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M.M.LaFleur has had a number of interesting belts over the years — and I really like this wide-stitched style. It comes in sizes XS-XXL. I'd wear it with dresses or jumpsuits, and I might even use it to cinch a blazer or cardigan.
It's $125 at M.M.LaFleur.
As of 2024, some of our favorite brands to check for women's work belts include Brooks Brothers, M.M.LaFleur, and Tory Burch; also keep an eye on The Outnet and Nordstrom Rack for sales. For inexpensive belts, readers love J.Crew Factory, Banana Republic Factory, and Ann Taylor.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
- Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Bergdorf Goodman – Save up to 40% on new markdowns
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Warehouse sale, up to 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- White House Black Market – 30% off new arrivals
Daffodil
The wide black leather + white stitching makes this look like a weightlifting belt.
Anon
I have a brown one like this and I was just remembering how I felt like a wrestler in it the last time I wore it.
Anonymous
Or a medical brace…
Anonymous
Now I cannot unsee it. It’s the transition from wide at the back to narrow at the buckle that pushes it over the edge.
It's me.
I posted about Ripley Radar and then somebody asked about the length. I’m 5’8″ and wore them with my tallest heels and thought I needed to wear my second tallest heels. So they are definitely on the long side but would be super easy to hem.
Anon
It looks like something we would have belted a pencil skirt with in 2008.
Anon
Oops nesting fail.
Anon
Over the little cardigan.
Anon
With a statement necklace and platform heels!
Anonymous
I was going to say, I know I had this same belt when I was in law school circa 2008-2009 that I wore over a sheath dress.
Anon
I need someone who knows ergonomics to come to my house and fix my desk. Is that a thing? My desk set up is a mess and my neck, back, and arms are paying dearly.
Anon
Some occupational therapists can do this. great idea
Anon
Is googling recommendations insufficient? I optimized my setup based on what the internet told me I should aim for in terms of arm positioning, distance from screen, where my eye should hit the screen etc. with some monitor risers and a seat cushion (I’m short) i got myself aligned
Anonymous
What are your favorite tv shows for fashion? I’m looking forward to the new Kate winslet one even if she is a dictator…
Anon
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Mad Men for retro fashion, Downton Abbey for Edwardian/1920s.
Anonymous
LOVED Marvelous Mrs Maisel so much. The last season, and especially the last episode, makes my heart burst.
Anon
For high-powered women with budgets, Veep! Selina Meyer is a terrible person but she has some amazing power dresses.
Anon
Oh that is such a great show. Even if not just for the fashion.
Anon
It’s so hilarious. JLD is a national treasure.
Anon
Definitely Veep.
Anon
Although, what would Selina wear in 2024? I loved pre-COVID Selina so much. I bet she’d rock current looks but iDK exactly what she’d wear. Can someone style imaginary her for me pls?
Anon
She’d probably wear more trousers instead of pencil skirts.
Anon
Yep. Look at the actual veep.
Anon
I don’t think work clothes have changed that much. And Selena Meyer wasn’t exactly wearing Halogen pencil skirts. Her clothes were nice (and very expensive!) and would still work today, but the styling would probably be different.
Anonymous
Suits and Scandal
Anon
I remember when The Limited (RIP) did an Olivia Pope inspired line. I still have a jacket from it.
Anon
Same – I have a gorgeous pink tweed.
Anon
I loved that Olivia Pope inspired line!
Anonymous
Olivia Pope’s wardrobe remains one of my favorite of all time.
Anon III
I find Suit’s fashion early 10s uninspired–it’s pencil skirts, suits and heels, very classic, plus Jessica’s outfits which are absolutely ridiculous, and Donna’s cleavage outfits. They’re not power pieces.
Anon
I agree. Everything was skintight / made for TV.
Anon
I also thought Rachel’s outfits were way too tight. Always tight pencil skirts and sweaters. Very little office appropriate clothes.
Anon
The clothes in Suits are awful and rarely work appropriate.
Anon
Madame secretary for the work clothes
anon a mouse
Madame Secretary and The Diplomat both for work clothes.
Succession for Shiv Roy’s luxurious wardrobe.
Anonymous
+1 Madame Secretary. loved those very much
Anon
Oh man, I HATE the clothes in Madam Secretary. Why does she always, always, wear a blazer with the sleeves rolled up, but not the blouse underneath. It looks so weird.
Anonymous
Rebecca in Ted Lasso always looks incredible. I don’t remotely have the figure to pull off any of the looks, but I can dream.
Anon
Hannah Waddingham is so gorgeous!
Anon
She is what I think of when I hear the term statuesque. One of my late dad’s favorite words. Apparently he loved a statuesque woman.
Anon
Yes! Hannah and Gwendolyn Christie.
Anan
Younger. A combination of “what?!?!” And “can I wear that?l”
Anonymous
I quite liked Natasha’s style in Poker Face. Wednesday Adams as well.
There’s a Tom Hiddleston le Carre series with great clothes. The Chariots of Fire for period clothes. Keely Hawes in Bodyguard.
As for current office wear – no inspiration.
Anon
The Night Manager! I don’t remember the clothes but it’s such a good series.
Anon
The Night Manager was such a mood. I read that book ages ago, but the miniseries was so different in a better way than how I had imagined it.
anon
House of Cards (I want all of Claire Underwood’s outfits)
Anon
yes….
Anon
The Good Wife
Senior Attorney
I loved the clothes on The Good Fight but I felt like all the characters dressed alike.
Anonymous
M*A*S*H. Nobody could pull off such a wide variety of looks quite like Klinger.
Anon
Now you’re talking.
Anon
Not a show, but a movie. Baby Boom. The executive “tiger lady” version of Diane Keaton was 100% how I thought I’d dress as a serious business lady. It really imprinted on me!
Anon
I live Anne’s styling I’m Working Moms!
Anon
I graduated from law school in 1995 so it was Ally McBeal for me.
Anon
Favorite fluffy but not stupid books? I’m having a heavy day and need to decompress. I’m open to any particular genre as long as there is no serious violence (no ‘cozy’ murder mysteries) and I’m not particularly interested in ‘open door’ (smutty) romance at the moment either. I’ve read all the usual Emily Henry/Curtis Sittenfeld/Taylor Jenkins Reid/Fredrik Backman/Becky Chambers books so struggling to find something new.
Anonymous
Maybe try Check and Mate? It’s Ali Hazelwood but it’s closed doors.
Anon
Diksha Basu – I liked “The Windfall” better than “Destination Wedding” but both are very readable and meet your criteria.
Anon
Curtis Sittenfeld and Taylor Jenkins Reid are two of my favorite authors. I’d suggest Emma Straub, Liane Moriarty and Ann Patchett if you haven’t read them, although Patchett is very hit or miss from me (I’ve loved some of her books and hated others).
anon
Co-signed on all of this.
OP, I have similar tastes and am in a real reading rut. I like interesting people and settings. I’m not into anything murder-y, which seems to be limiting nowadays. I don’t mind some romance, but so many are just so badly written that I am constantly rolling my eyes at the characters.
Anon
I love Liane Moriarty but there’s a fair amount of crime there.
Anon
Sort of… a lot of her books (spoiler alert) make it seem like a crime happened, but it turns out that it was actually an accident or nothing bad happened.
I’m pretty sure What Alice Forgot and Truly Madly Guilty don’t have any implied or suspected crimes, although the latter is not a light book.
Anon
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London met the bill for me in that genre.
Anon
That’s a good one – I normally find romance (including Emily Henry) too cringey, but I enjoyed that book.
A
Emma Straub? Lisa See? Crazy Rich Asians? John Updike?
Anonymous
I’m reading a very long series of books by Patrick Taylor about some Irish doctors practicing in a small town. Not serious. Not taxing.
It’s like the James Herriott “All Creatures Great and Small” books, but with doctors.
Anon
James Herriot is my go-to comfort read. It’s even better on audio – the lead actor from the original 1970s series is the narrator and he’s SO good.
Anonymous
Or just read James Herriot! So warm and funny.
Anon
I was such a James Herriot preteen. Hours and hours reading those books over and over.
anon
Same!
Anonymous
Mine are all kid lit: Five Children and It, Pheonix and the Carpet, Five Little Peppers, Bobsey Twins, Trixie Beldon, Hardy Boys, The Misty books, Black Stallion, Black Beauty…
Jelly
Am so delighted to see the first two titles mentioned. I read second-hand copies my grandmother gave me!
Vicky Austin
Rosamunde Pilcher would be PERFECT for you right now. Shell Seekers or Winter Solstice. Gentle romance, rich and true-to-life detail, slow moving plots, beautiful settings, good food, characters always taking relaxing baths and getting dressed in warm sweaters afterward…
Vicky Austin
Also, in the same vein as the commenter right above me, I’ve been rereading Lucy Maud Montgomery over the last…eighteen months. Just finished my umpteenth read of Jane of Lantern Hill. Absolutely delightful.
I also really liked Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark recently. I wouldn’t call it fluffy but there’s certainly no murder and no smut.
Anokha
+1 to say that Jane of Lantern Hill is one of my all time favorites. I also really liked “The Blue Castle” (which has an adult protagonist)
Vicky Austin
God I love The Blue Castle!
Anonymous
Lucy Maud Montgomery is amazing. It’s sad that so many people only know her for Anne. Jane of Lantern Hill is fantastic.
Vicky Austin
Oh, and Helen Simonson! Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is really sweet.
joan wilder
Nostalgia moment! I read Shell Seekers on vacation with my Grandma when I was younger. I don’t remember a thing about it other than the story feeling warm and happy and it inspiring a lifelong desire to go to Ibiza (not yet accomplished)
Anon
The Thursday Murder Club. It’s not quite a cozy mystery and it’s hilarious.
Annabel Monaghan- Norah Goes Off Script.
Jennifer Weiner – The Breakaway.
Sue
+1 for Thursday Murder Club.
Anything by Ruth Ware
Anonymous
Laurie Frankel and Amy Poeppel are authors to add to your list. I’d also suggest The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, the American Royals series, the Guncle, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Counterfeit, and The Lost Ticket.
Anon
Janet Evanovich (who wrote the Stephanie Plum series) has a series called Fox & O’Hare about a serious, smart female FBI agent who catches a debonair con man she’s been chasing for years, and then is told by her FBI bosses she has to team up with him to do off the grid work the FBI can’t officially do. Of course they fall in love. They’re not great literature but very entertaining. There is some violence but it’s cartoonish and pretty limited, it would be easy to skip over.
Vicky Austin
I’m not usually into Janet Evanovich’s vibe, but this sounds amazing.
Anon
I’m not usually into Janet Evanovich’s vibe, but this sounds amazing.
Anonymous
Miss Pettigrew lives for a day
Cold Comfort Farm
The Importance of being earnest, if you enjoy reading plays
Daughter of Time, a mystery, but zero gore
Anon
Remarkably Bright Creatures! One of my favorite reads of 2023 and it’s uplifting, romantic (without being “a romance”) and not violent at all.
Ginger
I was going to suggest this, too.
Anon
Me too! I loved that book!
Anonymous
Loved this, and West with Giraffes. Seriously my favorite books this year
CapHillAnon
Madeline Wickham is exactly what I reach for on weeks like that. Bright, engaging, sweet.
Nesprin
In gentle sci-fi +/- humor
Connie Wells- To say nothing of the dog and crosstalk are both wonderful (skip the domesday book)
John Scalzi- The kaiju preservation society
Doug Adams- Dirk gently’s hollistic detective agency + long dark teatime of the soul
Vicky Austin
+1 to To Say Nothing of the Dog, possibly one of the funniest books I have ever read, ever
A
Georgette Heyer for sparkly regency romances. She really knew her stuff.
NaoNao
It’s a throwback but Rosamund Pilcher’s September (and associated series) is a wonderful read. It’s cozy, no violence, no open-door scenes, and just a delightful immersive story with tons of beautiful historical details.
Anon
Anyone have a product rec for removing stains from leather? I splashed a purse with pickle juice and am wondering how much I can DIY it.
Note to self, don’t haul around a jar of pickles in a purse.
Anon
I have no substantive advice, but as a fellow pickle lover, I hope you get excellent DIY tips!
Anonymous
You could try saddle soap
Anon
Is it actually stained or just wet? Can you sponge with a damp washcloth? What color is the leather?
Also, I feel like the type of person who has purse pickles is the type of person I would very much like to be friends with.
anonshmanon
I would like to join the pickle pals!
Anon
That’s a bold step beyond “I got hot sauce in my bag #swag”
Anon
Maybe a dumb q after this morning but do men still wear suits to funerals? We have one now and husband thinks an anything else is too casual. He has a suit (2023 funeral of an uncle) but his other clothes may actually be not formal enough. His workwear is a literal uniform.
anon
Yes, I have seen plenty of suits at funerals, and I do not live in a fancy place.
HSAL
My husband passed away in November. More men (almost all in the 35-65 range) were in suits than I would have expected.
Vicky Austin
I’m sorry for your loss.
Anon
Yes, he should wear a suit IMO.
Anon
My last funeral was in the rural south and yes, almost all the men still wore suits to the funeral mass/graveside burial. The visitation was a different story – many people came straight from work/during a lunch break and we saw lots of overalls/work clothes/uniforms.
As a family member I can tell you I didn’t care one bit what people wore and was touched to see the turnout and by the stories people shared with us. The act of showing up is much more important than what you wear.
Anonymous
It entirely depends on the norms in your social group, on the formality factor for the family, and the norms in your region. In my area and social group, suits aren’t the norm. They wouldn’t be wrong, just more formally dressed than others. Do you know the family well enough to be able to know if they’re more formal or more casual?
anonn
yes. Men wear suits if they own one that fits. At a recent funeral DH and his BIL compared funeral programs that they found in their jacket pockets. They only wear suits for weddings and funerals, the program stash is kind of a nice remembrance too. Unless its unbearably hot.
Anon
I’d add, men wear suits if it zips. If it’s not a crowd that wears them for work, I’d put 50/50 odds on the jackets being able to be buttoned but still worn out of respect.
Anon
I attended a friend’s father’s funeral last fall and very few men were in suits. Several were in jeans and most were in business casual. I don’t think it’s inappropriate to wear a suit, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Sorry for your loss.
Anon
Do men wear black suits to non-funeral events these days? The sales associates at mens’ shops insist it’s only gray or blue outside the cemetery. I can’t tell if this is really the modern fashion standard or if it’s a sales tactic.
Anon
Yes, a black suit is not traditionally a daytime suit. It should be OK for dinner.
Anon
I don’t think that’s new? I heard in the 1990s that black suits for men were only for funerals.
Anon
Yep. Not new. You might get married in a black suit. Possibly attend a funeral. After 6 you might wear it, but in really traditional terms, that’s a job for a dinner jacket.
Cat
I don’t see black suits anywhere other than tuxedos or funerals.
Anon
My husband has worn a sport coat look to the last few funerals we have attended.
Anonymous
Yes, but no one is going to side eye a man not wearing one.
Cat
They do, but a navy blazer, gray pants, and dark tie is also popular among my relatives – some of them live in rural areas and they have no other reason for a suit.
Anon
I was hoping for a call to be returned today at work and picked up the phone to find a financial advisor. He starts talking and then proceeds to ask me a bunch of questions (do you do gifting, do you have a donor advised fund) that I declined to answer, saying that I considered this information to be private and that I did not actually know him. He then got all pissy and ended the call. Dude, you called ME. I’m not your client. I don’t even know you or that you aren’t in fact a scammer.
Anon
Ugh.
I am also awaiting several important calls from people whose numbers I cannot anticipate, and am increasingly annoyed at the quantity of junk callers that chose today to dial me up.
Anonymous
I would guess that he was, in fact, a scammer. He got all pissy because you weren’t allowing yourself to be scammed.
Still annoying. I generally answer all my phone calls since I get a lot of random number work calls that I don’t have saved, and I’m ruthless about cutting off people who I don’t know and ending the call quickly so that I don’t have to waste any energy on it.
Anonymous
Why didn’t you immediately say “I’m not interested” and hang up?!?!!
Anon
Sounds like you just avoided giving $50k in cash in a duct taped shoebox to a total stranger.
Anonymous
Lol
Cat
If I ever accidentally pick up something like this, I just breezily say “oh, not interested, so sorry!” And just hang up.