Wednesday’s Workwear Report: Cotton Poplin Barrel Shirtdress
This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
I know, I know, this dress from Banana Republic is a lot of look, but I saw it in person recently and I can’t stop thinking about it, so here we are. Is a barrel shirtdress going to be appropriate for every office? Probably not. But if this is your vibe, it’s so, so good. The green color is so vibrant and the cut is so perfect. It’s not for everyone, but if it’s for you, you’re going to love it.
The dress is $180 at Banana Republic and comes in sizes XS-XL. It also comes in navy.
Halogen has an option that's a bit more affordable — it's available in white/light blue and white/navy for $83.89 (on sale) and $129, respectively.
Sales of note for 7/15:
- Nordstrom – The Anniversary Sale has started! Here's our big roundup of what to get first, as well as everything we've selected thus far.
- Ann Taylor – Semi-annual sale, 60% off sale and 40% off everything — readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Banana Republic – Summer sale up to 60% off sale styles + extra 20% off
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns
- J.Crew – 50% off select cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Lululemon – Summer sale!
- Margaux – Save up to 50% off, including archive sale
- Me & Em – Sale! Up to 50% off (new lines just added)
- M.M.LaFleur – 25% off jardigans (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clear the rack, extra 25% off clearance! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Talbots – Red Door Sale! Prices start at $15
I have an injury and need to wear sneakers (aka tennis shoes, depending on where you live!) for the next 3-4 months. Most of my wardrobe is biz casual midi dresses, like Boden and J Crew Maggy London. I need a wide toe box, maybe not a wide width but not a shoe with narrow toe area. I have never worn sneakers to work; my eye never adjusted to the white sneaker trend. But now, most of the other women in my office are wearing stilettos, and I have no sneaker style inspo. Ideas for the next few months? Color, style, brand?
I have recently bought a couple of pairs of “white sneakers” from Dr. Scholls in a regular width, and found they have a nicely roomy toe box. They weren’t expensive, so might be worth a try as it sounds like you only need them temporarily.
if you don’t think you’ll wear them again, i would go into DSW and just try on. size is subjective and foot specific. don’t need to be expensive if they fit you.
I don’t know how to help your eye adjust; I’m afraid you’re probably just not going to like how the shoes look with your work clothes.
My Sketchers, which are very old, have a wide toe box. Maybe check out their shoes. Also, weight lifting shoes often have wide toe boxes – mine do but they have a plastic bottom that makes annoying noise on hard floors, so I won’t suggest them. You may have success looking for “barefoot” shoes.
If you’re looking for something that’s comfortable but not super expensive, I like my Gola Elan shoes a lot! And they are inexpensive enough that you could probably get a couple different colors.
+1 to GOLA. I have the retro velcro ones and they are very roomy.
Kate Spade has some cut like old school tennis shoes. If you don’t need more support than that, those would be fun for summer.
If you don’t mind athletic sneakers, try Altras, which have a wide toe box.
As someone who wear Altras and likes a good sneaker with dresses, Altras are hideous. They also don’t hold up to daily wear. OP, I’d try Amazon! I got some cute wide toe box sneakers with leopard print accents. I get compliments on them often. They’re some random brand. For $30 you can order a bunch of different styles.
Have you looked at Sorel? I’m generally a fan of their shoes when I’m injured. There are a lot of flat and squishy shoes.
New Balance Women’s Fresh Foam X Cruz Artisan V3 comes in a wide which works for my wide toe box. It comes in a lot of colors, including navy and gray. No one is going to mistake it for a stiletto or a formal flat but it can look ok and intentional.
White Keds look nicest with dresses to my eye bc they are quite low profile. Vionic are not as “pretty” but are workhorses for me and they are a white leather so a little nicer than a canvas or other fabric option. Both are available in wide widths if needed.
is the reason you can’t stop thinking about it is that it’s hideous bound to be unflattering and will look wrinkled and unkempt by noon?
It’s certainly a lewwk. Maybe for a museum or art gallery trip, where you’re mostly standing.
Or because it was intentionally made to look six sizes too big?
I feel like (as a person who is in the throes of hormonal size flux), I should have bought this at 30 and would likely have a use case for for decades, if not forever. It is presentable around the face and shoulders, so OK for when the focus is above the waist (like a zoom or any casual office) and forgiving elsewhere. More clothes should be like this.
This is basically a kaftan.
But it is a WORK caftan. How I have often wished for exactly this to go from theoretical to actual.
This. Love me a business caftan.
Yes. God it’s awful and I say this as a sweaty perimenopausal woman who doesn’t want any fabric near her, loves green and loves poplin.
I’m 45 and still have a figure, so personally, I am against anything that disguises my waist.
That caveat aside, I can see this working for someone who leans into the look.
I hate it but I still think it would be 1000% better if it was a solid color rather than the colorblocked look.
Agree. Lose the nude knees.
Yes, I was trying to be gentle and think, great for someone else not for me. But…. Oof. (and I adore green.)
If it was just a skirt (fitted at the waist), I think it would be pretty. At least the way it is pictured, it seems to have some nice movement. The top half looks like an ill-fitting maintenance worker’s jumpsuit. Combined, it’s giving old tarp from the 70s your parents pulled out of the “camping gear” pile in the basement.
I kind of love it, while realizing it would look terrible on me. It’s a lot of look but it makes me smile.
I thought the same: it would look terrible on me but I kind of love it!
I have a colleague who is young and cool and would look terrific in this — she wears a lot of oversized stuff like this and looks amazing. Good for her, not for me.
I work in the arts and can envisage this dress being worn by many colleagues. It’s an interesting shape even if it’s not flattering.
Has anyone used an online personal trainer? Possibly from another country?
I would like to work out online with a personal trainer roughly two evenings a week at 8pm EST.
Looking for recs. Thanks!
curious. why? because it would be cheaper? During COVID i worked out online it’s not the same or as good as a real in person trainer and honestly i’m not sure it was any better than doing a youtube routine for free.
Agree. Get accountability from a friend and use a video you like.
Kind of? I use the Ladder app. It’s not technically a personal trainer but my coach cues just like one. You can do it any time of day. They’ve gamified it enough to where I work out way more than I did with a gym membership. A bonus for me is I can’t cancel at the last minute like I could with a personal trainer.
Yes I have been doing a fitness program called KMAK that is based in the UK, and my coach is in London. They have had 3500 clients and the vast majority are in the US. My coach designed a strength training plan for me 3x/week, plus a weekly step count goal and a nutrition plan. I much prefer a virtual trainer than an in-person one – I can do the workouts on my own schedule instead of having to work around an in-person trainer’s schedule. Also I have found that in-person trainers don’t provide as much support on diet and nutrition, which is the key to fat loss. I have lost 13 lbs in 5 months and am just 10 lbs away from my goal weight.
Is it normal for an employer to assign employees to promote the employer’s events on their personal social media? I can understand asking, but not ordering.
hmm, I have not experienced it and most certainly would decline.
No, is unprofessional and crosses boundaries.
It probably depends on the industry. This wasn’t unheard of when I was in higher ed. I was in a comms role but employees who weren’t in comms were also pressured to promote events on personal social media. They couldn’t force you to, but it was expected by some bosses and people who didn’t were seen as not team players. Higher ed is kind of a cu1t though.
When I worked at an environmental non-profit, we used to do things like this on twitter–promoting our enviro partners, promoting our work, with various likes and re-tweets. No one ordered us to do it, but we would have been out in the cold if we hadn’t.
A Twitter storm!
Mmm depends on role and industry/company, and what exactly the assignment is: “Post one of these three messages about our new product launch on LinkedIn” is different from “sync your WhatsApp contacts to our sales database”.
IMO, it’s common to be asked and for that to bleed into pressure, but pretty rare for a company to actually fire people for refusing. But it’s the kind of thing that takes some capital.
My employer tried this and I work for a government agency. I did not do so, nor did anyone else in my department.
Same. We had a political appointee who knew nothing about our field (or government) try to require this… it was immediately shut down by Legal!
One guess as to which administration this was.
Follow-up–does LinkedIn v. other social media make a difference? My employer sees employee LinkedIn accounts as its own property, which does not seem right.
We always post job openings on our personal LinkedIn accounts. Why wouldn’t we?
I think LinkedIn is different than other social media and it’s more appropriate for an employer to ask you to share things there.
+1. I work in comms. We have asked (not required!) people to promote things on LinkedIn, but never more personal social channels.
+2. I still think it is strange to “order” an employee to post something on LinkedIn, but very common for companies to ask. My law firm often encourages attorneys to repost stuff on LinkedIn. I decline because I am just not that an active of a LinkedIn user, but others do it.
I’ve worked several places where employees with key visibility (sales, speaker SMEs, etc.) were routinely provided with posts about conference attendance, awards, etc. versus the company channel to improve reach and engagement. NBD. Not sure if it was required but most appreciated it.
If you are in BigLaw, how many attorneys do admins have these days? I open up a ton of matters each month and am doing transactional work with a lot of documents to set up and sig page packets etc. We are changing ratios again and I feel that I will eventually have to use attorneys to do admin tasks and that clients definitely won’t pay for this (we are penny wise and pound foolish). Not to mention staff isn’t cross trained, so if you need anything in December or when your admin is out, you are f*cked with getting conflicts done or new matters opened because a litigation admin (or whatever) doesn’t know how to fill out your stuff or they are already overwhelmed.
We just suck.
Not in BigLaw anymore, but my old firm is now at 7-9:1 ratio – if older parnters who are considered to still need more help are assigned to someone, then that person has 7 lawyers; if it’s all younger lawyers, then it’s 9. Attorneys now enter their own time and handle their own expenses and travel arrangements, none of which I ever did. I think it’s a terrible change.
My admin is currently supporting 6 professionals, a mix of attorneys and paralegals. It’s not great. I have similar problems with the other admins not being familiar with our practice area and having trouble helping when she’s out. In general, I don’t use my admin a lot, but that makes it all the more obvious that even on the occasions that I do need support, I either don’t get what I need or don’t get it on a timely basis.
My assistant has 6 attorneys and also is back-up for 2 more. I think that is pretty standard these days.
Does it actually work though? I feel like there’s no play in the system and we are just relying on people being tech savvy to do admin tasks. Our backup word processing doesn’t really work reliably either because they may be trained to do A and add things in that aren’t wanted when the task is B (saving a redline as a version, adding new versions, etc).
Any recommendations for a prenatal vitamin that doesn’t taste or smell like fish oil? I can’t stand that taste or smell.
I don’t think there’s a solution to this. Even vegan omegas are a bit ‘fishy’ because they come from algae.
Try any vegetarian or vegan prenatal.
Ritual prenatals have fish oil but are lemon scented from a bottle insert. If you take them quickly after taking them out of the bottle there’s no fish taste/smell. I take them at night so I don’t get any fish burps.
Thorne prenatals don’t have fish oil at all but I found the general vitamin smell so bad that I couldn’t stomach them.
I took the Rainbow One lite vitamins and don’t remember that being an issue.
I take hemp seed oil ones. Not as high in omegas but also not gross.
Whats the protocol on sending a hey girl email to someone’s work email?
It’s a friend’s partner, I don’t have her cell, she has no SM so the options are tell her at a party/dinner or email. In person is messy but email will inevitably mean her admin reads it since she’s c suite.
For context I’m friends with the cheater so I’m certain there is no open relationship or anything, we’ve told eachother everything for 15 years. Normally I wouldn’t get involved but they’re currently trying to conceive so my inner girls girl wants to give her the opportunity to escape before it’s too late.
Noooooooooooo
Do you mean actually revealing all in the email? I think the protocol there is… omg absolutely NOT, no way, never. Nobody wants to receive that news at work and you have no idea who has access to her emails and whether they’ll blab around the office before she’s even read it. I think if you really must you could email or call her office and give your own details and ask her to contact you about an important personal matter.
I’m a strong advocate for minding your business. It sounds like you aren’t inclined to do this (you really should) but don’t send something her admin can read.
Yeah, this is where it crosses the line for me. Don’t do this.
Send her a card by actual mail!
Good on you for letting her know.
Can you make up an excuse to have coffee with her and tell her or give her a note then?
Don’t email her at work when her admin would read it first but your instinct to tell her is right.
If I’m understanding this correctly, you want to send a message to your friend’s partner telling her that your friend is cheating? If so, don’t put they in the message. Just say you want to have a short call and ask if she can reach out to you at phone number or say that you want to send her a personal message and ask what’s her personal email.
But if you do this, you are likely to loss your friend. Only you know if that’s worth it
Ideally I’d like to send her an anonymous message so she knows before she has a baby with him, but I don’t really have a means to do that other than her work email. I’m not willing to sacrifice my friendship (he’s a crappy boyfriend, but we’ve been close for 15 years and he rescued me from abuse, the one and only person to step up for me).
Then stay out of it IMO.
Yeah, sorry, no. You can’t do it publicly (which it is if her colleagues can read it) but also anonymously. She probably won’t believe it but her admin might.
Surely she can receive actual mail in a sealed envelope at her work or home address?
If you’re hoping to give an anonymous heads up, that’s the easiest way.
Paper mail at her office would be opened for security reasons (so the mail folks would know rather than her admin, is that a leaser evil?)
She lives with my friend so I’d be worried he’d open the letter.
OP, have you told your friend what an a-hole he’s being? That wouldn’t make it better. But if you really think a future child’s happiness is at stake, you need to speak up and prepare to lose your guy friend.
THIS!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I agree with the advice above to stay out of it.
But… if you needed to convey something sensitive in this situation, I’d email the work number and *just* ask that she give you a call/text at your provided personal number. No details, and IME people read between the lines to understand that it’s not something you want to put in work email.
Whether or not you tell this person is up to you. But do not, under any circumstances, do it via email.
Why can’t you email her asking for her cell number?
I just don’t think she’d reply to an anonymous email asking for her personal cell number. Her admin might even delete it thinking it’s a scam. Do you think it would work?
I don’t know, but I’m not sure what is lost if it didn’t work!
I think a physical letter is better for putting sensitive information in writing than texting or email. The recipient can do whatever they want with it once they’ve read it.
You want to tell her anonymously? Why would she believe you? If you said, hey this is Mary, Jack’s old friend and I have this news, then I’m sure she’d believe you, but Jack and you are over.
If anyone has United miles to burn, there’s a lot of discounted award space in business class to and from Japan (and possibly other Asian countries?) right now. I got tickets to and from Japan for 85k miles per person in March, which is conventionally seen as a tough time of year for deals due to cherry blossom season and spring breaks.
Thank you!!
Ideas for 3 year old birthday gift? My parents and in laws have started asking for ideas, and I just can’t think of anything. We either already have it (nugget, yoto, bike) or don’t have room for it (play kitchen). What toys did your 3 year old love?
We’ve gotten lots of enjoyment from museum/zoo memberships – is there a children’s museum that they can sign up for membership for? At age 3, those are great for burning energy
Cash or books.
Costumes for dress-up, books, puzzles.
zoo membership? Or just clothes?
Membership to the local zoo, museum, etc.
A scooter. Complete collection of Elephant and Piggie books.
My first orchard. It’s a board game.
Duplos.
kiwi crate might have something for that age range, I’m not sure.
+1 million for My First Orchard! My grandson is obsessed with it.
Easel! Do you have outside space? If so, a sensory table.
Kids Ride Shotgun seat for one of your bikes.
For me, half the point of having a Yoto is that I can just ask for new cards for birthdays. They take up no space.
You can also ask loved ones to record stories for MYO cards, but I can tell you from experience that’s much more work for you chasing them, troubleshooting bad recordings, and making the cards
Has anyone had a Prenuvo scan, and if so, did it prompt you to get further scans/monitoring, and what has your experience been with that? Just got my report back, and have an appointment set up with a specialist to go over a finding. Nothing urgent, but my sense is they will suggest once or twice annual MRIs to keep an eye on it.
Is anyone else frustrated by the blanket “lettuce” suspicion for this cyclospora outbreak? I get it, proof is hard to find and they don’t to name and shame private business because $$$, but there’s simply no way that all lettuce from every source is equally affected. As a consumer, I’m left wondering whether I should avoid all lettuce, conventional lettuce, organic lettuce, farmer’s market lettuce, etc. I’m in a related industry (to public health) and there have been SO many failures to communicate basic health information in recent years, worse since COVID. No wonder trust levels are so low.
They really don’t know. Most people don’t keep food diaries, and symptom onset is so long after exposure that it’s hard to rely on memories.
It does feel unfair that a lot of farms and processing centers that provide time and facilities for hygiene and that don’t have water sanitation issues are going to experience the same effective boycotts as whoever is actually responsible.
Every PSA I’ve seen has suggested alternate sources though (like local farms that aren’t highly centralized and whose food doesn’t pass through highly centralized processing where parasites can spread).
TW: Pet loss
A dear friend is unexpectedly having to put her beloved dog down after a rough few weeks. The appointment is scheduled for tomorrow. She has an active social life with many friends and family, but lives by herself and absolutely adores this dog. If you have been in a similar situation, what was something comforting that your friends did for you at the time? Or what have you done for friends that seemed helpful? When she texted and told me the news today, I burst into tears because I know how much her heart must be breaking.