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Updated: Nov 1, 2018 74 Comments · by

Suit of the Week: Austin Reed

Suit of the Week

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Austin Reed Signature BlazerFor 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 for women, which should be as classic and basic as you get — instead, this feature is about the slightly different suit that is fashionable, yet professional. Austin Reed has some crazy sales going — lots of lucky sizes, unfortunately. This Signature black suit, though, is still available in most sizes — and while the discounts aren't the steepest (33-36%), it's still something. It looks classic and lovely. The jacket (Signature Collarless Zip Jacket) was $410, now marked to $262; the skirt (Signature Skirt) was $229, but is now marked to $148; the pants (Signature Trousers) were $248, but are now marked to $165. Here's a plus-size alternative (only one size left, alas). Austin Reed Signature Womens Suit

Sales of note for 9.10.24

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Comments

  3. Lynnet

    I also love this.

    Weird question: Does anyone have a Soft Surroundings coupon code? Shopping for my mom for Christmas and I think she’ll love the sweater I’ve picked out, but it’s a little pricey.

  4. EK

    I love that jacket. I think it would work really well over sheath dresses.

    Holiday party dress code question. It’s my first year at this new firm (engineering, not law). Its about 300 people. Party to be held off site on a week day evening, about an hour or two after work. I usually wear suits to the office as do my male colleagues. I imagine they will just wear whatever suit they wore to the office and their wives will wear a festive dress.

    What should I wear? Suit? Dress? Something in between I’m not thinking about? I dont have any particularly festive blouses so taking off my blazer and looking more “fun” isn’t an immediate option although im not opposed to buying something like that if that’s the best option.

    In a leadership position within the company so I don’t want to make a misstep. Thanks!

    • TO Lawyer

      I would wear a dress and blazer to the office and then add some sparkly jewelry to your dress. I’m thinking a black sheath dress would be perfect.

    • NYCtech

      I’m in a similar position this year (new firm, after work holiday party, unclear dress code). I just asked a couple other women in the company what they do – specifically people who have been there at least 3 years and are at least roughly at a similar level in the hierarchy (though there aren’t many of us). If it helps, their answer was that they all bring a cocktail dress and some makeup, and get ready in the bathroom at work before the party. But, I imagine this varies significantly with the company and geography. It was comforting to know the answer, and was actually a nice conversation topic for bonding with some women I didn’t know very well.

  6. Slow cooker help?

    I have a 6-quart programmable Hamilton Beach slow cooker. Yesterday, for the second time in the cooker’s relatively short life, it shut off in the middle of the day while on an 8-hour low-heat program, leaving me to come home to a pot of semi-raw chicken (and, ergo, Chinese food). Have fully reviewed the manual etc. and don’t think this was human error. Do you think it’s the power outlet, or the cooker? Anyone have experience with this?

    • anon

      Not directly. I have a fully manual slow cooker and was thinking of upgrading last year. I read a lot of amazon reviews on the programmable ones and this seemed to come up. I didn’t upgrade and stuck with the ugly old one.

    • crockpot

      Could likely be the crockpot–especially if you have no reason to believe it’s the outlet. An easy way to tell (without ruining expensive food) would be to try an overnight oatmeal recipe and use a liner. That way, you can program it as you would at night, and wake up to either wet oats, or yummy oatmeal.

      The closest I came to this was putting chicken on “warm” instead of “low” all day. Yum. Bacteria soup!

      • Wildkitten

        How does this test it? Wouldn’t you still wake up with wet oats and not know if it was the slow cooker or the outlet?

          • Annie

            Test a few different outlets? Or plug in something small (christmas lights?) and see if those stay on for 8 hours.

            Seconding crock pot liners. They make crockpot meals so much easier!

    • anon a mouse

      Admittedly a long shot, but any chance your home is subject to random power surges or short power outages while you’re gone for the day? When I worked from home 3 days in a row, I noticed that the power went out every day for 30 seconds right after lunch. I called the electric company and they fixed some issue in the power lines.

    • anon

      I have had the same problem with what may well be the same model, but only if I try to use the timer setting. If I just set it to ON and then wait till we get home to turn it off, it’s fine. It did this once or twice, many years ago, and I’ve been too afraid to try the timer setting again.

    • Wanderlust

      This is a longshot and just might be my weird old kitchen, but whenever my slow cooker is plugged in and cooking, when I turn on one of my gas stove ranges, I guess there’s some kind of electrical glitch and my slow cooker switches from cooking to warming…

    • Maggie

      If you want to check if it’s an outlet issue, you could plug in a digital clock (without backup battery) into the outlet and when you get home see if the time reset itself during the day.

      • Slow cooker help?

        I guess I was thinking that it might have been something about the power of the slow-cooker itself blowing the outlet; I am confident that otherwise the outlet itself is fine.

  8. Anonymous

    I love this, especially the jacket. Looks like something Alicia Florrick would wear.

  9. Anna

    Ladies, could you advise as to which brands have jackets that run big in the arm/shoulder? I was buying new suits and the circumference of the shoulder (where the sleeve joins the torso) is too tight at places like Jcrew and Banana. Sizing up doesn’t seem to help and my old ones from those places fit fine. Am I right in thinking that Talbots or maybe Jones would run a bit larger in the arm?

    • AIMS

      I find that Tahari often doesn’t work for me for the opposite reason you describe so give it a try.
      Also, yes, on talbots and adding Brooks Brothers.

    • marketingchic

      Ann Taylor – I have narrow shoulders and AT jackets and structured shirts are always too big in the shoulder for me.

    • Mpls

      It’s called the armscrye (if I’m understanding you), if that helps you talk/google for the measurement.

    • Maddie Ross

      Talbots does NOT run long in the arm. Honestly, Talbots jackets are the only ones I ever have problems with with sleeve length.

      ETA, I just realized you said “large” not “long.” Oops. I haven’t noticed Talbots being particularly “large” either – I wear the same size as J.crew and Banana for jackets there.

  10. Anon for this (and if you hate prego questions, skip me)

    Posted this a week or so ago, but way too late in the thread. While I am excited about C-Moms, I find that it’s mostly moms and not expectant moms (and I am pregnant with no children), and I was originally pretty excited about the groups on babycenter or the bump, but without disparaging anyone, I’ll just say that they are *not* corpor*ttes! :) Have you ladies found any forums or other chats with communities as supportive and professionally-minded as this one? I’m *SO* excited about being pregnant, but not out of the closet with friends and family yet, and I am just bursting to chat about it with others!

    • pregs

      I think if you post on C-Moms about pregnancy, people will be more than happy to chime in about pregnancy issues, so don’t be shy! Hellobee forums have due date threads, which may not be as professionally-minded, but are friendly and supportive.

    • Mamma Mia

      Congratulations! I’m expecting too, and have the same problem. Words cannot express how awful the b.ump forums are (Dude, your funny picture signature stops being funny by the 12th time I’ve seen it.). (Yes, it’s stupid that I go back.) There are a few folks on the moms site that are pregnant, so definitely feel free to talk about it there at will, but I would also love to find a smart forum-type s!te about this.

      BTW, we just found out that it’s a girl!!! So excited! All the pretty pretty tiny dresses!!!

      (Edited for moderation)

    • AEK

      I feel like there are lots of expectant moms (including me) participating at the Moms site. The daily posts are not pregnancy focused but plenty of the discussion in the comments is.

      Otherwise, to answer the question you actually asked, no, I don’t think there are other good chats / forums for expectant moms from a professionally-minded viewpoint. But if you are just dying to talk about “being pregnant” I’m not sure that matters— I believe the mechanics are the same irrespective of one’s job status:)

    • marketingchic

      When I was pregnant, I liked the “pregnant and 0ver 35” board on Babycenter for that reason. Even if you are not over 35, you might you have more in common with that type of group. My “birth club” group was dealing with balancing pregnancy and college- or planning their weddings – and I was just in a different place in life.

  11. Jordan

    I hate to be the odd woman out here but this jacket looks like it’s from one of the 100 that are in Kim Jung Un’s closet. Sorry if I spelled that wrong…

    • AIMS

      His are longer. Not as waist defining. But I would totally wear this if I was a female dictator (it would be one of the few pieces that would make the cut from my current wardrobe of just regular old NYC lawyer).

  12. NYtoCO

    Would you ever wear a jacket like this open, or always closed? Particularly over a sheath?

    • Woods-comma-Elle

      Good question – I couldn’t wear this done up because, well b*obs so probably I would only buy it if I could wear it open (but I do think it’s very pretty!)

  13. OCAssociate

    Assistant gift question:

    I have a temp secretary – she started last week and will be here for the next few weeks, presumable. What do I do about a holiday gift? I would typically give $100 + a personal gift, but that seems over the top here. Also, I don’t know her well enough to know what she might like.

    Is a Starbucks gift card too generic? Cash, but in a smaller amount? Fruit basket?

    • Parfait

      When I was a temp secretary lo these many years ago, I would have appreciated the cash the most. Money was SOOO tight then. Put it in a festive card with a nice note thanking her for her hard work.

  14. Anonymous

    I’m curious about people’s thoughts about Columbia/Georgetown/Harvard’s decisions regarding postponing final exams because some students are upset about the Ferguson and Eric Garner cases. I for one think it’s completely insane and ridiculous.

    • Anonymous

      I’m a person of color, and I’ll admit that I’ve been really upset about this and related things (exacerbated by the fact that I have a lot of white friends and in laws who unintentionally say things that are just really not ok and demonstrates a total lack of concern for those not like them), and I’m having such a hard time concentrating on my work. My personal philosophy really requires pushing ahead and doing my best no matter what, but man is it hard right now. If I weren’t on this side of things, I don’t think I’d really understand why someone would be so upset about this.

      • Anonymous

        to be clear, if I were a student I would not have pushed for such an arrangement.

    • Anonymous

      Why should people have to go about their daily business and pretend that nothing is wrong when they feel like things are seriously screwed up in this world. Especially bright, young minds like Harvard and Georgetown law students who have the desire to influence change through protest. They should be protesting. They should be out there making their voice heard to change injustices in the world. So, yeah, if they want to ask to take their finals a little later, who cares.

      • Anonymous

        I care. I represent mostly minority clients in criminal courts every damn day. The system is screwed up, but if you can’t face injustice in two high profile cases you have no business actually representing people whose freedom depends on your ability to handle stress under time constraints. I hope none of them goes into criminal law – they’re clearly too weak for it.

        • Anonymous

          Exactly.

          I care about the fact that I’m a citizen of a country that uses torture. The sheer arrogance in demanding special treatment for me , someone who has not been directly affected, is shocking.

      • Anonymous

        “Why should people have to go about their daily business and pretend that nothing is wrong when they feel like things are seriously screwed up in this world.”

        Are you kidding? What if everyone did this about everything they think is screwed up? Being a professional, which these students claim to want to be, means putting aside difficult emotions and focusing on the task at hand. For them, it’s scheduled exams. Can you imagine if one of us actually made this request to a court?

    • roses

      I have not seen any reports of universities delaying their exams, though some student groups have asked them to. I think Columbia’s response, which emphasized case-by-case consideration in accordance with the University’s general policy on students experiencing trauma, is perfectly appropriate. People have different psychological reactions to things, particularly if students’ families live in St. Louis, Staten Island, etc (though I wouldn’t rule out that others would also have psychological difficulties as well). If someone that is not experiencing psychological difficulties takes advantage of this policy to get more time to study, that person is likely violating the school’s honor code and should be punished accordingly.

      • Anonymous

        Agreed with this. If your doctor says you’re psychologically unfit for exams, post pone them for you.

    • Wildkitten

      I think it’s great. I love that law students are being so intensely effected by current events. I realize that people of color have less of a choice in choosing to care, but a lot of law students don’t seem to leave the library often enough to know what is happening in the world. So I’m glad people care.

      And exams are fake. They are literally fake scenarios teachers make up in their imaginations and create fake facts for them to be solved by students in a fake exercise. Postpone them.

      • Anonymous

        I’m thrilled that people care. Thrilled! If only I could get my clients’ stories of racist treatment on CNN. But that’s not the point. Yes, exams are fake. So what? Law school is fake but it teaches you to think a certain way. How long should their exams be postponed? Believe me, the system isn’t going to be fixed any time soon.

      • Anonymous

        Its ridiculous. It honestly is mind boggling that people think this way. You can care deeply and still take your exams. But to be tramatized by a news story that you are not remotely connected too? I would be much more sympathetic if they were actually requesting time off to protest. But good lord, because they are upset over the country being f*cked up?

        Deadlines are “fake” in the same way exams are. You can’t hide from life.

      • anon

        I’m thrilled that people care too. BUT, can I also refuse to take my exams or go to court because I’m distraught over the various rape investigation scandals that are going on in the country? Cause man, that shiz is really upsetting, especially when you’ve been through it.

        See where this is going? All of the sudden there are no rules. Any excuse will do. Adults have to deal with upsetting stuff. Especially lawyers. Exams may be fake, but there’s a very real reason that people take them, and take them all at the same time.

        • roses

          A rape investigation scandal could trigger PTSD in someone, however, which cannot just be brushed off.

      • roses

        Postpone them until when though? I don’t think we’re going to fix the injustice of our criminal system anytime soon. As I said above, I don’t doubt that some students are legitimately traumatized and might not be able to take exams until they have time to process and seek professional help, but I don’t think that’s nearly the vast majority of students. The rest of us need to figure out a way of managing our daily lives while also advocating for the change that needs to happen.

    • Anonymous

      I think it’s absurd pandering for institutions that have done little to actually help.

      • Anonymous

        Yup. These kids are likely going to be funneled into big law anyway. They certainly won’t help the grand jury process there.

        • T

          As a student at a peer institution, I can guarantee you that we’re all going to biglaw. Postponing finals is absurd. It’s great that they care, but isn’t part of being a lawyer being able to both care and do your damn job simultaneously?

    • Pretty Primadonna

      Dang, I’m late to the party. In any event, someone’s privilege is showing.

      I guess it’s ’cause I’m Black that I feel these horrendous events DO affect me directly.

  15. Gail the Goldfish

    I need a non-Christmas gift idea. A friend of mine just got his PhD in architectural history, and I’d like to get him a small something to celebrate (no more than $50). He’s going to be at a large academic institution doing mostly research and possibly some teaching. Any academics out there who have any suggestions for something that might be useful for his job that I may not think of? I’m already getting him some guidebooks to his new city for Christmas, so that is out.

    • Anonny

      I’ve seen the book “Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience” gifted a few times, and has gone over well. I haven’t received it/read it myself, but it definitely sounded intriguing, and was very well-received for a scholar-friend of mine. (~$30?)

    • Anonymous

      I was at the gift shop in the National Building Museum a while back, and felt like it was a great place to find a gift, or get some inspiration for a gift in your area. They likely have an online shop, and this hits my sweet spot for gift giving – purchasing from a non-profit that aligns with my values.

      I get kids’ presents at local museum/science center gift shops all the time. I’ve been on a board for a non-profit, trust me, most can use a little more cash.

      • In the Pink

        I think there are lovely wooden block sets in MOMA, Smithsonian, and other such museum-related catalogues.

        Also maybe there’s a yearly planner that has such a vibe? Of course there are such products at levenger (dot com) and gallery leather (dot com)…without the architectural emphasis. I can imagine starting off a PhD with levenger’s note card systems being so wonderful, unique, and let’s face it – impressive.

        Also, card stock stationery for his correspondence – tons of options and lovely things from American Stationery Co (dot com) – been around for decades, quick turn around. Lovely. Professional or casual.

    • Cb

      Fancy notebooks? Moleskins, Leuchterms, and the like? I’m in academia and I do always like a nice crisp notebook. He might have one from his PhD but the Brilliant Reading Rest is a a great addition.

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