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Wednesday’s Workwear Report: Belted Fit & Flare Cotton-Blend Shirtdress

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A woman wearing a navy dress and brown heels

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

I live in cotton shirtdresses once the weather starts heating up, and this one from Ralph Lauren looks like a real winner. For a staple piece like this one, it really comes down to the little things, and for me, the elbow-length sleeves, removable belt, and pockets are what make this one shine.

Add some great shoes and you’re ready for just about anything. 

The dress is $155 at Nordstrom and comes in sizes 14W-22W.

Looking for something similar? Evereve's Perry shirt dress comes in midi and mini lengths, and this stripey shirt dress is fabulous.

Sales of note for 6/19:

124 Comments

  1. It’s arctic AC season, and my initial solution of drinking more coffee and tea has led to me consuming WAY too much caffeine. So, recommend me your favorite herbal teas!

    I’m particularly looking for naturally caffeine free (not decaffeinated) and not otherwise a diuretic. I’d prefer to avoid fake flavorings, but an happy to go from the cheapest bagged tea to a bougier loose leaf. I just can’t bring myself to drink unadulterated hot water.

    1. I’m obsessed with the Korean Citron tea. You mix it in hot water. It is a bit sweet, but it’s a nice little afternoon boost. Otherwise, I drink roibos.

      1. oh i bought that at costco once by accident – it is really sweet. do they all have orange pieces in it?

    3. I’m a coffee drinker who can only handle one round of coffee. I like licorice root tea like Aveda salon tea (which I think they sell). I wouldn’t drink too much of it since it does have glycyrrhizin (which is what makes it taste sweet). (Also, I hate licorice flavors; this tastes different.)

      I personally like fenugreek seed tea, but YMMV. Again it has a sort of naturally sweet taste.

      I don’t love tart fruity tisanes based on rosehips and hibiscus, but others love these! I don’t mind rooibos or chicory especially as the basis of chai (Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice is classic for a reason).

      Harney & Sons and Lovare have caffeine-free tisanes that are usually crowd pleasers.

    4. Trader Joe ginger turmeric tea. Celestial Seasoning has a spiced apple one that’s pretty good.

      I had some odd bags of fennel tea lying around and I liked this tea very much – not sweet and fruity and much deeper-tasting than most herbal teas, if that makes sense. But I haven’t been able to find it again.

      1. Ginger Turmeric is pretty good (as is the Newman’s Own version of it), so is the TJ Blood Orange tea.

        If you want something caffeine free that taste more like a “regular” tea, I LOVE the Lemon Balm tea from Traditional Medicinals (can get at Whole Foods). It’s all herbal but doesn’t have that thin watery taste that some herbal tea suffers from if it’s too fruity or the medicinal kick of the Aveda-type teas.

    5. I love a lemon ginger tea with some honey at any time and Lipton has a nice peach mango that’s been a good mid-day pick me up if necessary.

          1. I think they’re being sarcastic and pointing out that a space heater is dangerous while tea is innocuous.

            But I’m not sure really either because it’s a confusing thing to be sarcastic about

      2. Oh, I have other warmth generators, but neither can come with me to meetings.

        (Though I do like the image of rolling into the conference room and plugging in a space heater.)

    7. I do a combo of spearmint and hibiscus! They’re both mild diuretics, but not as strong as a black or green tea.

    8. I really like Celestial Seasonings teas. They are not expensive and diffuse to a nice strong flavor. Apple Cinnamon and Ginger Peach have been favorites.

    10. If you’re willing to throw a little money at the problem, the Embr Wave that I got to combat hot flashes also works to warm me up when I need it. Usually around $300, FSA-eligible if that helps.

      From a tea perspective, I love Korean barley tea. It’s toasty and slightly sweet. I buy teabags at H-Mart.

  2. Vicarious shoe shopping, anyone? MOB here, wearing this gown, but shortened to midi length as long is too formal for the wedding:

    https://www.nordstrom.com/s/liquid-satin-gown/8617638?origin=keywordsearch-personalizedsort&breadcrumb=Home%2FAll%20Results&color=400

    Love the dress, but I’m stumped on footwear. I have truly bad feet, so can’t wear anything more than two inches high, and only then with a block heel, not a spiky one. Appreciate recs as to color, style, everything. Help!

    1. I’d go with with a simple block-heeled sandal. For me, I’d do a metallic, or a color close to my skin color. If you have dark or black hair, you could go with a black shoe as well.

    2. Congratulations! Do you know what’s wrong with your feet? Are they a tough fit in any way? (Narrow, wide, low arch, high arch?) Do you need closed toe or are you okay with strappy sandals?

    5. I would do a pair for photos and suffer through the pain and a pair to change into.

    6. I’d look at metallic sandals. Loeffler Randall has a bunch of options, including flat, block heel, and wedge. I especially like the Marren wedge (I know it may be too tall, but in case you can tolerate a bit higher with a wedge), the Priscilla heeled sandal, and the Devon slingback, but there are a number of others to peruse, too!

    8. Congratulations! That dress is gorgeous – the color, the construction – you will look amazing! Since the dress is so minimal, I think you want fairly sleek sandals with lightweight straps. Nude-ish or metallic are versatile, but you could also do a complementary color like hot pink or purple if that’s your style. These are good shapes:

      https://www.nordstrom.com/s/destiny-sandal-women/8829096?origin=category-personalizedsort&breadcrumb=Home%2FShoes%2FWomen%2FSandals&color=444445ZAJB

      https://www.nordstrom.com/s/the-cleo-sandal/8532310?origin=category-personalizedsort&breadcrumb=Home%2FShoes%2FWomen%2FSandals&color=444445L53R

      https://www.nordstrom.com/s/lottie-block-heel-sandal-women/8656710?origin=category-personalizedsort&breadcrumb=Home%2FShoes%2FWomen%2FSandals&color=444445RKSJ

  3. laundry(?) question: do you get those little holes in your cotton shirts around waist level? where do those come from?! do you throw out the shirt when you get the holes or try to mend them in some way?

    1. Your shirts are rubbing on your pants or some other repetitive source. A seatbelt? A motion you make where your watch brushes your shirt? It’s not laundry if it’s always the same location.

      1. Seatbelt, pants button, belt buckle – I used to get them from my badge reel.

    2. I get those too – I think they come from rubbing against my jean buttons when sitting down in the car or other places (at least that’s what I think).

      I don’t usually throw them away unless they get really big, but I do relegate them to casual/weekend wear only and take them out of my more formal rotation.

        1. Yep. Mine come from the little heat-melted end of the thread on that corner of my jeans fly. WheneverI spot the shirt holes, I take a nail file to the scratchy bit on my jeans until it is soft, and use a color-matched sewing thread to close up the holes on my tee.

    3. OP here – i neglected to add that i’m in yoga pants most days, so no jeans or belt. (and often a sweatshirt on top! i know, fashionista!) i wonder if it is the seatbelt?!

      maybe this is a good reason to switch to wearing blouses with jeans to see if it makes a difference.

      1. Yoga pants will also do it if the shirt fabric is thin enough. Any friction will.

  4. My mom is retiring this year, and I’m trying to think of something nice to get her to commemorate the occasion – she was an elementary teacher for her whole career. I know her colleagues will be getting her a necklace, as they do for all teachers, and we’re all doing a family dinner for her. Any thoughts? Budget up to $500.

      1. That will be tough to pull off on $500. I’d do an Hermes scarf, but that’s also person dependent.

        1. Other frivolous keep for a long time options other than the classic Hermes scarf – Baccarat shot glasses, teacups from her favorite designer – Dior, LV and Hermes all have fun options. The teacups and coffee mugs were initially bought on a whim for a house warming and have been surprisingly popular gifts.

        2. Assuming you’re local to her, $500 is plenty if you don’t have ultra fancy tastes.

          3. Assuming you’re local and don’t consider a 500$ scarf a reasonable present, doable. Hotel for a night + a reasonable dinner would run less than 500.

          4. Outside of NYC and maybe a couple other big cities, you can get a decent hotel for ~$300 a night and most places have lots of free/affordable stuff to do that’s fine. I don’t think it’s an impossible budget for a local-ish weekend.

          5. Yes, absolutely doable. I’m in Chicago, and I could easily take my mom for a weekend in Madison or to the APT in Spring Green for under $500 all in. I’ve also lived in DC, and that’s also super manageable if you get out of the city a bit.

    3. Tiffany has a few sterling pieces under $500 – infinity, bean, letter. Alternatively I know of some teachers who would appreciate a backpack drive for under privileged students. $500 would buy a lot of backpacks and supplies to be donated in her honor. Lastly, free, but see if you can bring a scrapbook around to her current students and get them to sign. Post on FB for former parents/students over the years. Ask for them to share any photos/memories and what an impact she had on the students. Collect, print, add to book.

      1. Can someone explain the bean to me? Why do people like it? I know it has staying power because I’ve seen Victorian era beans, but it has always made me wonder.

        1. I have a medium size one and have worn on and off for 25 years now. It’s simple but substantial and very comfortable to wear! That said, I do not care for the smallest size that looks too much like a literal bean, as opposed to more sculptural as with the medium or larger sizes.

        2. It’s an Elsa Perretti design; everyone reacts differently to art. I believe the bean has been around for decades? It’s elevating the design of something mundane into something precious and beautiful. Different people see different things in the bean but it reminds me of the “beans” in my life (kids). Other people might connect it to food/foodies or the natural world (the bean is a seed for new growth, after all)– there’s tons of ways to interpret it and yet, it’s a bean. It’s a pretty silver orb that looks beautiful when worn. There’s a lot of simplicity and nuance, so it’s stuck around for decades.

        3. As a member of The Bean Club, I can think of a whole bunch of zealots (not including myself) who would absolutely love this. I suppose the demographics of appeal are a bit different, but I am actually surprised I haven’t seen photos of members receiving this jewelry at holidays and special occasions.

        4. When I was pregnant decades ago, the first ultrasound pic looked like a lima bean. So that is what we called the baby before he was born: the lima bean. For the Mother’s Day that I was pregnant, my husband gave me the bean necklace. That’s pretty niche, but the bean necklace always reminds me of being pregnant with my firstborn.

        5. I thought my bean was out of fashion but now I’m going to start wearing it again!

        6. I am surprised that so many people think of it as a literal bean. I just see a nice abstract sculptural shape.

    4. I would send an email blast to her family and friends asking for them to record themselves saying something they appreciated about her/her career. Then you can combine it into a highlight video. Video is SO much more powerful than photos for this kind of thing.

      1. I think afternoon tea is a great idea. That’s pretty expensive (can be ~$150 per person at fancy hotels in major cities) so it might not be something she’d splurge on for herself but it’s well within budget and is a really fun experience.

    7. I’m another mother who is retiring this year and my perspective is that I truly would be saddened by physical retirement gifts from my kids. I don’t need more stuff, and among my retirement goals is gradual Swedish death cleaning. I also don’t want my early career kids to spend $$ on me when I am in a far stronger place financially (might be different for OP). I would welcome a cup of coffee, a walk, or just my kids’ good wishes for the next chapter after working hard for decades.

      1. +1 not that close to retirement myself, but this is how my mom feels and how I expect to feel when I’m in my 60s.

      3. It never occurred to me that kids of retirees would be expected to give gifts to mark the occasion. I assumed any gift-giving would come from the employer or fellow employees.

  5. Attending a wedding with a formal all-black dress code. Can I wear silver shoes, or do they need to be black too?

    1. I’d wear the silver. The point of the “dress code” is essentially for overall aesthetic in pictures and your shoes are not going to affect that.

      (I also have limited patience for forcing your guests to shop, FWIW. Blech!)

        1. Right. I’m more judging someone wanting their wedding photos to look like funeral photos …

  6. We are looking at moving from Boston to the suburbs and I think there are a lot of Boston posters. Does anyone have any strong thoughts about the metrowest? We are looking at Concord (low end), Sudbury & Wayland but have just started. We can get more house in the second two towns but I am not sure what our tradeoffs would be. Our kids would be going to public school but are just approaching that age. We don’t need to commute to Boston so are drawn to a larger/nicer house in the towns without the commuter rail. I don’t think we want to go any further out but maybe you can talk me into it!

    1. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those towns. All are great for raising families with strong public schools. I absolutely love the combination of nature, architecture, and history in Concord (I don’t know the others as well).

      1. Yes – the only downside to those towns is the distance to Boston, so if you don’t need that those are great option. What’s approximate budget? Lexington and Natick also come to mind, but you’ll get less house.

        Hidden gem: Hudson, MA. the school rankings right now are not amazing, but I am predicting a big increase in the next few years. this town has the most adorable town center/square- it has these amazing specialty shops, a brewery, and some good food spots. they must be doing something to encourage this which I like to see.

        We once put an offer on a house in Hopkinton and didn’t get it (which ended up being good because my workplace went back to office. The cons are almost no restaurants, but I was struck by how beautiful the town was.

        1. Lexington we’d be in a pretty small house on a small lot for our budget (~$1.5 but could flex). I think we may take a look at Natick just to see but I think we’d be paying for communes convenience we won’t need and I wasn’t sure how the schools compare.

        2. I love in Hudson!!

          (It’s pronounced “greater than less than,” and it’s a speakeasy.)

    2. I have friends in Sudbury who love it. Concord, too. Excellent schools. I’m in a northern burb but a born and raised Bostonian who grew up on the south shore, and I don’t think you can go wrong with any you’ve listed.

      If Concord is in the budget, maybe Winchester if you’d look north?

    3. check out Carlisle too, if you’re willing to be further out. Really you need to drive around and check out the vibe. Concord has the best town center if that’s relevant to you.

    4. All are great, I like Wayland over Sudbury as Wayland has its own HS, but that’s just nitpicky.

    5. I grew up in Concord and loved it for many reasons! Would have loved to live there as an adult but we chose a different burb with a shorter commute. The main benefit of Concord vs Sud and Wayland is that there’s much more of a walkable downtown that your kids will be able to navigate independently starting in middle school – meeting friends at Emerson park in the morning and walking out for lunch or whatever to kill a few hours. Wayland’s and Sudbury’s commercial areas are smaller and much more recent builds centered around parking lots and off busy roads without much else nearby. There were also some pretty nice social aspects of high school at CCHS, though I can’t directly compare to the other two towns (and may have changed in the last 12 years)

    6. huge fan of Metrowest; I love having access to Natick/Framingham for big retail needs.

      Throwing in Medfield as an option. Great little town center, grocery store/sake and beer brewery/pizza/chinese/Brothers Marketplace. We have all the usual ‘small town MA’ drama, but our town is very civil and respectful. I don’t have kids, but I’m happy that my tax dollars educate my neighbors’ kids and I think the schools are good?

    7. I’d also look at how much of a pressure cooker environment the schools are. I don’t know enough about the current state of things, but I had close friends in college from 2 of those 3 towns and their high school experiences were… hard, being in such a wealthy, high-achieving environment.

      1. agree. we moved to a famously good school district that has been mentioned in this thread not really knowing much about the schools (it was the pandemic and we came from out of state, we bought what we could get). Now that I’ve been here a while I’m worried we will regret it because of the pressure cooker environment.

  7. I am super torn whether to go in-house for a client. I haven’t been applying – my gig at my private practice firm is really overall good. I have great clients, steady stream of work, a lot of administrative/back-office frustrations but I think there’s some of that everywhere. I know the in-house team and business leaders well, there’s a potential path to GC within 7-10 years. Pay is good at both, more up and down in private practice but both good. More flexibility in private practice but also more hours. Client needs to hire someone this year, if I say no, then they’ll post the job. How do I decide between good and good?

    1. Are you a senior associate? Consider your immediate future – do you want to stay and push for partner, build your book, have increasing development expectations on top of billable work?

    2. IIRC, you’ve posted about this before and you’re a partner at your firm, right? Assuming you are not facing an up or out dilemma …. what sort of information do you think would help you make this decision? In-house and private practice can be so different, so without knowing more about what your goals are, or likes and dislikes, it’s hard to advise.

      When I feel truly torn, I make a choice and see how I feel, or flip a coin and see if I like the result.

    3. Couldn’t be me. In house comes with a lot of weird politics and dynamics that I never got used to since I was socialized for private practice. You’re treated less like a grown up in house and the clients take you for granted more. I set my own book and schedule now and am never looking back at in house unless i am DESPERATE.

    4. In house counsel here. It’s amazing not to track hours (obvious point). I’m also amazed how much they pay me to sit in meetings. That could be a blessing or a curse for you-just to say, not all work in house is “legal” work. I love it because I’m asked to give my business perspective too which I find mentally less taxing than legal work all day long, but others might prefer staying in the true legal lane. I find my job overall better paid and with far less frustration than my AmLaw 100 partner’s job.

    5. I wouldn’t leave something good for something unknown. Unless you think things are likely to change for the worse where you are, anyway!

  8. Would this dress look more current/modern if it was longer? I used to live in dresses like this in the summer around 2016 – 2019. But I haven’t been wearing them the last few years because they all feel a little frumpy these days. I still love shirtdresses but tend toward longer styles. I also see shorter styles worn more casually on the weekend with tennis shoes. Something about this reads dowdy but wondering if it’s just one of those things that’s back in.

    3. I think knee-length hemlines are coming back, but not like this dress. A skirt with fullness looks odd at the knee because it divides you into three even sections, which looks blocky. 4 inches shorter or longer would be a better proportion (although shorter wouldn’t be a work look for most). But I’m seeing a lot of sleeker skirts, especially bias-cut, at knee length looking fresh.

    4. I love dresses like this. It would look perfectly appropriate in my business casual workspace. I think it’s a classic style that really doesn’t date. I find longer dresses to look a bit more casual in general.

          1. I don’t think it’s a given that people looking for a modern cut care about what’s fashionable, though. Fashion, unless it’s directly linked with style, has very limited space in a professional office. Like every answer, this will depend on your body type.

    5. yeah I think this length is kind of in no-mans-land — it is too long to work with the fun-weekend style, but like 4 inches too short to feel midi-current.

    7. I don’t think this one is dowdy, it just seems a little dated. I had a closet full of this exact look around 2010.

  9. Y’all my boss is currently on stage at a conference, and it’s so so clear he hadn’t even looked at the presentation I prepared for him. He’s surprised as slides come up.

    1. I posted a little while ago about being at a conference where literally dozens of female speakers who are experts in their fields started with “teehee bear with me here” and “this isn’t really my area of expertise so let’s see how this goes!’ and so on. Did your boss do that?

    4. Ugh. I almost always ask my team members to present any slides they have made. The exception would be a really high-profile event where it’s not appropriate to bring up extra people, and in this case the team member has usually just contributed one or two technical slides. But at like an academic conference or a project advisory committee meeting I will absolutely have the person who did the work present it.

      1. Or at least review it beforehand if you are presenting.
        It is crazy that industry spends so much to attend conferences and then presenters make so little effort.
        I actually called a colleague who was a stranger to me after a presentation to thank him for being the one person on stage who made an effort to make his presentation informative.

      2. He wrote none of it, so by your metric I should have been the one and only person on stage.

  10. Great pick. Love my RL cotton poplin shirt dress. The fabric is really good quality and has held up to a lot of wear.

    1. That’s good to know! I’ve been looking at one but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

  11. I just have to say that I am literally wearing this dress today and I adore it!

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