Suit of the Week
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're normally a bit iffy about colored suits, but we do seem to have a thing for purple ones. (Actually, we just realized how much of a thing we have for purple suits — we promise, this'll be the last one of '09.) Today we like this deep, deep eggplant suit from Anne Klein — we like the interesting collar details, the double buttons in the front, and the tailoring of the jacket. We also like the sale: the suit (Anne Klein Suit 2-Piece Skirted Suit) is on sale at Dillards for $107 (marked down from $179), available in sizes 2-14.
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really like this one! And I did notice Corporette had a thing for purple shoes, had not put together that it accompanied a thing for purple suits too…
I like this one okay (especially for the price), but it looks a little short for my office.
Mine too.
On regular-legged women, I bet it hits at the knee.
I bought this and it hits right at the knee, I am 5’5″ – it’s quite a conservative cut actually
meant to add, the shoulders are a bit strongly padded though so it does give a dated feel to me, not sure if I will keep it . The jacket is fitted nicely, not that 80’s boxy, but the shoulders are way beyond what I expected. Still, it’s $100 suit basically, it might round out the assortment reasonably enough.
Why the problem with colored suits? I can see it for certain color/style (i.e. pastel grandma Easter outfits) but why the blanket “iffy”-ness? Just out of curiousity…
Meg: I think it’s really hard to find colored suits that say, a woman under 35 can wear and be taken seriously: precisely because it tends to looks too church lady. I think it’s also really hard to pull off the red “power suit” unless you are a CEO.
That said, I think a dark purple like this works and I’d love to see other colors beyond navy/gray/brown/black/taupe that I could wear with a straight face.
I think it depends on the region. Lots of younger women in the south/warmer climates wear colors regularly. I’d say there is definitely some iffyness in certain colors like watermelon, lemon, or a honeydew color (all of which I saw this summer), but this purple doesn’t seem to be a problem to me.
I loved it til I got close up on the collar. That is… odd.
exactly my reaction.
Yikes! Thanks for pointing that out. This suit is definitely a no now. But I might try finding a similar one in the same color.
Whoa! Yes, I had to zoom in and look closely to see it. I see it now and I don’t like it. It’s like the top of the collar thinks it’s a shirt and the bottom of the collar thinks it’s a suit jacket.
I love it other than the collar. Imagine wearing a button down shirt with it.
Not liking this one. I don’t loathe the collar actually, either. My problem is the cut – – it looks dated, for some reason. I also prefer my jackets to hit a bit higher on the hip and flare out slightly (I’m a hourglass or pear, can never tell which…).
I agree. There is something off about the cut.
Can anyone help me out on what color hose to wear with a purple suit. Nude just seems to accent my pasty, pasty legs. Would you do black?
I would do black – I don’t ever do nude and matching the color of the suit would be (a) very tricky and (b) too much purple. And I know bare legs is not an option since the wind chill was -20 here today!
I think the suit is just fine, but my first reaction at seeing the picture was: “Wow! Her legs must be cold.” Hah!
For some reason, I too am just loving purple everything this year. There are a lot of great choices out there in deep and royal purple shades.
Plus, I ordered the purple Tahari suit (with the brooch embellishment) featured by C last week, and it just arrived, and I am in love with it. =)
Colored suits are great, purple is the greatest. But I have a hesitancy about buying anything that short. Even if it might look okay this year, will it look okay next year? Also, a very short suit skirt tends to suggest the manufacturer was scrimping on fabric, doesn’t it? I don’t want to use the ch— word, though.
For me the short skirts usually don’t turn out to be that short on me. I’m only 5’3″, and the models are probably at least 5’7″. The measurements are more important than the photos.
I’ve tried this suit on. I’m 5’6″ and it was not short on me. I can’t recall if it was at the knee or slightly above, but I do recall that I wasn’t horrified at the length, because I almost bought it. Hope that helps!