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Suit of the Week: Boss

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 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.

The sales have started — Nordstrom is offering 25% off sitewide, which is pretty good considering there are a ton of basics that almost never go on sale. It's a great time to stock up on basics like these hose, these pants, this dress, this comfortable pump under $100, these flats, or this line of awesome bags for work.

If you've never splurged on a basic Boss suit before, now might be the time — their colorful “fun” suits often go on sale, but I don't usually see their classic tropical wool suiting on sale. The pieces range from $171 to $446.

Can't get your head around a suit right now and want work from home attire? This sweater, these denim leggings, and these slippers are awesome for working from home… 

Also: why, Akris, why? 

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Sales of note for 12.13

  • Nordstrom – Beauty deals on skincare including Charlotte Tilbury, Living Proof, Dyson, Shark Pro, and gift sets!
  • Ann Taylor – 50% off everything, including new arrivals (order via standard shipping for 12/23 expected delivery)
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
  • Eloquii – 400+ styles starting at $19
  • J.Crew – Up to 60% off almost everything + free shipping (12/13 only)
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off everything and free shipping, no minimum
  • Macy's – $30 off every $150 beauty purchase on top brands
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off, plus free shipping on everything (and 20% off your first order)
  • Talbots – 50% off entire purchase, and free shipping on $99+

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

110 Comments

  1. I think that Wake Forest people may know this:

    Moravian Star shaped lights. They are pretty! Do they mean anything? I think I’d like one for my front porch but don’t know where to get one or if there is a meaning?

    Thanks!

    1. They’re really common where I grew up (Pennsylvania) and I guess anywhere that the Moravian church had a historical presence. Not usually an all ‘year round decoration or an indoor light. Pretty sure Lowes and Home Depot still sell them around the holidays.
      Also commonly known as an Advent Star.

      1. Given that there are only 15,000 of us in the US there are decent odds this will out me, ha, but I was raised Moravian. Yes, they’re Advent decorations – usually put up on the first Sunday of Advent and kept up through Epiphany. In the US they’re typically made of white or cream paper or plastic, but in Germany and Austria you’ll see red and white ones too (non-Moravian people also put them up in Germany and Austria).

        They’re a cultural tradition but not a sacred object so no worries about causing religious offense by putting one up we love seeing them especially as our own numbers dwindle.

        1. I’m the 2:43 Anon. Not Moravian, but PA Dutch, and we definitely absorbed local Moravian tradition. The trombone choir was a huge deal (I was a trombonist).

    2. I grew up in Charlotte and I feel like I have definitely seen them in a rustic/rusted barn red (in metal) as a hanging porch light. Such a darling look! (And I totally remember my elementary school trip to Old Salem :) And those little spice cookies! Confession: for a long time in my school mind, I couldn’t separate Old Salem from Williamsburg :) )

    3. Interesting – being born in (former) Czechoslovakia, I always associated the star with Christmas, never occurred to me it is tied to specific branch of religion. I guess I learn something new every day. Thanks for the post.

    4. Any country/primitive houseware/decorator retail store in Pennsylvania carries the Moravian star in many forms ….year round.

    1. So much for science, right? (Sarcasm) What a bunch of effing idiots. I bet at least one of them is walking around with this bug.

  3. I wore skinny jeans today with sneakers (trail runners, not cute fashion sneakers) and even though they aren’t high rise jeans, they look like tragic bad mom jeans.

    Aiii!

    1. Look at Ms. Dressed Up over here. I see your mom jeans and raise you pajama pants and a ratty ponytail.

      1. Yeah, I reached for jeans yesterday and then was like wait, why? I grabbed yoga pants instead. Today I’m still in pjs.

    2. I actually love that look – it was very common during the camp counselor phase of my life!

    3. Can I get bonus points for wearing jeweled cheetah print slippers? Also, my husband asked me if I used a mix master to do my hair this morning. With no video calls today so no need to wash it, I just put the whole curly mass into a much-too high structural formation on my head.(The dog and I held a meeting, and the decision was unanimous.)

      1. That is my usual weekend hairdo. I have a strict rule that I do not do my hair on weekends unless I have somewhere to go (which is, like, never!) My bestie calls it poodle-head. She’s just jealous her hair doesn’t do that.

        And the cheetah print slippers sound fab-u-lous!!!

        1. As somebody with super fine, stick straight hair, I am seriously jealous of people who can pile all their cute curly hair on top of their head like that. Mine just looks sad. Rock on! I would absolutely do it if I could.

    4. And I’m rocking the four-eyes look until further notice because my eye exam was canceled and I’m out of contact lenses.

    5. I’m actually leaving the house today (first time since Friday) and seeing myself with super minimal Errand Makeup (TM) was a shocker haha.

  4. Who even knows if I might be needing a suit for work soon. I feel like we live in a different world now. More recs for barely-presentable WFH clothes please! Preferably those that go well with slippers.

    1. I feel like the hard-hitting content I need right now is articles like “Have you brushed your teeth today?” and “Putting on a bra – is it worth it?”

      1. Answer to both is no, emphatically to the second question and sheepishly to the first.

    2. Yes, while I know this is business, there’ve been a couple requests now for non-business clothes. My doctor said we should be expecting to WFH for months and I’m not eating very much (because I’m not moving very much, I’m not hungry) so by then I might have lost some weight…clothes I get now may be too big. Silver lining?

      Could we post comfy presentable WFH clothes instead? Real waistband pants, etc.

    3. I have out-eaten my suit, so I just ordered another one in my +1 size. This hunkering down with a stocked pantry with shelf-stable salty snacks has its own vanity risks.

      1. How to make my 2013 Macbook Pro webcam not make me look like a zombie: A quick guide

      2. I’d love this! Or how to find your most flattering angle on video conference.

        1. See if there’s a “beauty” option on your conferencing software or camera settings. I found it in Zoom a few months ago and my “hideous video face” is SO MUCH BETTER now.

      4. LOL I have video interviews and my field is pretty casual as it is – as long as my hair is brushed and I’m wearing a decent shirt, we’re good to go. If you’re very lucky, I might put on some lipstick.

    5. I bought a couple of cheap wireless soft cup bras recently. As a 32D who is typically all trussed up, it is AMAZING.

  5. My daughter was tested Sunday and we don’t have an answer yet. She is only mildly ill and we are all staying home, so I understand that there are much more pressing tests. I am just annoyed because the state DPH is claiming in the newspaper that they’re all caught up with daily tests. I don’t think that is true so let’s not sugarcoat it.

      1. Why do people keep suggesting this as a solution to everything? It’s probably helpful on some rare occasions, but I’m guessing that they already know about the state inefficiencies. And even if they do a story and mention one company or one person in particular, I don’t think that translates into the problem getting fixed. Especially know where a news cycle is, like, 15 minutes.

      1. Thanks. I just got through to the ER and was told it would be 3 to 5 days and they would call us. That’s consistent with what we were told on Sunday when she was tested.

        She has been complaining for days that she can’t taste anything. Apparently this is a symptom! I just read that today.

        1. That’s a common complaint with viral upper respiratory infections. It’s not specific for this virus, or common for this virus. So hopefully she may not have it!

          Keep us posted.

  6. Would you send your dog to daycare right now? Ours is open and the owner of the daycare is shuttling the dogs from the building to the cars so we don’t even have to go inside. We are all WFH but my dogs are driving us both nuts (no, you can’t get a walk every hour just because we are home) and we would love to help keep the small doggy daycare business open.

    My concern though is could germs from other houses be on the dogs, the dogs get the germs on my dogs, and then I bring the germs into my house? Is this any higher risk of bringing home groceries from the grocery store?

    We want to just send them once/week for now.

    1. I would send them. I think the risk of transmission from what you describe is very low. And your dogs can’t catch COVID. Good way to help keep a small business afloat.

    2. I wouldn’t worry about coronavirus spread this way, but I’d be more concerned about whether they might get injured in play or pick up one of the everyday doggy bugs. Both vets offices (regular and emergency specialty vet) near me are having people come to cars to get your animal and talk to the doctor by phone. If the dog ends up needing surgery and is at the vets for a few days, no one is able to visit (ours aren’t allowing anyone inside the facility but staff anymore). I can’t even imagine if heaven forbid the dog had to be put down and you couldn’t be there. I’m also seeing different handling of exceptions for vet services staying open in terms of “sheltering in place,”which is making me very nervous, My dog has cancer (melanoma) and has been in remission since July 2018 thanks to regular vaccine injections, and I’m hoping his access to care isn’t cut. I’m getting in sooner than his normal appointment but it is still a wait with all the other pets they need to serve. Praying we can still get seen without disruption at his specialty vet by the time of his new appointment.

      1. Our vet has also gone to “curbside” service, but is very clear they will make exceptions for cases like end-of-life. I’m going tomorrow and was kind of waffling about it, but it’s a pre-scheduled appointment to check on whether a new medication is working. I figure better I go now while there’s relatively few cases in our area. Waiting until this is all over in a few months is too long to keep my dog on the new meds indefinitely.

    3. I cancelled my dog’s routine vet appointment, and the receptionist was very snotty that yes, I could call back to reschedule after this “scare”. And yes, we’ve had positive cases for weeks now…grr…

    1. Yay! I just got set up for remote work and will be moving to remote starting tomorrow. I honestly can’t say how relieved I feel; I guess this was stressing me out more than I realized.

      1. My office has decided we will not be switching to WFH but are just closing off the lobby to clients and moving everything to phone or video conferencing, pushing defense counsel to agree to video deps rather than rescheduling, etc., but we’re still expected to report to the office every morning and practice “social distancing” within the building (which has NOT been followed, at all.)

        Today, I’ve been a total wreck and not able to concentrate at all. The third Thursday is my usual monthly WFH day because of various board meetings near my home I have on that day. Those board meetings have all been canceled or switched to phone conferences, and I had resigned myself to be at the office tomorrow. But I’m having what feels like a slow motion panic attack while I’m here. I’m keeping my WFH day and hoping it goes better than today or yesterday.

  8. Weight question (avoid if it’s upsetting to you):

    I gained a normal amount of weight during pregnancy (under 30 pounds). A week after I gave birth, I was 7 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight. Since then, I’ve put on a steady pound a week for two months straight, which is (a) not normal variation and (b) more weight than I’ve ever gained in my life, pregnancy excepted. Clothes that fit me six weeks ago can’t zip shut. My nails are brittle; my sleep is whacked out. I exercised throughout my pregnancy, but the same exercises (minus a baby) leave my muscles aching.

    Anyone else had this happen? Is this normal? Worth getting my thyroid checked?

    1. That doesn’t sound normal at all, not just the weight but also the fatigue and sleep issues. (You expect *some* level of fatigue and sleep disruption with a baby, but that still doesn’t sound normal.) Definitely worth getting checked.

    2. Have you been eating more (b*east-feeding can make you very hungry) and moving less because of a baby attached to your hip? That plus hormones all over the place is probably your answer. Most people’s bodies aren’t 100% hormone or weight wise for a long time after a baby.

      1. OP. Eating about what I did before pregnancy and exercising a reasonable amount (a half hour to 45 minutes a day, five days a week). The weight still keeps coming on.

    3. It’s worth getting checked out, but I also think this is fairly normal. It happened to me and a few others I know.

        1. I started doing intermittent fasting, and that helped me stopped gaining. I haven’t succeeded in losing much, if any, yet.

        2. This happened to me too. My son is now almost 13 months old, and for the past month or so I’ve slowly started to lose the weight. I’m hoping it continues! I also feel like my body is starting to feel more ‘normal’ more generally.

    4. I continued to gain weight after I gave birth to my 2nd child, and after about 3 months and 5 pounds was when I realized I needed to do something about it. I did keto for about 4 months and lost 40 pounds. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

      1. Just curious – did you keep it off? I did keto for a few weeks and lost 10 pounds, gained back 30. A friend did it for several months before her wedding, lost 40 and gained it all back. I’m desperate to lose those 30lbs but I’m super apprehensive of keto now.

  9. Dear Hive, please tell me I did the right thing, because my while my head is telling me I did, my heart is calling me the world’s biggest dumba$$. Due to work schedules, I don’t often get to see my sweetheart. He’s lead engineer on a huge project that is finally wrapping up and has been hinting around about seeing me when it’s all said and done. Final product shipped out today. He works for a large multi-national manufacturing company with people who are constantly traveling — although all travel has been suspended and most all employees are now back at the home office. Very few people, including those who had been traveling before all the sh!t hit the fan, are working from home as they are needed to be on site for various stages of production. Not everyone he works with is being really great about social distancing, and some of the younger people have the “won’t happen to me” mentality.

    I am also not working from home as my company is all about putting in face time. My boss’s wife was in Germany last week for work and is now in quarantine, although our HR department told my boss he “should be fine” and was to come to work. Pretty much everyone I work with is being super careful, but I’ve moved my office chairs into a storage room to discourage people from coming in and having a seat to chat. They can talk to me from my doorway.

    Sweetheart has 3 kids ranging from 10-16 who will be staying with him this weekend until they go back to school. My 71 y/o dad lives with me and is in relatively good health, though he is getting over a case of the regular everyday flu. It’s been over a month since I saw my sweetheart and I turned down a chance to see him tonight (basically a night hanging out at either his or my house, dinner and TV) because we don’t know who we’ve been around that my have been exposed to this virus and, as I explained to him, we have other people to consider — my dad, his kids, his kids’ mom, and other members of our families. He’s fine with it and is very understanding, but I still feel awful. I miss my guy! Please, somebody tell me I did the right thing!

    1. You completely did the right thing. Thank you for being a responsible human!

      You are on the right side of history here.

        1. I like this idea! It would also be a great idea for his 16 y/o who is absolutely convinced her life is over because she can’t see any of her friends. Thank you, also, for being the voice of reason.

      2. +1. This is so hard and I would be so so sad, too. But you absolutely did the right thing.

    2. You did! I think it’s best for you two to steer clear of each other for a while until this passes. For now, you should have either Apple Face time or Skype or Google Play if you are lonely for him so you can talk and see him. So I think it’s best to wait for now. Just think if you wait just how much more exciting it will be after this is all over — all that pent up s-xueal tension and energy to be released when you get together!

    3. From a pregnant lady, THANK YOU for doing the right thing! The more people do this, the more your sweetheart/his kids/their mom/etc. will learn, feel more comfortable, share with their friends and coworkers that this is the right thing to do.
      Seriously THANK YOU!

    4. You did the right thing. I’ve also put off seeing the guy I am dating for the same reason. He didn’t love it when I first said it, but I laid out my reasoning and held strong.

    5. You did the right thing. I’m also not seeing my guy, who I don’t live with, because he is a medical provider who’s still working. If enough of us take these steps, the situation should be over in a few weeks.

    8. Netflix has a new browser extension for Chrome that lets you have a “watch party” with someone (or several someones) and do live chat while you’re all watching the same thing at the same time. You can Google for details…maybe that would be a fun thing to do together?

  10. Minor thing: Oh god, do I miss my office’s multi-page scanner. I know I can use my phone or my iPad to scan, and I have a great Brother laser duplex printer/copier/scanner, but it’s SO slow to scan a bunch of pages.

    I just wish I could put in the stuff, hit scan, and it all scans to my email in PDF instead of going through a multi-step process.

    WFH woes.

  11. Hold on y’all – I know the mid-day post doesn’t normally see much action, but I really need to know what was “deeply wrong” with the suggested schooling suggestions for while kids are out of school. I’m not ready to drop this topic! What’s the story?

    2. I have no problems with the suggestions. But frankly, my 6th graders school was VERY prepared for this. As many school systems were. They have 4-5 hours worth of online work per day, including reading and PE assignments, so I’m not don’t anything extra. This is not children being “off from school”. He’s working harder than normal because he has to teach himself (I tried to help with fractions today but it only ended in a fight).

      1. Oh my gosh! Sorry, I’m cracking up a little about fractions ending up in a fight; I would be the same! Math is…. not my thing. Good luck to you!

      2. Our school district just abruptly canceled school for three weeks (the week at the end of this was already Spring break). They have sent over a few logins for websites they use at school, but otherwise no guidance at all. It is definitely just children being off from school. I am working from home and attempting to have my 9 and 11 year old do some math workbooks, read, art time, and then a long walk at lunch with me. I try to keep them off electronics for a good 5 hour chunk during the day, but the rest of the day is a free for all haha! Especially if I have a client call.

    3. Michael Farris is a gross human, but I thought there were some good suggestions in there about reading and so forth.

      1. Ah ok, I have no idea who that is, and just reading the suggestions, I didn’t see anything inherently wrong with the suggestions themselves.

        1. He’s a terrible person, and this curriculum is used in ways that focus on discipline, memorization, old white people, and rote learning. It’s out of touch with modern educational practices and values conformity over equity. It’s not a neutral “here’s some fun stuff to do with the kids” it’s absolutely pushing an agenda.

          1. I agree with all of this but most parents probably aren’t equipped to teach modern methods (I certainly am not) so practicing times tables and reading out loud to each other seems fine for now if that’s what you can handle.

      2. The reading suggestions were fine, but a lot of this is dated/weird information. I will fight anyone who says math times tables means you know math (I was really good at math times tables because I’m really good at memorizing). The focus on spelling and grammar (while I think are currently important) seems misguided as well as we move into a world where this matters less and less every day. I think we’re doing our kids a disservice if we teach them the same things the same way we were taught. I personally feel like most of my education left me ill-equipped for the work force of today and would leave kids today severely ill equipped for the workforce of the future. More emphasis on creative thinking, problem solving, less emphasis on memorizing things. Rant over.

          1. I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it will matter less when all communication is oral/aural and literacy becomes obsolete, but it’s hard to get upvotes (as opposed to criticism) on a site like Reddit if your writing isn’t pretty standardized.

          2. I mean I used to be in the group that felt that way, but the world is changing. I’m trying to raise my kids to be prepared for the world they’re going to be living in not the world I would design .

          3. Spelling is probably mostly obsolete but grammar isn’t. You don’t need to know made up rules like “no split infinitives” but you do need to have a real facility with the English language.

    4. I dunno; I thought they were pretty reasonable. I’m personally feeling very guilty that I can’t be an awesome homeschooling mom + full-time working mom, so if anything, it just made me feel bad that I can’t be all things to all people. ;)

      I gotta mute the neighborhood text thread I ended up on. Moms who work VERY part-time, if at all, setting up all sorts of learning activities that I am nope-ing right out of for the time being.

    5. I don’t know anything about Michael Farris. The post is basically recommending that parents, who are presumably also working part or full time, also home school their kids full time. Some of the suggestions are also just inherently unhelpful and assume you know HOW to teach a kid certain material. For example, “make sure your children can add, subtract, multiply and divide by themselves.” Well… nice goal, but teaching kids math isn’t exactly my area of expertise. That’s why they go to school with a math teacher.

      Many schools have put learning continuation plans in place. There are numerous online resources for parents who haven’t, many of them with free trial subscriptions for the next 1-3 months. Most parents are struggling to work up to their employer’s expectations, keep their kids safe and fed, and prevent their kids from destroying the house.

      1. It’s also weird how the OP keeps saying she’s pretty successful (wink) and so are the kids of the guy pushing homeschooling. Um, I went to a generic public school and could still do all those things listed, I just learned them in a classroom environment, with other students and taught by a professional teacher not a parent at my house. There was nothing helpful in that list. Everyone is saying “those sound fine” but did the list actually help anyone with HOW to teach a kid those things? This isn’t some opportunity to push homeschooling on working parents. Just weird all around.

        1. OP here…interesting to read all this! Really didn’t think it would cause much discussion, I truly just thought the list had some solid suggestions for parents who might want/need to continue learning for their children at home during this weird time. It also reminded me of things from my childhood that I had forgotten about. I had two working parents who implemented some of these things while I was in traditional school, until my dad got the opportunity to WFH and my parents thought they could try their hand at homeschooling. It just happened to work for our family. All that to say, I thought it would be useful for parents in any situation. Not at all to push homeschooling (I will be the first to say it is not the right choice for everyone). As with anything, take what you need and leave what you don’t.

          Also, I never meant to imply that I am better than or super successful. I only pointed out that his kids are to provide some credence since I know he is controversial. I personally fall squarely center politically, and do not agree with him on a lot of issues.

          Also to the mom who said she felt bad after reading, DON’T! I think all the moms on this board are incredible. periodt. :) All my respect to the parents out there at this moment!

  12. Do you think there is any reason to worry that we will not be able to have food and essentials (like tampons, toothpaste, etc.) delivered in the near future? I am okay for now but can’t stop worrying about running out of supplies. For obvious reasons, I don’t want to go to a pharmacy or grocery store unless it is absolutely necessary.

    2. I am not overly concerned but I do think it is wise to have at least a few backups on hand. My concern is more related to the virus spreading and an entire factory getting sick and being shut down. I think that is more of a threat to the supply chain right now. I think this is especially concerning for factories where food is made/packaged.

    3. Now I’m wondering if I should skip my period while isolated. I’m on birth control but still get a period every month, but I may skip the placebos.

      1. I would. I am trying to buy tampons online and striking out on any delivery before the end of the month. Target says it will send me some by 3/28 but I’m skeptical that the date will hold.

    4. Assuming you are in the US, I don’t think so. Everything I have read indicates that the supply chain for food and essentials is secure, even if slightly backlogged because most Americans only recently started paying attention to the need for goods. There may be some imported items that are more difficult to get a hold of (avocados were difficult before all this occurred!), but you won’t run out of rice or cereal and whatnot.

      Additionally, even as decimated as Italy has been, people have been allowed to go to their grocery stores consistently, and they have not suffered any shortages of home commercial goods. I imagine the US is at least as well positioned.

      I don’t know how urban an environment you are in, but in my town (Chicago), many retailers are offering contactless curbside pickup. I wouldn’t do it on a daily basis, but if you are making yourself overly anxious thinking about supplies, taking advantage of that makes sense. I will be doing it tomorrow to get wine — I want to make sure my local small wine shop survives!

    5. I’m in the bay area, so lockdown day two after a couple of days of supermarket-madness and empty shelves everywhere. I currently have everything I need, but I totally relate to your worries. Now that people seem to really only go for necessary trips, I am hoping the empty shelf issue is mostly past. Personally, I have a cart on the target app open and I keep adding stuff for curbside pickup. I don’t know when or if I’m actually going to submit that order, but every time I think of an item that I could need, seeing that I could get it in 4 hours from my nearest Target is reassuring. So far, the only things out of stock are one specific kind of cookie and one specific fragrance of hand soap that I prefer. Everything else shows up in stock, so that helps me not to worry.
      I also think online order stops people from grabbing an insane amount, so it’s a better way to distribute supplies. I think Target limits how many of certain high-demand items you can order at the moment.

  13. I am frustrated. We are in Colorado – our paediatrician wanted you test my kid last Friday and, after spending an hour on the phone calling testing sites, couldn’t find anywhere that would test him. He’s three months old! He has a heart condition! He was in the ER the night before because he struggled to breath and, apparently, it was against hospital policy to test him.

    He’s much better now… but I think we might have (had?) the virus because my husband just had a fever for over a week, and he still has a cough and a headache and it has been two weeks. I haven’t had any symptoms. I wish we knew for certain so that we could warn people (including daycare) we interacted with just before any symptoms.

    Rant over.

    2. Wowww, a three month old with a heart condition needs to be tested NOW!! What the hell is going on in our country? It sounds like there are some medications that might make a difference. I know, most of these would probably be contraindicated for an infant, but wouldn’t the hospital want to know?? I’m so sorry for what you are dealing with. Stay strong.

    1. Thanks so much! I promise I know how to use the internet, but I have no idea why I couldn’t get that to show up yesterday…

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