Suit of the Week: Boden
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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 for women, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional. Also: we just updated our big roundup for the best women's suits of 2026!
This gingham suit from Boden seems so fun — and it's on a big discount as part of Boden's summer sale. While they definitely make an impact when worn together, I think they'd be just as wearable as separates, worn either with a neutral or one of the many colors in the print.
Maybe it's just me, but I think the blazer when worn with a neutral top and bottom could be a fun opportunity to mix patterns — try adding a floral scarf, for example.
The blazer was $299, but is now marked to $149 and still available in sizes 2-18; the pants were $220 and are now marked to $154 and available in most regular and long sizes.
Looking for something similar? Ann Taylor has a lot of gingham blazers right now.
Sales of note for 6/19:
- Amazon Prime Day has started! You can check out our roundup here…
- Nordstrom – 25% off clearance! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Boss, Theory, Beyond Yoga, and Zella
- Another Tomorrow – Seasonal sale, 50% off select styles
- Ann Taylor – 50% off everything + free shipping! Readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Athleta – 30-60%off reader favorites like Brookyn and Endless pants, and the Pranayama wrap is marked down to $55. ,
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Bare Necessities – Semi-annual sale, up to 70% off, plus get an additional 40% off clearance swim. Readers have sung the praises of these cooling pajamas and their bra-sized swimwear
- Boden – 15% off new women's wear styles with code
- Evereve – 20% off dresses!
- Glossier – Last day 6/19: 20-25% off almost everything (including subscriptions!)
- J.Crew – Extra 15% off your purchase (on top of up to 50% off select styles)
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off orders over $100, and extra 20% off orders over $125 – readers love their schoolboy blazers and sweaters (down as low as $84), and they have a great selection of summer suiting in the sale. Ooh, and these scallop-trim t-shirts have major Boden vibes.
- Jenni Kayne – Semi-annual warehouse sale
- M.M.LaFleur – Archive sale! (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new arrivals up to 75% off! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Ruti – Semi-annual sale, up to 70% off!
- Splendid – Up to 60% off women's sale!
- Talbots – 6/19 only: free shipping, no minimum! Readers love their cashmere cardigans
I love this ridiculously and would look like a carnival announcer if I tried to wear it.
Anyone else getting encouraged to find ways to use AI only to realize it is completely inept at nearly every part of your job? It works as a somewhat more flexible redline tool, but I have spent the last year trying to find ways to use it and they just don’t seem to exist. And then I hear people rave about how life-changing it is, and I’m wondering what kool-aide people are drinking.
I’ve complained on here about a coworker who uses Claude to replace any semblance of independent thought and it’s actually alarming how many inaccuracies and problems it introduces. He keeps pushing the rest of us to use Claude for everything and you couldn’t pay me to attach my name to that output.
+1
People are trying to use AI for things it will never be good at, and it isn’t even as good as it should be at automating straightforward, closed-ended tasks. It’s a hammer in search of a nail. People are finally beginning to realize that.
Not enough people in my circle have realized this yet. It boggles my mind that people will act like it is a reliable source of information, and yet they will send me an AI response that isn’t even a coherent sentence. It’s just a string of catchphrases separated by an em dash.
I’m all in favor of automating whatever can be automated, but there’s usually a better tool. I think people like AI because they don’t have to learn anything to use it, and it’s conversational so people feel rewarded by interacting with it. And it can draft things, so some people use it to get from “nothing” to “something.” Maybe it’s better for rubber ducking than a rubber duck if we’re feeling imagination challenged?
The nightmare is when someone thinks it can edit a document to a style sheet or towards some revision goal and just lets it loose!
+1
Working in tech, almost everything that a business guy asks me if AI can do, an automation script would be more efficient and accurate. But the AI looks cool and whipping up an mcp script takes a day or two, while it could be weeks/months to get an actual good and reliable program built for the task. They just continue to clamor for the cheap junk approach.
Same! Being lazy, I love automations. But they need to be reliable and repeatable. Not randomly changing their results the way AI does, not trying to have a whole drawn out conversation when what I really want is to just have something run in the background. It’s so rage inducing that people think a chatbot is adding value instead of just absorbing their attention.
I wonder, too. I have had peers submit AI-summarized documents to me for editing that are just pure, utter crap. Like, stop it. You’re actually making my job harder, not easier.
Then you ask them for a basic question about why something was drafted in a certain way and they get that deer in the headlights look. Studies are showing that students who use AI to draft essays show almost no retention of the content.
It’s not impossible that students who used AIs to draft essays never read the content to begin with. Retraction Watch has had some posts about how AI authorship is showing which peer reviewed journals really read review submissions prior to publication, not to mention the submitters who didn’t even read their drafts closely enough to edit out the AI speak that made it into the published version.
+1. We end up wasting more time fact checking and revising slop. I know at a glance when client-facing deliverables are AI garbage. I point out a few inaccuracies or faulty assumptions to the lazy person then tell them to scrap everything and put it together themselves.
I work in a field where I have to put out organization wide announcements about technical material. I will often write the announcement, have Claude edit it, and then go back and re-edit it. The final product is better than it would have been with me alone, but it isn’t any better than having another human edit it. And most of the humans editing it would not try to insert my name as “Jane Doe” when it is actually “Jane Smith”!
I’ve found genAI useful for: reformatting blobs of text, changing tone in emails, comparing lists, and some mild programming with lots of oversight. Nothing life changing, but occasionally something helpful.
Same. It helps with mundane things, editing text I have already written and so on. I treat it like a smart intern. I have it do stuff but I always want to see it’s sources, double check it’s work and have the final say.
Haha, I love it, too. Will not buy it.
I assumed it was user error and I was just too much of a Luddite to use it properly but I finally used it successfully just today to write very formulaic, complex feedbacks note for our performance evaluation system. I uploaded a number of complex guides and directions and gave it complex prompts, it produced better product than I could in a fraction of the time. We also just a prominent national lawyer who is leading the use in major law firms do a demonstration for us of Harvey and that was impressive but it’s expensive and I probably am not good enough to use it. Otherwise, it has not been helpful at all at work. Planning personal trips is good.
Performance evaluation feedback notes do seem within its realm of capabilities, however complex.
I love this pick! I think I’d look great in it, carnival announcer be darned!
I initially thought my pjs were being featured, HOWEVER I adore my pjs and would probably look cute in this suit too.
I’m a controller and I recently started using an AI platform designed specifically for accounting. Honestly I’ve been blown away so far. It can do almost anything an accounting clerk or staff accountant can do with (so far) complete accuracy.
I think the issue is using Claude/ChatGPT for specific purposes at work, when it’s a general-purpose tool that isn’t specifically trained for niche functions.
It’s nice to hear someone is making platforms that work.
Whatever platform my doctor’s office is using to help chart is bad even by the standards of medical charting (somehow). I am really uncomfortable with the completely made up stuff that’s appearing in my medical records.
It doesn’t work the way people want it to work.
is anyone considering buying gold bars or other things to get out of the stock market?
No.
My FIL is about 10 years ahead of you on that. Can I suggest water filtration/storage devices, MREs, and a ham radio next?
Make sure you have your underground bunker dug out first, though. You don’t want to be tripping over those things in your garage while you decide where to store them long term.
I’m moderately joking, but I actually do think all women should have backup food and water plans. Not due to doomsday reasons, but because infrastructure is noticeably weakening, and you could foresee a situation where you are without power or resupply for a couple weeks.
Yes. Two different households in my family in different parts of the country have been out of power for about two weeks in the past couple of years. I don’t fully understand why it took so, so long to get power back. But it was a real ordeal.
In my neighborhood, it was because the electric supply to the neighborhood was obliterated in a hurricane. Even though my hood sat in a small valley and was fairly untouched, about 1/2 mile of poles were snapped.
I always recommend people do laundry before a storm, so you dont have the pressure of finding a laundromat during these sorts of things.
Enough water, food and meds to shelter in place for 72 hours is the current advice. More/less depending on your situation and location.
Not at all.
no
i started considering it because of the atlantic article this week about how financial institutions are vulnerable to AI hacks.
Won’t your gold purchase record also be vulnerable or the place where you store your gold bars?
A physical safe with some gold bars in it has a much different risk/reward ratio to potential thieves than financial databases. You’re much more likely to get caught in an irl scenario like that and you’re limited to what you can carry. Smart criminals go in for cyber crimes.
No. I did just buy a leather punch so I can tighten my belts enough to fit, though.
how much are fireworks a thing where you live? even though they’re illegal in my town they go off so many nights.
I am praying for torrential downpours for the entire independence day weekend. If the weather is dry, it will be a shock & awe reenactment in our neighborhood.
Cries in Washington DC
Yupppp. I hate it.
Huge thing where I live (Midwest). They are legal in our state. City ordinance says they can only be set off within the city limits for about 2 weeks around the 4th of July and people take full advantage — we hear them every evening on the days they’re legal (and occasionally on the days they’re not). Our kids are older now and our dog is old and deaf but it was horrible when we had babies and a dog who could hear.
I live near a stadium so they’re just background noise here, since they use them during games. I know they’re not all from the stadium or during games though!
Also I got lucky that the household pets loved fireworks.
If I ever get pets again, I’m not sure how to ensure that outcome!!
I don’t even know if they are legal in my city. But there will be a ton of people setting stuff off on the 4th, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue the day before or after. I hope that’s still true this year with the holiday on a weekend
there was just a FB thing where all these anonymous commenters in my town were like “it’s America, who cares if theyr’e illegal, let us have some fun” — makes me so mad.
We used to really enjoy traveling outside the US over the 4th of July week. Having kids with sports and activities they need to be home for has made that more complicated, but we hope to get back to it when we’re empty-nesters. I’m such a grinch about this holiday.
Oh, same. I’ve told my DH on numerous occasions that as soon as our kids stop caring about spending the 4th of July here, we’re gone. Not necessarily out of the country, but a remote lakeside cabin sounds great.
I’m so glad my previous next door neighbors moved out – they would set off fireworks every Fourth and although my dog was more irritated than scared, I was scared about them setting my house on fire.
This is our concern. We have burn bans in effect and are in a semi-rural area with pockets of actual forest and underbrush. In prior years we have stood on the roof with hose in hand to douse embers from the neighbors who are hellbent on literally blowing up their own small piece of America.
Fireworks are very popular here, even though I live in a suburb (in a dry, southwest state that is always on fire.) Only the smaller ones are legal (I think they have to not go up over 10 feet high or something) but all the people around us set off the big ones that are not legal. A nearby county out in the sticks doesn’t have the same regulations so people drive the 45 minutes away to buy the big ones. The city does not seem to do any enforcement of it. They will go off for weeks before and weeks after though the bulk is on the 4th.
They are legal where I am, and I have a neighbor one street over who puts on a half hour show worthy of a municipal celebration. It’s a pro job. In years past I enjoyed it but last year for reasons unknown to me one of my dogs decided that fireworks were the devil. We spent that half hour in an interior closet and the pup was still upset. I have plans to be out of town with the dogs this 4th.
Not at all, but I live in a Southern California city that has a history of devastating fires and anyone setting off fireworks would be immediately confronted by a bunch of very angry neighbors. We had someone with sparkers a few years ago (that they did ion their driveway with lots of precautions) and they still got major pushback.
Does such a thing as bootcut or wide-leg hiking pants exist? I cannot stand leggings, and everything I see is cut so close that I would be ready to chew off my legs as soon as I hit the trailhead. I go on day hikes, no backpacking or trailrunning, and obviously I’m not wearing my good wool or linen pants out there.
There are tons of hiking pants that are flared or wide-legged. The wider styles will mostly have an elastic waist. Just browse the REI website and you will find plenty.
i feel like i saw some at title 9
but i would worry about ticks with a bootcut or wide leg pant. but i guess people go hiking in shorts also.
Permethrin is pretty effective. Either buy pre-treated clothes or spray it on your clothes yourself. My kid did a nature camp where her best friend came home with 20 ticks on her every day. My kid wore pants, socks and shoes that had been sprayed with permethrin and we never once found a tick.
I live and die by permethrin during tick season. I’ve always got a couple outfits coated and ready for my next outdoors excursion.
Yes! Duluth has boot cut and wider-leg options. I have a pair of baby boot ones from Duluth and while they are sooo comfortable, know that the fabric goes swish-swish with every step.
Kuhl discontinued my absolute unicorn hiking pants that fit this description, but see if they have anything else available. They also have articulated knees which is something I didn’t realize I needed.
oh I hear you on this. I am slowly abandoning my drawer of leggings in favor for all the wider legs. I just do day hikes too.
I’m seeing options a lot for wider leg workout type pants – here’s a specific rec – I just got back from a hiking trip and really loved these –
CALIA Women’s Effortless Nyluxe Cinch Cargo Pant from Dicks
I have a very similar pair of Under Armour ones in black as well. I basically just alternated them through the trip.
Maybe Kuhl would have some? I feel like they have straight-leg options at least.
Most actual hiking pants from real outdoor brands are bootcut. It’s actually kind of annoying as they always get muddy either from being a tiny bit too long or just from flapping around my legs and getting mud kicked up from the other foot, so I often revert to leggings when it’s wet or snowy. I think wide leg would be even more annoying unless they’re cropped. But you shouldn’t have a problem finding bootleg hiking pants at REI, LL Bean, Duluth Trading Co, or any other outdoors store.
I just tuck my hiking pants into my socks when it is muddy. Or even better, wear gaiters.
Prana has a nice pair – REI carries them.
I love Seniq trailmix cargo pants. I have a long torso and these are the only ones that come to my actual waist. Easy to adjust and a subtle barrel leg. There is a bungee at the bottom that allow you to tighten them which comes in handy for bike riding. I’ve used them for hiking, biking, rock climbing, kayaking…. I adore them – and have always hated hiking pants
Yes, REI should have plenty. And they’re more straight leg than boot cut, but REI’s Sahara pants are my go-to for hiking and yard work. Also Prana, though I don’t think their’s are as good as they used to be (I think the Halle is the style I usually buy).