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Thursday’s Workwear Report: 100% Organic Cotton Knit Blazer

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brown knit jacket

Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.

A good sweater blazer is a wardrobe workhorse for me from October through May. I like one that has a bit of structure but still feels like your coziest cardigan, sort of like this 100% cotton version from Quince.

I would bundle up in this on a chilly fall day when I’m going to be at my desk and want to be comfortable, but still look somewhat pulled-together.

The sweater is $79.90 at Quince and comes in sizes XS-XL. It also comes in five other colors. 

Sales of note for 10/30

  • Nordstrom – Extra 20% off clearance
  • Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase + extra 15% off your $200+ purchase
  • Brooklinen – Friends & Family – 20% off sitewide and 50% off select bundles
  • J.Crew – 2700+ markdowns
  • J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance
  • M.M.LaFleur – Save 20% on suiting and dresses! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
  • Talbots – Enjoy 30% off your entire purchase

108 Comments

  1. My issue with sweater jackets like this is that they’re hard to fit under some coats, so it seems like you can only wear them when you don’t need an actual coat. So they turn into shoulder season pieces

    1. I live in a region with a very mild winter and hot summers. I can wear something like this consistently November through February. I rarely need a real coat in the winter. It’s still in the 90s until next week, so I won’t need a sweater for awhile.

    2. That’s my issue with everything in a cold climate, do you wear a regular blazer under a coat? I live where there’s mild weather and have no idea how to do this when I travel to places with winter.

      1. Blazer under coat is not comfortable but doable. Depends on how structured the blazer and the coat are

      2. Yes, but I purposely size up in winter outerwear so I have room for blazers and thicker sweaters.

        1. I’m still lost, when I do that the shoulders are in a weird place and it looks odd.

          1. IDK, maybe it depends on the style of the coat. I can see how that might be an issue in something that’s super fitted, like the JCrew lady jacket, but I generally pick styles that have a little more ease.

          2. I’ve decided i dont care that much what i look like while Im commuting. So even if my coat looks odd, no one from work is really going to see me in it bc i take it off and hang it up as soon as i get to the office. For the same reason I don’t consider bags to be part of my outfit- as soon as i get where im going my purse just gets tucked in a corner anyway so who cares? I realize not everyone feels the same though.

          3. Back in the day sometimes I wore a blouse, blazer and coat that each had shoulder pads. We looked like linebackers.

        2. +1. I thought this was common knowledge until I had a roommate from a warm climate and she complained that she can only wear t-shirts under her parka.

        3. Same. My blazers fit just fine under my winter coats, and the shoulders are not weird either with or without the blazer.

          My biggest blazer & coat issue is that some of my lighter jackets are about two inches shorter than my blazers, and that peek of blazer poking out the bottom can look a little funny if the jacket is zipped.

        5. I do this too. My coat is not structure with big shoulders, so I kind avoid the linebacker look. But also, I don’t care.

      3. This is part of why I prefer dresses to suits. In cold weather, I wear a dress with sleeves and a long coat. This avoids the problem of how to fit the coat over a blazer, as well as the problem of pants hems getting wet in the slush.

      4. I think this is part of why the black down puffer has become ubiquitous for professional commuters. A wool coat is almost never a practical choice.

        1. I finally parted with my wool coat three years ago after I gained weight and it no longer fit. I haven’t replaced it. There are about 3 times a year when I wish I had one, but I vastly prefer the comfort and warmth of a ubiquitous black puffer.

          1. Same timeline for me! I wore my last tailored wool one into the ground, replacing the lining twice!, and then just switched to a Save the Duck parka. I do miss feeling so put-together and more formal in the wool coat, but 98% of the time, I’m grateful for the puffy warmth and not needing any strategy for wearing a coat over blazers.

        2. +1 ; also puffers or other insulated coats are warmer and more water resistant. I do love the look of a beautifully tailored wool coat but they are impractical most days and i rarely see them in my New England city.

      5. No. I put a blazer on when I get to where I’m going. I don’t scrunch it under a coat.

    3. I used to have a piece like this in black as an office sweater. It was perfect for that and looked good over a wide variety of outfits.

  2. If you were getting sworn into office, what would you want to get sworn in on?

    I’m not very religious, but I don’t hate the idea of being sworn in on a Bhagavad Gita (family is Hindu). And it is instructions/advice for a leader after all.

    2. If that is meaningful to you, go for it.

      I was raised Christian but have become atheist as an adult. Personally, I would probably choose to be sworn in on the governing document that is relevant to the position. If I am swearing to uphold the Constitution, I don’t see how a Bible is relevant to the oath (and actually consider swearing on it contradictory with the contents).

      1. I guess the idea is that you’re swearing on something else you feel is important. Like people say “I swear on my —family members— life”. Something about swearing on the constitution that you will uphold the constitution seems off, but idk why. In other ways that makes a lot of sense.

        1. I’m curious – why does that seem off?

          Perhaps I come at it from the perspective of understanding that most modern Christians don’t actually know their own scriptures and certainly have not studied them from anything approaching a serious, academically rigorous angle. They take great liberties with what they choose to take literally, ignore, interpret completely out of context, or view metaphorically. If they are swearing on something they play that fast and loose with while claiming it is a divine instructive to how they live their lives, why should anyone else take their oath seriously?

          4. 10:18, I proudly own my “bigotry” against hypocritical assholes, and encourage everyone else to do so, too.

          5. The problem is that you have decided that “most modern Christians” are hypocritical bigots. While I certainly agree that hypocritical bigots make up an unfortunate number of the loudest voices in modern Christianity (partly because that makes the news in ways that calls for justice and kindness do not), that is an unfair characterization.

            If I made statements about Muslims based on the voices of Islam’s loudest adherents I would rightly be called to account. I would ask that you give followers of Christ similar consideration.

    3. I am religious (Christian) but I wouldn’t swear on a Bible unless I had one that an ancestor had previously been sworn in on. In that case I’d want to emphasize the legacy of service by using the family Bible. Otherwise I would want to use a document that demonstrated my commitment to all of my constituents. I like the idea of using the Constitution for federal office. There was recently news about someone being sworn in on a stack of banned books, which I liked very much.

    5. Gosh, I don’t even think there was a bible/constitution/etc. when I was sworn. I just had to raise my right hand.

    6. I think the the Gita works so well in this setting with its lessons on duty and service-what a lovely idea

    7. I would choose God, in whatever form that takes.

      I’m not religious, and not practiciing anything, but swearing on God (she/he/they/them) would give the breathing room that I want and accept, which is my own conscience.

      I don’t know the Bhagavad Gita, but it’s part of the UNESCO world manuscript heritage and that’s a good thing. Go for it!

  3. I want a new visual way to track projects. I think I want a giant magnetic white board with some kind of sliding cover over it so I can shield my to-dos when I’m on Zoom calls. I put this in amazon and got a bunch of tiny white boards with no covers. How do I explain what I’m looking for online? anyone have this?

    1. It’s not the product you’re asking for, but I used a large piece of fabric that I held up with magnets for each call. The fabric just blended in with my wall, so it wasn’t obvious. When I have seen covers, they have been shutter style, in a conference room and very expensive looking. Perhaps more of an office furniture store might carry those

    3. I don’t know that I’ve seen one with a sliding cover, but how about the type that’s a triptych, with doors that fold open to create a three-panel board? Or if you have enough room, a double-sided one that has a pivot so you could flip to the clean side for zoom calls?

      1. This is cool. But is the cover for privacy? Because if it’s for style, I don’t think a white board with a to do list is ugly or unprofessional.

        1. I don’t think my to-do list is unprofessional, but I definitely don’t want to feature it behind myself on calls.

        3. Yes, it’s for privacy. I’m a social worker and I need to cover up case names when I’m on a Zoom call. But I want a non-electronic way to track “Suzy Q – waiting on doctor” “Jane C – check in 30 days on new meds” “Taylor B – prep for hearing” that kind of thing. I have an electronic med record system that handles this but I get so many alerts per day that I would like a big visual of status and I may color-code it, too (waiting vs. deadline from me before an appt., etc.)

          1. I would worry about forgetting to cover it before a call in your case. I keep my to-dos uncles under a clear acrylic desk blotter.

        4. I think confidentiality is an issue. I can’t have my clients’ legal issues on display for others.

          I like the idea of getting a piece of fabric. I would lean into it, and get something pretty to look like featured artwork.

    4. I just searched “large white board with sliding doors” in my browser and got a lot of options with various covers, so don’t limit to one site. Walmart has one that folds, another has a pull-down screen, some have slides but are crazy expensive.

    5. I have a whiteboard behind me in my office so when I’m on zoom I just blur my background and nobody can read what’s on the board

    6. Do you have room for a whiteboard on a stand that you could flip over for calls?

      1. PSA: the blur doesn’t always work well. We can often see what you thought was hidden. Especially when you move your head and the blur thinks the background is your hair, and shows it clearly. Harmless if it’s benign content, a problem if actual privacy is at risk.

    8. oh man i totally know what you mean… trying to remember where I saw that. i have some memory of a movie? show? tiktok? where it was like built-in paneling that slide around to reveal multiple whiteboards but could be easily covered again. very high end.

  4. is “fake” gold that doesn’t tarnish when you swim or shower really a thing? I want some better jewelry, but I don’t want to drop too much money on “real” gold. and I’m getting heavily influenced by brands like “d.Louise” that swears you can wear it for years and years without tarnish.

    I don’t need something to last forever. but 5 years or so would be nice!

    1. By fake, I assume you mean a gold plated piece made with a nice base metal, like silver or brass. If that is the case, quality plating should survive 5 years of showering, but it would certainly last longer or better if you removed it beforehand. It definitely cannot survive regular swimming in chlorinated water (but then, even solid gold would probably lose its luster if you are doing it often, jewlery was not made for the pool).
      14k ou 10k gold might be in your budget.

    3. I probably got lucky, but I’ve been wearing the same small gold hoop huggie earrings from Sézane for three years almost continuously.

    4. I have some heyharper stuff that I’ve had for 4 years. I don’t *intentionally* wear it swimming, or wear it 24/7 but I’ve definitely had it on and ended up swimming, and had no problems. No tarnish so far; and it’s cheap enough I’m not precious about it. And I think it looks nice/not cheap, but not like super high quality gold either.

      Quality was ok, I got some kind of 3-piece sale package, and 1 of 3 came with a broken clasp. But they replaced it, and no problems since then.

      Works great for my use case.

      1. Second vote for heyharper for simple “gold” jewelry that you can wear swimming or in the shower. White gold, platinum, and silver are more my color palette, but the heyharper silver pieces are also decent. I like their stuff for vacation travel when I don’t want to worry about losing my nice jewelry. It was also an affordable way to play around with trends like layering.

        1. Yeah but 24K is horrible for jewelry. Everything gets bent. 22k is great, 18K for everyday wear.

    6. I swim all the time, often with earrings in, but I only really wear 18 karat plus gold jewelry. I have never had an issue. I know people say its too soft, but neither I nor anyone in my family has ever had that issue. I wonder what people are doing with their jewelry.

  5. Feeling a little down this morning. My kids are on fall break. Now that they’re tweens/teens, it’s a big nothingburger. They want to make plans with friends or have some much-needed downtime. I guess I’m really missing the days when we’d do family fun things, like a quick getaway weekend, go to the pumpkin patch or a nearby farm, etc. I actually took some time off this week but really don’t know what to do with myself. Doesn’t help that the weather is finally gloriously cool but rainy. IDK, I really miss how things used to be and am still figuring out what fun looks like in this stage of life. For reasons mostly unrelated to parenting, I really have put my own hobbies and interests on the back burner for the past couple of years, and it’s showing.

    Over the past few months, I’ve started to realize that I am struggling to figure out what I even like

    1. aww that sounds really hard! I’m sorry. maybe force yourself to do one of your former hobbies/favorite things for an hour or two and see if it sparks something?

    2. Can you try to plan some low-key things with your kids? My tween would jump at a trip to Starbucks with me, and I’m not above a little bribery to get some quality time with her.

      1. +1 – trips to the movies, bookstore, Starbucks, or Costco are still hits with my teens. I’d also treat yourself to a seasonal drink, some fun fall treats (or produce to make those treats) and maybe have a more elaborate weeknight dinner as a family.
        I empathize – this transition is tough when you spend so many years doing everything with/for them and now they want to be with friends. I’d encourage you to experiment with hobbies again!

      2. We will probably make a trip to Barnes and Noble to browse and get treats. And I know we’ll end up watching a movie, which will be nice. I think the feelings about my kids growing up are also getting tangled up in my own ennui, if that makes sense.

      3. +1 Carrying crying kids around a corn maze was horrible. Getting pedicures or hitting the driving range and hearing about something their friend said or didv Listening them explain why they all love the 90s while playing Pearl Jam? That’s actually the fun part of parenting for me.

        I actually spend a ton of time now focused on their interests. I think this was my mom’s greatest strength as a parent. If we were obsessed with skateboarding or cheerleading or even a new boyfriend she was all in and would always let you talk about it, worked hard to know more about it. She knew every line in clueless, every word to smells like teen spirit. I think that’s what allowed us to stay close into adulthood.

        1. Yes!! This is why I’m playing ping pong with my kid every night and lifting weights with him. It’s been a lot of fun and we have a lot of great talks.

        2. I was close with my father because he always brought me on his adventures – skiing, rock climbing, etc. It helps to have an activity so you don’t have to talk the entire time – we had better conversations on chairlifts or driving to the resort than we ever would at home. I know other families who had a lot of luck with easier-to-access sports, like hiking and XC skiing.

        3. +1 – my kids are honestly so much fun now. We can bring them to concerts, all day festivals, or chill together quietly without worrying about naps.

    3. The grass is always greener. I have elementary age kids and am excited for the days when they can stay home alone and bum around. I don’t really enjoy traveling at fall break for a variety of reasons but I feel obligated to if they’re off school and have nothing going on, so I’m kind of looking forward to the days when school activities force us to stay local.

        1. My kids are younger than yours (upper elem, middle school) but the “memories of the day” pictures from 8-9 years ago are hitting me HARD lately. I don’t necessarily miss the little kid days so I’m also surprised to feel this way.

          1. I don’t want to go back to the little kid years, but I do sometimes wish I could spend, like, a day there again, knowing what I know now and who my kids would eventually become.

    4. It’s never too late to get back to your own hobbies and interests! It may take time to reestablish what you like, but one trick that can be helpful is remembering what you liked to do as a kid. Did you enjoy crafts? Circus camp? Pottery class? Soccer? What’s the adult equivalent you can start now? How old are you – 45? If you start up again now, you can have 30-40 years of enjoyment ahead!

    5. My kids have reached the same stage, and I am *thrilled* that I have more time to grab drinks or dinner with my girlfriends, to go to concerts, to say yes to business trips and conferences, and to go away on girl trips without having to find coverage for childcare.

      1. Same. I sometimes feel guilt that I don’t feel like OP does, which seems to be the more prevalent and socially acceptable view. I love my kids but I also really love having more time for me and my life that’s separate from them.

    6. I understand! We often traveled on fall break when my kids were that age, but spring break often felt like this. I would recommend finding a couple of things they’d like to do with you. And put some effort into figuring out what you like now – I understand that feeling and it’s worth spending some time on. If it helps at all, this may eventually shift back. Two of my kids were home from college on fall break last weekend and they were both thrilled when we suggested a last-minute day trip to an amusement park and we had a lovely day together!

      1. I love that. And, I know that they still like being around me and doing their own thing is developmentally appropriate and GOOD. They are happy kids. This is a victory! But man, I did not expect to feel so lost when it happened.

    7. I am bit further into this transition, and it really is hard. In today’s parenting culture in which a very high level of parental involvement is expected, I think many people who work a demanding job and also serve as the “primary” parent have to set aside so much of their individual lives (friendships, hobbies, even prioritizing the marriage relationship). When you’ve made parenting your nearly 100% focus apart from a job, there’s a real void when the kids get more independent and eventually leave home. It just takes time to figure out how to spend time and live life in that next chapter.

      1. This is why I’ve put a heavy focus on maintaining my hobbies in my son’s younger years. I know myself and I’m not the kind of person who can take a long break and pick it up later (the “young kids are a season, it’s OK to put things on hold” approach). I also have no guarantees that I’ll be physically able to do my sport in the future, so I want to do it now and stay active every year for my own benefit and for his. I’m definitely a better mom when I get that time – less moody, less martyr-y, less physically unfit. It helps a lot to have one kid (we’re one and done). Even with ZERO family support and working full-time, it’s manageable to maintain my own interests with one.

        Side note, I got reamed here for saying I wanted to prioritize hobbies after having kids (before I had him) and that I would “just you wait” in no time, but I knew for myself that it would all be OK and it has been. It takes time, effort, and I’m not doing AS much as before, but something is better than nothing.

        1. Good for you! I think it’s important to cultivate hobbies or a career you really care about, especially with only one kid. I’m an only child and a lot of my only child friends felt smothered by their parents, but I never did and I think it was because my mom had a job she was really passionate about and as I got older and naturally wanted to spend less time with my family, she really poured herself into her work and had enormous success. Hobbies work as well, it doesn’t have to be paid work, but I think it’s extra important with only children to have something that’s not the child to focus on.

    8. When I was 13, my mom said “at this age you will want to spend more time with friends, so I’m going to do that too.”

      She got really into partner dancing and joined an over 40 softball league. She had a really good time! We also had a really good relationship. Some of my friends felt very smothered by their parents and it was a source of conflict.

    9. I know these changes creep up. They haven’t creeped up for me as my children don’t have friends, don’t hang out and dont attend events such as homecoming. They have disabilities which make growing up hard and they still very much rely on me.

      I have a list of things I want to work on and can’t because I’m still parenting toddlers.

      This is my list and I’m sharing because there might be something of interest for you.

      Read a book for pleasure
      Book club with friends
      Attend a talk at the art museum.
      Exercise – yoga, Pilates, tai chi, calathetics, any martial art, cycling, walking
      Sight seeing.
      Baking for fun – things like bagels
      Crafts- knitting, needlepoint, sewing, crochet
      Art – drawing, watercolors and charcoal
      Volunteer in a meaningful way.

      Before I had children I was unemployed in 2008 and volunteered at the hospital. I sat with babies born to mothers with drug addictions. They cried in pain which went through my soul. They would eventually relax and sleep. I got so much out of this. I would talk to them and just love on them. Ideally my retirement would be spent with these babies.

  6. What pants would you wear with this blazer now that skinny pants are out of style?

    1. I wear this style pretty often, and I think it looks good with regular trouser style pants. Straight leg also could work.

    2. Good question. I’m a smaller person, and I feel swamped by baggy on both the top and the bottom.

      1. As a smaller person I find that I can wear a waist-length baggy top with wide-leg pants that are fitted at the waist and hips. More baggy on baggy than that gets dumpy.

  7. I’m wondering if someone would help me identify this pattern I’m seeing in a professional.

    There is an arbitrator I’ve appeared before for years. She was always a little annoying in that she was long winded and socially awkward. I got through it by anticipating her questions and abandoning any social niceties. I should caveat all of this by saying I’m in an extremely high volume practice area where being pragmatic with time is essential.

    Lately she’s been expressing extreme confusion and anger about immaterial details she’s found after extensively studying the records. Think: all of the documents related to the primary issue are in order but she’s focused on a mistake in the date on a document that neither party has made an issue of. These issues could be and are cleared up simply and easily but not before her extremely long winded expressions of frustration and confusion.

    She’s gone from unpleasant to unbearable and she seems to have no sense that her long frolics from the actual issues before her are causing delays. When she’s respectfully redirected she gets angry again. She’s sometimes actually confused; we can explain where she’s mistaken and she’ll back off after some weird angry scolding. But more often she’s correct just absolutely focused on issues that don’t really matter.

    Is it possible this is some kind of mental decline? I suspect she’s spending outrageous amount of time focusing on these cases but not actually grasping the issues before her. Yesterday she got angry that my adversary and I had settled several matters because she had spent “hours and hours” on them. She insisted on issuing “awards” for cases that had clearly resolved on the docket “just to be sure” and chastised me for the settlement of cases she should have know weren’t mine. We have dozens of matters on each day; they frequently settle. I am extremely skeptical that any other arbitrators are spending “hours” on any one case in advance of the hearing. I did not comment but I firmly feel it’s my client’s right to settle when and if they see fit.

    Is it possible that this person losing critical thinking abilities and masking it with extreme preparation? Is a mental decline sometimes accompanied by this level of anger at your own confusion? I feel like I’m seeing someone unravel and it’s impacting my advocacy.

    1. To your last paragraph, yes, it’s possible. It’s also possible that she may be in the middle of a situation with mental health, medication, major medical diagnosis, family crisis, or any number of other things that can cause our brains to fog and our emotions to go haywire.
      The question is . . . do you have any agency at all here, or are you stuck with the situation as is?

      1. I guess my only course of action here is to report it to my client who can give feedback to the people who oversee the panel.

        My hope was that what I was witnessing was a clear indication of increasing unfitness but I fear all I have is an increasingly unpleasant person whom I do not think manages her calendar efficiently. I suspect her decisions look fine.

        That said, I think, jokingly, that a judge or arbitrator who hates settlements MUST be going crazy.

        1. Not a joke–most judges seem to think it’s their job to get the parties to settle!

    2. I don’t feel like I can really speak to whether this is mental decline, I can with great confidence say that mental decline often comes with anger at their own confusion and misunderstandings, misdirected to whoever happens to be standing closest. This is especially true for people who take pride in their work and being smart. Extreme preparation most likely wouldn’t actually mask any deficits, though they may try it and believe that no one has noticed their decline.

      1. +1 People can sometimes seem to think that the best defense is a strong offense, or maybe they are just projecting.

      2. Do they even notice their own decline? Or is lack of self-awareness part of it, which is what leads to the lashing out?

        What I’ve noticed is that early decline seems to intensify underlying personality traits and tendencies, probably by removing the filter. So an older man starts saying offensive things that previously he would have known enough to keep to himself. A bossy person becomes more bossy. Etc.

        1. I think it really depends what is happening medically. A lot of people lack conscious self-awareness, but seem to project their anxiety about their new deficits (for example, if they’ve lost something because of memory issues, they become paranoid and think someone stole it).

          I’d caution against assuming that a filter has been removed that someone was previously applying. Sometimes brain damage can work in almost the opposite way. It’s not always that someone was thinking a bunch of offensive things but knew better than to say those things aloud before. It’s that they weren’t thinking those things before, but now they are, because those are the most unworn neural paths for them personally. That’s why they warn family that personality changes can be radically out of character, not just in character but less inhibited than before.

        2. I was reflecting on my grandfather, who once forgot how to operate the tv remote and attempted to rewire the tv. He had been an electrician in his youth. And the fact that he could not figure out what the problem was frustrated him immensely. Being corrected by a young woman who cared for him definitely didn’t help, as he did have a big ego and was definitely era-typical sexist, but the initial frustration was definitely rooted in the inability to understand and problem solve like he used to.

          My grandpa was the most extreme case, but dementia runs in my family and I spent a lot of time with my great-aunts and other grandparents during their twilight years. They absolutely notice they can’t do things like they used to, but their personality and environment really shape what narratives they tell themselves about why nothing makes sense anymore, as well as how well they cope with that emotionally.

    3. Maybe beside the point, but I’m pretty over arbitrators not understanding that we’re paying them to be here. And we can and will pay someone else if we don’t like them.

      Like, you spent a bunch of time prepping for a hearing and then it settled at the last minute? Guess what? You got paid a lot of money to prep for that hearing! Unlike a regular judge who gets paid less than our first year associates but still worked over the weekend so she was prepared! You’re not here because you want to serve the public, you’re here to make money just like the rest of us, so get off your high horse.

      Harumph and foo ey.

    4. This has happened with a mediator/arbitrator that used to be very popular with my firm. Are you able to select the arbitrator? It may be time to stop ranking her if possible.

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