Coffee Break: Business Bag

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This Art Deco-inspired bag from Mlouye (a relatively new brand) is so eye-catching — it's gorgeous. It's much more interesting than the average work tote, but not too out-there for most offices. We're picturing it in the “blueberry” (which feels like more of a cornflower, no?) but it also comes in taupe and tan. The bag is large enough for a 13″ laptop and has an outside pocket for your phone — and inside, there's a velvet lining. It's $425 at Mlouye. Business Bag That's a pretty tough act to follow, but a few other bags (in various sizes) with an architectural vibe for a more affordable price are from Trina Turk, Fossil, and Cristina Sabatini. This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

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:

88 Comments

    1. Gorgeous. I have to stop myself and I’m not a huge bag person.

      Do the handles look durable enough?

    2. I’m not a huge bag person but I’m drooling over their entire site. I’m a sucker for an architectural shape, apparently.

      1. Me too. I love artdeco, b/c we used to be near the Chrysler building on 42nd Street, and I loved to be abel to go see my old dentist there b/c it was all artdeco! But he retired, so I had to find a new dentist, a younger guy who has funkie breathe and body odor. FOOEY! He reminds me of my ex, though I can NOT even fathom him huffeing and puffeing on top of me like Sheketovits. DOUBEL FOOEY!

  1. What is your favorite casual white T shirt that you will throw on regularly?

    I am in skinny ankle jeans in my moderate temp spring/summer climate and all I want is are a bunch of white T-shirts.

    I am very small on top, but pear shaped.

    Also curious about some non-classic favorites…. like a boat neck or scoop. crew necks don’t work for me and deep v-necks aren’t so flattering because I’m a bit too bone-y up top.

    1. I just saw Everlane came out with a bunch that look promising. But I tend to only like white tees when they are super white and new and no matter how I try to wash them that feeling never lasts that long so I just buy them whenever I can on sale at the gap or similar places. For styles, I like v necks or a wide crew neck (crew neck looks awful on me, but there is a style that is somewhere between scoop, crew and boat that is “perfect”).

    2. Talbots bateau neck is nice material and you can throw in the dryer without shrinking. Good with necklaces or bold earrings. Also the Caslon boatneck is very nice. I’m more crepe-y up top than bony. :)

    3. Mine are all v-necks (one long-sleeve scoop neck) from the Banana Republic Factory Store. They’re on their second season and doing ok-ish. But were $15 each to get in the first place.

  2. A family member is active military and a college student. Once a month she has drills and has to miss student teaching. She’s now being told by the school that she missed too many days and will have to delay graduation and do another semester of student teaching (the only other absences were when she was in the hospital for one day and her car broke down another day). However, she’ll have the same exact problem next year with monthly drills. I looked up the school’s class attendance policy, which does state that military duties can be considered excused absences (but doesn’t say that must be). My thoughts were to reach out to her state representative/senator to try to help facilitate this issue. Her school also has a veterans center, which states online that it helps active duty too. Any other advice you think I could give to her for things to try (she is asking for my help)? Anyone have experience with this area?

    1. Did she already meet with someone to explain what the absences were? Sometimes these things just get put on autopilot and they don’t have a person actually reviewing them.

      1. Yes, she apparently had a meeting the other day and it did not go well (still need to get some more details on why). The school is well aware her absences are military related.

    2. Sorry, I accidentally posted below. I work in state government. I would definitely recommend that she contact her state representatives, but she should do it herself. Many offices (including the one I work in) will not accept requests for assistance on behalf of someone else, unless the person is physically unable to communicate with the office. You should find out who sets the school attendance policy – is it state law? Is it a district policy? The state representative’s office should be able to help you with that.

      1. I agree that she should reach out herself. I’m just trying to help her figure out what her next steps are, but I fully support the idea that she needs to take action. Thank you!

    3. Yes to all of the above. But it doesn’t sound like she’s active, it sounds like she is reserves. Hence the monthly drills. And is she commissioned, or is she in college and doing ROTC for reserves (which also includes the monthly drills). My husband is in the reserves. While they definitely should excuse her, and I recommend having another meeting/contacting representatives, a lot of companies skirt this issue and can and DO fire people over military service. I’m not really sure what the solution is but hopefully representatives can give some assistance.

      1. I could be wrong but I thought it was illegal for companies to do this. I’m sure it still happens but I want to point out it’s illegal. I don’t know if education is protected though.

    4. What exactly is the requirement? If it’s “complete X semesters of student teaching with Y% attendance” then she’ll have the same problem, but if it’s just “complete Z hours of student teaching” then delaying graduation would cover her.

      1. So you don’t ever have anyone come to you for advice? Please re-read my post again. She’s asking me for advice and I never said I was doing anything for her.

        1. Read your own post again. You said “My thoughts were to reach out…” and the only reasonable interpretation of that grammatical construction is that *you* were planning to reach out to the representatives. You’ve now clarified that this is not what you intended to say, but it is what you said.

    5. I don’t think she should have to do this, but is there a way to make up the missed days before graduation? I’m assuming graduation is mid-May, so if that isn’t possible, what about completing the missed days after graduation and the diploma would be issued as soon as the days were completed?

    6. I used to work in a campus veterans center, so this is a situation I’m familiar with. Unfortunately I suspect she is out of luck – student teaching would have an hours requirement and if she hasn’t hit it there’s probably not anything that can be done except finish it up in the next semester. In this case her military status would have been an “excused absence” in the sense that she could have rescheduled her student teaching hours to a different day, but it’s not going to excuse her from completing the hours entirely. Completing the minimum number of hours is most likely a certification requirement, so the school really can’t fudge the numbers there. Hindsight is 20-20, but it’s probably something she should have proactively communicated to her student teaching coordinator at the start of the semester so they could make a plan. It sounds like the most useful thing you could do for her is help her to get past her frustration and learn from her mistake – if she plans to remain in the reserves long term these sorts of things are going to come up again in the future!

      1. Yes, this is the kind of thing she needs to talk to the prof or supervisor about at the beginning of the school year to make arrangements around, and get the agreement in writing.

      2. +1 I used to work with student teachers who were working towards a teaching license. Depending on her state, she may be eligible for a provisional license that could allow her a grace period to finish her certification requirements. This provisional licensure is especially common in states where it is difficult to recruit teachers or in a speciality position, such as special education, foreign language, and high school schools science.

        The large district I worked in had relationships with program coordinators for 5-6 area colleges. I happily worked with student teachers to get them on the path to licensure because it made recruiting so much easier.

    7. Why didn’t she arrange teaching on days where she didn’t have military commitments? What did she think would happen? She has to complete the required hours of teaching for a degree, if that is part of the requirement.

      Of course the school should be required to make accommodation for her military service, and if they led her astray then I would fight that strongly. But if she knew ahead of time the requirements for her course and her degree and just didn’t complete them, then their proposal seems reasonable.

      I could see arguing as military service as a substitute for some credits….. but not as a substitute for student teaching.

      1. I’m late – I hope OP sees this. I work in teacher certification in Texas, and Texas does allow military service to sub for some credits/hours. It’s a really obscure piece of code that is rarely taken advantage of. Definitely look into that for the family member’s situation.

    8. I recommend contacting VETS (which is a U.S> Department of Labor agency). This is the kind of thing they may be able to help her with.

  3. Gosh, this is gorgeous.

    I got a chambray blouse a few years ago when they first become trendy, and I’ve worn it so much that I’d like to refresh it. Anybody see any nice versions recently? Prefer 100% cotton and a lighter-weight fabric, and no chest pockets.

    1. AG has a couple. They’re pricey but they drape really nicely and they’re so so soft. Old Navy always has a nice selection if you’re looking for something more cost effective.

  4. Have you ever had stress cause reflux/stomach issues even when you don’t feel stressed? In a job I seriously hate and kind of stuck indefinitely because if the slow market I’m in. But the job is easy — nothing like my 24-7 biglaw job of a few years ago (where the causes of reflux were identifiable). So I’ve had on and off stomach issues (have gone to the dr, etc so it’s not like I’m ignoring it) for several years at this job. And in the last 1-2 months, every a Monday is a bad day at work where I just don’t feel great, feel kind of panicky etc but then I’ll do yoga at night etc and by Friday I’m in the groove. This time – went away on vacation for 7-8 days. Ate everything in moderation – tomato; spicy Indian food etc – no issues (normally these are not things I can eat). Come back to work, haven’t eaten anything that could cause issues- and what do you know, reflux (and it’s like 4-5 days after the last slice of pizza so I can’t imagine it’s food from a week ago). Can it really be caused by general unhappiness??

    1. I had stomach pain so bad that I my doctor thought I had an ulcer or ruptured gallblader around the 2016 election. (I have since tuned out the news a little bit and the pain went away. Though, notably, it came back while during the day the president was doing a campaign rally across the street from my office.) So yes, I think any sort of generalized stress could cause stomach problems.

    2. I had terrible stomach aches during college and law school. They were so bad that I could sometimes barely walk. Nothing I ate could help the situation. The doctors ran multiple blood tests on me but couldn’t diagnose any conditions. The doctors attributed my stomach pains to stress and told me to take better care of myself. I haven’t had a single stomach pain since leaving law school. I think its because I found a job that I love and found a great partner.

    3. I don’t know about stomach issues, but I think you might be discounting your experience. You say you “seriously hate” your job. That Mondays are bad, you feel somewhat panicky at work, that you’ve disliked this job for years, and that before this, you were at a highly stressful stomach-churning job. Oh, and you feel stuck and hopeless about the future.

      That’s a lot of distress and unhappiness, going on over a number of years. That will take a toll.

    4. ….you might just have acid reflux disease. I have good and bad days, and it sounds like you do too, but if you have a chronic condition you have to address it with medicine (OTC or prescription, whichever your gastroenterologist suggests) and a true diet (so if spicy indian food bugs you- don’t eat it, even on vacation, even if once in a while it doesn’t bug you). GERD or acid reflux disease means it doesn’t matter how long ago your last marinara sauce was. Have you had an endoscopy?

    5. Yep. Through the entire last year of law school and first year at the firm from h3ll I bought prilosec in bulk.

    6. This sounds silly but it worked for me. I was getting crazy stomach pains at work when I started a new job. Turns out, it was the Keurig machine. I stopped drinking the coffee and the pains went away. Go figure.

    7. Sadly, it can. I have esophageal spasms that are almost certainly caused by the stress of my job. But please see a doctor, they first need to rule out physical causes. And even if it is caused by stress, there are treatment options.

  5. Does anybody have a Rothy’s referral code they’d care to share? I can’t get any of the codes from Retailmenot to work.

  6. I work in state government. I would definitely recommend that she contact her state representatives, but she should do it herself. Many offices (including the one I work in) will not accept requests for assistance on behalf of someone else, unless the person is physically unable to communicate with the office. You should find out who sets the school attendance policy – is it state law? Is it a district policy? The state representative’s office should be able to help you with that.

  7. Wedding dress cleaning & preservation–anyone have any recommendations? The company recommended by the store I bought my dress at is on the other side of the country, so figured I might as well check in to all the national options. Also, is it really worth the cost to get the dress “preserved” as opposed to just cleaned?

    1. What does preserving really entail? If you want to keep and store it, you definitely need to clean it first (never store clothes dirty). You’ll want packaging material that is fabric friendly – cotton, acid free paper, etc. I’d probably talk to any local costumers or historical society/museums for their recommendations.

      The other question is – what are you saving it for? Nostalgia is a perfectly acceptable reason, but just know that you don’t have to keep it if you don’t want to.

      1. Nostalgia, and I have a plan in the back of my head that some day I may try to find someone who can cut the train off and dye it and use it for as a dress for black tie events (it’s very simple and would totally work for this purpose if it wasn’t white), but it’ll probably take years before I get around to investigating that option.

        1. Is it going to fit you or be in style in years? You should just go ahead and do that now, don’t bother with the preserving stage.

  8. A recruiter called my office looking for me today and left a message. Is that typical? I’ve been emailed before, but this one is new. My email is definitely easy to find via internet search. The office admin forwarded the message on and I don’t think she looked closely or picked up on it as he didn’t identify himself as a recruiter in the message, but it’s easy to figure out if you look up his company, so I was slightly annoyed. I’m open to considering opportunities but I’m not actively looking and certain people in my company talk.

    1. When I was in Big Law I got cold calls from recruiters on my office phone all the time. I wasn’t looking, they just go to large firm’s web pages and call associates I think.

    2. That is unusual. I get more annoyed when they lie. I don’t have a direct line and one said they were my dentist calling so I took the call when reception transferred it. Then she said she didn’t want to tell reception who she really was for my privacy. I would appreciate that if I was the one seeking out a recruiter. She was cold calling me.

      1. +1 One time, I had one lie and give a different name that happened to be the same as the first name of a client, and I picked up thinking it was my client. Nope. I would never speak to a recruiter at the office under any circumstances anyway, doors only block out so much of the conversation.

        1. One of my colleagues got called by a recruiter claiming to be his sister. He has no sisters.

    3. I get cold-called (usually with a follow up email at my work address) all the time (not a lawyer). My number is not publicly available. I usually just say I’m not interested (because I’m not, I like my current job) and most of the time the recruiter has some other annoying thing they’ve done in the phone message or email.

    4. I’ve been cold called a number of times- I think this pretty common, albeit annoying. I’ve also been texted. On my cell phone. That irks me.

    5. sometimes they find the first two digits of office numbers and just start calling them in order.

  9. Will the the order of my bridesmaids in my wedding hurt their feelings? Has anyone experienced this? How did you decide the order? I found myself unconsciously putting them in order of how close I am to each (which is also how long I’ve known each) but I’ve realized that after taking a step back. There are 4 (with my sister as MOH so really only 3).

    1. I doubt anyone will care, but you could also just order them alphabetically if you’re worried they will.

      1. Or have them draw straws. Or roll a dice. Or have an elaborate bacholore!!e party game where there are points and order of points decides how they walk down the aisle.

      2. Or you could let your relatives be first, followed by your freinds. Rosa had ME first even tho I wanted to be behind her tall freind b/c she looked very cute and I hoped I would not be noticed with my tuchus b/c everyone would be stareing at Rosa and her. As a result, everyone looked at me (and my tuchus). FOOEY, b/c I think I could have met more cute guys if they did not examine me beforehand when I had to stand up there facing forward (with tuchus to the assembly). DOUBEL FOOEY on that! I will learn next time, if I am not the bride, which seems to be a stretch for me these days, since I dont even have a boyfreind. TRIPEL FOOEY!

    2. Please tell me your best friends don’t care this much about the order of how they stand at your wedding. If so, find new best friends.

      1. They aren’t my friends, they are all family members from both families. I want my family members first but I don’t know if it’s too obvious to have mine first and his last.

        1. I was in my cousin’s wedding a few years ago. Her sister was the maid of honor, and then it was me, and then it was her husband’s sister. Nobody thought it was weird.

        2. I have seen plenty of weddings where bridesmaids were ordered according to closeness to the bride–so sisters, then maybe future SILs, then cousins or friends. Even if it’s obvious you did that, I don’t think reasonable people would be offended–it’s normal to be closer to your own sisters than your fiance’s, so it’s not like a statement of that would be offensive, and nobody really cares if they’re standing 3 steps further away from the bride.

    3. I didn’t have bridesMAIDS, i had my two brothers as attendants. I’m the oldest child and we stood in age order.

  10. People that use messaging apps, what’s the point? Why not just text? Maybe since all my friends are on iphone, I just don’t see the difference between imessage and FB message or Snap Chat or Whats App or any of the others. Except of course disappearing d!ck pics on Snap chat. Whats App also works for a friend that is overseas so I see a benefit there. For domestic people not sharing nude selfies, why do you use it?

    1. I like Whatsapp for international/non-iphone use, especially with groups.
      I like Marco Polo because it’s the best.
      I message people on FB when I’m not close enough to text/am sharing something from within FB. Same with IG.

    2. Because there are other reasons you may not want your messages saved beyond nude selfies?

    3. I mostly use it for international friends, but believe it or not, I still have one or two friends who don’t have unlimited text phone plans, so they tend to use messaging apps.

    4. It seems like ever single day there’s a comment along the lines of “I don’t understand [whatever phenomenon] and I think it’s stupid. Why do people even do it?” and, like, it just seems so . . . pointless . . . to me. These comments just strike me as a super passive aggressive way of expressing displeasure at other people doing what they want and why do you even care??

      1. I use them because hangout/fb messenger will work from my browser and I spend more time looking at my computer than my phone.

      2. I dunno, I’m behind the times on technology and I have always wondered why people use apps. Not enough to ever investigate it, but I have. So I don’t think this post necessarily is snarky. That said, the snark level here has gotten really intense in the past year or so.

      3. +1 just a way to complain about something other people are doing and why they don’t like it, even though it doesn’t affect them.

        And for the uninformed OP, different messaging apps have different features, some integrate better with other programs, send and receive different types or size of messages more efficiently, have different fonts, colors or themes, etc. YOU are clearly the one that is out of the loop and that doesn’t fully utilize the multitude of apps out there.

        1. I’m the OP. Maybe I worded my post wrong. I wasn’t trying to say “get off my lawn.” I was trying to say, what am I missing? What are the benefits. Not grumble grumble people do things differently than me. I guess I could have worded it more positively. What are the benefits of the new messaging apps and which ones should I consider trying out?

          1. Messaging apps have network effects: the more people who you know you use it, the more useful it is. Ask your friends and family which ones they use and pick one which has people you can talk to.

    5. Verizon texting hasn’t been reliable for me. As far as I know, texts never vanish into the ether, but they often arrive late.

      I like KakaoTalk because it’s lightning fast, and I can receive and send messages from my laptop. (I have noticed that, like Chrome’s mobile browser, it can start taking up space on my phone if I never clear the cache. But I put up with that for Chrome, and I can put up with it for Kakao.)

    6. I’m coming from the opposite angle. Why pay for texting when you can IM with your data flat rate? I don’t get it.
      I use my phone line only for calling my grandma, and for looking things up on the internet/maps. I use messaging apps for staying in touch with friends and family, also skype calls. I like telegram for messaging, which works like whatsapp, but has better privacy (whatsapp is owned by facebook). I used to have a phone provider who would bill me for individual minute/text, and then sell me some modest amount of data for a fixed price. It was great, my phone bill was like 5$ a month. I am looking for something like that at the moment.

    7. I use Snapchat with my sister to send each other silly pictures of mundane things. It’s just a fun way to communicate and I wouldn’t want the pictures saved on my phone anyway.

  11. I work at a law firm with a monthly billable your goal of 190 hours/month. I just interviewed at a firm with a goal of 120 hours/ month. I’m literally salivating.

    1. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that may be too good to be true. A lot of places say one number on paper but expect another.

      1. Yes – ask a 2nd or 3rd year associate (someone who has been through annual reviews already) what the actual expectation in reality is. And how easy it is for them to achieve whatever the goal is – maybe the work is limited and you are competing for hours. Good luck!

    2. Wow, 120 is really low! I had to do the math, cause my goals varied by the number of business days in a month, but that’s just 1440. That would be a life changer

    3. That’s not unusual at smaller firms who appreciate work life balance and fully understand that you will be doing about 10-20% more hours in client development and pro bono. Those 120 fall awfully close to 190 when you add 10-20 hrs per week of client events and dinners, pro bono work, CLEs, etc. Sounds like this place is just realistic.

      Also, ask if that is a baseline (ie how much you need to achieve to not get fired) versus bonus eligible.

      1. Ehhh, I still think 120 is way on the low end. I’ve never heard of a firm that low. Most work/life balance small firms in my experience hover between 1600 on the low, low end to 1800. Important considerations: is this hours reported by the associate, or hours actually billed to the client? (That’s what I initially suspected.) Is there actually enough work? Being under used is no fun and no good for career development. What are the expectations for nonbillable work? Does a bonus structure kick in after 120? I mean, I get it, it’s very enticing, but just be careful.

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