Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
I am loving this blouse from Sabine, available at Piperlime. Love the relaxed vibe to it and the colors. For the office, I’d wear this with a high white camisole (because I am opposed to nude-for-you camisoles) and a blazer, tucked in. In terms of accessories, almost any necklace would work — if I wanted to give it some gravitas I’d wear my pearls, and if I wanted to have more fun with it I might layer some more delicate pendant necklaces. It was $89, but is now marked to $44.99. Animal Print Blouse
Seen a great piece you’d like to recommend? Please e-mail tps@corporette.com.
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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
We noticed this lovely blouse while in Macy’s the other day. The print seems interesting and beautiful, and because the pattern is one of little squares it’s a nice twist on a dotted print. It’s $79 at Jones New York (which is also in the midst of 75% off clearance sales, and is currently offering free shipping with no minimum). Jones New York Short Sleeve Button Front Shirt
Seen a great piece you’d like to recommend? Please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line.
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For busy working women, the suit is often the easiest outfit to throw on in the morning. In general, this feature is not about interview suits, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional.
For this week’s suit of the week, we’re liking this uncomplicated polyester suit from Calvin Klein with some great pleat details on the jacket — it’s interesting but simple at the same time. We also like that the fabric has a bit of spandex in it, to give it just a wee bit of stretch. The suit (Calvin Klein Suit, Black Pleated Jacket Pant Suit) is currently $129 (formerly $200) at Macy’s, and is available in sizes 2-14.
Also: If you’re a size 6, there’s a great sale on a black boucle skirt suit at Neiman Marcus…
Today’s reader mail has to do with something near and dear to our hearts…
It drives me crazy when everything is labeled ‘dry clean only’. For wool and fine fabrics, ok. But synthetic tops labeled d.c.o.? Please. Am I correct in thinking this is butt-covering on the part of the manufacturer, and it’s safe to hand-wash these, and lay them flat to dry? This is what I usually do, and haven’t ruined anything yet, but they are huge pain to iron. This is why I hugely favor thin sweaters under jackets.
Agreed. When purchasing a piece of clothing, we often factor dry cleaning into the mix — that $50 dress at Filene’s starts to look a lot less reasonable when you think of the dry cleaning costs associated with it. First, there is a difference between “dry clean” and “dry clean only” tags — the ones that say “dry clean” CAN be washed in Woolite or by hand; it’s the “dry clean only” tag you’re supposed to pay attention to at your own risk. So what should you risk? Personally, we’ve always followed the dry cleaning instructions for our suits, jackets, and nice dresses — as well as for any other piece of clothing that we seriously love. For everything else (which is most stuff), we have a “first year” policy: for the first year we own a piece of clothing, we follow the instructions on the tag. After that, we give it a whirl with Woolite. Thus far, this policy has only netted us one shrunken going-out top (made of a synthetic material like polyester), but lots and lots of clean cashmere an wool sweaters, and even some trousers that have come out just as nice with Woolite.
We’ve experimented with Dryel, as well as hand washing, but mostly without success — Dryel didn’t seem to get the clothes as clean (although, let’s face it, sometimes a suit passes the point of no return and just won’t smell clean), and hand washing just was a huge, drippy mess and made us feel like the clothes were being pulled farther out of shape by either a) being rolled in a towel to dry them, or b) being hung up while still so wet. Readers, what has your experience been?
Picture above: SPARKLE!, originally uploaded to Flickr by arimoore
