ByKat Hours Updated
Comments 143 Comments

Coffee Break: Somerset Jumpsuit

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.

woman wears dark brown velvet burnout jumpsuit; she is standing in front of a dark red background

There is a ton of holiday stuff out there in the stores right now… what are you buying?

This jumpsuit from Anthropologie caught my eye — I knew that the reader-favorite dress, the Somerset, came as a romper, but this is the first jumpsuit I've seen. This one is made from a brown pink velvet burnout fabric, with nice wide legs, and I can see it being a great “festive but professional” outfit to wear to a holiday party at your your boss's house or an all-staff holiday office party after work.

(They have a bunch of pretty velvet dresses in both mini- and maxi-styles — to me they look a bit too flirty/boho/young to wear to work-related event, though. Readers, what are your thoughts?)

The jumpsuit comes in regular, plus, petite, and tall sizes for $188.

Sales of note for 3/26/25:

  • Nordstrom – 15% off beauty (ends 3/30) + Nordy Club members earn 3X the points!
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 50% off sale + additional 20% off + 30% off your purchase
  • Banana Republic Factory – Friends & Family Event: 50% off purchase + extra 20% off
  • Eloquii – 50% off select styles + extra 50% off all sale
  • J.Crew – 30% off tops, tees, dresses, accessories, sale styles + warm-weather styles
  • J.Crew Factory – Shorts under $30 + extra 60% off clearance + up to 60% off everything
  • M.M.LaFleur – 25% off travel favorites + use code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – $64.50 spring cardigans + BOGO 50% off everything else

143 Comments

  1. If only I had holiday parties to attend! I’ve only worked at 1 employer that ever had a party, and it was a super awkward afternoon at an arcade/bowling alley with pizza. My friends are usually too exhausted with kids to do anything.

    1. Yeah, swanky parties are not part of my world, at all. I don’t think I’m disappointed by that, tbh.

    2. I always had low budget office holiday gatherings, often involving potluck meals (higher ed problems) but the pandemic seems to have gotten rid of them for good and I’m not sad about it.

      1. This is my office too. The pandemic killed the holiday potluck, which made me so happy. Until this year when it’s been brought back. I was not pleased to see the email.

      2. Ugh, my office potluck is making a comeback this year, and I am not happy about it. I’m in leadership and it will look bad if I don’t participate but gawd, I hate it so so much.

      3. Ok, now you both have me worried that mine will make a comeback this year too. Ugh!

        1. My boss claims that “people have missed it!!!” WHO IS MISSING IT? Because when I told my team it was coming back, each and every one of them groaned.

          1. Your boss is the only one missing it. But unfortunately he has the power to bring it back

    3. I used to work for an employer, pre 2008, that held black tie parties for clients every year. I managed to get invited to two of them pretty much annually – two major cities in my “territory.” I LOVED going! I had quite a collection of black tie wear for those things. I’m originally from the sticks so this was the stuff of movies to me.

      2008 killed all of those parties and they never came back. Finance sector.

    4. I don’t move in circles where the holiday parties require clothing of this kind, thankfully.

    5. Yeah, I think the holiday party at the boss’s house is the least HR-compatible thing that still gets referred to on this blog. Even at my very relaxed company, this would not fly. I wish I went to dinner parties, but I can understand why nobody wants the risks of hosting anymore.

      1. I think this is a law firm thing. We didn’t have holiday parties at partners’ houses, but always had a couple of summer dinner parties at partners’ houses. To, I don’t know, show how nice a house you could get if you sold your life to the firm? But they were not that different from the firm sponsored happy hours at restaurants.

      2. We’re having a holiday party at my boss’s house. Why is that not HR-compatible?

        1. Partner here – I’m hosting my group’s holiday party at my house – I am told associates like it but maybe I should rethink? We’re inviting our alumni too and all accepted so how bad can it be?

  2. This is absolutely revolting and you’d freeze your top half off every time you needed to per.

      1. Wait…where have you lived that you have never experienced a cold bathroom??

  3. It’s nice to see something on a model who is shaped a lot like me! I don’t like this jumpsuit in particular, but now I want to see what else she has modeled.

        1. I don’t mind the shoes but I couldn’t wear them anyway. I like more casual, loungey holiday looks anyways. And that the type of gathering I’m usually invited to and/or host. This dress would work for a more casual vibe with different shoes.

  4. I have pants that are similar in cut and color to the legs of this jumpsuit except mine are copper metallic and I was going to wear them to my holiday parties. What would you wear for a top and shoes? And jewelry too I suppose. I was thinking a black mock neck or turtleneck bodysuit, Party Pants, and a black pointed toe heel for a work party but that seems kinda meh for a non-work party. Would an ivory silk draped-ish top and nude sandals work, do you think?

    I live in the south so no snow to contend with. I’d like to look sophisticated and sleek but also fun—it’s the holidays and I’m young!

    1. I like the idea of ivory better with copper metallic than black. The draped top sounds pretty! My only qualm about shoes with wide-legged pants is that you don’t want something where the heel might get stuck in the hem of the pants. Walk in them first and make sure!

      1. That seems less like a shoe problem and more like a pants are too long and need to be hemmed problem.

        1. I wasn’t clear. If you wear flowy long pants and the back of your heel is exposed – like in slingbacks for instance – the material tends to want to get caught between your anatomical heel and the footbed of the shoe. This is a common problem!

          And no, you don’t want to hem them to above your anatomical heel if you’re wearing heeled shoes. That looks terrible.

  5. Can anyone help me find a new dress for the office holiday party? Party is in the evening at a restaurant (there’s no sit down dinner, just an open room with a bar). There will be about 100 people in attendance. I want to look cute as I have a crush in another department…

    I’m 30 and am around a size 10 with a large chest. I want a short dress and I’ll probably wear tights and boots with it. I’m thinking a holiday color like dark green or burgundy but black works too. I’ll post a link of a dress I’m interested in so far but very open to any and all ideas.

      1. Ooh, so pretty and sophisticated. I love the dark green. If you are one of the lucky few for whom wrap dresses work, go for it!

      3. I have this dress in navy velvet from a few years ago and I absolutely adore it. Super flattering. I can’t even tell you how much use I’ve gotten just in wearing to nice dinners over the winter season. You won’t regret it. It’s a faux wrap so super easy to wear and the neckline is perfect—not too low or overly modest. Truly it’s been like a chameleon dress for me. In fact, I’m already planning to wear it at a nice dinner with clients scheduled for a conference I’m going to in January in Vegas.

      4. Cusp-size busty person here. I love this RL dress style and have it in several variations – it can easily be dressed up or down for different events, and it’s really flattering. The velvet sounds great for the holidays.

    2. Did they send out a dress code? I like your suggested dress as long as the party is that level of dressy. I’d ask some of your female coworkers. I always end up doing that to be safe. Like going straight from work to a restaurant bar would be typical for my past workplaces, and most people wore what they wore to the office. One admin changed into an extremely short, skin-tight sequined dress and that was Remembered, not in a great way.

      I think this style is flattering on a large chest as long as you can manage to keep the cleavage work-appropriate, but since you walk around with your chest daily, I would imagine that’s familiar territory to you! (Same for me)

      1. Great question! The invite says that those who dress up get an extra raffle ticket – either fun dressing up or dressy dressing up. I’m leaning into the dressy dressing up since I want to look cute. My friend is doing the same so we’ll be together in this.

  6. Picking up on a discussion from the morning thread: does anyone have recommendations for in-person shopping for a size 16 teenage girl? We were at a massive mall over the weekend and it was so frustrating – even stores that carry a wide size range (like Lululemon) only have up to size 12 in stores. Old Navy and Gap are good, but all the other trendy stores (Hollister, I’m looking at you) are just awful.

    3. Honestly–about 10 years ago, everyone stopped carrying XL or XXL in store. I’m that size (and tall), and I do 100% of my shopping online from the following retailers:

      Boden
      Gap
      Athleta
      Eddie Bauer
      Aerie
      Loft
      Talbots
      J Crew
      Saint & Sofia (love this–they’re new to me and quite cool!)

      I know these are not teenager stores, but, for instance, Eddie Bauer has the best Tall XXL tees and shorts.

      Good luck, and sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!

      1. Really? Xl and xxl seem to make up the majority of store stock these days. Small sizes sell out immediately.

    4. Athleta carries plus sizes in their stores. Maybe that’s not what you’re really looking for, but they would have something, at least. How about department stores like Macy’s or Dillard’s?

    6. I wonder if this is regional, because the Hollister in our local mall carries at least up to size 17 in juniors. JC Penny’s also has a junior’s plus section in our local store, and Dillards.

      1. This was in Orange County, California. Stupid Hollister, breaking my kids’ heart.

  7. Can anyone recommend a fun white elephant gift that is unisex and worth around $20? Easy to travel with is a plus. All of my ideas are for parties that are all women but the invite specified for the gift to be unisex since it’s an office party.

    2. At the last one I attended I brought a cocktail shaker. It was one of those where you could steal prior gifts (forgot the name) and my gift was the most stolen.

      The one I brought was chrome and had embossed cocktail recipes on the side, but honestly, that wasn’t the selling point. A lot of people just wanted a cocktail shaker.

      1. Oh good idea! I was thinking maybe an Amazon echo dot because I just noticed they’re on sale from $50 to $22. But cocktail shaker seems like a good one too.

      2. +1 to this idea. A corkscrew, bottle opener, jigger, or set of ice cube molds would all be good too.

      3. The OXO single walled with a jigger for a lid is looking really good to me right now. Available at amazon, target, and OXO website.

    5. Contigo mug.
      Headlamp.
      Fun picture frame
      Anything from the Amazon Under 20 gift guide or NYMag 20 gift guide.

    6. A Rubix Cube or something equally old school and holds no purpose other than fun.

    8. Elf on a Shelf
      Nice box of chocolates
      Tree Ornament
      Santa Hat
      Metal container containing cookies or brownies
      Enjoy!

      1. Please nothing actually xmas related (ornament, Santa hat, Elf on a Shelf). As a Jewish person, that item would be dropped off at Goodwill on my way home from the party.

      1. HAHAHAHA this was what I bought for the white elephant gift at Friendsgiving last year. So funny

    14. I once brought a little working robot novelty toy as a white elephant and people almost got into a fist fight snatching it back and forth! It was a huge hit. Maybe something like that—a funny toy that has motion and lights up.

  8. Speaking of holiday office parties! I’m wearing a red chiffon dress to mine. It’s dressy. What colour shoes with red? I have zero party shoes so I don’t mind buying a pair. I’m leaning towards a gold/metallic sandal.

      1. To each his own, I completely disagree that red is even a statement. I’d do gold, black and have done electric blue or white, too.

      2. I feel like nude is completely over so I would absolutely do a metallic.

    3. Agree with good or metallic! Avoid black with red – can look harsh or alternatively Minnie Mouse

  9. Has anybody had success calming down a friend or relative that has gone down the right wing rabbit hole?

    I have a dear family friend that seems to be falling apart and I do not know what I can do. We live in a peaceful semi-rural area. She imagines people of color coming after her for her Jewish ancestry, or being denied medical care for being white, and other things. She cries about all the friends she is losing who will not listen to her. Her husband is up at 3AM looking to buy more weapons online. I want to be sympathetic but also I do not have time to watch XYZ documentary on YouTube and refute it point by point.

    When do you let someone go? I feel so sad for her.

    1. Have you tried asking her if someone said something to her directly, online or in real life? Because it’s possible that she has experienced some real life trauma in the past month if she’s Jewish.

      1. That would neither calm her nor dispel beliefs like “your access to medical care depends on color.” It doesn’t justify (if it even happened) what she is describing either.

        2. Exactly. OP specifically mentions racist beliefs. This is rabbit hole stuff, not trauma from being subjected to anti-semitism.

    3. Advise her to join the local Jewish Federation or ADL. They are both mainstream Jewish civic organizations that will added her concerns but in a reality and data-based (not cray-cray) way.

    4. >being denied medical care for being white

      this is so obnoxious I wouldn’t even want to salvage the friendship

      1. I have a relative I no longer speak to who actually believes this will be a thing.
        There is no way I would remain friends with anyone who believed that either.

    5. You acknowledge and have empathy when their concerns are based in reality and try to direct them towards or keep them connected with mainstream info sources

      If you can’t have empathy for a Jewish friend’s safety concerns when the FBI is reporting massive increases in antisemitic attacks then maybe you should move on and focus on your own relationship with reality.

    6. I don’t know if I had success calming them down, but I set some boundaries over what I was willing to discuss or hear them say. With one relative, life circumstances changing also led to a change in their focus and views (more proximate worries, healthier hobbies and pursuits, positive experiences, less time to spend on YT). With a family friend, it sort of settled into something stable over time and more of a background thing than a constant preoccupation, so just talking about other things helps.

      If this is new, I would worry at least a little about whether there’s a mental health component.

    7. I think you have a few options. You can try to keep exchanges non political and change topics or you can try to humanize some of the “other” ways she is thinking. Years ago my narrow-minded dad from rural Iowa only became accepting of gay people after he started working with a lesbian and came to be friends with her. Can you expose her to some good experiences with real people who represent different backgrounds and views? It’s painful, but I’ve also tried to coach on how to be a better news consumer. Did this come from TikTok or the BBC—which has no reason to spread political propaganda here. That’s a tougher one though. I fear Trump has people disbelieving their own eyes and any manner of credible journalism. With the weapon stuff, I would put a hard line on not visiting their home or alllowing weapons in mine and phrase it as they are making me feel unsafe (my poor 80 year old mother had to take this stance with a book club member who kept a gun in her purse and wanted to bring it with her).It’s really hard to change minds though, especially with so much garbage getting pushed these days.

    8. I think there are generally two ways to approach this, and it depends on your relationship with the person:
      1) you decide what they are saying is abhorrent and you are no longer interested in a relationship with them. That’s totally fine if that’s what you want to do.
      2) you decide to extend some grace, especially if this is a recent change triggered by recent events and if this is someone you generally care about and respect. In which case you can either choose to redirect to more vanilla topics, or express empathy and say that while you understand their concerns, you don’t think xyz is the answer.

    9. If you’d like to salvage the relationship, consider inviting her to be more active in your life and/or the community – your kids’ recitals, Sunday dinner, a town board, etc.

      There’s quite a few articles out there you can read that, broadly, say the people who fall for this stuff 1) feel like they’re “special” and “important” when they have purported secret, insider info about what’s “really” going on and 2) don’t have great social networks, so they fear outsiders because they’re not interacting with humanity enough to know that all that nonsense isn’t true. So get her involved in volunteering for anything!

      I recommend seeking out articles by googling for things like “why do people fall for Q anon” etc.

    10. Typically people falling down these rabbit holes is precipitated by loneliness and some sort of traumatic event that went unresolved. A normally functioning happy person doesn’t just stumble on radical racist YouTube and start thinking “you know, they have a point there…”. I would try to find out what started this–is there an event or series of events that lead her here? Is there a lack in her life? Is she an empty nester or recently retired? Did something happen in the community?

      Another thing to understand is that one can’t reason someone out of positions they didn’t reason themselves into. Of course it’s laughably irrational to think one is going to be denied healthcare solely due to being white in the USA, so that’s not going to be something you can reason her out of. So where is it coming from? Fear–what’s the fear? Can you work with her to address the core fear? Is it possible to get her back into her community and active and out of the bubble/bell jar?

      I think there’s a couple reactions that might work

      “Wow, Ismerelda, that’s not like you! I’ve always known you to be a clear-headed logical, and fair minded person. What’s going on, you’re alarming me.”

      [Address the Big Feelings, but not the content] “Sounds like you’re feeling very fearful and anxious about getting access to healthcare when you need it. Can I ask what happened to change your view here?” or “Wow, that sounds scary and upsetting. That hasn’t been my experience with [group] but I can understand thinking those thoughts would make you feel scared.”

      Gray rock with a touch of Disappointed Favorite Teacher “Wow. Well, that hasn’t been my reality nor anyone I know or have heard of. Let’s talk about something else.”

      Refocus energy “Sounds like you’re concerned about healthcare access. Have you voted/volunteered/gotten a job in that field/attempted to access healthcare to test that theory?”

  10. Thank you for the notification yesterday that Ann Taylor was holding a site-wide 50% off sale with free shipping. I bought a cute red satin headband as a Christmas gift for my 14-year-old niece, at a much more affordable price than list price, and was able to apply a spare gift card to the order, to boot!

  11. For those of you with parents who won’t discuss Eldercare issues and want to be taken out of their homes in body bags. When having the conversation make sure to mention how traumatic it is for first responders and family to find a badly decomposed body during a wellness check. My partner has come across some bodies which are basically goo, the family can’t identify them, they must be cremated, the home becomes a biohazard, it’s all so bad.

    1. If your parents refuse to have this conversation at all, saying something like this isn’t going to suddenly change their minds. People have emotional reasons for this kind of stubbornness and trying to logic them out of it doesn’t work.

      1. Not to mention, “we won’t notice you’re dead until you’re a pile of goo” is not likely to elicit a good response anyway.

        1. Ugh yeah. 100 percent agree.

          Op that’s horrifying for your partner. And just horrifying. I’m sorry.

          Not to pick on this op but I often think people use psa type posts here when what they’d really like to do is just yell into the void. This isn’t happening because people failed to demand that grandpa consider the first responders.

      3. My logical response would be something like: I message with you every day or every other day. If six weeks went by before you did a wellness check, that sounds like something you could change.

        As a pragmatic matter, it’s best to have these conversations when everyone is healthy and spry, not when someone is declining fast.

    2. This is awful. I don’t think the stubborn old people care, though. They don’t think it will happen to them because they are exceptions, and they are so self-centered that they don’t care about the impact on anyone else.

      1. Yeah, my in-laws wouldn’t care about the feelings of a stranger finding their bodies or their own children’s emotions at making the same discovery. They’ve spent their whole life ignoring the feelings of others, they won’t start paying attention at this point.

        During COVID, they would call with these elaborate plans about how someone from “the university” would come and pick up their bodies because they had signed something donating their bodies to science.

    3. I think this is a little melodramatic. The people who were basically goo probably didn’t have families actively checking on them. I don’t need to be living in my parents’ house to know they’re dead.

      1. I live 13 hours from my parents. I have two teens who don’t drive yet. I don’t know how long it takes to turn to go but if it is a week in the summer, that could easily happen.

        1. I live far from my parents too but I text or email them pretty much every day and would be alarmed if they didn’t respond and would contact police for a wellness check.

          And if my kids said this to me I’d say “well then you should call me more often!” I’m kidding, sort of, but I can’t imagine any older person reacting well to this.

      2. It’s not melodramatic, my partner deals with about one goo-person a week (more in summer, less in winter). These people do have families (and often pets who face horrible situations). It’s very selfish to expect people to literally clean you up.

        1. I’m sure you, as somebody at least one level removed from this situation, know all about the family conversations that preceded these incidents.

    4. Fun fact, this can happen to anyone, not just the elderly. My brother died in his home the winter of 2021 and wasn’t found for, what we can only determine, was just over 2 weeks. He was so badly decomposed that they couldn’t determine how he died in the autopsy. Pretty traumatic all around OP.

      1. This is my nightmare, as a single woman living alone without a large social circle or consistent regular contact with people. I guess my work would notice if I didn’t show up but that would be it.

      2. Yeah, unfortunately this sounds like it’s just part of the job for first responders.

      3. This will be some of us someday. No kids. Just some nephews. It’s about half of my adult friends. Ugh.

      5. This happened to my uncle — it was at least 2 weeks before he was found. They had to cut the wooden floor away where his body had laid. (He was estranged from his two daughters and exwife after some, uh, bad computer habits landed him in federal prison.)

    5. Nobody is going to change their end of life plans the the same of the first responder. I think you need a different approach.

      FWIW this is fairly common, and hard. Keep lines of communication open with your loved ones that live alone and check in on them!

    6. There’s a space between insisting your parents age and die in the way you think best and goo.

      You may not like your parents choices. I have first hand experience with my father choosing not be be treated for lung cancer after he saw his brother die after suffering horribly.

      But even if you don’t like their choices you can call or check in on them every couple days. No one turns to goo in 48 hours.

      The goo says a lot more about the people who were in their lives (or not) than it does the people who died forgotten and alone.

    7. I’m sorry this is hard for you.
      It seems like you’re assuming that everyone has the kind of relationship with their parents that allow for these kinds of conversations, and that all of these parents are reasonable people that care what effect their choices have on others. The reality is that you have no idea what the facts are that led to the outcome of someone dieing alone and not being found for a while.

    8. That sounds horrible and I’m sorry your partner has to deal with it. I am in the health care field and the amount of denial about realistic end-of-life options is just unreal.

  12. Is anyone here more familiar with men’s fashion? In search of new jeans for my husband…who does not care about fashion at all, but most of his jeans have holes in them somewhere so I feel like an update would be a practical holiday gift! He’s 6’ tall and has pretty thin legs (and no a$$, sorry honey) so finding flattering jeans that flatter his legs without being too tight in the waist can be a challenge. Does anyone know 1) of any brands that might work for his body type, and 2) what style/cut to look for? Thanks in advance!

  13. I’m looking for a puffer vest that’s more cute and fashiony than sporty. I have the one from J Crew Factory, and while it’s cute, the fabric is much stiffer than I like. (In hindsight, I should’ve returned it.) Any ideas? Hoping I can score a black friday deal.

    2. Maybe regular J Crew? I bought one from them in 2005, and my daughter is still wearing it! I know that was a long time ago, but it was nice and soft.

    3. Would you consider a shearling vest? I think that’s the more fashiony warm vest this year

Comments are closed.