Suits

Where to Find Stylish Plus-Size Suits for Work

05/30/2018 by Kat 6 Comments

Here’s a topic we haven’t addressed in a while that seems apt since we just did our big roundup of the best women’s suits in 2018: where to find stylish plus-size suits for work? Plus-size readers, please chime in — which are your favorite stores to buy plus-size workwear, from dresses to blazers to suits? (We’re actually working on a story on plus-size splurges and investment shopping — please share any favorites if you have them!) We haven’t talked about this since we did our last roundup of plus-size suits and more (including business maternity suits, petite suits, and suits for tall women) or the best workwear for plus sizes.

(If you are interested in plus size workwear, please sign up for CorporettePlus, our newsletter, for plus-size news as well as workwear picks in plus sizes! Signing up helps us gauge interest in the project, and we promise not to blast your email more than once a week at most. (Right now it’s more like once a month.))

Wondering where to find stylish plus-size suits for work? These are some of the top spots we know of, in alphabetical order — your best bets for conservative interview suits are in bold…

Stylish Tops for Under Suits

05/23/2018 by Kat 18 Comments

We try to keep our major shopping guides updated regularly, but sometimes they need a major overhaul — that’s been the case for our Guide to the Best Tops for Under Women’s Suits for a while now. I’m proud to say we’ve finally done it — you can check it out here. In the meantime, ladies, let’s talk: what are your favorite, most stylish tops for under suits?

For my $.02: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I’ve always been a fan of wearing slightly fancy t-shirts under suits whenever possible, provided they’re easy to launder — I particularly like that a sleeved bottom layer means that my suit blazer can go longer without being laundered. I’d say my next favorite option is the popover blouse, like many readers have noted — much less problems with gaping! On the flip side, a cowl top is one of my least favorite things to wear under suits — they never seem to lay properly with the lapels. Similarly, wrap tops can sometimes fight the line of the lapels — and for me anything that’s too high-necked (like a crew neck or turtleneck) is usually not flattering, and requires extra thought to “lower the neckline” with a pearl necklace or something. The secretary blouse, as pictured here, has never been one of my favorites — too hard to get the tie just right — but it can be a great look (and it’s one of Selina Meyer’s favorite looks!). Ladies, let’s hear from you — what are your favorite stylish tops for under suits? Is there anything you definitely wouldn’t wear under suits? Do you prefer to layer different tops under jardigans or cardigans, or can your closet do double duty?

Pictured: Deposit Photos / CITAlliance.

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Filed Under: Suits, Wear to Work Tagged With: courtroom attire, Courtroom Attire for Women Lawyers, posts

The Best Women’s Suits of 2018: Affordable, Designer, and Everything In Between

05/15/2018 by Kat 40 Comments

Which are the best women’s suits of 2018, whether for a stylish interview outfit, a power suit, or some other major career event? (Or, hey: a simple, chic suit often makes a great work outfit all by itself!) We’ve recently updated The Corporette Guide to Interview Suits, but we haven’t talked about the best suits for women in ages (aww, here was one of our first discussions on suiting basics for women!) so I thought we’d do a roundup. (We’ll also be updating our guide to plus size suits, petite suits, tall suits, and more in the coming weeks as well!) Readers, which are your favorite interview suits right now? What do you consider to be your “power suit”? What are you looking for in a suit in 2018?

(June 2018 Update: Check out where to find stylish plus-size suits for work! Looking for petites? Check out our roundup for where to find stylish petite suits for women.)

First, some general tips on what to look for in a great suit:

Confidence is the key to interview attire and power dressing. The goal of any interview suit or other suit like this is to let your brain do the talking and let your fashion sense take a back seat — so if you feel best in a pants suit, or flats, go for that. You don’t want to be that “baby giraffe” trying to walk in uncomfortable heels that are too high for you and sitting awkwardly in your interview fussing with your jacket. Really: whatever makes you feel like a polished professional is what’s going to make you the most confident. So take the rest of these tips with a grain of salt, BUT for my $.02, here are some shopping, styling, and budget tips:
- If you’re hunting for a budget-friendly interview suit: go for a
  black skirt suit rather than a pants suit, because pants fit is by far the hardest thing to get right. In my experience a $60 skirt suit looks OK but a $60 pants suit makes you look like you come from Planet Frump. Furthermore, the skirt suit will go farther — you can wear the pencil skirt as a basic bottom in your wardrobe (but always dryclean all pieces of a suit together!), plus if you have a “dressed up” occasion, a skirt suit is always going to be the more formal option. Another pro for a simple pencil skirt: you completely avoid the issue of what length/type pants to get, which really does feel like we’re in a period of flux — for a while all you could find were ankle pants, even though they were too trendy to wear to most conservative workplaces — now that flared pants and bootcut trousers are coming back I feel like the ankle pants will look outdated pretty quickly. Other trends I’ve seen with suits: jumpsuits! culottes! short suits! You want 1) a pencil skirt + hip length jacket or 2) a fitted sheath dress + hip length jacket — these combos have been in for years and probably will be for years to come. (Here’s our guide to pantyhose, which yes, if you want to be “safe,” you should probably wear for any interview if you’re junior, particularly in more conservative areas — but go back to our first point on confidence/comfort and factor that in.)
- If you’re shopping online, look for words such as: seasonless wool, stretch wool, tropical wool, gabardine, triacetate. Avoid words like sateen, shimmer, linen. Crepe can be really tricky — sometimes it means a polyester drapey blend for suiting and sometimes it means a bridesmaid’s dress/MOB type thing.
- If you’re busty: traditional wisdom here is that you want more buttons on your blazer, not fewer. I’m plenty busty and have had some favorite one-button jackets over the years, though, so your mileage may vary here. Depending on trends you can sometimes find suits with as many as four or five buttons. Check out this post for more workwear style tips for busty women.
Treasure hunting for a suit (where you MAY or may not find something good): T.J. Maxx, Yoox, ASOS, OFF5TH, and Nordstrom Rack
Consider taking your suit to the tailor. Common suiting alterations include shortening sleeves, adjusting the waist. Note that the blazer (specifically the shoulder/arms) are the hardest part to tailor, so focus on that fit when you’re shopping.
Please don’t forget to cut your Xs, always dryclean suiting pieces together, and — if you’re wearing the suit somewhere Very Important like an interview, make sure you use the mirror trick.
For other tips on buying a basic interview suit (including considerations on colors, care, accessories, layering, and more), please check out The Corporette Guide to Interview Suits. (We’re in the midst of updating our guide to what tops to wear under suits!)

Looking for older versions of this post? Here’s our roundup in 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, and (aww) 2008.

We’ll put a few handy pins at the bottom of this post for you with general prices for suiting alterations and general advice for what to wear on interviews. But first: on to our roundup of the best women’s suits of 2018!

Affordable Suits For Women

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Filed Under: Interviewing, Suits Tagged With: courtroom attire, Courtroom Attire for Women Lawyers, posts

Where to Find Suits With Dresses (Instead of Skirts or Pants)

03/08/2018 by Kat 52 Comments

Reader M had an interesting question about where the heck to find suits with dresses (instead of skirts or pants) these days:

I’d love an article on buying suits that are dress + jacket combinations (as opposed to skirt/pants + jacket combinations). They look a more polished, they eliminate the step of finding a shirt to go underneath the jacket, and they’re one less thing to pack on trips. AT’s selection is limited – I own both and love them; Talbots’ is matronly. Need ’em conservative enough for court appearances, but not “mother of the bride.” (I’m 35.) Slightly fashionable would be a bonus!

Great question — and you’re right, they are disappearing; it was a bit of a hunt to find some to feature here. Readers, do you prefer to wear suits made up of a dress and blazer — or do you prefer other suit separates like pants and a skirt? Where are your favorite dress and jacket skirts from? (We discussed non-suit dress+jacket combinations in this post…)

Some options I found for you on the market right now, below (the individual pieces range from $159-$435):

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!

Above: black blazer and dress / Beige blazer and dress (also in plus sizes) / black blazer and dress / navy blazer and dress

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Filed Under: Suits Tagged With: posts

The Hunt for Budget-Friendly Interview Suits

06/27/2017 by Kat 11 Comments

Sure, we all know what work wardrobe essentials professional women are supposed to have in their closets, but if you’re buying one for the first time or replacing one you’ve worn into the ground, it can be a pain to find exactly the right incarnation in stores. In “The Hunt,” we search the stores for a basic item that every woman should have. Today: we’re hunting for budget-friendly interview suits for women!

Obviously, we cover a Suit of the Week every week, and we have our regularly updated Guide to Interview Suits as well as our recent overview of brands of suits for women for every budget— but we haven’t specifically looked for budget-friendly interview suits in a few years, so let’s round them up! (Here’s our last discussion on cheap interview suits, as well as our discussion of whether you can mix black separates to make a suit (noooooooo!). In general, if you’re hunting for an interview suit, keep an eye out for options with a) suiting separates b) available in a solid, dark, neutral color, c) that fit your budget. By buying suiting separates you can get a better fit off the rack (such as by buying a size 10 pant and a size 12 blazer, and maybe even a petite skirt even if everything else is a regular size) — and you can make several outfits, particularly if there are two blazers, such as one that’s collarless and one that’s the traditional lapel+button. (If you have problems finding suits in your size range, check our Guide to Plus Size Suits, Tall Suits, Petite Suits, and Maternity Suits!) Readers, which are your favorite budget-friendly interview suits?

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Filed Under: Budget Fashion, Interviewing, Suits, The Hunt Tagged With: interview advice, interview attire, posts, Suits, Under150

Can You Wear Interesting Suits to Court?

11/30/2016 by Kat 49 Comments

Can you wear “interesting” suits to court — colorful, patterned, fanciful, haute? (You know, kind of like in our weekly Suit of the Week feature?) Reader E asks — specifically wondering about this teal LK Bennett suit that Kate Middleton is wearing here and here — and I think it’s a great question for all the women lawyers:

This is a lawyer-specific question – can you wear interesting suits to court if it’s still a suit? I agree with previous suggestions here that a dress/blazer combo, unless its meant to be a suit, is not formal enough for court. But, my question is, what about things that are true suit sets but are more interesting – like an AT tweed suit, or the LK Bennett dark teal dress and jacket suit set that Kate Mid. has? Or do you think court suits have to be black/grey/navy and totally plain? Thx!

I can’t wait to hear what the readers say here. (Psst: We’ve shared tips for expanding your suiting collection in the past if you’re actively looking for suits like this!) For my $.02, I always think of my reaction to an article years ago about a young public defender who wore Balmain (at the time, their blazers had super pointy shoulders) and other couture suits to court. The impression it left on me was a bad one — it seemed like she was not showing any respect for her clients or the fact that she was there to represent THEM, in life-altering matters, before stodgy judges and juries who may or may not have approved of her fashion choices (or her designer budget). Plus, as readers have pointed out in the past, wearing ostensibly designer, moneyed things in front of juries can be a bad move, particularly if you’re a public defender.

NOW: A crazy/trendy Balmain suit is one thing — a dark teal LK Bennett dress and jacket is another. But where is the line? And are there different rules for “first appearance before the court” and “day 30 of a 6-month trial”? For my $.02:

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Filed Under: Suits Tagged With: courtroom attire, Courtroom Attire for Women Lawyers, posts, women lawyers