ByKat Hours Updated
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Suit of the Week: McQueen

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woman wears black and white checked suit

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 2026!

I have always felt like the McQueen Leaf jacket was one of the sharpest-looking blazers out there, but other office-friendly pieces have been harder to find from McQueen. But I'm loving this unusual gingham suit.

The NET-A-PORTER product page notes that McQueen's Fall '26 collection “disrupted traditional jacket codes through exaggerated proportions and unexpected cuts.” I love the outward-facing lapels that reveal the collarbone, and even more that i love it that they styled it with a blouse here — it's always so hard to figure out how to style these for an actual office.

The jacket is $3500, available in Italian sizes 36-46, and the straight-leg pants are $1490. The suit also comes in black! (Also, I can't quite figure out how I feel about this but I think I love it… the iconic jacket now comes in two denim washes.)

Sales of note for 8/28:

54 Comments

  2. do you think you were more emotional in your 20s, 30s, or 40s. I’m 49 and feel like I’m constantly crying these days but still feel like I was more actually emotional in my 20s.

    1. I’m not sure I experience all the hormonal perimenopause emotions as genuine heartfelt emotions. Sometimes there’s really not much logic underlying them.

      1. I’ve had whacky hormonal mood swings almost all my life, and they’ve never felt particularly more or less real than other emotions. I’ve always felt like emotions happen to me and then the logic part of my brain looks around for reasons to try and rationalize it. Sometimes the emotions are a reaction to external stimulus and sometimes it’s internal stimulus and figuring out exactly why is a challenging art, but being sad because my dog died doesn’t actually feel any different than feeling sad because I’m hungry and hormonal and the emotion isn’t less real. It just needs a different method of handling and processing.

        1. That so interesting. My sadness or I guess grief when a family member died young and suddenly was profoundly different from being sad because I’m hungry or hormonal.

          1. I don’t think that my experience of “emotions just happen” is universal by any means, but I also don’t think it’s too completely out of the ordinary. I just have to work around it – I spent too many of my young adult years wondering why my life sucked when actually everything in my life was fine, I was just PMS-ing. Or feeling like I was crazy because of my mood swings. Tried some medications that definitely did not help anything and have since come to the conclusion that I said – emotions just happen sometimes and there’s nothing much to be done about it, you just work around it. Maybe I’ll get lucky and when I hit menopause and that’ll change.

    2. I almost never cried before 2020. I spontaneously get waves of sadness that cause me to cry on a regular basis since then. And before anyone asks, I was too young for perimenopause then and now.

    3. OP here – i guess i mean that i seem to get veklempt more quickly/easily but i’m not actually sad it’s just that annoyign thing where you cry whenever you’re having an important discussion except it’s not an important discussion just random thing.

      whereas in my 20s my whole year would be ruined over drama with girlfriends and whiplash over a boy’s interest.

  3. This is the physical manifestation of that awkward feeling when you can’t get the layers right after putting on a winter coat with too-snug sleeves over your blazer.

    The denim ones are phenomenal.

  4. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you don’t need to make a big show of “oh shoot I forgot your birthday teehee” every year. You have a magical device in your pocket/hand 16+ hours a day that can add an annual calendar reminder within 5 seconds if you so choose, or you can just not do that and drop the “oh I forgot! it’s so hard to remember!!1” literally 5 years running. I’m not a big birthday person – it’s OK if you don’t observe mine because I hardly do either. But don’t come to me asking for forgiveness for forgetting important dates when you’ve never once attempted to write it down in your phone.

    1. Strong agreeeee. I put everyone importants birthdays in my calendar like years ago. If anyone forgets a birthday these days that’s child levels of poor life admin and deeply unappealing.

    2. The people who mention my birthday belatedly know it by heart and I love that. There are a limited and dwindling number of people like that in my life. It’s usually family or childhood friends. I don’t need them to think of me as any part of “life admin.” If they realize it’s already late July somehow think of me without a calendar reminder I’ll smile.

      1. Right, they say it’s fine to not mention it at all. It’s the drama of pretending like you should have remembered.

        1. Not OP but agree. Fine to forget and not mention, fine to remember belatedly, but if that’s the case just be normal and don’t get all gushy twee about the forgetting bit.

          1. Precisely. “Haha one of these days I’ll remember!” gets old the 5th year in a row when her phone is literally in her hand.

          2. Still ridiculous, be happy they remembered at all. The gushing is just normal and it’s weird you’re keeping track of that.

          4. No, the gushing isn’t normal. It’s annoying drivel that makes the gush-er look dumb. I don’t stay friends with people like that.

  5. I don’t know how many men, mostly black and brown, I have represented on charges of m*rder after they repeatedly asked for mental health help. But we need to stop telehealth and the WHOLE patient needs to be treated. If someone doesn’t show up to outpatient community mental health or the VA or whatever, we need someone to GO TO THEIR HOUSE. Can we please stop paying ICE and start helping sick and suffering humans?

    1. You know the answer is no. Because no one gives a $hit. Signed, someone who has also represented dozens of mentally ill (and lead poisoned!) black and brown men on charges of murder.

    2. Plenty of people care – and I hear some heartbreak in your post, you clearly, LC, you do, too. There have been grants to support outreach just like this, we need to spend the time and the resources.

      Baltimore had its lowest homicide number in July. And then I went into work and one of the students was wearing a The Wire tee. There was a whole season on addiction and mental health with the mayor, but a lot of this is because of their Safe Streets programs and more. Watch the documentary The Interruptors – some of this is not rocket science, it’s helping people, your neighbors, find and try solutions that fall short of violence, often in service of creating stronger communities and social bonds. The social bonds that help people find a 12 step program, or call that community health center to get re-grounded.

      The Year Without Sunshine has an ideal within the short story – which bottom lines to – getting to know our neighbors can result in a rising tide that keeps all of us afloat.

      Thank you, public defenders, criminal lawyers (well maybe not Blamche), and all who are striving for a Greater Society with your service.

      1. Re: Baltimore: sadly, I think a chunk of the lower murder statistic is 1)the declining population of Baltimore City; and 2) violence moving to the surrounding counties. I don’t know the answers.

    3. the one thing i disagree about here is telehealth. i live in a remote area and i wouldn’t be able to access thetapy at all if it weren’t for telemedicine. lets do telemedicine AND the other stuff you said.

  6. I’m on HRT for menopause. Estrogen and progesterone and that has been fine. But it there anything to the reels I’m seeing on insta about T for women in this age / stage of life? I don’t know anyone adding that to the mix.

    1. Ohhh there is a good double episode on perimenopause and menopause on the Ologies podcast with Alie Ward that does cover T. There was also an interview of a gyno-to-those-that-can-afford her that shared a lot of when and how she would customize hormone treatment – sharing a lot of details about treatments among a lot of her client’s lifestyle description. The doc is down to earth, as in, she’s not holding back info to attract clients in the article, it’s being shared to help other people experiencing menopause and perimenopause not suffer so much by giving them updated information and specific details that they can bring to their own healthcare professionals. NYT? New Yorker? It would be a great article for Kat to share on a Friday, but it’s likely about a month old.

    2. My OB/gyn put me on T. The main reason was reduced sexual desire. I will note, she was excellent in her discussion of it. She noted that the evidence for it improving sexual desire in women (much less other things) was weak and she highlighted other meds I could try with clearer clinical success, as well as therapy. I went with T, possibly because I was also influenced by the hype.

      I tried first a compounded version (cream), then a version prescribed for men but applying only 1/10 of the dose a day (gel). In the end, neither did much of anything for me. No clear change in libido, much less energy or anything else you might see advertised on social media. (Side note: reduction in stress and better communication with spouse is bringing the libido back!)

      The hype of T online WAY outstrips what has been found empirically. I recommend reading Dr. Jen Gunter (the Vajenda) among others for a more accurate medical perspective.

    3. You are missing out if you’re not on a GLP1. They make a world of difference for menopause symptoms.

      1. oh please. Now every woman should go on a GLP1 once they hit menopause? Just stop.

        1. I will not stop. It’s something my doctor has said should be part of the standard of care for menopause and it has made a world of difference for me and many of my friends who are in the same stage of life. You stop it with your weird gatekeeping and ideas about this drug.

          2. Tell me you know nothing about it without telling me, it treats more than that and plenty of people who aren’t overweight take it, myself included.

      2. Kindly, please look into the impact of glp1s on muscle loss and bone health. Those are critically important to keep healthy, and by the time a woman is getting HRT they’re often in need of better muscle tone and bone density. Weight training, resistance exercise, and brisk walking will do more than glp1, unless you have other health issues…but for menopause, just no…with bells on.

    4. I’m on T but my production is off which showed up on my blood tests. It made a huge difference in brain fog and energy. I think like with the other parts of HRT, the goal is to get you back in the normal for you. But it did take a menopause specialist to correctly diagnose the issue. Two other doctors said my numbers were normal and they weren’t. Also, it doesn’t do anything for my libido. Ironic since that’s all it’s approved for in women.

  7. The US (as an institution, its government) is fundamentally, foundationally cruel.

        1. Not if it’s smashed into pieces, as this person’s intelligence appears to have been.

  8. I need to scream into the void. My entire day tomorrow is meetings. Most of today was meetings. This is common. My boss is illiterate and/or refuses to read emails with digestible information, but instead forces his direct reports (and others) to meet with him so he can be spoonfed information, verbally. It’s maddening. No one can get anything done because we are constantly in meetings that could be emails, on top of all the actual meetings my f’ing company has in lieu of actual, productive work. And, boss’s schedule is pretty busy so the meetings are constantly being moved, just dancing around the calendar. There have been at least 9 reschedules today alone. Not that my schedule matters, I guess. Rant over.

    2. This is normal. It’s also reasonable to want to meet instead of reading endless emails and not being able to ask questions in real time. When you’re the boss you can operate by email if you wish, but many people have learned this is a better way to get things done.

      1. It’s also a good way to cut through AI email slop or lazy responders. People sometimes complain when I schedule a very reasonable number of meetings (literally one per week for a high-profile project) but don’t realize that they’re part of the “you didn’t respond to the email so now it’s a meeting” club.

        2. That’s nice, I’m not using AI to draft emails. This really isn’t an issue in my company. But thanks for the useless response.

      3. No, it’s not normal, it’s excessive. Everyone in my org agrees that boss is excessive with meetings. Not everything needs to be questioned in real time (or ever). Never said I wanted to operate by email. Learn to read.

        What is the purpose of a response like this? Did you think you’re being helpful, or did you just want to be a jerk to someone who was already frustrated? Wow, what a valuable contribution you’ve made, we’re all better off for your presence. Are you in my org? No. Do you work with my boss? No. Do you know what it’s actually like? No. Why do you think you’re perception is more accurate than mine?

    3. The emails are to document work and to cover your behind. You cannot expect executives to read the intricacies of your emails when you can come to their office to brief them and answer questions.

      1. Who ever said the emails that would replace some of these needless meetings were intricate? Not me! Who ever said they were to executives? Not me. None of you all can read.

    4. It’s a cycle, too. All the meetings mean that boss never has time to read emails, and then calls meetings when things come up in other meetings that boss needs to be informed about . . . that had already been communicated in email. Sigh.

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