ByKat Hours Updated
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Bargain Friday’s TPS Report: Charter Club Skirt, A-Line Printed

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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Charter Club Skirt, A-Line PrintedWe don't usually go for polyester skirts, but something about this one is calling to us — love the lattice print, the A-line, the at-the-knee length — it all seems lovely (especially for the price). We'd wear it with a dark red cardigan, or perhaps a shrunken blazer. Was $60, now $34.99 at Macy's. Charter Club Skirt, A-Line Printed. (And if the pattern isn't your style, it also comes in solid black and gray.) Seen a great piece you'd like to recommend? Please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line. (L-2)

Sales of note for 12.5

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

58 Comments

  1. There’s something about Charter Club that always makes me think about middle aged women – and not in a good way.

    Quick ? – I just saw a pair of “driving shoes” and thought they were cute – are the soles on such shoes substantial enough for every day wear or are they truly only intended for driving?

    Thanks!

    1. I have a pair of driving mocs from JCrew and they are fine for running errands / jumping in and out of the car / going to grocery. Soles aren’t substantial enough if you are going to be doing much walking, at least for me. But they are incredibly comfy.

    2. It depends on the type of walking you do everyday. I wore a pair of cole haan driving shoes nearly every day for about a year and then the soles started to wear out. I did a lot of walking on pavement during that year and not a lot of driving, and they were really comfortable. The shoes probably would have lasted longer had I rotated them with another pair of shoes.

    3. How do your shoes typically wear? If you are harder on one side of your feet than the other (the outsides of my flat heels always wear first), then driving mocs will do so in double-time and then you’ll be scuffing the actual leather.

  3. This skirt makes me feel like I’m going to church with my mom circa 1995. Sorry Kat, not feeling it, although I love your styling suggestions with a basic black or gray a-line.

    1. Ha! My thoughts exactly – I had a similar skirt that I wore with an ivory sweater set and a jet beaded “Y” necklace to 7th grade Sunday School in yes, 1995.

  4. I think it’s the sheer outer layer that I don’t love so much – makes it look a little dowdy to me. However, I really like your styling suggestions and think it could make the skirt work!

    1. Agree.

      It also seems like maybe it’s for the wrong season. I don’t think sheer layers like that look right in the fall and winter.

  5. quick threadjack: for those of you with the j. crew jackie cardigan, do you put it in the wash? i send my laundry out, so I can only put it in the wash if it can withstand a washing and drying with absolutely no love or attention. what do you think?

    1. I wash mine, but with lots of love an attention (i.e. wrong side out, completely buttoned up with other like items in the delicate cycle in cold water, hang dry on a drying rack, cool iron). I’m also OCD about my laundry, so the cardigan may survive regular washing but I’m too anal to chance it. You could always chance it with an older one that you no longer wear often?

      1. good thinking, i have a kelly green one i never wear, i will chance it with that one. the buttoning-up and wrong-side out I can handle, because i can do that myself before it goes to the laundry. i imagine it gets washed in cold water. the hang-dry and cool iron are way beyond me.

      2. KM – I do the same thing. Oddly, my older (2004) Jackies specify line drying and the new ones do not (even though the fabric content is similar, if not identical). The older ones have held up very well, so I’m following the line-dry routine for all.

      3. I give them medium attention. Buttoned and inside/out, cold water (I wash everything on cold), tumble dry low, remove promptly. They’ve held up pretty well with this routine, but I don’t think I’d trust them in warm/hot water and regular temp drying.

    2. I just throw it in the wash–no special attention (except that it’s with cold water). Still looks fine.

      2. It doesn’t do so well. I send mine out, too, and even with cold water instructions, it doesn’t do so hot.

  6. I like it, especially with Kat’s styling suggestions. It is a nice alternative to the same-old-same-old. I seem to be in a pencil skirt rut.

    1. if you like the pencil form, check out talbots – they have neat details, small pleats and front draping (if you can) … to keep that visual line but add something different.

      1. Thanks for the tip! I will check that out, for sure. Pencil skirts seem to be the most flattering on my figure, yet I feel like my entire wardrobe is starting to look the same.

    2. I like the skirt too. I don’t think it seems dowdy. If it was past the knee, I would think it was dowdy, but not right at the knee. I also get tired of pencil skirts.

  8. I ususally don’t do polyester either, and there is a reason for that! It looks cheap.

  9. Threadjack: I’m in NewEngland but running down to Nola for a few days where it is 88 – any idea where I can get warm weather (non work) clothes that look appropriate for fall?

    1. A lot of JCrew’s “tissue” items might work for you. They have tissue turtlenecks, merino sweaters, etc.

      But I think people in New Orleans generally wear what they wore during the summer, as long as the weather’s still hot.

    2. I was just there and was wondering the same thing before I went. Ended up having no pre-trip shopping time, so just threw summer stuff in my suitcase – and fit right in. I saw linen. I wore linen. In October. Oh well.

    3. Southerner here. If it’s 88 degrees, where the clothes you wear in 88 degree weather. I have very little “cold weather” professional clothing (a few sweaters, light jackets, and scarves, and one heavy coat) because the cold weather here is fairly brief. If it’s still warm enough to be wearing summer attire, people will be wearing summer attire.

  10. There can be some very high quality polyester, but this doesn’t look to me like it.. This skirt looks like something that might be fun in the summer, but in October?

  11. I like the print, but I can’t go polyester. I need something that breathes… I end up getting too hot at times, regardless of the season.

    Sorry to threadjack, but what do you guys think of the new trouser trend for the workplace? I almost wore a pair to work today, but it felt too trendy: http://www.janehasajob.com/trouser-talk/

    1. Do not like. Maybe if you were a tall size 0, and no older than 25, but I think even then not for work. Who wants extra fabric around their waist/hips? And the cropped length is hard to pull off if you aren’t tall.

      1. I have tried a version of these from JCrew and they looked horrible on me. I am a tall size 6 . I genuinely dislike how they look on me, but like the way they look on the people that can pull them off. That being said, it takes a lot of trendy accessories to pull them off and I don’t think that makes them work appropriate.

    5. My roommate has a pair and they are stunning on her – 5’9″, skinny as anything.

      No way it would look anything but awful on me – 5’3″!

    6. (From the website) “Every clothing chain and label has a version. And this trend is practically made for the workplace”

      Actually, I disagree on both counts. (1) I have not seen anything like this at most of the places I shop. And (2) I’d say this trend is made for just about anywhere BUT the workplace (except for maybe the most artsy/creative fields).

      1. Noted. I guess the places I shop all have them… so I generalized.

        Here’s my thing with the trend. It seems like it should be perfect for the workplace, for the reasons I mentioned in the post. But in an odd sense, “grandma”-type trousers (as a commenter described them above) seem to be too cutting edge for a lot of work places.

        1. Kat put it best in a previous post when she described a piece of clothing as perfect for people who are of the “I’m so hip, I don’t wear flattering clothing” type (or something along those lines).

          These would certainly qualify on that count for me — suspect they would turn into the pants that launched 1000 pregnancy rumors!

          1. Yeah, it’s for those small subset of people who can wear something like that and make it look deliberate; the rest of us, we would just look frumpy, I think.

          3. @Emma — I think it would only become flattering in the sense that if enough people were wearing the style, you would have a better basis for figuring out how much of the unflattering-ness owed to the pants on their own vs. the body of the wearer — like how the models on Project Runway wear the same slips so the designers can focus on the differences in body shape (which, if the models all wore different styles, would be harder to tell vs. how the line of the garment affected how you perceive their figures).

            As far as becoming office-appropriate… I don’t think sheer ubiquity (see: leggings) is either necessary OR sufficient to make something (professional) office-worthy.

    7. My coworker wears pants like these all the time and I think she looks ridiculous. It’s very 1980s.

      1. i’m going to out myself and admit that i own a pair, i’m 25 and a size 0 (but only 5’4″), i work in ny big law, i bought them as work pants, and i am also wearing them today…
        in theory they sound so silly. mine are black, high waisted, slim fit, and pleated and i bought them because the pleats make them ridiculously comfortable to sit in all day and the slim leg makes it easy to tuck into rainboots or other boots during the commute (and i switch them out afterwards).
        i doubt anyone wants me to make a case for them, but i’ll do it nonetheless. i got them at new york&co last january to try out the trend and have worn through them so fast that they’re about to be retired. I usually wear them with a looser fitting j.crew crew neck sweater (today it’s a bright argyle sweater in autumn colors), cardigans with patterned blouses underneath, and sometimes a button down + black vneck sweater to streamline the look. i always top it off with round toed pumps. i think the trick is to hide the pleats with a longer top, that way visually its just tapered pants. trust me, its so comfy

        1. i should add that mine are full length pants, i think cropped would just make this look absurd (for the office), but i’m sure what i’ve already described sounds absurd to begin with

          1. My coworkers’ are cropped. However, not sure that they’d look any better long. It sounds like you have a very different body type from her, but she’s rather slender and she still looks ridiculous. I just don’t think pleated-front pants look good on anyone.

  12. Did you really almost wear a pair to work today, or are you just linking to your blog for page hits? I understand wanting to cross-market, but I prefer the honest approach. “Hey, I’m blogging about this new pants trend. I think its X, Y, and Z. What do you think?”

    2. I did, a pair I recently bought from Club Monaco. I was trying to pair it with a turtleneck, and that didn’t look right. I think I need a more loosely fitting top to go with them.

      But anyway, you have a point. I should have stated that it was my own blog post I wanted feedback on.

        1. She didn’t trick anyone. Why do you care so much if she asks a question on a topic she also wrote a blog post about?

  14. Im a fan of the skirt and have a similar striped one. I wonder if everyone thinks “ew” when I wear it. Oh well.

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