Suit of the Week
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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, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional.
Reader E brought this dress and matching jacket to our attention, noting with excitement that “J Crew came out with some cute twists on normal suit pieces.” We agree — we love that the dress is only slightly embellished with some subtle black on black “petals” at the placket. We also love the fact that the pieces are made of four-season merino wool, and that there are multiple pieces (jackets, dresses, pants) in matching fabric. The dress (Super 120s papillion dress) is $195; the jacket (Super 120s Lizza jacket) is $230.
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Sales of note for 5/14/25:
- Nordstrom Rack – Looking for a deal on a Dyson hairdryer? The Rack has several refurbished ones for $199-$240 (instead of $400+) — but they're final sale only.
- Ann Taylor – Suit Yourself! 30% off suiting (ends 5/16) + 25% off your full price purchase (ends 5/18) + extra 60% off sale (ends 5/14)
- Talbots – 40% off all markdowns (ends 5/18) + 30% off dresses, skirts, accessories, and shoes
- Nordstrom – Beauty Deals up to 25% off (ends 5/17)
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 25% off
- Boden – 10% off new women's styles with code + sale up to 50% off
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off sale + $1 shipping on all orders
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off long-weekend styles + 50% off select swim and coverups
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off $100+ + extra 20% off $125+
- M.M.LaFleur – Lots of twill suiting on sale! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
- Rothy's – Up to 50% off last-chance styles
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!
Some of our latest threadjacks include:
- is imposter syndrome a real thing?
- talk to me about the estrogen patch for perimenopause
- where did you “learn to clean“?
- how do you travel light with business clothes?
- what do you answer if prospective dates ask you if you “like your job”?
- how gross is it to put spilt jam back in the container?
- how do you know if you're irritable from depression vs irritable from stuff being irritating?
- what are you doing for meals if you don't cook or barely cook?
cute, its true, but the quality on their suits these days is nowhere near what it used to be, unfortunately.
I agree, and I’ll add that the quality of all their clothes is nowhere near what it used to be. This drives me crazy because their clothes are exactly what I want to wear, but they just don’t hold up, and I don’t want to waste my time or money anymore.
I agree. It seems when jcrew raised its prices, it simultaneously lowered its quality.
I love a dress-and-jacket suit. You can wear the dress alone for an evening thing, and with a cardigan for a nice look as well.
Talbots has several every year, at lower prices usually and I like the quality, plus the size range is much much broader!!!
how poor is the quality of this suit? i bought the jacket, pants, and skirt (but sans dress because that dress doesn’t fit right if you have a small bust), but it’s all still with tags attached. now i’m debating whether it’s worth keeping.
does anyone own the recent incarnation of this suit, post-quality downgrade?
talbots is so, so high waisted, and usually with boxy, short jackets (which makes sense because the pants are super high waisted). i can’t stand it.
i’m also frustrated by theory… for the kind of money they charge for theory suit pants, why aren’t they lined?!
I have to say, I love this suit. But I agree that JCrew’s quality has gone swiftly downhill recently, even as they’ve raised their pricepoints. I’m one of those hated fat people, also, and JCrew’s 16s don’t fit me.
Talbots is OK, but what I would LOVE is to find a suit like this, in a good quality, and in plus sizes. Pipe dream, I guess.
Ditto everything, though it’s a good value at this price point, I think. I stick with the Wool Gabardine suiting, which looks and wears better than the stretch wool, which often looks cheap. This my favorite suit suggestion in the past month, for sure.
To new associate:
I agree; I liked the slim cut of Theory Max C pants in the photos online, but they look and feel cheap and are unlined–definitely a rip off, in retrospect.
My pet peeve about J Crew jackets, shirts and dresses is they are too full in the chest area and generally too short. I do love the fit of the pants, though–straight and fitted through the hips and thigh, though they run big–I have to get the size 0 taken in.
Brooks Brothers suits jackets are my favorite, though the pants are higher waisted than I like.
I’m glad to see that I haven’t been imagining the decrease in quality at J.Crew (and simultaneous increase in price point). I thought I might be losing it.
I do like the dress, though. I’m not sure if I like it $195, though.
Does the jacket looked kind of awkwardly proportioned to anyone else? It seems to be on the short side on the model, and weirdly boxy … although it’s hard to tell in the pictures.
I can’t see the jacket with the dress. The dress is pretty and feminine, with the little petals; the jackets is tailored and boxy and it works much better with the pants.
I like J. Crew stretch wool suiting (I’m not familiar with the earlier incarnations, but I’ve been satisfied with my recently purchased suit), but I find it poor that they refuse to sell lined pants in the Super 120s.
I’ve had this jacket for almost 2 yrs now, and love it! It’s so versatile and great with pants. I would not pair this with a dress, or skirt.
I haven’t been wearing J Crew suits long enough to notice a decline in quality, but the suits of theirs I have have held up well and are pretty decent. And a suit is significantly cheaper than Theory, whose quality is really disappointing – in addition to their pieces being unlined, I have had more problems with a new suit from them (hole in the pocket – and not where the basting seams came from, hem dropping on a pants leg the second time I wore the pants, poorly secured buttons).
Sadly, this dress did not do it for me in person – the contrast in shininess between the petals and the rest of the dress didn’t seem appropriate for the work place to me.
Ever hopeful of J.Crew, I ordered this dress and jacket in two sizes last week and finally tried it all on tonight. Unfortunately, the ensemble didn’t work for me. The dress is fitted at the natural waist and the skirt flares out slightly from there. I wouldn’t call it a pencil (though they do in the description), and I don’t know how they got the rear view picture to look the way it does. Meanwhile, the jacket is long, hitting a few inches below the hip bone, and it’s boxy. The two pieces together left me shapeless. I felt a little like a nun.
FYI: Sizing runs large. The 2’s fit, and that’s weird because I am usually a 4, and these days I am pushing a 6.
re: j crew stretch wool. totally agree: they can’t even make the quality look nice in the photos online!
i adore theory max c pants, but do agree about the lining. i just had to replace a pair i’d had for not that long b/c they wore through, which they would not have if they’d been lined. of course, they also wore through b/c they were such a great pair of pants that i wore them constantly . . .
Ann Taylor Loft has almost an EXACT replica of the dress—for $79.50. It’s a little shorter, without pockets, but here you go:
http://www.anntaylorloft.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=20677&N=1200257&categoryId=211&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_211&loc=LN&defaultColorNameFromCategory=Black&defaultSizeTypeFromCategory=Misses
I have this jacket and the 120s pants and skirt. The quality is decent for the price point, but I tend to wait for sales on JCrew suits and stock up then, since I like their style and they fit me well. I’ve had several of their wool suits for a few years now and they seem to be holding up well. I totally agree about the Theory quality though–for the (higher) price of Theory, I expect the suits, particularly the pants to hold up better than they have for me. Someone was asking about the jacket, I have found that it is cute unbuttoned, particularly with a skirt, but can look weird and boxy when buttoned, or when worn with pants.
Love that dress !!!
I love J.Crew. And I highly recommend on waiting for their sales to purchase.
I have that suiting jacket, but it’s an earlier incarnation. It’s an incredibly boxy fit; the back is left loose/ kinda flares and I find that some just don’t prefer the look of it cos it makes them feel like they look like a ‘hunchback.’ I definitely wouldn’t pair it with a dress, unless it was slightly more form-fitting and structured.