Thursday’s Workwear Report: Pleated Cotton Maxi Dress
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
I had lunch with a friend last week, and when she arrived wearing this dress from Kensie, it was obviously the first thing I asked her about. The color is so vibrant, it felt like summer was starting the moment she walked into the restaurant.
I should note that the model makes the dress look like it’s mid-calf length, but my friend is 5’6” and it was a full maxi-length on her. Fortunately, the collar and pleating makes it look more work-appropriate than the maxi sundresses you may have in your closet.
The dress is $64.97 at Nordstrom Rack and comes in sizes 1X-3X. It’s also available in pink.
Sales of note for 6/5:
- Nordstrom – Designer clearance up to 40% off!
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your purchase
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Boden – 15% off new women's wear styles with code
- J.Crew – 30% off full price styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + 40-60% off everything else
- Loft – 55% off everything + free shipping (and 6/5 only: $10 tanks)
- M.M.LaFleur– Up to 70% off, plus new styles added! (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clear the Rack! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work basics from Calvin Klein and dresses from Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Talbots – 6/5 only: $50 off every $200 (plus, $99 dresses)
No question; just frustration.
IDK how people are supposed to be able to have a small business or work with kids, elders, needing to let plumbers in, etc. Except that this explains why my family for generations lived in a small LCOL town with limited economic opportunities: you pitched in as a larger multi-generational family unit and got things done. Moving away to a big city for opportunities got my parents and later me that, but at the cost of so much complexity and hiring almost everything out (often with iffy results). I get that not everyone has a stable or reliable family, and mine has gone to sh*t now that we are too spread out and some people have stopped talking to each other, but I just feel like I’m on a hamster wheel I can’t get off of.
This is why it’s such a problem that the economy requires two-worker couples. You need to have one person at home at least part-time for this stuff, but middle-class people cannot afford that.
The economy has always required nearly every family to have two working adults.
Lol
The economy absolutely doesn’t require two incomes. It requires one solid income. Something like 30% of American families with kids and two parents in the house are single income households.
30% cannot be the right statistic, when we know what the average household income is for the US. C’mon.
Go do some research and come back with a different estimate, then, instead of lazily relying on your own assumptions.
Not every household surviving on a single income is doing that as their first choice. Especially outside of big cities, salaries are not high enough that they allow a family to afford childcare and commute costs, so one of the parents ends up staying home.
Of course. In this case the economy not only doesn’t require two incomes, but it forces one income.
Sure. But they’re surviving just fine. Two incomes is absolutely not necessary.
Your statement is ambiguous because you don’t define what you mean by one “solid” income. Please elaborate.
Remote work made this a lot easier. It’s being clawed back now but there are still a lot of jobs that demand regular facetime but will let you stay home to meet a plumber.
Remote work has made this soooo much easier. Unfortunately my employer has recently instituted a hard return to office and idk what I’m going to do about my (very necessary) upcoming furnace and water heater replacements. I guess I’ll burn a vacation day or two.
The vast majority of companies will still let you WFH to handle things like this. It’s quite an overreaction to think otherwise.
HA! Very much depends on the company. Many cultures won’t permit, “Oh I’m going to WFH because X, Y, or Z repairman is coming.”
This is a very privileged take. Many, many places DGAF about your need to flex for very normal life stuff like this.
Put a contractor lockbox on your door and give the contractors the code. You do not need to be home for a water heater or furnace swap.
I didn’t realize that in many ways, once my kids left day care, my life would get into deeper and deeper levels of logistically harder. That is barely grammar but I can’t do better at the moment. Maybe it gets better when the kids become competent drivers? IDK. Not there yet but hopeful.
The entire reason I have stayed in a job that I only tolerate these days is because I’ve earned so much flexibility over the many years I’ve been here. As long as I have school-age kids, I can’t see myself leaving.
It does get better when you have a driver. This week, my oldest (16) has been picking up the younger one from day camp. Having a third drive is a GAME CHANGER. That said, it takes many years to get to this point. (The worst is having a high schooler with commitments who is unable to drive.)
I have two high schoolers who don’t drive. Yet. My only goal this summer is to get the nervous one more comfortable driving and to get the other one enough behind the wheel time to pass the test. Send prayers. Also: this eats up most of my free time right now. But I’m hoping that at least one can drive come August. This close to just letting Jesus take the wheel some days.
It does get better as the kids get older. Once they can drive themselves for sure, but even before then, we had seasons where we got creative and made it work. A few examples: a fellow track team friend who lived up the road had a grandma who was happy to pick up and drop off our kid for practices and meets. Then there was the semester where another theater dad with a 12-seat van did a taxi circuit for the whole crew after rehearsals. Once in a while we also leaned on unconventional people for help. Our neighbor’s retired mother was visiting for the summer and was willing to babysit last minute when I had a job interview and no childcare. Our public library let our then 8 year old walk over to volunteer after school the two weeks our car was out of commission for school pickups.
Many moons ago I was a nanny to two Big Law lawyers and I swear half of my job was just being home so I could let in contractors, cleaners, etc. Obviously not an affordable option for everyone!
Being born in a town where I have extended family and plenty of economic opportunity was a blessing that I didn’t appreciate until adulthood. That said, col is crazy high here and plenty of people trade close family for a giant house in some random city.
My best friend has a lady that comes a few days a week for a few hours while the kids are at school and they’re both working. She deals with the plumber, puts dinner in the crock pot, organizes the drawers and wraps birthday gifts, ect. The fact that she’s neither cleaning nor doing childcare and is still plenty busy says a lot about what goes into a running a home.
How does one find a person like this?!?!
Seconded, this sounds like an incredible option and I need to know how to secure this arrangement!
We found someone like this from a local Facebook sitters page. Search ‘town name sitters’ (or similar) and you’ll get people who do everything from ‘mother’s helper’, pet sitting, and ‘house manager’ services. Lots of empty nester moms/young grandma types who want to work a few hours a week on a flexible schedule and are great at running a household since they’ve been doing it their whole lives!
Get a contractor lockbox and put cameras in your house. The repair people can let themselves in.
A smart lock also has this feature. Every tradesperson ever has worked in a home when no one is home.
Or just a contractor you trust. I’ve had a fabulous relationship with mine for a decade and he lets himself in, with keys, sans cameras. So does our house cleaner and dog walker. It is possible to trust people.
I only said cameras because I know the commentariat here, haha. We also don’t have them in the house and do the contractor box with our handyman and plumber regularly!
My gut reaction to this is, “Dear God, no!”
My gut reaction to this is “Dear God, how do you function!”
Same; I cannot fathom letting a stranger into my home to do thousands of dollars of work without being there to answer questions.
I have been so very lucky to work from home (despite 20% travel) since my kids were born 15+ years ago, especially as we have no local family. The logistics of daycare were deceptively easy but the coordination a school calendar requires and the insanity of registering for camp in Jan/Feb. is a unique kind of hell for working families. I’ve seriously considered a babysitter for my 13 and 15 year old because neither can drive yet and school/sports/work commitments are often impossible to align. So far we’ve made it work with a good group of other parents who are open to carpooling but I am white knuckling it through till we have another driver!
I love this pick!
I have a shirt dress that’s similar on top and the same color, and I get multiple compliments every time I wear it!
Big thanks to all the feedback on my house dilemma yesterday afternoon. I was the poster asking why we wouldn’t upgrade our home before buying an investment property. I got a ton of good insight and had the opportunity to speak with my husband. The takeaway was that he’s not on board with moving to a nicer home unless certain very specific properties become available (specifically large historic homes that would have comparatively lower taxes). He sees our home as an obligation and our any additional properties as investments. While I think reasonable people would disagree, his financial philosophy has served us well so far. He also reminded me we should have access to a private pool club next summer where we can host occasional playdates.
I’m currently looking at properties to renovate in either in our town or in a more rural area a few hours away. I haven’t done a renovation in a few years so I’m somewhat excited for that.
What are the best summer slip shorts? Is Thigh Society worth the money? If you got a pair with a phone pocket, do you find you can only use it with sportier looks or vacation outfits?
Cotton bike shorts with a pocket for when they will be an outer layer; jockey skimmies (I find them just as good as thigh society and usually cheaper) for under skirts/dresses.
I like Jockey slip shorts but they’re underwear, not anything I’d put a phone in. Are you looking at the right category of things if you want to carry a phone in them?
How would logistics of accessing a phone in your underwear work? That’s not what slip shorts are for…
Years ago, I purchased three heavy jersey knit, stretchy, ruched, double-layer dresses. I think I got them at Macy’s or Kohl’s. (I remove tags as I hate the feeling on my neck). They are just above knee length and 3/4 sleeve. Black and white prints but a solid black stripe down the sides. I stored them in a suitcase and they were always wrinkle-free thanks to the heavy jersey. I need to replace them, but can only find single-layer or wrinkle resistant styles. Any ideas for a duplicate?
Not double layer, but I find J McLaughlin’s material to be sturdy feeling – something like this?
https://www.jmclaughlin.com/products/sophia-dress-micro-bamboo-navy-sand
Take the opportunity to modernize your dresses, that doesn’t sound current at all. Sometimes the need to replace is the best thing that can happen to your closet.
Um, rude! Let the gal wear what she wants. I cannot articulate how gross I find the “women must be on trend!” nonsense on this page.
You’ll need to go secondhand. Nothing made today will achieve this quality.
I also had a few similar dresses years ago and found them at places like TJ Max, Nordstrom Rack, and Burlington.
This may not be priority for you, but FWIW: while I don’t chase trends and am not terribly worried about being very current, I did retire all of those dresses when I RTO after covid. They were not timeless classics and made me feel very dated.
We’ve talked about this before but wow, I’m getting nervous for the young teens on motorcycles masquerading as e-bikes. There have been two cases in my area lately where the cops actually stirred themselves to pull these kids over, but they outran the cops (stopped a few miles later) and got slaps on the wrist for it. Then as I’m exiting the 8-lane highway at a very sketchy intersection, six teens are literally doing wheelies and weaving in and out of the slowing cars. Finally, it’s a daily occurrence for these motorcycles to weave in and out of pedestrians on the paved walking path where they aren’t allowed, period. I actually called the cops myself one day when a kid deliberately veered towards my child, buzzing him, and the operator sighed and said she thought she knew who it was (third call that day).
It’s easy for me to see that an utter lack of enforcement (our towns limply focus on “education”) is a major problem – but what I don’t get is where the hell the parents are. My heart almost stopped when those teens were weaving at the exit ramp. It would have been SO easy to accidentally kill several of them in just seconds. Some of these bikes are expensive and the parents are obviously the ones paying for them. But why?
Would love to hear if there are any women here who have bought their teen an e-bike and if so, their justification.
It is a scourge and I hate it. I worry for the kids on the e-bikes with no helmets but at some point my worry is more about my own kids’ safety on our suburban sidewalks.
OP here and I feel the same. If another teen buzzes my toddler (happened when he was just 15 months), there will be hell to pay – but I also really, really don’t want to see a 14-year-old die because his parents let him ride an illegal motorcycle in traffic.
Our town finally banned e-bikes and motorcycles for those without drivers licenses but it took 3 kids dying before it happened.
Why do moms get the blame and not dads?
I live in the city and the souped up e-bikes on the bike paths and roads are a menace. Super dangerous and often very agressive – riding at people for fun and generally being threatening. A 10 and 12 year old are in hospital after falling off escooters at speed. Who is buying these for their kids?
I have a pedal assist kit on my bike for my commute but it taps out at 15mph, so it’s just a boost up the hills versus going faster than a normal bike.
I made my young child (5 at the time) wear a helmet on a power wheels and everyone in my family though I was being insane. Shortly after, a neighbor borrowed it for a party (with our permission), their 6 year old tried to do a wheelie, fell off, broke an arm, and got a concussion.
This was on a kid’s ‘toy’ that was speed limited to something like 3-5 mph, I cannot imagine giving literal children access to bikes that go 30mph plus.
Risk tolerance. No different from how some parents insist their kids wear helmets while others do not.
Are they actually thinking about the risk (and the illegality) and saying sure, though? Or are they afraid to stand up to their kids when they ask for these bikes for Christmas?
Genuinely, I am related to this sort of parent, and there is just no thought or fear going on. It’s just “oh cool I would’ve loved that as a kid” with no further assessment of whether they weren’t allowed to do it as a kid because it’s unsafe.
We ran into a colleague of my husband and their 3 kids were bouncing around the backseat… just boggles my mind.
It’s the same reason some parents let their kids ride dirt bikes or shoot guns. That reason? Idk. But the same logic underpins all three.
Sounds real FAFO and I’d be annoyed too. Say what you want about San Francisco but at least they’ve cracked down on the dirt bikes here.
Hope they do the heroin next!
Where are the children belong in all spaces crowd? I think it’s similar blindness. This isn’t annoying ME, so it must be fine.
You really like to trot out that straw man a lot, don’t you?
They’re everywhere in my neighborhood and I completely don’t understand why parents are buying them for their kids. They are so, so dangerous.
We are planning to move our cat’s litter box to a landing/hallway area, where we are also going to install built in cabinets. Any ideas for ways to hide the litter box? Has anyone tried a cabinet space with a cat door, plus a door you can open to remove and change the litter?
Wayfair has tons of litter box furniture options.