Suit of the Week: Banana Republic

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1. The belted jacket will always remind me of Diane Keaton’s look in Baby Boom, a movie that sticks with me strictly for the wardrobe, which I thought was the height of sophistication and elegance at the time. Shoulder pads for days!

2. I have an interview tomorrow for an internal position that I think I likely want – though where I’m at isn’t bad either and I can continue to stay in it. And I find myself so nervous and restless. I’ve prepped already but all I can think is how did I used to interview ALL THE TIME?? Granted that was 7-8+ years ago, I was getting pushed out of biglaw so I had no choice. But interviewing used to be nothing, and now . . . I’m stressed. I think everything has gotten much more stressful as I’ve aged – I was 33 last time I was job searching, I’m 41 now.

   1. I don’t think it’s an age thing; I think it’s being out of practice!

   2. I’ll posit that some of your stress may be related to the fact that you’re ambivalent about it. I find when it’s a role I really want, I know what I’m supposed to say and do to convey my enthusiasm. When Im ambivalent, or I’m doing it as an informational interview because I know I wont leave my current role, the norms seem much less useful.

   3. Interviewing after a long spell without it is super stressful! Best of luck!

3. I’m trying to figure out a good send-off token or card for a beloved co-worker. There is a group of people they are close to, though we are not necessarily that close to each other, and everyone is remote right now. Is there a service that does online greeting cards/scrapbooks that a group can contribute to, but then will print out the end result to be sent to the recipient in the mail? I hate the idea of just doing a virtual card. I think the coworker would appreciate something tangible. Any other ideas? TIA!

   1. This is for retirement but could work for any sendoff: https://www.fromabirdie.com/retirement-memory-book

   2. I got a number of cards when I changed companies after many years at the same place. The cards were really sweet and I will keep them forever. They’re the kind of thing where someone circulated a card and many people signed it. I was responsible for several groups so I have different cards from different groups.

      One of the groups chipped in for an Open Table gift card, which I felt bad about because I didn’t want them spending their money on me, but I really enjoyed the meal and thought of them when we were eating it!!

4. I am looking for a good system to do my nails at home. Has anyone tried Olive and June? Or have another system they like? I used to do my own gel manicure, but removing them damaged my nails.

   1. I basically follow the Olive and June steps, but use products I already own. I still like Essie the best for durability, followed by Sally Hansen. My assessment of Olive and June is that it’s more about the prep work, less about the actual polish. I did buy the OJ cuticle pen; that’s pretty good, albeit pricey.

   2. What are you looking for in a system? I just . . . paint my nails, but I’d definitely be interested in something more than that. Just not sure what else there is.

      1. I want something that will last more than a day without chipping. I really love gel, but I don’t have the time or money to go to the salon every two weeks right now.

         1. Regular polish base coat, 2 coats of color, top coat, making sure to also paint the tips of your nails. Make sure your nails are nice and smooth before you polish, and wash them to remove any oil or lotion that may prevent the polish from adhering. And really let it all DRY. Much longer than you think it will need. It helps the chipping to add a layer of top coat every couple days. But if you’re really hard on your nails, they’re going to chip.

   3. I use the Sally Hensen Miracle Gel duo. It is thicker than normal polish. My toes last for weeks. Fingers maybe a week.

      I used Sally Hensen nail hardener as a base coat.

   4. I like Olive & June. Strongly recommend following all of their steps and watching some of their tutorials on instagram. I’ve never been good at painting my own nails but I can do a decent job with their stuff.

   5. I used to use Dazzle Dry but now I do color street (stickers), which do NOT come off until they grow out! I do use a base coat (nail envy) because otherwise they are hard on my nails.

   6. I bought the Olive and June manicure kit and I LOVE IT. I would go through phases where I painted my nails often and then I wouldn’t do it for months at a time. The process is kind of time consuming if you follow the steps as directed, but it really works. My nails look good for a solid week with no touch-ups, which NEVER happened before unless I had gotten a gel manicure. I’m slightly underwhelmed by their selection of colors, but the Poppy is great and the polish remover pot is so much better than I ever could have imagined.

      I decided to pull the trigger on it after I saw so many of their “ombre” manis on social media. I ended up trying the shades of blue version and it was so cute. Again, took forever to do, but I’m a big fan.

   7. I have been painting my own nails weekly for over a decade and I get at least four sometimes five days out of mine with relatively heavy use of my hands.

      I do the following:
      – swipe filed nails with polish remover pre paint
      – use a legit base coat (I use Tenoverten currently – at Target)
      – apply two or three thin coats of polish making sure to swipe the top edge of your nail at least once (i used to use Essie, but now use Butter London, Tenoverten, or a cheap CF CVS brand I found which I am blanking on now). Let each coat dry for at least 5 minutes. At least!
      – apply top coat (I will never not use Seche Vite) let this dry for at least an hour. At least!

      This is time consuming which is why it is my Sunday night tv watching ritual. But it works. My nails always look great.

      1. Oh and wear dishwashing gloves any time you are in the sink, scrub your hair with the pads of your fingers not the ends of them avoiding wear on your manicure, and try to type similarly too.

5. Am I right that the sneakers-with-dress look is a spring-summer look and that the minute it is tights weather, the sneakers go away and the boots come out? I feel like if I haven’t figured out the cool-girl sneaker thing still, I might as well punt and just wait for boots weather (by which time our schools will shut down and I will be WFH in leggings for another year).

   1. sneakers don’t go away, they just get paired with jeans instead. Dress and tights sounds far too fussy at this stage of Groundhog Year.

      1. I have the opposite reaction to dress and tights. Bring it on! One piece and cozy tights plus boots is my idea of dressing with ease. But I agree that in cooler weather, sneakers get worn with jeans, not with dresses.

   2. Omg can we not?

      1. not what? ask fashion questions on a fashion blog?

      2. I’m confused. What’s wrong with this question? We talk about stuff like this here all the time.

   3. I’m old enough to have seen this come and go a few times. See Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, which was a current but also retro look at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Durham

      Yes it’s a summer look. It is semi-classic but it will start to look dated by next winter.

      It will definitely look out of place in winter weather. If you wear the sneakers with tights and your dress I think it will look very Working Girl commuter shoes.

      1. *by next summer

   4. I still think sneakers with dresses look dorky and not cool at all, but YMMV. I’m wearing sandals now and will switch to ankle boots this fall.

      1. I’m going sandals to boots now. My goal will be to find Birkenstock level comfort in boot form.

         1. I bought shearling-lined Birkenstocks for winter.

   5. OP, you must just wear shoes on your feet!! Please.

      1. This is a fashion blog in case you missed it. It’s ok to ask others what they think of given looks / trends / styles. It doesn’t mean you have to live by it.

   6. I pretty much go from sneaker / sandals to tights and boots. I mostly wear dresses and skirts, but have a few jeans I wear with boots or sneakers here and there. My plan is to find slightly flared or straight leg pants for transitional weather in a flowy material and wear them with sneakers before the boots come out!

6. I thought I’d bring back up part of a morning topic since I missed it.

   Do you have things in your closet that you could wear at a moment’s notice to an interview, a speaking engagement (even on zoom), a wedding or a funeral?

   I do. But I’m also not the type of person to buy a new dress for every wedding I attend.

   Did a lot of people get rid of all their formal work clothing during the pandemic?

   1. I do. I’ve learned the hard way that stuff comes up unexpectedly, and I loathe having to shop at the last minute because I rarely end up getting something I actually love.

   2. Yes. In my pre-COVID size, I had all of this. I’ve added a joyful dress and a somber dress a size larger b/c everything is too snug to look dignified at the moment (but I’m an optimist, so it is all staying).

   3. Yeah, I have a funeral dress, and I have a couple suits so I’ve got interviews covered. I don’t think having a suit on hand is that abnormal, especially for people who read here. I think the idea that everybody needs to have something worthy of a speaking engagement or TV appearance isn’t at all universal, though.

   4. I have not actually been inside a courtroom since February 2020, but I always have a suit handy I can wear if I need to go (and recently had to upsize). And I learned my lesson long ago and always have a black dress for a funeral because that is not something you want to deal with when a family member unexpectedly dies.

      1. You make a good point about a dress for funerals. I threw away the black dress I wore to my mother’s funeral because I could not bear the thought of ever wearing it again. I should probably buy.. not a replacement, but a substitute.

         1. I wore a black dress that I really liked to a funeral of a close family member and it is, and forever will be, “the” funeral dress. Don’t recommend buying anything above say “eh, this will work” for your substitute.

            1. Agree 100%. I had a (hand me down) St John knit I wore to my grandmother’s funeral and then my grandfather’s. I couldn’t really wear it after that, too many bad memories. I agree to get a basic blsck dress to have on hand, don’t break the bank.

   5. I have a few “wedding guest” dresses because before the pandemic I attended several a year, every year. They are all from thrift stores.

      I have all my formal work clothing. Whether most of it fits is another issue…

   6. I have had several formal suits in my closet that needed the pants hemmed for almost two years. I just took them all to the tailor for hemming last week in a total panic because I am now set for a long in-person jury trial and will need multiple suits. I was relieved that the pants still fit well, but found the jackets are too big now. I was able to buy the last matching jackets available anywhere in the right size but I think I just got extremely lucky. (They were majorly discounted on clearance (20% of original discounted purchase price), so at least I got lucky there.) I would have been really screwed if I had to now go buy a bunch of suits. There is almost no inventory.

   7. I had a baby right before COVID hit; a year later, I went through my entire wardrobe and donated everything that is old, I don’t much like, or has no hope of ever fitting again. During the last 1.5 years, I’ve been buying a few business-formal pieces that I really love and are deeply discounted. This was helpful for when work called us back into the office with very little notice and when I got headhunted for a new job.

      However, I’ve long been the type to buy stuff when it’s on sale and I love it, knowing that what I have will eventually wear out or I will suddenly need a formal dress for the symphony. Buying, say, a MM LaFleur for $70 is fine; buying a dress I hate for $70 or spending $300 on MMFL is really not my thing. To me, that’s a really bad use of my money.

   8. I do. I did not get rid of any of my clothes during Covid.

   9. I could do all of those things, as long as the wedding wasn’t a family wedding… bc the “wedding dress” was worn to weddings on all sides of the family, pre-COVID.
      This is mostly bc I am comfortable in super plain basics and didn’t get rid of much.

   10. Yes. I still have everything I had before the pandemic which allowed me to be ready for all events.

   11. I have a black sheath and a couple of blazers that can go over it as well as black pumps (“need to be formal”), a light blue floral dress (“spring or summer event”), and a red/navy floral in a shiny fabric (“winter event”). I always turn to them with a sigh of relief when I need them, because I am otherwise a solidly pants-and-solid-top type human. It took until my early 30s and this blog to feel like I had a clue what to wear to dress up!

   12. No to an interview because with haven’t worn a suit for any reason in the last two and a half years.

       Otherwise, I have too many “occasion dresses” and not enough occasions.

7. How is everyone taking care of their emotional selves these days? The resurgence of the pandemic is really putting us through the wringer locally. We’re still moving full speed ahead with life (back to work, in-person events are still happening), and yet this big thing is lurking in the background. Not here to debate that, just to learn what others are doing to take care of themselves.

   1. Regular exercise, which I’m not great at being consistent about. It’s the number one non-medication thing that helps my mental health.

      1. Same! I have been out of the gym for a couple of weeks now and then injured myself just before my intended return over the weekend, and I can really feel it. I had a blowup with my BF this week that is very out-of-character. There were other factors, like a lot of stress, but the stress is always around and usually mitigated by picking up the heavy things.

   2. I’m doing well actually! Exercising frequently, eating well, drinking water. I’ve accepted that daycare and school will likely not stay open the entire year, so I am enjoying having full childcare for now.

   3. Mountain biking. Hard physical exercise, risk I’m actually choosing to take, skill-building, and nature are all helping me. The social distancing is easy, but doesn’t feel restrictive.

   4. Exercising every day, eating well, taking pleasure in good books and movies. Those things make me feel good and involve minimal covid risk, so I figure it’s a win-win.

   5. I just started studying Spanish on duolingo. Maybe not taking care of my emotional self per se, but it’s helping my brain not turn to mush. Also bought a new board game that looks awesome: Wingspan. And back in the gym and that’s awesome.

      1. SA – Thanks for the word on the game! It’s too bad you can’t get a commission because I’m getting at least one! Thank you! :)

   6. I’ll tell you how I’m doing – not well, b1tch!

      That’s my answer – not well, and I watch a lot of Real Housewives for escapism.

      1. I love that response & can relate. My school wants to stop Covid tracing &
         I was told hundreds of thousands have died of Covid vaccination—not correct & tell me where you got that info. Stress is high. Is it Friday yet?

8. Seattle is a super casual legal market. A colleague in another office emailed me asking if her supervisor, Ms. Attorney, could email me a consult. Is calling supervisors/partners by Ms/Mr Last Name a thing on the east coast? I would never want my legal assistant to refer to me as Ms. Sabbith in an internal email, for example but I’m not sure if it’s commonplace in more formal environments. I’m always surprised about what’s identified as “business casual” clothes here because they’re almost always my idea of business formal, as an example.

   1. You all work for the same firm, right? That is odd regardless of the region. I worked in biglaw, including for an east coast based firm, and while I could see old fashioned assistants/lawyers saying “Ms. Atty” when communicating outside the firm, it would be odd to use it internally.

      1. Yeah, same org. My legal assistant said it’s “like something from Mad Men.”

   2. Does their boss perhaps have a gender neutral name first name? I’m in a semi-formal nonlegal environment and have been introducing my boss to new people as First Name Last Name.

   3. I don’t think it’s common, but I don’t think it’s unheard of in white shoe firms. Where is your org headquartered? It could be firm dependent as much as office dependent (example: even the east coast offices of my firm are super casual).

      1. Headquartered in Seattle and we’re a nonprofit. I’m not even sure what a white shoe firm is but I can guarantee we’re not it.

   4. East Coast here and this is…oddly old fashioned in my view. More akin to a medical doctor’s assistant describing “dr. Smith” than legal life. I would expect to be introduced with first name (or preferred nickname) and last name, not Ms Lastname.

      1. I interact with a lot of attorneys all over the country. For attorneys themselves the norm seems to be to address a new person as “Ms. Lastname,” then signal that you are fine being called by your first name. The other party reciprocates and then you are on a first-name basis. Using titles after the first interaction often signals contempt or veiled hostility, especially when an attorney calls a Ph.D. “Doctor.”

         Assistants mostly refer to their bosses as “Ms.” if they are trying to communicate that their boss is a person of higher status than you, if the boss is a person who has an inflated view of their own importance, or if the organizational culture is stuck in the 1960s. In general, I see titles a lot more in the SEUS than anywhere else.

         Whenever a judge calls me “Ms.” I know they are going to be trouble. (I work with judges but do not practice law.)

         1. Interesting – this is a bit different than my experience practicing law in the non-coastal west. I’ll call opposing counsel “John” when we are communicating directly but would only refer to him as “Mr. Smith” in papers or in court. And judges call everyone Mr. or Ms. The one time a judge called me by my first name in court he apologized twice and I think he was worried it came off as sexist. Calling a PhD “Mr. Johnson” instead of “Dr. Johnson” is seen as snarky and disrespectful (but again, this is in front of the judge – I’m on a first name basis with my experts when we communicate directly). All that being said, I would find it very weird to get an internal email from an assistant referring to another attorney at my firm as “Ms. Jones.”

9. I was previously at a mid-sized firm and was a junior partner when an associate lateraled in as a 2nd year associate. She did maybe 1 project for me total, but she worked with two truly awful senior partners who demeaned her, constantly criticized her and made her cry and then she went out on maternity leave and then came back and lateraled to another firm. These same two people are the main reason I’m not at the firm anymore either. She reached out recently asking me if I could serve as a reference. If I’m honest, I don’t think of her as having been a super star associate by any means and my view of her is somewhat tempered by the fact that she and my legal assistant just could not get along and were on non-speaking terms (and years later, I’m still in touch with that legal assistant because she’s the best legal assistant I’ve ever had). Fast forward, the associate is looking to jump to another firm and would like me to serve as a reference. I can say some positive things about her, but obviously my views on her are pretty complicated. What would you do in my situation? I just think she doesn’t have other people who could serve as a good reference for her because she worked for such crummy partners.

   1. Since you feel “complicated” about her, it doesn’t seem like you are suited to serve as a good reference. I would decline, citing that she only did one project for you and so you can’t paint a complete picture. I’ve had some horrible bosses, but was still able to put together good references between peers and direct reports.

   2. She worked for partners who demeaned her and were cruel to her when she was on maternity leave??

      Throw her a bone and be a reference. So what if she’s not a superstar? Even up the score a bit. Understand that many people do NOT produce their best work in those situations.

10. What kinds of boots are people planning to wear this fall and winter?

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