Thursday’s TPS Report: Faux Leather Trim Ponte Sheath Dress

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Adrianna Papell Faux Leather Trim Ponte Sheath Dress | CorporetteOur daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. We all know: I'm a sucker for an interesting seam detail. I am also a sucker for a good dark blue/black combo — and a dress with sleeves. And then when you put that dress on sale… well, consider me smitten. The dress was $118, but is now marked down to $70.80 (a lot of sizes still left). Adrianna Papell Faux Leather Trim Ponte Sheath Dress Also nice, and also on sale: Adrianna Papell Colorblock Jersey Sheath Dress Here's a plus-size alternative. Seen a great piece you’d like to recommend? Please e-mail tps@corporette.com.

Sales of note for 2/7/25:

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

117 Comments

  1. This dress would be great…but for the leather trim! Someone make it stop.

        1. My husband walked by while I was looking at this and commented “Hey its Spider Girl” Now that’s all I see. Either way, I like the dress but not the leather trim.

    1. I’m just trying to build a solid work wardrobe and I just know leather trim will look dated as soon as I buy in (although its lasting power has exceeded my initial expectations)

    2. Yay! I LOVE sheathe dreses and the price, but I whole heartedley agree about the faux leather. It is cheezey and not for us high powered gals who must look presenteable at all times. I think it does smack of S&M and I can onley imagine what Frank and the judge would say if I wore this into work (and court!?) OMG!

      Anyway, the guy from Lord & Taylor texted me. I think he realy wants to have sex with me, but NOT marry me right away. Who needs that? I will NEVER understand why men think women crave their winkies for sex. All Sheketovits did was mess up my bed and soil my fine linens and then once in a while throw up from the alchohol. That is NOT sexy. Neither was he now that I think of it. But enough with him.

      I found a Greek restrunt nearby that will sponsor our Holiday party for $28 person, NOT includeing drink’s. They will have MOOSAKA (Yay) and other delecacies, and I can bring a guest! The troubel is that I do NOT want to bring the L&T guy, and will probabley come with Myrna, who know’s everybody all ready. The manageing partner does NOT care to much. He said he would pay for all the liquor, since he is goieng to be a new daddy all over again. I guess Harold may show up too, but I am NOT attracted by a guy who wears VANs around with a suit. How gaouche! DOUBEL FOOEY on Sneaker’s!

      Lynn I think may be pregenant b/c she has been throwing up and is porky. If that is the case, I wonder what Mason will do? I think they should be MARRIED, tho I am sure they do NOT. That is why I would NOT have sex with a guy to often b/f MARRAGE! TRIPEL FOOEY. What does the HIVE think? I hope you agree with me! YAY!!!!!!

    3. I had my eye on a leather trim dress earlier this season so I’m not totally opposed to the trend, but this particular dress looks too much like a spider web or Star Trek pattern. Not a fan.

    4. I don’t dislike the concept, but I think that there’s just too much of it here (particularly on a small model). If they were to, say, eliminate the stuff right at the waist/midsection (make incomplete lines) or maybe just get rid of the waist line, I think it could look really nice.

    5. It sounds nice in theory but it looks like the Thiller video on me and I am concerned about cleaning it. I just can’t pull the trigger on this trend. Kudos to those who can pull it off. But, I hope it goes away soon…

    6. This leather trim trend is too washy-washy. I think if you’re going to go with leather, bite the bullet and get leather pants and a fringed vest that says “If you can read this, the b*tch fell off” on the back.

      1. Obviously add nude pantyhose if you’re in a more formal situation. Opaque black tights would work in my office with this, unless it’s a big meeting day. Then, I’d have to add a blazer.

    7. I looove the leather trim look and have way too many pieces with it, but I totally agree this is over the top and not very appropriate for work.

  2. This dress looks truly ghastly to me. Almost like it came apart and someone had to use black Sellotape to rectify that.

    1. Eh – It’s kind of like the stain-glass quilting technique. But with leather bias tape, instead of just black.

  3. I ordered some cashmere sweaters from Talbots on their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and can recommend the quality very highly. It is beautifully soft, a nice thickness, and has a very fine finish. I like it a lot more than the cashmere I’ve seen at BR, Lord & Taylor and JCrew lately.

    1. Co-sign. They raised the price significantly this year (the Audrey is now $149 opening price rather than $119 as in past years IIRC), so I’d definitely buy on sale as noted above. But the thickness and durability are both consistently good – I now have Audreys from 2012, 2013 and 2014 and all have been holding up nicely with minimal pilling.

          1. I bought them at 50% off and I think that was good value. That’s the biggest discount you’ll see at Talbots on regularly-priced stock. Generally, Talbots prices can get as low as 70% off once they go to the sale and clearance sections, but I find the cashmere is slow to be marked down and you run the risk of lpretty imited size and colour selection.

      1. Do you handwash or dry clean these Talbots sweaters? I have cashmere from Landsend that I handwash and they’ve held up great.

      2. I usually wait until they’re down to about half price, but it depends on which color you want. I wouldn’t buy at all for less than 30% off (I’m pretty sure they designed the price for 25-30% off to be applied), and would probably hold out for at least 50% off at the after-Christmas sales. My only caveat would be that if you’re a smaller size and want a staple color like gray, camel or black, to buy relatively earlier – Talbots tends to run a little big and so the XS and S go fast.

        I dry clean the sweaters but I don’t have the patience to hand wash anything!

      3. I just bought the lord and taylor v neck cashmere sweater. I don’t know much about cashmere, so when it comes how do I know if it’s a good quality? Obviously it shouldn’t be too thin. Anything else?

    2. Just wanted to report that Lord and Taylor’s house brand for cashmere is really inconsistent. For around the same price point, I bought a lovely charcoal gray open cardigan that is everything I could have hoped for and more, and then an aluminum gray hoodie. The hoodie was so thin it was practically transparent. Boo.

    3. I probably have about six or eight Audreys, plus a few other V-necks from Talbots. They have held up fantastically over the past few years–almost no pilling at all. I dry clean. When I hand wash cashmere, it loses it’s hand and gets too fuzzy for my taste. I always wear stuff under my cashmere (I’m very slightly allergic), so there’s a layer between me and my sweaters such that I don’t need to wash each time….

      If you sign up for Talbots’ catalogs or emails, they definitely do 40% off one item a few times per season and there should be a few big weekend sales leading into Christmas. Their cashmere sells out lightning fast once they have their post Xmas sales.

  4. I’m going to put a plug in for the Salux cloth! I just got one from a recommendation on Reddit of all places. It’s really helping my keratosis pilaris/bad winter skin, along with some CeraVe SA cream! And it’s like $11 for 3. I guess it’s a standard thing in Japan, but I just discovered it, though I would pass it along.

    1. Just googled this and it looks pretty awesome. Where did you purchase yours? The reviews on Amazon seem to suggest that there’s a chance I’ll get sent a knock-off version if I order from there.

      1. I just got mine from amazon. Whoever “Prime” vendor was. Maybe I got a knock off (no reference point of real), but it seems to work.

      2. The reviews say don’t get a knock off, but then have like 98% 5 star ratings. So, I wouldn’t worry about that too much, nobody seems to actually get a knock off send to them.

      3. These (or something very similar) are pretty standard in Asian grocery stores. I’ve gotten multiple brands depending on what the store carries and they all work the same. Possibly cheaper too if you find them in store, I think I bought my last one for about $3.

    2. Good rec. I’ve been using them for a a couple years now. Bought on Amazon. I actually decided not to buy a Clarisonic after starting to use it.

      Last year I got them for my family as stocking stuffers, and everyone loves them. My older parents loved them for cleaning their back…

      1. I started using these Salux cloths 2 years ago. I love them. I did get a knock off from amazon but was able to return it. I found the real one at the saluxshop. I understand they’re the main distributor.

  5. I can’t remember who it was who posted about struggling to come to terms with a family member developing dementia; I recommend the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme which helped me understand a bit more about the condition.

  6. I work on the east coast but will be traveling to one of my company’s west coast offices for a client meeting. We are a business casual company, and if this meeting were in my home office, I’d wear a lands end ponte dress, cardi, a statement necklace and heels or flats, all in fall/winter colors.

    I’m going to be in Sacramento and I’m trying to figure out how to dress for the temperature and the season. Thoughts? I need 3 days of outfits, if that matters, so the more ideas the better.

    1. The dress/cardi outfit is perfect. I would check the weather because we are getting rain and it’s finally gotten cooler. I might add tights and make sure to bring a rain-friendly outerwear jacket. I’d be sure to have a pants outfit and bring along a more substantial jacket than a cardi.

      Also, I’d double-check that the client is also business casual (they likely are) and dress up or down depending.

      1. Agreed. And Sacramento is less fashion forward than say SF or LA, more like DC/government aesthetic, so Lands End and cardigans etc. are fine.

      2. Agreed, wore LE ponte dress+ cardi + tights and boots to my business casual SF office yesterday. Mixed it up today with the skirt + sweater. You’ll fit right in.

      3. the client is coming to our office, which is….west coast business casual. They wear flip flops. However, I’m more on the exec side and do not wear flip-flops, and our incoming clients will be business casual as well.

  7. Emergency TJ: Do any of you all have any ideas on how to remove a brand new coffee stain from the sleeve of my wool sweater? I immediately rinsed it out as best I could, but that only lightened the stain. Tips?

    1. It should come out if you soak it. I would fill up a sink with cool water and some detergent, swirl it around, let it soak overnight, rinse, spin in a salad spinner, and then lay flat to dry.

        1. And now the salad spinner is not a one-trick pony/single purpose kitchen tool. Bonus!

          1. I worked in a science lab in college that used a salad spinner as a super cheap centrifuge. They are surprisingly useful for things not at all related to spinning salads.

      1. My salad spinner is still in the box but I might actually have a reason to use it now!

  8. Ok, last neurotic cookie question. I’m giving Christmas cookies to most of the associates at my office–the ones who are the regular lunch crowd, most of which I’d be friends with even if I didn’t work here. I also wanted to give some cookies to a particular partner because I’ve done a lot of work with him, he’s my informal mentor, and we’re very friendly, plus he loves cookies. He’s given me food gifts before, so I don’t think this is weird. But then should I also give cookies to the other partners I work with? This would only be a few more bags, but I’m not that close with any of them. I was making my list last night, and it dredged up memories of my wedding (if I invite this person, that opens up a whole other tier of people who should be invited…) Thoughts?

    1. No, I think that your list as it stands is fine. As a point of reference, I get gifts/wine for my friends, my staff, and my practice group leader (also friend, mentor etc). I may give a few bags of cookies this year because I like to bake, but not out of a feeling of obligation.

    2. No. As a general rule, don’t bake for your bosses. So cookies are fine as an exception but don’t feel obligated to give them to everyone you report to.

      1. I was toying with the idea of gifting my partner-mentors/practice group leader cookies for the holidays until I read “Don’t bake for your bosses.” What do y’all think? My male colleagues won’t give baked treats to our bosses for the holidays. Does doing so put us in a weird place of looking domesticated and less professional? Or am I over-thinking it?

        1. Not overthinking. That’s exactly the problem with doing it. Ask why it is you feel the need to bake for mentors and the boy-folk don’t.

        2. Yes, that’s right. I’ve read that advice lots of places, including this place and Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. I do generally agree with it.

          Having said that–I love baking as a hobby, and I’ve been here for several years now. I have made a conscious effort not to exhibit more stereotypically feminine behaviors and attitudes, and I have a lot of bad-ass points built up. So, taking all that into account, I decided it was ok for me to bake Christmas cookies.

          TL;DR — If you’re new or struggle with projecting confidence or authority, I’d stay away from baking. Otherwise, NBD.

          1. “If you’re new or struggle with projecting confidence or authority, I’d stay away from baking. Otherwise, NBD.”

            This.

        3. I do big gift boxes of cookies and fudge for my husband’s clients. He hands them out. It is a team effort, because making that much fudge and that many cookies is quite the undertaking. At the same time, I do that for my CEO and operating officers that I work closely with. It was well received last year…everyone in the office knows I bake and can jam/jelly around the holidays, and they would be pretty sad if they didn’t get to share!

      2. I get the don’t bake for coworkers/bosses point, but in every office I’ve ever worked in, the person who’s really into baking and bakes for everyone is a guy. Are we sure this is as gendered as we think it is?

    3. Agree with the no baking for bosses comments. If you want to give the whole office a holiday treat, I’d just order some fancy pastries or cookies or some other snack and put them in the kitchen/break room with a Happy Holidays note from you. But make sure it’s obvious you bought them and did not make them.

    4. I just read all of these comments out loud to my husband (both of us are working from home today). He is cracking up behind me. Really? We shouldn’t appear “domestic?” There are males at my office that bake and bring in homemade bread and pastries, and one of our principals even brings in eggs from the chickens his kids keep.

      Husband’s comment: “I can bake AND negotiate your $5 million contract. So there.” (I’m in house now, doing contracts for a big architecture / design firm). Seriously if baking / looking domestic / having some cooking skills is a detriment to your career…well…we’ve got big problems. I’m pretty sure no partner promotion meeting goes like this: “Well, you know, SoCalAtty is a fantastic attorney, but she’s so…domestic. She brings us yummy goodness during the holidays, so we better not promote her. But remember that awesome multi-million dollar deal she negotiated for us? That was great. Too bad she brought cookies.”

      1. Sneer if you want, but it’s well established that women are hurt by doing this. Awesome if that’s not the case for you but it is in many of our careers.

        1. Especially for someone young and not established – we have two girls , yes everyone calls them girls, who bring in baked goods very often. Whenever I think of them or hear others talk about them , it’s the cookie girls – not the professional young women. We don’t have any young men baking things for us- alas- but I might think of them as cookie boys if they did !

        2. Take it from someone who stupidly turned down other options because ‘They told me over the phone it was mine,’ it’s not official until you have something in writing or on email.

          Note: It’s weird and sucky to have to go back to someone whose offer you’ve turned down and politely beg for a job. Especially sucky if they tell you how awesome you are but that they’ve hired someone already and you end stuck in a craptastic job for 2 whole years because of it.

      2. In my office (government, maybe that is different. . .) our most senior attorney, a man, is the best baker. He brings in the most delicious tarts, pies, cakes, etc. for us. Because of this, it has become somewhat of a competition to try to one-up him.

      3. Yes! We’ve got big problems! Another example might be that men with PTA on their resume get picked MORE and women with PTA on their resume get picked LESS. Yeah men can get away with baking and still get paid 23% more. It sucks.

      4. I think you sort of illustrated a point that I think is often missed in these discussions. It’s not that people consciously equate things like baking= domestic= no promotion. It’s more about hidden bias, and that’s absolutely a thing and works in weird ways.

      5. Yeah, it is laughable to your husband. Because he is a man. I mean that’s the whole problem here. Its the same way that you are “aggresive” if you are a woman but “confident” if you are a man. I mean the fact that your husband can laugh at is the whole problem here. Its a white person laughing and saying racisim isn’t a problem! I’ve never experienced it!

        1. I’m a young female associate, and I bring in sweets when I want to (sometimes ones I’ve made, sometimes ones my husband made). Seriously, there are so many other reasons people can judge you, bringing in cookies once or twice a year isn’t going to make a difference. I would agree that it’s probably not a good idea to bring in baked goods every month. But once a year? For Christmas? That’s unlikely to impact anyone’s opinion of you.

          1. Exactly what I’m saying. I’m not saying “be the person with the plate of cookies every week.” I’m saying, “has anyone ever experienced this related to a holiday event? To the extent that bringing purchased cookies versus baking them would make a difference?”

            No one is telling you to do it every week. That would be weird for any gender. I’m saying a round of holiday cookies is pretty unlikely to have the impact many are cautioning against.

            I went out and found a couple of articles. It isn’t exactly a slam dunk that everyone agrees on this issue. In fact, it looks like a lot of people feel that it just isn’t that big of a deal, in moderation. Links to follow.

  9. Just a vent about a cr@ptastic day. Walking into the office this morning and the heel on my shoe snapped in half. Not at the seam-part to the shoe itself – literally in the middle of the 4 inch heel. Luckily I keep back-up emergency flats in my car – but of course they don’t match my suit. At all. So questions for the hive: 1) Has anyone successfully had a broken heel repaired? 2) Has anyone had luck in getting Nordstrom to replace the shoe? They’re Jimmy Choos from last season, so I really don’t want to have to replace out of pocket if at all possible.

    1. I’ve had a cobbler repair broken heels. They often have to replace the other heel as well so they match. It’s usually about a $60 repair. I’ve gone to some cobblers who wouldn’t try to fix the shoes, but a good one can do it.

      1. $60??? I had this done for $8 and they look fantastic. But my cobbler is also like something out of a time machine from 70 years ago, so that may be part of it.

        1. Is $8 re-attaching the heel that breaks off where it connects to the shoe, or repairing a heel that split in the middle of the heel? Heel coming off is common and easy/cheap to fix. Heel breaking in half… I’ve never had that happen.

        2. My repairs have involved peeling the leather off the heel, purchasing and affixing new heels, and reattaching the leather to the heel. I pay $8 for heel tips.

    2. Yep–I had this happen to a pair of Nordy’s shoes (Stuart Weitzmans) attacked by a subway grate in NYC and Nordy’s gave me a brand new pair, no questions asked. Take ’em back/send ’em in!

    3. You can try but my experience is that the shoe will never be quite the same. I would complain to Jimmy Choo or your retailer before you have a cobbler repair them.

  10. I’m currently working on a project with a group from my company that I haven’t worked with before. We’re at a customer site and are all staying at a hotel, so we hang out a lot after work to eat dinner, etc. The guy that is also functioning as the project manager (his first time) has apparently discovered that I make more money than him and it clearly bothers him, as he keeps bringing it up. At first he kept joking that I must be rich and now he has just flat out brought it up in group settings. I’ve let him know that that is not an appropriate topic of conversation to keep mentioning, but it didn’t seem to deter him and the whole situation is kind of weird and socially awkward and unprofessional. What would you do about this?

    1. I would ignore him if you have already said something. If I were present when someone brought up something like this I would think to myself “there’s obviously a reason your tactless and unprofessional a** gets paid less.” But if you’ve said something to him that didn’t include: “I don’t think it’s appropriate to discuss salary among our peers/clients/etc. I am sorry you feel that way but I did not make the decision nor did I share the information with you. It makes me uncomfortable but I am not going to apologize for my salary.” you could try to add that. If you think a snarky, jokester answer would shut him up, tell him it’s probably because of Obama’s new executive order to make up for men being paid more than women. Or tell him people are paid according to d*&^ size. Alright don’t do that….

  11. Ruthnonymous and Anon for This yesterday – I left you ladies a question back on yesterday’s Brooks Brothers post. Didn’t want to re-post the topic here, but wasn’t sure if you followed the thread.

  12. HELP! I just discovered moth holes in my favorite black cashmere sweater, and when I investigated, I found moth holes in another sweater! I haven’t seen any moths or larvae – does anyone know of anything else it could be? I’ll be dry cleaning and washing my entire wool/cashmere wardrobe and scrubbing every inch of my room and closet -do I need to go through every drawer with wipes, or should I be ok with just the boxes the sweaters were stored in? I’m not sure how insidious moths are, whether they’re like lice or bedbugs or just pretty much stay in one place.

    1. Sometimes when I am particularly poor, they can come out of inside out pants pockets.

    2. It’s probably from the moths, definitely dry clean all the woolen items and wash anything else on the hot water cycle. Clean and vacuum the closet, I think I would be as thorough as possible just to be sure. Moths thrive on dirt so at the end of the season clean whatever items you have been using before storing them away. I’m posting a link to a NY Times article on moths below, it has some good tips.

    3. Google around for other tips, but one thing I did when I found carpet beetles was to ziploc and freeze my sweaters for a few days. It kills any lingering eggs. And yeah, they’re insanely hard to fully get rid of. :(

    4. I would store your fancy sweaters folded in ziplocks (you can buy larger ones for this). I would invest in a ton of cedar and place a block inside each ziplock. then I would take your sweaters to a French reweaver!

      So sorry this happened!

      Re moths–I store all of my sweaters in a chest (like a wardrobe, but upright) and I am a stickler for making sure that the cupboard stays closed. I also try not to open any non-screened windows in the room where I keep them. Hope this helps!

  13. Hi everyone. I had a good start to my day – verbally accepted a job offer. Yay! It’s pending credit, criminal, education and reference checks. I’m excited.

    Here’s my question – I have a job interview scheduled for Friday. If I had to choose between the positions I would stick with the offer I got today. I’m not worried about any of the checks. Should I go or should I cancel?

    1. If you don’t have a signed offer in writing, I would still do the other interview. It does sound like you’re fine, but I feel like I can never be too careful about a job disappearing or else just taking so long to start that the timeline won’t work for me.

        1. Take it from someone who stupidly turned down other options because ‘They told me over the phone it was mine,’ it’s not official until you have something in writing or on email.

          Note: It’s weird and sucky to have to go back to someone whose offer you’ve turned down and politely beg for a job. Especially sucky if they tell you how awesome you are but that they’ve hired someone already and you end stuck in a craptastic job for 2 whole years because of it.

      1. I had accepted a job offer over the phone only to find out they hadn’t been upfront with me on compensation, and when I read through the contract, turned it down. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. You might have to make an omelette.

    2. Congrats on the offer!

      I would probably cancel, but it all depends on your comfort with risk. Are you working now?

    3. I might be honest and ask to reschedule – something like “I don’t want to waste your time and am assuming this offer will be confirmed/final in a few days, but if it falls through I’m still interested in you, can we push back a week?”

      1. Please, do not do this. Ever.

        I would never make an offer to someone who was clear that they were looking for something better than what I was offering because i would think that she would not be committed to this job.

        Keep interviewing and actively job searching with great, possibly faked, enthusiasm until you have a written offer.

      2. Yeah, don’t do that. That cannot possibly gain you anything. Go to the interview. If the job you think you have now falls through, you will be glad you did.

  14. Does anyone have experience ordering Talbot’s online in Canada? Will I get slammed with duties when it arrives? Thanks All!

    1. You will be charged tax every time. You will be charged duty in addition to taxes sometimes – from what I can tell this is completely random, I order a lot from Talbots and there seems to be no pattern so I always assume I will get charged duty and take it as a windfall if I don’t. The good thing is that you can return online purchases to any Canadian Talbots stores and they’ll also refund you the tax and duty so you don’t have to go through the ringmoral of making an application for the duty. Really, I won’t buy anything from Talbots until it’s at least 30% off because that covers the tax and duty so that I’m paying the ticket price. Much of the time, I have items sent to friends or family members visiting in the States, or I will order a whole pile of things and have them sent to a US store so I can cross the border and try everything on before deciding what I should keep and pay duty on.

      Sometimes being a pleasantly overweight, professional lady living in Canada sorta bites.

  15. I’m working on my wardrobe and I’ve finally settled on my color palette (think Crayola Bold markers) as well as my style (preppy/classic). And I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of weeding out the stuff that I’m not excited to wear. Now I’m trying to fill some holes and make my wardrobe more cohesive. Most super popular fashion bloggers don’t mesh with the way I dress so I feel like I’m at a bit of a loss for people/places to look to for inspiration.

  16. I just got a suit back from the dry cleaners and there are some very odd creases on the jacket around the top button. How do I get these out? low heat iron?

  17. Possibly a wicked dumb question. I’m interviewing next week with my boss for a position within my department, and we work in a very casual office. I have a feeling that neither my boss nor the other person sitting in on the interview are going to be formally dressed, but I should be, right? I figure that I can wear a suit and then ditch the jacket after the interview. I tend to dress more business casual anyway, so if I do that I won’t look out of place all day.

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