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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 2023!
It's velvet suit season, and I'm excited! Even though velvet suits generally have a really limited purpose (the holiday season), they're always gorgeous and luxe. (Perhaps the fact that this one is blue instead of red or green, you can extend the wearing into spring? Discuss….)
Because you'll probably only wear them a few months of each year, though, the cut should be as classic as possible — just like this pants suit from Reiss. I love the dark but bright shade of blue, as well as the tone-on-tone styling. Also with regard to the styling, I'm always a fan of the rockstar scarf-worn-loose look with suit jackets, and I think it's clever to do it with an untied secretary blouse/pussybow blouse — but the ties at the wrists are confusing.
In any event, the suit is gorgeous. The blazer is $540, available in sizes 0-14 (pre-ordered but many sizes sold out?!) and the pants are $330.
Looking for something more affordable? I noticed that both J.Crew Factory and Loft have some velvet suits in green and black. If you just want an affordable black velvet blazer, this Eliza J one has been around for years — readers especially like it because it's easy to wear with dresses.
Sales of note for 11.5.24
- Nordstrom – Fall sale, up to 50% off!
- Ann Taylor – Extra 40% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 25% off with your GAP Inc. credit card
- Bloomingdales is offering gift cards ($20-$1200) when you spend between $100-$4000+. The promotion ends 11/10, and the gift cards expire 12/24.
- Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
- Eloquii – Fall clearance event, up to 85% off
- J.Crew – 40% off fall favorites; prices as marked
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything + 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Neiman Marcus – New sale, up to 50% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Buy one, get one – 50% off everything!
- White House Black Market – Holiday style event, take 25% off your entire purchase
Nina
Late 20s, getting back in the dating scene. One thing I’ve learned between my last round dating and now is that I don’t want to get physical too quickly, and honestly doing anything physical before I feel completely ready is just a bad idea.
A guy I went on 2 dates with in a week just asked me if I wanted to go over to his place and “watch a movie or something”. How do I respond “yes if you mean just hang out at home, no if you mean something else”. Or is that unrealistic?
Anon
Yeahhhh, that’s the classic third date “watching a movie.” Definitely be up front about your boundaries!! It’s so important to communicate what you feel comfortable with!
Anon
The blog The Happy Talent has good scripts for situations like this. Her blog helped me with boundaries for sure.
eertmeert
Thank you for this recommendation! I am learning a lot from her blog. What a great resource.
Anon
Aw man, I clicked over and the first post I read had some aggressive anti-tr@n$ shit. Nope!
Anonymous
Exactly that. “Yes if you mean hanging out at home, no if you mean something else”. This is the perfect time to find out how he respects your boundaries.
Anonymous
I don’t think this is clear enough if you’re trying to set a boundary with nothing physical.
Nina
I said “I’m not interested in doing anything physical until we know each other a bit better” – can’t get much clearer than that.
anon for this
+1. My now-husband proposed something like this for one of our early dates, and he meant it literally.
Anon
Yeah, some people do mean it literally! I can see my husband doing that too, and I remember an interview Lauren Graham once gave about her relationship with Peter Krause (so sad they broke up…) and she said he invited over her to play board games and she thought it was “play board games” in quotes but then they literally played board games haha.
Anonymous
I would keep movie dates off the calendar in case you’re ready to make out. I’d just say something like “ooh I can’t hang out Friday at your place, but I’ve been wanting to see [museum exhibit or whatever] – maybe we could do that on Saturday?
Anon
Yeah, personally I wouldn’t agree to “watch a movie” at a guy’s house unless I was ready to get pretty physical (and I am old – 40s).
Nina
That makes sense. I had an ex invite me over so he could cook for me for like a 5th date and maybe I’m nitpicking but that felt more like an actual date and a legit reason. I also could tell by then that he wouldn’t try to go too fast for me.
Anon
Late 20s and I too like to move slowly. I always mention that on an early date. I wouldn’t go back to someone’s house unless I’m ready to hook up with them.
Nina
I texted him a combination of what was suggested and he replied “I appreciate your letting me know. I’ve had a really good time getting to know you so far, so I’m excited to keep getting to know you!”
He then suggested an out of the house option so I said yes to that. I’m still a little wary but pretty good reaction.
Anon
Yes, good reaction! Hope it goes well! Keep us posted :)
Anon
That’s a great reaction!
Anonymous
I dated a lot in my late 20’s/early 30’s and that is an amazing response! Most guys in my experience would ghost or pressure you to go to his apartment in my experience. He sounds like a good one so far! Keep us posted!
Anonymous
Don’t Netflix and chill with someone you don’t want to sleep with.
Anonymous
I have done with guys I dont want (yet) letting them know in advance and zero problem. The most usual answer was “you let me know when you are ready, no presure”
Anon
I would suggest something like a museum or a picnic. Or a movie in a theatre. His reaction will tell you a lot.
Trixie
Have you told him you want to take it slow? That getting physical too quickly just does not work for you? This is what I did oh so many years ago, and it worked……let him know that you really do want to get to know him more and more if that is the case.
Anonymous
Tess Daly wore this suit styled just like this a couple of weeks back in the new Strictly season, she looked great!
Anon
My mind autocorrected to Tyne Daly and I was so here for it.
Anon
I LOVE today’s pick!! I love anything blue, but particularly this. Heart eyes at it all day!
Anonymous
Braces – my 12 year old apparently needs them. Husband went to the orthodontist appointment and was somehow completely surprised by the fact that they’d be talking about braces, as well as the $7K price quoted him. He (of course) made no follow up appointment. Should I be asking any questions? Any tips on saving money? Should I be getting a PA or quote or something from our insurance company (which does cover dental)?
anon
Call their office. Tell them your husband brought the kid and completely garbled the message, and ask them to share all the paperwork with you and go over the quote. On the substance, you normally have a one-time orthodontics benefit (2-3k), and depending on what involved, you might get other stuff covered as medical.
Anon
Most insurance plans will only pay 2 or 3k at most. If you have a FSA, make sure you understand when payments are due so you can time contributions accordingly, but that could save you quite a bit.
Anonymous
In my town there are a couple of well-known orthodontists that everyone uses. You could get a couple different opinions, but it is likely going to be in the same ballpark. You want to know an estimate of how long things will take and how they will monitor progress. 7K is about the going rate where I live so that is not surprising to me.
Anonymous
Call and make a follow-up and ask if they have an in-house finacing option.
We paid monthy payments and claimed the payments until the insurance max was met.
Anon
I would get a second opinion – not implying your child doesn’t need them or that this price is outrageous, but I think that’s good practice with any medical stuff, especially dental stuff.
Anon
I might get a second opinion since my experience has been that they don’t all agree on what needs to be done and how much work it will be.
Anonymous
Huh? What did he think the orthodontist visit was about?
Anonymous
Not OP, but the same thing happened to us. I think that orthodontists purposely spring these things on dads because they don’t tend to ask questions the way moms do.
Anonymous
But whatever do dads think they are going to talk about when they take a 12 y.o. to the orthodontist? How is a braces discussion “spring” on any parent in this context? Or does a dad just drive the kid to an address because their wife told them to without even considering what the purpose of the trip is?
Anonymous
Typically kids will get an expander at age 8 or so, then a first set of braces, then will have follow-ups every few months until the second set of braces around age 12. You usually can predict when the second set of braces is coming based on age and which teeth have come in.
Anon
Your husband needs to learn how to adult. Lol.
But seriously, check your orthodontia benefits. My dental insurance only covers $500. There may be a lifetime maximum, too. See if you can get a discount for paying upfront. I recently paid around $3500 after insurance in Denver.
Credit Risk
For our daughter the $7k quote was for Invisalign and the $3k quote was for traditional metal braces. I do not apologize for putting metal in my daughters mouth.
Anonymous
Our insurance has a $2500 lifetime orthodontia benefit, which we used. Then we split the payment over two years to do the rest through our FSA. It wasn’t free but it was 28-32%% off based on our effective tax rate.
SFBay Grrl!
I decided to get braces years ago because my teeth had moved. I went to one orthodontist in Berkeley and a second one in San Francisco. The SF person was 2X the Berkeley person. It was definitely worthwhile to get two opinions!
Seafinch
Headed to Burlington, VT in a couple of weeks for a weekend getaway for my ten year old’s birthday trip (from Canada). We’re doing the Jay Peak water park, The Pumphouse on Day 2 and probably a Ben & Jerry’s tour on a Day 1. I will do the mandatory Trader Joe’s shop but anything else you would consider a must see for two boys? I could use some transition pieces for my soft post partum body. I have no appreciation for the local shopping. Any recommendations for such forgiving pieces at Target?
Anon
I love this! I took my then 4 year old to Vermont last year and we had so much fun, but I wish we had spent more time in Burlington which is SO cute and fun and has so many great restaurants. At 10 your kids might be aging out of it, but mine loved the ECHO science/nature museum. Getting out on the water on Lake Champlain (kayaking, sailing, etc.) would be fun too if the weather is mild enough.
Emma
Burlington is cute! There’s a little pedestrian section downtown that’s very nice. Not sure how old your kids are, but we really liked Shelburne Farms and the Science Centre. The waterfront is nice to walk along, and there are various cruises and water sports you can do there (plus beaches, but probably not this time of year). If you are doing Ben & Jerry’s, you can go to Cabot’s in Stowe and eat some cheese :) Stowe itself is cute too, lots of nice shops/restaurants, and the recreation path is nice for a casual hike (and stroller friendly if that’s relevant).
anon
You can’t go wrong with LL Bean for pieces that are forgivingly fitted. Why not stop by the store in Burlington?
Anon
I don’t think there’s an LL Bean in Burlington, VT. Are you thinking of Burlington, MA?
Ginger
The LL Bean store in downtown Burlington closed. I believe it’s in another location a couple of miles away.
Anonymous
Is the “blazer worn like cape” trend still going? Trying to figure out what to wear for warmth with a bishop-sleeve sweater.
Anonymous
I saw an actual cape, wool cape, in the wild today. Very stylish lady.
Anonymous
i saw a similar option a few days ago – it was like a black wool poncho that had a big hood that she wore on top of her Smythe blazer, and as she came in from the rain she looked so stylish.
Anonymous
https://www.lkbennett.com/product/CCMARSEILLEWOOLMIXBlackBlack~Marseille-Black-Wool-Mix-Coat-Black
anon
I can’t even envision this, so apparently I was not aware this is or was a trend.
Anonymous
You’re not the only one, lol.
Cat
It’s just wearing a blazer over your shoulders without putting your arms in the sleeves. cute but falls apart immediately when you move!
Anonymous
Haha, as cute as the sweater tied over the shoulders did I bet!
Anonymous
I think it looks so chic, probably because the wearer is also walking like a ballerina to keep it from falling off.
Anonymous
I didn’t think people were wearing this in real life, just influencers in photos.
Anonymous
Does anyone have any great cookie recipes that freeze well for portion control? Thx! (Can you bake them from frozen?)
Anon
Pretty much any cookie recipe freezes well.
nuqotw
Most cookie dough has so much fat that it freezes very well indeed. I like to thaw and then bake but I believe cooking from frozen works. I always use the King Arthur baking hotline or chat service when I have these questions – they will be able to answer any recipe specific questions, and they also have a blog where they do these kinds of experiments and report the results.
Senior Attorney
The Doubletree Hotel chocolate chip recipe that circulated online during the pandemic freezes really well and can go right from freezer to oven.
Anonymous
how’s retirement going, SA? so glad to see you’re still a ‘rette
Senior Attorney
Aw, thanks for asking! It’s going great so far, although I feel like this is the first “normal” retirement week after three weeks’ vacation, then home and sick with a cold for a week, then three days getting ready for a houseguest, then three days of a houseguest, then a weekend recovering from the houseguest!
NY CPA
+1
I made a big batch of these and cut squares of parchment paper and froze the cookie dough on the parchment paper squares, then stacked them in a plastic ziploc for long term freezer storage. I just popped one or two out at a time, baked from frozen, and had fresh warm chocolate chip cookies on demand. It was dangerous to have them in the freezer just waiting for me–consider yourself warned!
NY CPA
https://stories.hilton.com/food-beverage/static-doubletree-reveals-cookie-recipe
Makes 26 cookies. You could also cut the recipe in half.
Senior Attorney
Yes, that’s the one I was talking about. I make tiny little balls using a melon baller (heh) and freeze them on a cookie sheet, then dump them in a ziploc bag once they’re frozen. It makes maybe 60 small cookies.
Vicky Austin
All of them, but I particularly love regular chocolate chip, something like a white chocolate/dried cranberry/orange zest situation, and monster cookies.
Anonymous
Sadly I have found that cookie dough also tastes delicious when frozen
Anon
This. I find it much more efficient (in terms of both my time and electricity) to just bake all the cookies at once and then freeze them. If I’m worried about portion control, I’d actually be much more likely to eat frozen cookie dough than a frozen cookie, which needs to sit out for a little while to thaw, so it requires planning ahead to portion out the number I want to eat.
Anon
This is me too.
Anon
You don’t need to thaw it before you bake it, just add a couple minutes on to the bake time.
Anon
We know. The poster at 4:20 is saying a frozen cookie (already baked) needs to thaw before it can be eaten, so it’s less easy to snack on than frozen dough, which can just be popped into your mouth.
Anonymous
The NY Times perfect chocolate chip cookies freeze really well. You do bake them from frozen.
Anon
Just getting through this morning’s thread. Question on using micellar water to remove makeup at night. Do you swipe that over your face and then clean with a separate cleanser? Or is that considered a cleanser as well and you can then add moisturizer on top?
Vicky Austin
Honest answer – depends how lazy I am feeling.
Anonymous
I use miscellar water to remove most of my makeup – mascara, foundation, any lippy. Shake bottle (important! oil and water!), cotton rounds to remove makeup. I swipe over the whole face, then again. Then I add warm water and rinse.
For actual cleansing in terms of skin care, I use a balm, massage my now make up free face, add warm water, rinse with wash cloth with warm water.
Anon
I don’t think micellar water alone is a complete cleanse of the face, especially if you’re wearing anything like sunscreen. I use it occasionally to get my eye make up off, but then I follow up with a balm cleanse of my face.
I have to get on my soapbox here. If you’re feeling like your eyes are puffy or sensitive or your skin is looking dull or irritated or both, make sure you’re actually fully cleansing your skin before you go to bed. Yes, even if you don’t wear makeup!! It makes a HUGE difference.