Suit of the Week: Boss
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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 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. Also: we just updated our big roundup for the best women's suits of 2026!
I feel like there's always an amazing Boss suit in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, and I think this is my favorite from the picks this year.
If you're not familiar with the NAS, the idea is that new fall merchandise is marked down for a limited time to celebrate Nordstrom's anniversary. The sale isn't open yet, but the preview is available and you can add items to your wishlist. Everyone can shop the sale July 18, but if you're a Nordstrom card holder you can shop the sale possibly as early as July 14 (what date you can access the sale depends on how much you've spent; if you sign in to Nordstrom it'll say at the top of the screen).
I adore this deep wine red suit. I like the sharp double-breasted closure, as well as the front welt pockets and the matching flared pants. Lovely.
The suiting pieces will be $349-$599 after the sale; during the sale you can get them for $233-$400.
Sales of note for 7/11:
- Nordstrom – Designer clearance, up to 60% off!
- Ann Taylor – Semi-annual sale, 60% off sale and 40% off everything — readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Athleta – Extra 30% off semi-annual sale, up to 60% off reader favorites like Brookyn and Endless pants
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Banana Republic – Summer sale up to 60% off sale styles + extra 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Up to 40% off sitewide + 40% off 3+ items
- Cuyana – Archive sale, up to 60% off
- Evereve – Extra 30% off sale!
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns
- Hobbs – Up to 50% off, extra 30% off sale
- J.Crew – 50% off select cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 60% off clearance
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Lululemon – Summer sale!
- Margaux – Save up to 50% off, including archive sale
- Me & Em – Sale! Up to 50% off (new lines just added)
- M.M.LaFleur – 25% off jardigans (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clear the rack, extra 25% off clearance! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Strathberry – Up to 30% off select styles
- Talbots – 40% off your entire purchase + extra 15% off markdowns
Can we talk about making moves towards retirement? Especially if relocating or having relocated?
I’m planning to leave a big coastal city for a small town in the Pacific Northwest. It’s fairly rural and there’s very few white collar jobs. It’s my hometown though I’ve been gone for decades, so I somewhat know what I’m getting into & have a few connections. The plan is to have robust retirement savings and get a (probably low wage) job (hopefully with benefits) to bridge the gap before true retirement age — while living it up in an affordable home & enjoying the natural environment. I’m excited but nervous about it as the time draws near. I’m wondering if others have done the same or have support or criticism.
Also curious! I’ll be eligible for a pension in my mid-50’s and my husband and I will probably need/desperately want to leave our high (but not Very high—DMV) cost of living area, family is spread, and I’d probably still also need to work some kind of job to put in the social security hours. Not even sure where we’d go—maybe a state where my husband’s work, if he’s still w them, has a footprint.
I think there’s a documentary about this on Netflix called Virgin River.
Lol
The main challenge I see in my small town in a blue state is that it lacks the tradespeople you may be used to in a bigger city. There is a strong expectation towards DIYing many of the home ownership tasks that you are used to outsourcing. We’ve actually had people give up and move away, leaving behind angry Next Door posts about how hard it is to live in town because of it.
I guess what I’m asking is: are you handy? Are you comfortable doing odd jobs in your own home?
This is interesting–it seems like it would be easier to find a plumber, electrician, handyman, etc. in a small town through word of mouth than it is to find a decent one who shows up and does the work in a city.
Twenty years ago this was true in my town, but now, all those tradespeople have retired, died, or got bought up by national companies that subcontract out. We do most of our work ourselves now because finding someone, anyone, is not easy.
This has been my experience. I had a hard time finding quality folks in my previous VHCOL area; I’ve now moved to a small town (where, admittedly, I have some connections, so I have good folks to ask) and have had great experiences with tradespeople here.
Really? All the niche handy folk I need for my old house drive in from rural towns (and I happily pay for it). In the city I can only find generic trades people, not specialists.
it feels like there’s a big push to have kids do apprenticing and take those jobs instead of going into 6 figures of debt for an english degree
I’m curious to hear what others say!
I’d suggest looking at the FIRE communities on Reddit – there’s LeanFire, ChubbyFire, and FatFire, I think FatFire is for people only comfortable with retiring with like $10m.
I think the low wage job with insurance benefits is going to be a stretch so I’d expect to either work an hourly job or just not work; either way you’ll have to get insurance thru the marketplace. but I’d look at it as retiring early. something to think about though is getting a mortgage without a job in place, fwiw.
How dependent is your plan’s success on whether or not you acquire that low wage job?
My college kid could not find a low wage job in our small, rural hometown last summer. The competition for openings that were previously a given was fierce. Lots of retirees jumping back into the workforce.
Good point. I have a part-time remote job that I should be able to continue with as a fallback plan (will have to go to the marketplace for insurance).
What’s the healthcare situation like? Can you get a new PCP without waiting a year or more? Are there hospitals and specialists within a reasonable drive? Even in my 40s those things are more of a concern than they were when I was younger and I assume they’ll only become more of an issue as you age. I did the opposite move and went from a small city with terrible healthcare back to my large city home town and it’s much better!
+1
My initial dream was to early retire to a small coastal town, but the lack good healthcare options, crazy expensive Marketplace insurance plans as you reach your 50s/60s (unless you can keep your income very low to qualify for subsidies), and the challenges of home maintenance with aging (I’m single) are making me pivot. Which saddens me.
Yes, that should be interesting. It seems adequate but not ideal. There’s a hospital in town that’s part of a regional chain and specialists for common ailments, a different chain hospital 90 minutes out … finally, locals think a 5-hour drive to a major city with a robust medical system (and a medical school feeding it) is reasonable! Locally, it seems a nurse practitioner might be my PCP. Hopefully our needs remain modest or perhaps we can stay in another city for awhile if needed.
MIL did this. Another thing to consider is the flexibility of the low wage job. MIL had no problem finding jobs, but getting vacation time for her quasi-retirement was always a problem. Even when she tried part time hourly work, it was always a challenge – especially around holidays. I’ve seen it work a lot better if you are able to hang your own shingle consulting.
What kind of jobs did she find?
This would be my concern. Generally low wage jobs have minimal flexibility. Unless you’re doing something seasonal and plan to quit and be re-hired every season (like working retail for Christmas), it seems like it would be very hard to take vacations and that’s not the kind of lifestyle I want in retirement.
Make sure you can get that low wage job with benefits before you move
Be aware that unless this is a wealthy area, there is going to be significantly less health-care options in rural areas once the Medicaid cuts go into effect. Many rural hospitals have been closing anyway, but it’s about to get worse.
Raised hand! My husband and I did this a year ago. We moved from a city to a village in wine country. He works from home. There’s beautiful landscapes, great restaurants and cafes, lots to do.
Telehealth means things aren’t much harder for me than the city, a little more driving but still accessible to my specialists.
I was aware that there was a element here who were pro animal cruelty and anti climate science but the racist, ablist, homophobic, tin foil brigade are much more prevalent than I’d thought possible in 2026.
I’ve found my tribe here but I worry about my trans friends (whose local family is awful) and my disabled friend (trucks swerving to mock hit her and those stickers on vehicles about points for hitting cyclists and wheelchair users).
Treasure the good people!
Those people are more prevalent, or at least more open about it, in 2026 than they have been in a long time.
I am looking for a new summer-weight robe. I’d like something short without full sleeves in a soft fabric–preferably not poly. Any recommendations? Alas, my google search is failing me.
not sure about the sleeve length, but Lake’s pima cotton is wonderful and holds up beautifully to machine wash & dry.
I’m the Serena and Lily poster from the other day. There is a lovely linen robe on the website, the Hyannis Robe, that caught my eye that seems to fit the criteria.
if you like prints I’d absolutely get a Printfresh robe – I haven’t tried their new “eco satin” (makes me shudder to think but people supposedly love it) — but their original all cotton products are adorable, wash/dry well, and are fun.
I also feel like one of the bedding/towel brands had a nice waffle robe I saw somewhere. Quince? Parachute?
Eileen west cotton lawn robes from Vermont Country store.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082V394QX?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1&psc=1
This is the one I have from Amazon. It meets your criteria, which is my criteria. It’s a nice, simple robe, not super luxurious. I like the short sleeves and the attached belt.
I was eyeing that robe and wondered about it. Thanks for sharing your experience. I have nice soft pjs and just want a simple robe.
I ordered a cotton voile robe several years ago from Etsy shop KanthaHome. It’s held up very well. It’s cotton voile, so it’s very lightweight and does come out of the dryer wrinkly. Looks like they have over 200 patterns to choose from right now. The one size fits all fits about up to a size 16.
Did the print fade at all? I ordered a robe from Etsy that was block printed from India and despite washing on cold and hanging it to dry the print has faded considerably.
Nope. Looks the same as when I received it.
And I’ve not babied it – it gets thrown in the wash and dryer just like anything else.
Do you think there’s a bit of a “practice” aspect to being in panic mode? I notice that when I was younger and had a lot on my plate, I’d get into panic mode pretty easily. But now, I have a million things to do before I leave for vacation on Friday morning, and I’m just kind of struggling to keep up like I always do.
Absolutely. There’s no substitute for age and experience – too bad we have to be old before we have those things.
Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
I think with panic mode for a lot of people what comes with age is both perspective (“this is stressful but not truly important in the big picture”) that develops as you work out what you really value in life; and better knowledge of your own capacity (“This is stressful, but I’ve done hard things before, and I can do this too”)
I’m actually worried about this, like I’ve run out of the ability to produce some stress hormones when I could really use them? Like I can’t miss sleep for any emergency lately, even if I’m needed. I don’t totally know how to get help for it either (my doctor tested my AM cortisol and it’s lowish but not out of range).
If it were a true emergency, like people’s safety was in danger, you would still be able to power through. Your brain has just decided that work “emergencies” aren’t emergencies.
This is what I assumed until bigger emergencies (like 911 call) arose, and I still couldn’t muster any panic or even energy or even stay fully awake.
Wait, if you can’t stay awake in a genuine life threatening emergency, and your doctor is brushing you off, get a new doctor. (I know, easier said than done when you’re struggling, but if you have money to throw at things this seems like a good reason to try a concierge doctor).
Well, why do you think everyone here is taking GLPs/HRT/anti-depressants/exercise + therapies? I’m only kidding a little.
Those stress responses are actually terrible for our bodies, as I think you know. We are not really running from tigers these days. And we shouldn’t be missing sleep. So it sounds like you are pretty normal, and are pining for the abuse that we were able to sustain in our youth.
If it were just work emergencies, I’d agree, but unfortunately my examples were real tiger level emergencies.
A lot of people actually don’t panic in emergencies. I am actually amazingly calm and clear. And my brother who is a brilliant high functioning autistic type yes, could easily sleep through emergencies.
idk if this is helpful or not but I had some chronic illness kick in in my late 20s (I always had it but stress and lifestyle factors lead to it actually being diagnosed and treated). Now work just does not phase me, there is no stress I don’t gaf, and knock through huge to do lists very fast at about a 90% (vs the perfection I used to hold myself to) I’m still the best employee by a mile and I’m very Zen.
Unfortunately I have normalized struggling to keep up, personally and professionally. I have come to realize that my “need to do” lists are 50% aspirational and 50% doable. I have come to appreciate that many things that I or others think need doing are deserving of only a C effort not and A+ effort. Which is a long way of saying that in my experience one does rather become inured to the pressure and that does make it better in a way.
WWYD — we bought a piece of furniture from a retailer for about 65% off the list price with a scheduled delivery date of July 15. It was labeled as clearance. They charged our credit card, and then a few weeks later said it was a pricing error and cancelled the order. A month after that, they refunded our card.
I just got a call confirming a delivery time for the furniture for July 15. I still absolutely want the furniture if it’s at the clearance price, but right now, they don’t have any of my money. It’s not worth full price in my eyes.
WWYD? My husband wants to see if it shows up and then write them a check for the clearance price if they don’t re-charge the card for that amount. It’s a large national company, and this was an online order.
Your husband’s approach sounds reasonable. And I’m not sure they’re allowed to recharge your card – if they charge it for the non-sale price (hypothetically), you could file a chargeback. But if it were me, I’d want everything sorted out in advance, so I’d probably reach out to their customer service before the scheduled delivery.
I would sort out the issue of the purchase with the merchant before the delivery arrives. It’s entirely possible that the merchant did not notify the delivery company of the cancellation. This happened to us with an appliance. You don’t want to be trying to hash out payment with the delivery company–they probably will refuse.
Would the delivery company even know the payment status? In my experience, third party delivery companies don’t have any visibility into that. They are just involved to get the product to the delivery address and obtain a signature confirming it wasn’t damaged in the process.
Exactly–they would just deliver the item and would not accept the payment, and then you could potentially have a big issue with the merchant where they have leverage to get you to pay whatever price they want.
I don’t see where the leverage comes in. They canceled the order.
I don’t see how they’d have that leverage at all. The contract was for $x, and they ultimately fulfilled their end of the contract. They’re entitled to no more than $x.
They have the leverage because you have in possession a piece of furniture that you haven’t paid for. They can say you owe them full price. I suppose you could demand that they come and pick up the furniture that they erroneously delivered, but are they really going to do that? And what of the fact that you accepted the delivery knowing you hadn’t paid?
Yes, I would tell them they’re welcome to either invoice me for the contracted for amount or pick it up, but it is reasonable for me to assume that they changed their mind again and decided to fulfill the contract they’d originally entered into.
Sorry, to clarify, he wants to mail a paper check to the company a few days after the delivery assuming no new charge appears on the card by then.
My guess is they will figure this out before the delivery date and will cancel on you. Until then, I would lightly daydream about my new, free piece of furniture.
write who a check? The delivery company has nothing to do with payment for the furniture – they are just the fulfillment center.
Correct. His idea is to write a paper check and mail it to the HQ of this company with a note about what happened.
I feel like they’d probably rather you just enjoy your free piece of furniture than try to figure out how to balance that to their books.
I remember being horrified by the doctrine of unjust enrichment in contracts class–if a painter shows up and paints the wrong house, the homeowners have to pay for the work even though they didn’t want it. I would not want to risk being put in that kind of position and having to pay full price when the company found out. And they will find out. I once had a package get lost. The vendor re-shipped the item. Weeks later the original package arrived, and before I could contact the vendor to find out how to return it they’d already e-mailed me demanding the duplicate item back.
lol I was thinking the same thing.
Don’t do that, that is weird. Companies have policies about how payments can be processed and sending a random check won’t align with those policies.
I am acquaintances with a guy who shows up with a $20 bill at a restaurant occasionally and asks them to make him something for it. Almost uniformly, the restaurants will turn him away and occasionally threaten to call the cops. Being able to follow social norms is more important than having cash in hand.
Their policies also got a piece of furniture that they haven’t been paid for loaded onto a truck somewhere, so maybe their policies suck….
Please tell me more about this acquaintance and his hijinks🤣
Yes! This is my takeaway, too — I’d love to hear more about this very strange acquaintance of yours!
As someone who has worked in accounts receivable – I’m highly skeptical that the check would get routed to someone who would actually know what to do with it, in this instance. In my experience, unless there’s an attached invoice/order number associated that can be pulled up on the company end, everyone kind of shrugs.
Do nothing! It’s a big retailer, you owe them nothing, chances are you’ll get it for free. I had something similar happen to me, they cancelled an order and refunded but the order still arrived. I kept waiting for an email but they never noticed their mistake and I certainly wasn’t going to tell them.
I would call or email the company. It’s very possible the delivery doesn’t really exist, and the delivery company has not been notified. If the company really did find the furniture, you want to be charged the correct price. Otherwise, you may get caught up in a battle between them and your credit card. Or, you can send them a check that is misapplied and they come after you for non payment.
People and companies make mistakes. We’ve all been there, and the ethical thing to do is to contact the company. Any suggestion of “just keep it,” is advising you to steal.
I definitely don’t plan to just keep it unless they tell me to, fwiw. That’s why I asked the question. I just would like them to honor the price they advertised (which wasn’t obviously an error — I’m not talking about getting a massive sectional for $10 or something, but rather a deep but plausible discount on a discontinued furniture item).
Just call them. Tell them what happened. Ask to speak to a supervisor. See what they want to do. Make them your offer. You are willing to pay the price that was listed online and keep it, or they have to come pick it up. But honestly, I suspect this will just fall through the cracks.
I once had a wrong piece of furniture delivered to my house, and rather than send it back (on their dime), they just told me to keep it for free! It cost several hundred dollars, so I was surprised.
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