Suit of the Week: Ann Taylor
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.
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 2025!
I love a good deep green, including for suiting — and this Ann Taylor suit looks lovely.
They offer two blazers, as well as two pants (wide leg and straight), available in regular and curvy fits. Nice! In the same colorway (but different fabrics) there are a ton of additional pants, skirts, sweaters, and more.
The suiting pieces range from $129 to $209.
Hunting for something similar? Check out Argent and Reiss.
Sales of note for 9/26/25
- Nordstrom – 7400+ new markdowns! Also: 6x points on beauty.
- Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale, plus $20 style steals
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off everything + extra 15% off
- Boden – Sale now up to 50% off PLUS an extra 10% off
- J.Crew – Extra 30% off sale styles, plus up to 50% off layers they love
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything + extra 20% off $125+
- Nordstrom Rack – UGG up to 40% off
- Rothy's – Up to 50% off last-chance sales
- Soma – 6 panties for $36 — readers love these no-VPL panties (and these PJs)
- Talbots – 40% off one item, plus 30% off everything else
- White House Black Market – 30% off all full-price dresses, and $50 off $200+ purchase
Open enrollment is coming. Currently, I’m on DH’s very good and inexpensive health insurance. But I’m undergoing a number of tests for serious conditions. Something probably is wrong and that could be this cancer or this other cancer. Is this where it makes sense to get another policy for me (or a HDHP)? Or just max out his policy and once we hit the maximum, we should be set? His birthday is before mine, so I think that that makes his poilicy the primary one if we have two for me. WWYD? I understand that most bankruptcies are caused by medical debt and want to avoid the catastrophic. If it matters, I do have excellent disability coverage and life insurance. When I got it, I was thinking of an accident vs a serious ongoing illness.
Every open enrollment season I make a spreadsheet of total cost on premiums + OOP expenses at a variety of levels of health care spending, including nothing, exactly at the deductible, somewhere between the deductible and the OOP max, and the OOP max. I do the calculation for both of us on my husband’s plan, each on our own plan, and both of us on my plan, for each plan option offered. What inevitably happens is that either his HDHP option or mine, with both of us on the same plan, is the clear winner at any level of health care spending. The OOP max is usually a big driver of the math, because it’s typically either the same for all plans or lower for the HDHP plan. I then verify that all of our preferred health care providers are in-network.
I avoid having multiple plans for the same insured because it always causes too much confusion and passing of the buck.
I do the same spreadsheet.
Just a word of caution, some plans have a working spouse surcharge, which is sort of a penalty for adding your partner if they have a decent health plan, too.
First, I’m sorry you’re facing down a scary diagnosis.
Second – I’m not 100% sure, but I think you can run into trouble if you have more than one healthcare plan – like both end up refusing to pay because they think the other is responsible. I don’t even know if you CAN have duel health coverage. Are you thinking about supplemental coverage, like AFLAC or similar?
IDK I remember that both of my parents had family coverage through their jobs and my doctor always asks me if I have additional insurance in addition to our family plan (like maybe through the VA? IDK but we just have one policy because we are thrifty; whether that is wise, IDK).
Yes, growing up, we always had dual coverage. However, it was one policy that was primary and the other that was secondary. That was declared when setting up the policies, and the secondary policy was the more important one to consider, because you needed to understand just what they required of the primary insurance before they would pick up anything. In our case, the primary insurance was cheap and crappy, but the secondary policy was very luxe. It basically covered anything the primary declined, as long as we got the primary’s denial in writing. The secondary policy was expensive but we had several pricy, chronic conditions in our family and this combo was cheaper than paying for just the luxe policy alone.
This exactly. I once had overlapping coverage (new plan started the same month as old plan was active) and both refused to pay.
You have great health coverage. You are in the position you want to be in. If the plan has an HSA, max that out. It’s a better use of the money you would spend on premiums for a second plan.
You can have dual coverage. One will be primary and the other will be secondary. And if there is ever a denial, it will go back to the healthcare provider as a Coordination of Benefits issue and they will either resolve directly or ask you to show proof of the other insurance. It’s very common.
I would look at physician and hospital choice on choosing which plan is best for you. A high-deductible plan when you meet that deductible may offer more choice and ultimatley savings depending on how the plan is structured since they also have lower percentages of cost sharing after the deductible is met (I’m a cancer patient and have been on one for several years). Do avoid a health savings plan–these usually also have a high deductible but you roll over funds if not used. They are best for young and healthy folks who aren’t likely to use much healthcare. And consider upping your FSA amount if you have the option–you can always put it to household health supplies if you don’t end up using it on tests and visits.
I thought all high deductible plans were required to offer HSAs.
For us the HDHP with HSA is always cheaper overall than the PPO options, which have very high premiums that more than offset the deductible. Some employers will also contribute a pretty substantial amount to your HSA to cover part of the deductible if you choose the HDHP.
This HSA opinion is misinformed and the blanket advice to avoid them is bad, especially if you have a HDHP.
Could there be issues with switching when you’re mid-diagnosis? I would also be tuned into that.
I’m sorry you have to balance these issues while also dealing with a potentially scary health situation.
I’d stay on DH’s insurance if it’s good, but if you are expecting to meet deductible, it might make sense to do HDHP + HSA and then max out that policy vs. staying on a low deductible plan (actually comparing would be a lot of math though!).
But if you have specifics about what kind of condition you may need to treat, do look at plan formularies. Don’t choose a plan that excludes treatments you need vs. a plan that includes them, if you happen to have a choice (hopefully all the plans you’re looking at include treatment for either cancer or any non cancer possibilities, but this isn’t an absolute given).
This is incredibly hard to do. OP doesn’t even know what diagnosis she may have and what treatment she might be given. I think for her sanity, she should stay out of the weeds here.
It’s not particularly easy after getting a diagnosis; sanity has never really been on the table in the American healthcare system as I’ve experienced it! But if there’s uncertainty, a good formulary matters even more.
I would pick the plan that has the doctors you like in network and seems to be the least annoying to deal with. I would not optimize for dollars.
In your situation I’d expect to hit the OOP max. My primary concerns with insurance would be the breadth of the network, the drug formulary, and the likelihood of denials.
No, I wouldn’t try to get any other health insurance. As long as you can cover the costs of your current policy and the max out of pocket, you should be set.
Sounds like you are very fortunate and have good coverage. Have you heard bad stories from people at your husband’s work that coverage has been poor for folks who have had serious medical problems?
I have been in a similar health position to you. I remember well what a stressful time it was making these healthcare decisions. For my peace of mind, I chose the best PPO policy that was offered. I chose the plan from a well established company (BCBS) that included the best academic and cancer hospital in their network. If you actually develop something serious that will require chronic care that is expensive, then next year you can think about switching to a HDHP + HSA to maximize your savings. But that may not make sense right now until you know where the chips fall.
As long as you can cover the max out of pocket expenses if you hit that, you will probably be fine. Most medicines that doctors will recommend for you will be covered by your insurance. But it is true that many newer, very expensive medicines are not covered unless your doctors fight for them for you. It is rare that people pay for those meds out of pocket, but that does sometimes happen. My friends who have gotten into financial trouble are ones who had to see doctors out of the network for their rare disease / cancer treatment, and then expenses skyrocket because their is no max out of pocket for out of network care. So make sure that the medical plan includes the hospitals with the best specialists for you.
In the end, my diagnosis wasn’t a serious cancer, and a chronic disease that will be manageable. I am hopeful that will be the same for you.
The information that you need on your current plan is the coinsurance number. That’s what you pay (often 30%, sometimes 0%) for any expenses AFTER the deductible is met.
On our qualified high deductible plan we pay 0% after we meet the deductible.
The marketplace is going to be absolutely horrible this year (unless the Dems work a miracle) – prepare yourself. I would guess it would be better to stay with your current plan but I’m not sure.
I’m sorry you’re going through this.
Just to clarify which plan is primary: If you get coverage through your employer, that plan will be primary for you, and your spouse’s plan will be secondary for you, regardless of whose birthday comes first. The birthday rule typically applies when children are covered by both parents’ plans – the plan of the parent whose birthday is earlier in the year is primary for the kids.
You can absolutely have two coverages, and plans have to spell out their coordination of benefits rules so you understand how coordination works. If you ask your employer and your spouse’s employer for their SPDs (summary plan descriptions), the coordination info should be in there.
As for whether you should get another plan: since your spouse’s plan is very good and affordable, then the next question to ask is whether the doctors and hospital you want to use are in the plan’s network. If yes, then there’s seemingly no need for another plan.
Just go into it assuming that you will hit your out-of-pocket max both this year and next, since treatment may carry over into next year.
For what it’s worth, the year I had cancer, I had hit my out-of-pocket max before chemo even started – consults, bloodwork, X-rays, ultrasound, CT, biopsy, PET scan, EKG, port insertion.
I hope everything goes well for you.
This is all correct. A shocking amount in the other comments is not. Source: Am an ERISA lawyer.
I would hesitate to equate what’s legal with what’s correct when it comes to American health insurance company practices.
Seconding. I work for a vendor that helps hospitals resolve COB issues. This is all correct and a lot in the other comments is not.
So you have some insight into cases where COB issues get resolved. Are there not cases where they aren’t resolved and patients end up stuck with bills?
If you think you’re going to face a medical condition this year, focus on your deductible and out of pocket max. I suspected I would have surgery this year (and I did) so I changed my policy last year to the lowest deductible (higher premiums) and hit my out of pocket well before the surgery. I paid nothing out of pocket for a hospital stay, surgery, or follow-ups. My deductible was under $2000 so worth it. I will squeeze in my colonoscopy by the end of the year too so I can go back to typical annual expenses next year.
This makes sense for relatively minor conditions, but if the condition is something like cancer and you’re relatively affluent, it matters a lot less whether your OOP max is $2k or $10k than whether the insurance will fight you on paying for necessary treatment. I’d focus on trying to figure out which plan has a better network and is likely to cover rather than worrying about a few grand in OOP max. I know that’s easier said than done, but I wouldn’t automatically go with the cheaper plan. You get what you pay for and all that.
This is my concern; sometimes the best treatment is very new or very specialized (or even individualized!) and may or may not be covered.
Looking for an upgrade from the Rothy black pointed flat for my work attire. I will still use them but wanting to elevate and modernize a bit. I’ve never loved a chunky shoe. Could get down with a loafer but something lower profile? I don’t love the Sam Edelman ones, but maybe I’ve ordered the wrong one before. Recs?
No personal experience but I have my eye on the Margaux pointe.
Same. It comes in widths!
I really love Everlane’s classic, non-chunky loafers. I also love the look of Birdies, although they’ve never worked well on my feet – but maybe for you?
Maybe the interwebs can help because my kid’s counselor at school doesn’t seem to talk to her. She wants to be a nurse. Her options include schools where she can get into, but only maybe 50% of kids in “pre-nursing” make it into the final two years that is the actual “nursing” program; you seem to need all As to have a shot. Other schools give you a guaranteed spot in “nursing,” provided that you meet a B average; it might be much harder to get these spots (like you need SATs at a test-optional school, etc.). If you are a nurse or have a kid applying for this, can you explain why these approaches are so different (and what happens for trying to transfer if you don’t make the cut)? I can’t make sense of it (USC and UNC are the pre-nursing type school, as is our community college’s ABN program; UPENN and UVA and our small liberal arts college are all the guaranteed-spot that’s yours to lose type). We think she’s a smart cookie, but I don’t like the odds of the first kind of school (are ABSN programs for this crowd or for accountants who change their minds and have their nursing pre-reqs already done?). I was a poly sci major at a regional SLAC with no nursing program, so of no help at all in this. My few peers who did this were all from my college and did ABSNs later, often on the GI bill after their service was over.
Absolutely not. Hire a private college counselor and stop inflicting your swirling anxiety on everyone else.
My sister was a nurse and went through the community college system for her ABN and got her RN certification. She wasn’t a good candidate for a competitive school like you mentioned. She found good career opportunities as an RN. I think the BSN, or later the MSN, is important if you want to manage people or departments.
trying to think of how to say this in a PC way, but I’m just going to cut to the chase – for the first type of school where only 50% of kids make it – this can be because some kids might change their mind, some kids are actually dumb, and/or the school doesn’t have enough spots in the final two years and so is trying to weed kids out. I went to UPenn and the nursing program there at least in the first year is a mix of kids who actually want to be a nurse and those who use it as a way to get into Penn and then transfer out. The nursing students worked harder than the rest of us in that they had clinicals, etc. with earlier hours, especially in their later years. Most of the people i know who went to UPenn nursing (and this is obviously a small sample size of my own friends/acquaintances) eventually became nurse practitioners, or nurse anesthetists or some kind of nursing manager, or end up in the corporate world. some work as a “regular” nurse, but few stop there. My bff from Penn later on decided she wanted to be a nurse and did an accelerated master’s in nursing program and then later a nurse practitioner program. My SIL who graduated with a psych degree from somewhere else later did an ABSN program. I realize this is a huge luxury to think about from a financial perspective, but it also depends on the type of college experience your child would like to have and who else she wants to surround herself with.
Another Penn grad here and 100% agree with this description. I’m in my 40s now for perspective.
Nursing is usually the most competitive major at State U. I guess Penn is different? We see so many really bright kids not even getting in if they list that as a major. Or taking 6 years to get through the two-tiered schools.
Most of my nurse friends wanted to be doctors but went the ABSN route after 2 tries at med school applications. They are rock stars. Some are nurse practitioners after even more schooling. There is a lot of science ; I think everyone else just think it’s just changing bedpans.
UPENN is an Ivy League and not a state school. You must be thinking of Penn State, so not at all the same thing
Penn is an Ivy League private school.
i have a long reply stuck in mod, so come back later and hopefully it will be unstuck
Very much not something I can ask friends in real life – how do you deal when you’re very much in a happy, committed marriage but have fantasy dreams of another person?
Had a (very steamy) dream about a co-worker yesterday, who I am A) not close to, B) not interested in; he’s objectively very physically attractive, but also in a happy relationship, and again, we’re not at all friends outside of work and have 0 non-professional interaction (even if we get along well professionally!). I’m inclined to chalk it up to normal reaction to someone around you being physically attractive? I feel like this is the kind of thing men write off as normal all the time, but makes me feel somehow icky!
From the POV of a long-term marriage – I think this is normal once in a blue moon! When it happened to me, I let it bounce back on me and just reveled in feeling kind of hot and steamy, and brought that right back to my own relationship.
brains are weird. NBD.
+1. Half the time my brain still thinks I’m back in college in my dreams and I’m with either my high school boyfriend or a guy I dated in college. I am 45 and have been out of college for over 2 decades and have zero desire to be with an old boyfriend, it is what it is.
This is helpful and reassuring! I’m like even if I was single I would 10/10 choose my husband over this man, and would be uninterested in dating him (he has some annoying qualities at work that would drive me nuts in a personal context) and I’m like how did we get here.
I would actively work to avoid non-essential interactions with this coworker. No meals together when traveling, no joking over coffee during a break, etc. I wouldn’t want this to go further in my head. Once I’ve actively made that choice, I’d just let my brain resolve whatever it’s doing.
Girl you enjoy it
This. It’s normal and fine. You know if there’s something else going on, and if there isn’t, then let your brain wander.
Totally normal.
I have heard that sometimes this means you want to please the person in the dream in a platonic context, and your brain translates that into a steamy dream. I have definitely been able to apply that interpretation nearly every time this has come up for me. When it didn’t apply, there was something identifiable going on in my relationship that explained why my mind was wandering.
Brains are weird and make all kinds of wonky connections.
Sometimes I can trace them to skimming email right before bed, and now suddenly my coworker and I are in a spy movie but also have a child together and we live in the mountains, which happened because I watched some TV about spies and also grabbed a drink of water in the kitchen where I saw a picture of my niece and there’s a picture from a hiking trip on the wall next to my bed.
I’ve also had steamy coworker dreams about people who I am not even attracted to, because I watched a movie with some romance and then checked my work calendar and happened to see a meeting with the person who ended up in my dream.
Basically, I wouldn’t be alarmed about this, unless it happens repeatedly and you start feeling the attraction when you’re awake. The other comment about wanting to please someone in a platonic context rings true to me, I’ve had several dreams about multi-skip-level bosses or coworker peers when we’re working on a project together over the years, even though there’s zero attraction in real life and the dream is not recurring.
I had a steamy dream about a celebrity when I was married. In the dream I declined to be with the celebrity, citing my then-husband, who was there. In the dream, the celebrity suggested including my husband in the action. I have never really wanted this in the real world, but in the dream world, it made perfect sense! Wink emoji
Apologies if we’ve already discussed this but I thought this AMA letter from someone who is only allowed to wear Ann Taylor at work is awful/kind of hilarious (why Ann Taylor of all places?!):
https://www.askamanager.org/2025/09/company-dress-code-requires-women-to-wear-high-heels-and-only-shop-at-ann-taylor.html
LOL just ann taylor is such a weird requirement. Maybe that’s somehow the only women’s business formal store the boss knows?
That’s hilarious. Honestly, I’d take it. $1400 per year goes pretty far on second hand clothing and the rest I like a mini bonus.
Yes – $1400 will buy a lot of Ann Taylor second hand.
Honestly, while insisting on AT is kind of silly, the fact that they are giving their employees a stipend for professional clothes is kind of nice.
$700 gets you more than 2 suits and 2 shirts at Ann Taylor.
I wonder about the accuracy of this letter. If you don’t know about the dress code until “several months” into the job, it’s obviously not being enforced.
That said; just wait for the sales.
oops, nearly just got scammed on a site for sundance living sale. fyi! saw the ad on facebook and didn’t realize at first that the URL is not sundance at all.
This happened to me once with a different company and a spoofed website. Glad you didn’t bite.
This happened to me too with Sundance! Really frustrating and I tried to report it to Instagram too.
PS – I didn’t place an order but was definitely thinking about it