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Updated: Apr 3, 2019 56 Comments · by

Suit of the Week: Brooks Brothers

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 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. I always get a little excited when I see all the seersucker and linen suits coming into stores because, by this point in the year, I am 100% eager for days where instead of being bundled in wintry layers and making sensible shoe choices to trounce through snow, the summer goal is to add as little extra heat to your body and thus dress sensibly in fabrics that breathe. Enter seersucker. Brooks Brothers actually has a ton of seersucker suits for women right now, including a brown and white number, but I'm liking this more traditional blue and white stripe in stretch cotton seersucker. The blazer is $298 and comes in regular and petite sizes 0-16, and there are matching pants, skirt and dress for $168-$248. Psst: Seersucker Day is usually the second or third Thursday in June — here was Roll Call's coverage last year. 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!

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Comments

  1. Irish Midori

    Ooh, seersucker. It’s like the Lilly Pulitzer of southern lawyers. Any other good ones out there right now? Brooks Bros doesn’t usually fit me well.

    • Ellen

      I hope I look like this in a few years. I have to walk 10000 steps a day and my tuchus is STILL to big. FOOEY on that!

  2. Anonymous

    Fifteen years ago, I was a part time nanny for a guy with a start up. I moved back to the region this year and found out that my firm represents his company – it is still around, and successful. I meet with him next month with a senior partner and it is making me chuckle.

    • Anon

      Ha – my firm once represented my high school ex! We had parted amicably, lost touch and both moved to this completely different area (and I had no idea it would be him at the first meeting – I didn’t know he worked there). We were polite to each other, but I asked to be reassigned because it felt too weird.

  3. Anon

    Does anyone know how to show to LinkedIn recruiters that you’re looking in a specific city? I have it set to show that I’m open (although I never get any messages) but I’m wondering if I can set it so they can see I’m looking in a different city and state

    • Anon

      When I was living in my old city, but job-hunting in the city in which I now live, I changed the “location” on my LinkedIn to be the new city.

      Do you need any other tips on job hunting in the new city?

      • Anon

        Ha, I need job hunting tips all around! I’m the poster looking in Savannah, GA and not finding much of a job market there. I’m not a lawyer, work in the compliance area of finance but willing to try something new. I’m worried that changing my LinkedIn city will be obvious that I’m looking

        • mascot

          Do you have a burner email? I live in Savannah and might have some suggestions about employers to consider or places to look. You can find me at anonymascot at the mail of the g.

    • Vicky Austin

      I think you can? I remember in the mobile app being able to toggle on the cities I was looking in. I can’t seem to find that setting on desktop though (just seems to be “open to recruiters” or not).

    • Houda

      When I was still living and Brussels and decided to move to London, I started searching for a month… nothing. Then I changed my location to London on Saturday. By Monday I had 4 recruiters already wanting to schedule calls. My friend in Morocco was struggling too and I told her repeatedly to change locale so she comes up on searches for job postings in that city. After months she did, and she started getting hits from her target city.

  4. Asheville -- style Q

    What are people in Asheville wearing these days for dinner out at a nice restaurant?

    Need guidance particularly for my SO, who has gained about a size but has not shopped for it other than to invest in some khaki-type Duluth Trading Company pants that have some stretch to them and larger sized Tommy Bahama polos and a larger fleece.

    I can coordinate as needed (be it dress + boots or nice jeans + boots + nice top or Lilly) — advice there welcome, too.

    Prior to dinner we will be walking around, perhaps at a brewery, but not hiking or anything like that.

    • Anonymous

      Asheville has always struck me as an “all kinds” kind of place, so if he wants to wear Duluth Trading khakis, he may not be the only one in the restaurant in them. I’ve generally worn dark jeans/boots/sweater in the winter and a casual dress in the summer. My husband has been pretty equivalent. I can’t think of anywhere in particular that doesn’t allow jeans, except maybe the restaurant at the Grove Park (and even that is only speculation, just because I know I wore a dress, but can’t remember why).

  5. CapHillAnon

    Question for NY friends: I have a rare day to myself in mid-town Manhattan coming up, and I’m desperate for a wardrobe refresh, particularly some new blazers. I typically get my clothes from boden and ann taylor, and I usually fit size 4 or 6. Where would you recommend a person go to shop for cute blazers? Should I stick with Nordstrom, etc., or are there other places that are worth checking out? (I know there are previous discussions in shopping in NY, but I can’t locate them!)

    • Abby

      can i tag on to this question and ask what you look for in blazers? That sounds so dumb, but I’m trying to go from cardigans to blazers, and have a hard time wearing blazers without feeling like I’m playing dress up.

      • Hermione

        I love a ponte blazer – Boden has some nice ones – for feeling comfortable to wear but looking sharp.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t want to alarm you but there is no regular Nordstrom with women’s clothes in Manhattan. We live like animals here. (I’m joking – there’s just some weird culture shock of a place where you can seemingly get everything but certain chain and big box stores–Target–are rare and exotic). Unfortunately I don’t have anything helpful to add other than there are a lot of higher end mall-type and designer stores on 5th Ave in the 40s and 50s. For cheaper stuff I would focus more on Herald Square. I think of Macy’s as being good for dresses but haven’t shopped there recently. It is huge.

    • Is it Friday yet?

      If you have the time, I’d go to Woodbury Commons, even though it’s not in Manhattan.

    • Anonymous

      Try Massimo Dutti and & Other Stories? You can check their websites to see if they are your style. I’d also check Zara. Agree with Macy’s, it’s vast.

  6. Anon

    I have an interview on Monday for basically a dream job, and I’m looking to really hit it out of the park. In addition to my usual interview prep, I’ve been catching up on interview advice articles, in particular with respect to good questions to ask the interviewer. A repeating theme I’ve noticed is a recommendation to ask something along the lines of “is there any reason that you doubt that I am a good fit for this role?” I’m pretty confident in interviews, but something about this question – maybe it sounds confrontational? – makes me nervous. Has anyone asked this type of question in an interview, what was your experience, and/or does anyone have any general input on the pros/cons of asking this question? Thanks!

    • Anonymous

      I don’t like this question as it invites them to think about reasons why you are not right for the role.

    • Hermione

      I’ve heard feedback that you should never ask it in a way that implies you’re asking them to make a decision on the spot. I like to go for something like “is there anything you wanted to ask that we haven’t talked about?”

      • Plus one

        As an interviewer I would like this phrasing above. It’s more of an invitation to supply information. And it could spur people to think a bit and make sure they do get all their questions in, instead of realizing later, hey we never asked her about X.

    • S in Chicago

      I don’t like that question at all. 1) It sort of puts the interviewer into the mindset of what they may not like about you or be uncertain about (seems better to keep the tone positive where they are thinking about how the candidate DOES match and 2) I’d be kind of put off if I were the interviewer. It’s generally not polite to say what you don’t like about someone even in professional settings. No one wants to do that. (And a lot of stuff going through their head isn’t likely to be helpful or disprovable: candidate seems overly nervous, candidate is talking too much and not listening enough to what I’m asking, etc. Now you’ve likely got them thinking how your directness is a little off-putting and may not mesh well with the team. If the goal is to confirm you can handle things, I think it’s safer to ask something like a “tell me about the biggest challenges of the role” type question and work in ways you’ve mastered and succeeded with similar situations.

      • LaurenB

        “Is there any reason that you doubt that I am a good fit for this role?”
        This is a horrible, horrible question. You’re putting someone on the spot to come up with “what I don’t like about you.” Most normal, polite people don’t wish to give negative feedback. It seems like it’s calculated so they stammer out something negative and then you wow them with why you really are a great fit. Please just don’t. Would you ask this of someone you were casually dating?

    • Anon

      That sounds sort of confrontational and sales-y to me, like what a used car salesman would ask after a test drive.

      I usually ask what traits make someone successful in the role, and what traits make them not a good fit in the role. I might ask about how any holes in my background could be addressed – “I have no experience in X and you want at least three years; what pitfalls do you anticipate? Why do you think that I could be successful anyway?”

    • anon

      It’s not “is there any reason that you doubt that I am a good fit for this role?” Using the word doubt to close the interview will not help you……you are selling yourself and its time to close. It goes something like this “Thank you for providing more information about the role. I’m very interested and believe this position is a good fit for me because I have a great deal experience in mergers and acquisitions in the chemical industry (make up your own reason here that echoes something they described). I hope you agree and look forward to next steps. Could you please give me your feedback?” Do this at the end of the interview.

    • Anon

      I spin it this way – is there anything else I can tell you about myself to show you that I’m the right person for this job? Anything we haven’t covered? I’ve only done this once, it has to be the right moment and right dynamic in order to do it.

      • Anon

        I’ve asked it as “do you notice any weaknesses on my application that I can address for you?” I don’t know if I’ll ask it again though.

    • OP

      Thank you all! This input is extremely helpful. I typically ask and frame questions like the examples above, but didn’t want to miss out on asking this question if it was some kind of “unicorn.” It sounds like my instincts were correct.

    • anon

      I really don’t like that question. I’ve been the interviewer — when the candidate asked me the question, I felt very put on the spot. The truth was, I had major concerns about his ability to handle the role. But I would prefer to air those concerns with the actual people doing the hiring, not him, because what’s he going to do at that point? (Dude was hired, by the way, and was a poor fit all the way around.)

      • Anonymous

        Agree, I have had this asked and we didn’t say anything much because honestly from the interview we knew she wouldn’t be appropriate for the role. Then we received feedback from the hiring team that she was surprised we didn’t progress her because she had asked and we hadn’t raised the things we fed back in response to that question.

        Some of the suggested wording is good and I would encourage people to offer any additional information we haven’t covered or provide additional examples if they realise they screwed up a question. If they’re a great candidate in 90% of the requirements but we have concerns about a critical area, we will probe that area more thoroughly and generally will be upfront to the candidate about it. However, honestly I’m not going to sit in an interview and tell people our concerns if they’ve made it clear throughout they aren’t going to be a good fit overall.

    • Lana Del Raygun

      I think AAM recommends “Do you have any concerns about my candidacy I can address for you?” which sounds more positive than “you doubt that I am a good fit” imo, and restricting it to things you can address is less pushy.

    • anon

      I’ll add to the chorus- I think this is an awful question. Especially for a first interview, where lots of candidates will wind up not being the right fit (or they’ll have doubts) by default because that’s just the nature of the process– whether it’s experience, skill set or more personal reasons. At that stage, the question comes off as very presumptuous. I would only ask it if I’d been through multiple rounds of interviews, I was confident that they were very seriously considering me, and we were discussing nitty-gritty technical qualifications or experience. I’d ask something very specific like “do you think that x years of experience with A is enough to succeed?” or “Is there any technical skill that you’d like to see in a candidate?” Once during informal conversations with a company wanting 7 years of litigation experience/partner level, which I am not at, I straight up asked if my level of experience would hinder me given their description of the position. But I knew they were really into me and I didn’t care about the outcome.

      I think back on candidates I’ve interviewed and my responses would be horribly unpalatable to hear and totally unproductive: “you are so boring.” “you don’t appear to understand what we do.” “You showed strange judgment and I think you’re weird because you told me a story about irradiated alligators in a nuclear facility” (true story).

    • MJ

      The absolute best thing you can do to prep is to practice your resume walk-through, your [why X company], why [X role], why [now], and generic questions [tell me about a time you worked in a team/solved a difficult problem, etc.] so that they come off as both natural and hit it out of the park. Practice these in the mirror. Check your posture. Practice pausing after you hear a tricky question to gather your thoughts. Practice being succint but thorough. Practice removing verbal fillers.

      Do a mock interview with a best friend over the weekend.

      YOU GOT THIS.

      • OP

        Thank you, MJ! I really appreciate this positive and encouraging post. I’m good at interviews and interview prep, so I’ve been working on this for a few weeks – my two phone interviews went really, really well, especially with the CLO, and I’ve got these answers ready to go. I practice every day in the car, as well. I’ve got my outfit prepped, I’ve studied the company, I’ve discussed answers with my husband. I’m feeling ready for this interview, and am so excited for the chance to hopefully really knock it out of the park. :)

    • Dealtwiththis

      I asked a version of this question (based on advice from Ask A Manager) and it made the difference between me getting the job and not! Seriously, my boss and I have since discussed it.

      I asked “Is there any questions about my skills for this job that I can answer for you?” and it opened the door to her saying that she was worried that I would get bored and leave because she thought I was overqualified. I was able to reiterate how interested I was in the position and that I would not leave. She said that if we hadn’t have had that discussion, she wouldn’t have hired me. So, I recommend asking some version of the question.

  7. Anonymous

    I’ve got to get cameras for the perimeter of my urban house; per the popo’s recommendation. Any suggestions and feedback on units you own are appreciated. I just cannot weed through specs and recommendations.

    • Anon

      Look at the Wirecutter for their reviews.

      I have an Arlo. I’m perfectly happy with it.

    • Anonymous

      Another Arlo user here – i have the Arlo Pros. Really like their wireless/battery powered system and never had any issues. You can talk through the Pros which came in handy when the fire department showed up while I was at work thanks to a gas leak in the street by the house and they wanted to check our basement to make sure it hadn’t followed the pipes in.

      They’ve released a new model – the arlo ultra that looks nice but is substantially more expensive – so depending on your budget you may want to look into that or stick with something like the Pros.

      They have a set of lights that work with the systems – i got mine on discount at costco for about 100 for three lights and a bridge. I like the lights as lights, they dont seem to add a ton of functionality to the cameras (they have pretty good night vision on their own) and woudlnt have paid the 200+ price for them on their own.

    • cat socks

      Arlo is pretty easy to install and set up. We had some problems with the batteries draining quickly, but that was over a year ago. They might be doing better now with that. I found the people at Best Buy were pretty helpful and they have a good return policy.

  8. Anonymous

    Is ThirdLove worth the hype? 36 d/dd. DKNY appears to have discontinued my bra of choice and since i bought them all at relatively the same time, my stash appears to be biting the dust all at the same time.

    • Anonymous

      IME, nope. The best bra I ever bought was a Freya. It looks like they’ve gone down in quality a bit. I think they’re still a bit cheaper than thirdlove and not as… dinky feeling? I am bustier than you, so YMMV

      • editrix

        Second for Chantelle, and keep an eye on the Nordstrom anniversary sale in July.

    • Monte

      Just ordered and returned a couple bras from them last week. The bras looked cheaper and were less comfortable than I would’ve guessed from the pics and the hype. I’m bustier than you, but I tend to go for Freya, Fantasie, and Panache, so nice but not super high end. Third Love just didn’t cut it.

  9. Anonymous

    Looks like it’s sandal season… Amazon is pretty much out of Baby Foot peel.

    • lydia

      ha this comment made me laugh because I just did my feet this week! I used an off brand, but it was not as good, sadly…

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