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Shopping with Kat: SoHo Edition

06/17/2013 By 25 Comments

shopping with kat - soho.indexedAnd now it’s time for an occasional feature on the blog: shopping with Kat. For this edition, I ran around SoHo, looking for clothes on the racks that looked like good workwear items. I popped into a number of stores including French Connection, Diane von Furstenberg, Missoni, DKNY, Miu Miu, Ralph Lauren, J.Crew, Intermix, Club Monaco, Bauble Bar, and Hugo Boss — below are some of my favorite pieces from the trek (in order of price, low to high). You can follow my full adventures on Instagram. (This was my first time using Instagram, so please bear with me… all pictures taken by me with my new Samsung Galaxy S4 (which I bought a few weekends ago and love).

Schoolboy blazer in crosshatch linen Schoolboy blazer in crosshatch linen

J.Crew: The photos don’t do justice to the bright blue of this linen blazer from J.Crew — it’s fresh and happy, almost a neon.  And, in even better news, it’s on sale — it was $175 but is now marked down to $130 at J.Crew; it’s also available in a flamingo pink and mossy green.  (If they had the other colors in stock at the store, I didn’t even notice them.) Schoolboy blazer in crosshatch linen [Read more...]

Filed Under: Shopping, Shopping With Kat, Wear to Work

When Can You Buy an Expensive Handbag?

03/12/2013 By 152 Comments

when-can-you-buy-an-expensive-handbagWe’ve talked about how a $9,000 handbag might be a bit much for an intern — but Reader E wonders when in your career women can buy expensive briefcases and work totes.  How soon is too soon?

I was wondering if you could do a post about expensive handbags for work. Kind of like the Hermes post, but a little bit of a different situation. I’m graduating law school this spring and will be working in a large law firm in the Fall. I want to purchase the Celine mini luggage bag with money I made as a summer associate, but I’m wondering if it’s inappropriate, since the bag costs around $2700. I’d get it in the plain black color. I don’t think it’s nearly as recognizable as the Birkin you discussed (I doubt most people know what it is), but it IS an expensive purchase for someone just starting their career. What do you think for a new associate? The only logo is a small imprint of Celine Paris on the front of the bag.

Great question.  To review: back in 2010, a reader wrote in to ask whether she could carry her Hermes Birkin bag around her law internship.  Considering she was still in school (and didn’t have the job yet), a Birkin bag — which generally costs about the price of a small car — seemed a bit much.  Specifically, back then I worried that the message the intern was sending was that she was rich, and not working for the money.  Since that email, I’ve come up with a rule of thumb:  if you haven’t made enough in paychecks to both pay your rent and buy the bag, you probably shouldn’t bring the bag to work.  So Reader E — who’s already made the money — would be well within my little rule of thumb.  (Pictured:  Celine – Luggage.  N.B.: Overstock has a few Celine Luggage bags on sale for as low as $1960.)

But I think there are other important differences between Reader E and the Birkin-toting intern: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bags, Briefcases/Totes, Just Starting Out, Looking Young, Professionalism, Shopping

Coffee Break – Chameleon Pencil Case

02/04/2013 By 186 Comments

Smythson Chameleon Pencil CaseI’ve been living in New York off and on for almost 15 years now (yeouch) which means that I have been to the atrocity that is the Barney’s Warehouse sale more than a few times. I haven’t been in quite a while, though — a friend clued me in long ago that you can get the exact same discounts by going to the store a week or two before the Warehouse sale, but you get to try things on in store conditions (and without, say, sharing a concrete-floored open dressing room with 30 other women vying for three mirrors after waiting in line for hours, or (even better!) dressing strategically so you can try things on in the aisles. It is brutal, people, and not for the faint of heart. BUT: This year the Warehouse sale is online. So you can shop the sales from the comfort of your own office. Take, for example, this lovely Chameleon Pencil Case by Smythson — I think it would be the perfect thing to add to a huge tote (such as the ever popular Longchamp) to organize pens, pencils, lip glosses, and more. It was $230, but at the Warehouse sale it’s $139 — all sales final. Smythson Chameleon Pencil Case

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For those of you who’ve shopped the Warehouse sale in the past — care to share any memories?  For the NYCers among you: how often do you guys hit sample sales and the like now that flash sale sites like Gilt and Rue La La exist?  Any favorites?  (My personal favorite has always been Clothingline’s revolving sample sale, but that’s just me.)

Filed Under: Coffee Break, Shopping, Under $150

The Professional White Shirt (That Isn’t a Blouse or a T-Shirt)

01/29/2013 By 22 Comments

How can you find basic, solid shirts that are just a teensy bit different and easy to care for — particularly in simple colors like black and white? Reader S wonders…

You’ve done lots of reviews about what shirts to wear to work (I love “The Hunt”), but I cannot find anything directly addressing the topic white shirts. What white shirts do people wear to work? I’m not thinking of button-down blouses. I’m talking about white short sleeve or long sleeve pieces that are not too sheer, launder well, look a little more interesting than totally boring. I’d love to see a round up and hear readers’ thoughts. I have one nice one from XCVI, but am looking for a new one and want some ideas.

We actually have done Hunts for white blouses before, but I thought this would be an interesting discussion because I totally know what Reader S is getting at: that basic shirt that isn’t a t-shirt, isn’t a button-down, is just a little bit different, and ends up being a total workhorse in your wardrobe. Honestly, I celebrate whenever I find one (and try to post it if I can!) because I think these really are huge saviors in women’s wardrobes. But: they’re almost impossible to find in an online search. Here’s the best tips that I can give:

- Know the brands that have done “fancy/simple tops” that you’ve liked in the past, and then use an online tool like Shopstyle (type in the brand name, then sort by “tops”) to see the offerings — a quick search on a few brands turned up a lot of possibly great tops, depending on your office and personal style. For example quick searches on some of the brands I’ve had in the past turned up: Alice + Olivia (see here and here), Ann Taylor (see here and here), Rafaella (see this top and this top), and Design History (nothing in white, but see here and here for options in black). Reader S mentions the brand XCVI; that turned up a few quick candidates as well (see here and here). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Basics, Shopping, Style, Wear to Work

How Often Can You Repeat Your Outfits at Work?

01/24/2013 By 135 Comments

1Can you wear the same outfit over and over again to work? How often can you rewear an outfit? Reader N wonders…

Do you have any tips about how often you can wear the same outfit to work? Or posts on outfit frequency? I tried to search in the archives but couldn’t find anything.

This is a great question, and one we haven’t talked about before. A friend of mine was just describing a former coworker who wore the exact same outfit (dress, tights, shoes, jewelry) multiple days in a row — and how no one could figure out what her deal was (but everyone was wondering!). So: don’t be that coworker!

Personally I think you can repeat the exact same outfit, but the more memorable it is, the less often you can repeat it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Basics, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Layering Pieces, Professionalism, Shopping, Style, Wear to Work

What’s YOUR Annual Clothes Budget?

01/15/2013 By 184 Comments

How much do you spend on clothes — and how do you keep track? Reader T has a great idea for a topic thread:

Kat, there have been some interesting discussions lately about spending limits and annual clothing expenditures. How about doing an open thread on how much people spent in 2012 on clothing and accessories? You could ask people to list total amount, best/worst purchases of the year, industry, level of experience (ie: 5th year associate in big law), and perhaps salary or how much they spent as a percentage of total salary. I think this would be a really fascinating discussion!

This should be a fun one. We’ve kind of talked about this before, discussing how much you expect to pay for general items of clothing, as well as how to set a budget, but we’ve never really talked about a clothes budget.  (I have asked the question in surveys to readers — in our last survey, taken in August 2011, 40.2% of readers responded that they had spent “$500-$1000″ on clothes for the first half of 2011, with 27.8% saying “less than $500″ and 22.7% saying “$1001-$2500.”)

So, readers, how much do you spend on clothes?  Do you set an “annual budget” for yourself?  How do you enforce it?    [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget Fashion, Money, Shopping