric t-shirt. You could show your team spirit and don a company shirt. You could go basic and just wear a tank top, like these from Old Navy.  Or, you can go our preferred route, and show a bit more personality with your workout attire and go for something from Threadless (reader-submitted hilarious designs, examples pictured below), Busted Tees (think more caustic/funny one-liners), or Glarkware (television-related products).

Cake is Awesome, $17	S’more 101, $17	Word!, $17

In this feature, “What to Wear To…” we tackle attire for office events that are outside the confines of the 9-5 office day.

It’s the Aughts, and Blackberries and the Internet mean most work can be done from home. Still, there are times when there’s just no way around it and you’ve got to go in. This presents a special challenge: you want to look cute, cool, hip — but you’ve also got to look professional. If the hours are long you’re going to want to be extremely comfortable. Odds are good the air conditioning will be at full blast, so you also want to be warm.

We’ve found a bunch of great jackets that have a structured look to them, yet they’re made of fleece, jersey, and other fun fabrics — they’re almost as comfortable as your old reliable sweats. With a nice (non-ripped) pair of jeans, and a cute pair of closed-toe shoes (or even nice sneakers), these can maintain your dignity, broadcast your cool, and protect your comfort.

We first discovered Iisli a few years ago, shopping casually at Bergdorf’s — we randomly picked up a gray sweater coat and were absolutely amazed at the structure and fit of the jacket — trust us, this brand is something else. This blazer is in a lightweight jersey, which is uber comfortable, and has patch pockets and unfinished edges throughout (for a weekend feel). Iisli Safari Blazer, $348 at shopbop.com.

This swing coat is, unbelievably, made of fleece. The detailing on it is exquisite — pleats start at the shoulder and go to mid-back. Mike & Chris Theodore Fleece Jacket, $235 at Pink Mascara.

Oooh, another Iisli sweater-blazer, this time in a metallic gold knit. Iisli Bianca Knitted Blazer, on sale at Net-a-Porter for $238 (was $398).

This Ecoganik jacket features zip pockes, a wide neckline, and trench-inspired detailing at the cuffs and shoulders. Teresa Longsleeve Jacket in Moss, $185 at CoutureCandy.

We like the way this looks like a double-breasted cardigan until you look closer and realize it looks a bit like a trench. Colombo never had it so good. Mike & Chris Lionel Hooded Trench, $185 at Pink Mascara.

Sweater coats can be great — for about the first hour you’re wearing them. After that, they do an unfortunate thing where they start to misshapen and too big, and you end up looking like you’re wearing a bathrobe. So, we lurve that this jacket looks like a sweater coat but is made of 100% organic cotton fleece. Ecoganik Mia Jacket, $158 at CoutureCandy.

This fleece pea coat has double-breasted styling and a bit of a fishtail at the back, which we love. Project E Fleece Pea Coat in White, $143 at Revolve Clothing.

At the lower end of the spectrum, this fitted blazer by Free People is a bright spot in a dreary office weekend. Marrakesh Fleece Blazer, on sale for $39 at freepeople.com.

Welcome, Above the Law Readers! Here are some links to other pages you might be interested in:

Tool of the Trade: LeechBlock
10 Things to Know About: Wearing Button-Down Shirts
5 Tips For Surviving the Day After the All-Nighter