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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.

We haven't seen a suit like this in a while, so we thought we'd post. We like the way the outfit goes to extremes — when worn with the jacket, it's very professional and buttoned-up. But the dress, by itself, is feminine and plays up a woman's curves with a silk bodice and an interestingly-detailed belt. To us, this is a great “big day” suit — make your argument with the jacket on, and then go straight from the courthouse or boardroom to a dinner date with your significant other to celebrate the success of the presentation. The jacket (Elie Tahari ‘Nadine' Jacket) is $498, and the dress (Elie Tahari ‘Faith' Dress) is $448; both are available at Nordstrom's.

46 Comments

  1. …and after dinner you can go audition for Star Trek!

    Sorry, I don’t like this one.

    1. My first thought was also that this looks like some sort of space ship trooper suit.

    2. Same impression here — definite space alien vibe going on.
      (Though, admitting my geekiness here, I like the suit Anna in V was wearing.)

  2. I love the suit as a whole (though it looks a little Star Trek-y to me), but what’s with that tie on the dress? It looks distracting, and if it could be cut off I think I would.

    Not that I’d want to take a pair of scissors to a $950 outfit. Yowch! I wish Corporette would start featuring some more realistically priced clothes.

  3. I like it, though I’d want something more conservative for court. (And I agree about the tie on the dress, Sarah, but it looks removable to me; maybe I’m wrong.)

    I can sort of see the Star Trek resemblance once its pointed out, but I think it’s working here.

  5. Really nice concept in theory — I like the concept of the sheath dress underneath with the softer top, as opposed to the all-wool sheath dresses that are unflattering to those of us with certain builds. If the shoulders weren’t so pointy, it would be a home run.

    1. Agree! Like the concept, this one is not it for me, just because of the cut of the jacket. But, I love the dress.

    2. I like the dress a lot, although I feel like the belt’s obi styling may be a bit much. I think I’d like it better if I could take off the tie or use a different belt entirely. I have a sheath dress like this with the pinstripe bottom and softer top from ABS and it’s very flattering.

      I agree I can’t do the jacket though. Way too BSG/Star Trek for me and then the obi-styled belt doesn’t really make any sense. At least with the dress, the top fabric looks to be Japanese inspired. Perhaps the jacket is a take of the Japanese high school uniform jacket?

  6. Thread hijack: Has anyone ever bought anything from Doncaster? It is one of the personal shopping consultant services (Worth is another), whereby someone sets up the clothing in her home, you go there and she outfits you. The clothing is expensive but I’ve found some pieces there that have lasted me a good long time and have been worth the investment. I just received a catalog / flyer with 65% off, have been thinking of buying some of the clothing (can’t beat that price) and am curious if any of you have ever made use of this. My consultant was actually a woman studying for her MBA at Northwestern who was selling Doncaster on the side. She had a great eye for what flattered me and also re-did my closet.

  7. Scared ot Doncaster and Worth. Expensive and afraid of the peer pressure to make substantial purchases.

  8. I like it and would have bought it, if someone else in the office had not beat me to it.

  10. This suit is kinda awful. The jacket is too costumy and severe. I also can’t imagine it being that flattering — even the model doesn’t look good in it.

    Also, the dress is rather mediocre, and I would imagine I’d get sick of it rather quickly, and it would look dated way too soon to justify the high price tag. Maybe the pic doesn’t do it justice, but it looks a bit cheap, franbkly.

  11. SO Star Trek! And there is just way too much going on with that dress, in my opinion. It looks like it’s supposed to be faking a blouse tucked into a dress, reminding me of the fake-button-down-collar-sewed-into-sweater look. I associate the one-piece-faking-two-or-more-pieces look with cheaper clothes…wouldn’t want to pay 400+ for it. (of course as a student I can’t afford 400+ for anything, but assuming I had the money.) Sorry to be so negative – I do like most of the stuff on this site! :)

  13. I agree with AIMS. I would also go so far as to say that the figure types that would be best with the dress might not be so hot with the jacket on. I would see the dress as a petite type of style, for the tiny folks, but the jacket somehow looks like it’s for a bigger person. For me, the jacket is too severe, and the high collar line might itch me.

  14. This suit rocks. Adore it — the fabric, the cut of the jacket, the belt, the sheath detailing, the silk, the waistband. I don’t think it’s outrageously expensive given the quality. If this were 1999, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop $1,000 from my $40K bonus on this, back when every lawyer got the $40k “breathing” bonus. Ha!

    1. I love the dress. I’m not a big fan of the jacket, but I would definitely wear the dress for a nice night out, if not to the office.

      As a law student, I wish I had gotten out of school back when the market was good and lawyers still got substantial bonuses. I’m afraid that by the time I get out the bonus will be, “Congratulations, you aren’t fired yet.”

      1. In today’s economy (particularly in the legal sector), being gainfully employed IS the bonus I’m afraid. =(

    2. forget bonuses; i’d even advocate lower starting salaries if i could just get a job for after graduation. if only i had gone to law school a couple of years earlier.

  15. I really love this – so much more interesting than the rows of black sheath dresses and jackets in my closet.

    And I cringe every time I read a complaint about Corporette going too highbrow or too out-there or too anything. I would never want the site to narrow the spectrum of outfits it shows. Remember a couple of weeks ago, the site featured a fabulous ponte dress from Target for $18.99. Within a week there was a thousand-dollar suit. I need the inspiration and the variety.

    Corporette, please don’t change a thing!

    1. I agree!!!!! I love the variety of price points featured. Don’t change a thing! the person who said you didn’t feature realistically priced clothing obviously doesn’t frequent this site!

      1. Agree! Not everything is my favorite, but frankly I don’t like some of the outfits (that look great) on some of the most fashionable women I know. It’s an opinion. Keep it up, Corporette!

      2. Excuse me, but I read this site daily, and I am not the only regular who has noted that most of the clothes featured by Corporette are quite expensive.

        Of course you’re entitled to your opinion about the helpfulness of Corporette’s choices, but please do not post such groundless assumptions about me based on my comments.

    2. Much agreed!! I’m also with the other posters who have said that even when they don’t *looooove* something C has posted, they’ll use it as a jumping-off point for other ideas. C also posts sale items quite often, which I appreciate. Keep it going, C!

  16. I thought there was something wrong with my monitor, then I thought the model had a gunshot wound, now I see it’s a flower motif. Fail.

  17. I like it, but its not office practical. Who wears their jacket all day? Especially one as buttoned up as this one. But you couldn’t take it off, unless you swapped on a cardigan, which might nut work with the cut of the dress.

    1. I’m not sure how this is any different than taking off the jacket with a traditional sheath dress. Although the fabric on top is different, the cut really isn’t that different from the traditional sheath.

  18. Love this!!!! I do wonder about the fabric mixing on the dress, in my experience that is sometimes ok and sometimes not okay. I do wear my jacket all day (office is cold) and would love to try the jacket undone to see how it looked. Of course, this is all hypothetical since I don’t have $1000 to drop on a suit.

  19. I don’t love this dress but noticed alot of other cute dresses on Nordstrom’s website with the same concept (fun top, tweed bottom) that could be worn to the office or court (I’m a lawyer) with a jacket. I’m a huge fan of the dress. It makes the morning so much easier! The different top/bottom is a great look as it almost looks as if you are wearing a shirt and skirt. Thanks for the recommendation C! Love your website!

  20. I really like the dress, the jacket not so much. I’m not sure if its the Star Trek-iness or that its so buttoned up and shows no neck/chest area. For ladies with large chests, I just don’t think a closed up jacket like this would be the most flattering. The dress, however, is gorgeous. Would love to be able to afford it *sigh*.

  21. I like the idea..but I think the execution on this is off …dress is too busy, and jacket is too severe. I think this could work if that jacket was less severe as an office to evening event outfit, but its too memorable because of the business to get the dollar per wear value out of the price tag.

    And please don’t stop posting a broad range of price points… I like to mix hi-lo with the best of them, having no problem mixing Target with Prada if it works, but all Target, or Penney’s or even Macy’s isn’t going to do it…

  22. I would want to try this on (and bring an honest friend), but I think it looks beautiful on the model. Very interesting and different without being weird. I definitely don’t get a “spaceship” vibe from it, but then I really don’t like sci-fi and wouldn’t know what to look for anyway.

  24. It’s a very Asian look. Take the chinese collar on the jacket, the japanese flower print on the top of the dress, and the belt looks a little bit like the belt used to tie a kimono (look at the wide checked belt on the dress). Even the thin little bow tie on the waist of the jacket has an Asian vibe to it.
    I think this ethnic vibe might be a little offbeat of a look for a formal occasion. Like wearing a kurta/tunic inspired embroidered top to a client meeting. I wouldn’t do it.

  26. Love this, and I think it would look great on my size 8, 5’9″ frame. If I had an extra $1k, I’d wear this once a week because it would make me happy!

  27. I’m totally on board with the Star Trek references, but actually the first thing that popped in my head was the premiere of V was on a day or two ago and this is exactly what all the “visitors” are wearing–down to the grey color pallette.

  29. This is absolutely one of my favorite pieces ever to be featured on this site. I can tell it isn’t for everyone but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

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