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Updated: Oct 31, 2018 68 Comments · by

Suit of the Week: Elie Tahari

Suit of the Week |

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suits for womenFor 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 was first going to feature this suit in black at full price, over at Bloomingdale's, but then I started poking around to see which pieces matched — and lo and behold Off Fifth has a ton of Elie Tahari pieces at steep discounts — LOTS of cute things for work. This includes this Darcy jacket and matching pants in a lovely navy. The jacket (Elie Tahari Darcy Blazer) is $116, down from $448, and available in sizes 0-14; the pants (Elie Tahari Alanis Pants) are $59.49, down from $228; they're only available in lucky sizes. Here's a plus-size option in navy (which also comes in regular and petite sizes). (L-all)

Sales of note for 8.30.24

  • Nordstrom – Summer Sale, save up to 60%
  • Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price purchase; $99 jackets, dresses & shoes; extra 50% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
  • Bergdorf Goodman – Final Days Designer Sale, up to 75% off; extra 20% off sale
  • Boden – 20% off
  • Brooks Brothers – Extra 25% off clearance
  • Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything; extra 60% off all sale
  • J.Crew – 40% off sitewide; extra 60% off sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – Extra 20% off orders $125+; extra 60% off clearance; 60%-70% off 100s of styles
  • Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off (ends 9/2)
  • Madewell – Extra 40% off sale; extra 50% off select denim; 25% off fall essentials
  • M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
  • Rothy's – End of season sale, up to 50% off
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear in the big sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 25% off regular-price purchase; 70% off clearance
  • White House Black Market – Up to 70% off sale

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Comments

  1. household finances question

    Wow, I didn’t expect to be such an early comment–in the interest of saying something germane to the post, I’ll just say that this suit doesn’t look super flattering to the model, so I don’t think it’d work for me, either.

    And onto what I came here to ask:
    I’m curious about how others divvy up expenses when using the yours-ours-mine three-account system that I’ve often seen recommended here. My partner and I are in the process of moving to a joint bank account while each also maintaining personal accounts, and we’re trying to come up with a plan for which expenses go to the joint account and which expenses remain individual. Obviously, there is no right answer here–I’m just curious for others’ experiences and techniques!

    To be more specific, it’s pretty easy for us to say that household expenses (groceries, rent, etc.) and shared experiences (travel, dinner out) come out of the joint account, while stuff like my donations to my church will probably stay tied to my personal account. We’re more interested in gray areas in between: for instance, he chooses to drive to work and to many errands; I will sometimes ride with him if we’re both going the same place, but generally I commute by bicycle or public transit. Do gas and car insurance go on the shared account because we both benefit from it? And if so, does that mean that bike maintenance does too (because we’re sharing transportation expenses) or doesn’t (because the only benefit he derives is that I’m more cheerful when I get my biking exercise)?

    Obviously, this system will probably evolve over time, but we’re curious for how others have tackled this question. Thanks in advance for your insights!

    • Bonnie

      The way we do it is that anything used jointly is paid from the joint account so that would include the car. Biking wouldn’t for us because only you use the bike. We don’t keep it too rigid and I find that it balances out.

    • TBK

      I agree on not keeping it too rigid. We only have a joint account but use an us/you/me allocation within it. We first pay everything non-negotiable (mortgage, car payment, childcare, bar dues, etc.). Then slightly fluctuating things (gas, electric). Then we have a food budget. We each get $200 of eating out money (not together — so if I buy my lunch or if he gets a beer with a friend) that comes out of the food budget. Over that comes out of personal money. Once we’ve paid all of these things, we divide up the remainder: 50% goes to “us”; and 25/25 each goes to you/me. “Us” pays for all discretionary expenses for the house, kids, dog, and anything we do together, plus things like friends’ wedding presents. You/me pays for clothes, grooming (e.g., haircuts), non-medical health (like gym memberships), and anything else we want. We also agreed on a few things that we have separate line items for even if they’re sort of discretionary and sort of more for one of us than the other — for example, travel to visit my family. His family is nearby so we don’t have to spend money to see them. But we try to visit my family about 3 times a year, so we have a budget item for that. As things come up, we discuss where they go in the budget. We’ve never had a serious disagreement I think because we both tend to default to “it can come out of my money.” If we go over budget on something one month, we start the next month at a negative balance for that thing. If we have left over money, it rolls over to the next month, except food money which gets split 50/25/25 into us/you/me. What I think makes this work for us is that we have a weekly family meeting (even though it’s just the two of us) where we go over what we’ve spent for the week and discuss where any expenses should go.

      • meme

        I don’t think I realized before this takes so much accounting. I think it’s the lazy subconscious part of my brain that influenced my conscious brain to just throw all money into one joint pot.

    • Baconpancakes

      Do you want to live like a unit, or more as individuals sharing expenses? If like a unit, anything that you “need” comes out of the joint account -transportation counts, medical expenses count, church donations and gifts for individual’s friends and morning cappuccino doesn’t. If like individuals sharing expenses, anything you don’t both use/experience comes out of your individual accounts. He chooses to use the car, so he pays for the maintenance and insurance. The two methods work for different people; I even have married friends who still pay dutch when going out to eat. Which one works for you depends on whether your spending patterns are very similar or not. If you both tend to pack lunch, it would make sense that all lunch costs would come out of the grocery budget. If one of you packs lunch and the other buys lunch every day, it might make more sense for the one who buys lunch to pay that out of their individual account, since they’re choosing that luxury.

    • Anonymous

      Do you want a husband or a roommate? Legally marriage means you’re on one financial team. I think anything more than giving each of you a set amount of money is foolish. Ultimately, you’re joint anyway. Why are you even married if you can’t handle getting on one team financially?

      • Bonnie

        Dividing expenses this way IME avoids arguments about money. We can be married without bickering about whether I spend too much on shoes or DH spends too much on lunch.

        • Walnut

          I agree with Bonnie. My husband and I both maintain a personal account with set amounts deposited to it with each paycheck. This is mostly because I know that I do not want to nitpick the amount of money he spends eating out for lunch/going to happy hour with coworkers. It’s much easier for me to understand that we each get $X to spend on whatever we want.

        • anonymous

          Agree with bonnie and walnut. We deposit whatever is necessary into the shared account to cover shared expenses and the rest goes into individual accounts. We’re fairly flexible about what’s shared, though, and it’s not at all because we “can’t handle” being on the same financial team. Different things work for different couples, and it’s awfully narrowminded to assume that the traditional manner of combining everything is the only “legitimate” way of handling such a relationship.

    • Must be Tuesday

      Agree on the not being too strict about allocation. We have a yours-mine-ours system and we each pay for our own transportation expenses. We each have our own car and we also use public transportation, but he drives more and I use public transit more. When we drive together somewhere, we’ll charge the gas to our joint account. If I’m driving his car (it’s bigger, so I sometimes borrow it to haul things), I put gas in – usually a full tank even though I never use the full tank. I do this mainly because when we drive somewhere together it’s usually in his car. We have joint insurance insuring both of us as drivers for both vehicles, and he pays the amount for his vehicle and I pay the amount for mine. That way, we can each make our own individual choices about what car to buy (and how much the gas and insurance is likely to be on that vehicle), and how frequently to drive vs how frequently to take public transit, knowing that the expenses for these choices will be our individual expenses.

    • L-girl

      We have this system. We each have a set amount go to the joint account from each paycheck and the rest stays in our personal accounts. The person who earns more has a higher amount that’s transferred to the joint account. All house expenses and our joint credit card are paid from the joint account. House expenses includes the usual bills but also things like joint dinners, going out activities (like tickets to sport games), and vacations. We also pay gas from that account even though I have a 1 hour commute and his is 15 minutes. Expenses like spoiling the dog come out of the joint account too even though I’m the only one who does those things. We use the personal accounts for any discretionary personal shopping. I also make my student loan and car payments out of my personal account. He doesn’t have either of those so I don’t think it’s fair for that to be a joint expense. It doesn’t really matter much where these payments come out of since I would probably just increase the amount I contribute to the joint account if the loans were paid from that account.
      I’m much more committed to the system than he is and he often asks why I didn’t charge a certain expense to the joint account. In fact, his goal is to reduce the monthly charges on my personal credit card (paid off monthly from my personal account). I like having a healthy balance in my personal account and am used to just using my regular card for any purchases. I don’t stop to think about whether that dog toy is a joint expense. In the end, the system doesn’t have to be that rigid and it will all even out anyway. Just do what works for you and reduces the tensions/fights about money in your relationship.

    • KCC

      OP…are you referring to a married partner or an unmarried partner? What I’m saying is how committed is the relationship? If I wasn’t married then I would do the yours, mine and ours account for shared expenses and have a list of what comes out of the shared account (e.g. food, rent/mortgage, etc) and use that list as a guide. Anything that is owned by one individual (car under my name only) is paid by that individual.

      I’m married so we don’t really do that type of accounting. I have my account and he has is…we don’t share accounts (easier that way) but he pays for almost 95% of everything and I cover 5% of things. It’s not an arrangement that works for everyone and probably not fair to him but he’s very traditional that way and prefers to cover everything. What I make is just gravy.

      • An

        Same here. Husband makes 5-6 times what I do, though my paycheck is hefty too. He insists on paying for most things out of his acct. all our assets and investments, except the paycheck bank accts , are in joint names.

      • Wildkitten

        I cohabitate but have the same system. His salary pays for expense mine pays my loans.

    • CJ Craig

      This is super fascinating. Can I threadjack for a minute? I’d like to ask how people keep on a budget when they don’t have to. What I mean is, when you have a certain income and set expenses are close to that, then you try to stick to a budget so you don’t spend more than you earn. But, when you are financially comfortable, and you make more money than you spend regularly, how do you make yourself stay on a budget?

      My SO and I are on the same page financially so as soon as we were married we opened a joint account. We have separate credit cards but open each others statements and pay for everything out of the common account (we don’t have separate bank accounts anymore). But, we also have a large cushion in terms of our typical expenses versus our income, and a fairly similar frugality (although I have become more of a spender since I track our financial portfolio and I am realizing that we can afford to have nicer things). I try to track of our spending just to see how we are spending money (in theory we have budget but we don’t stress if we don’t meet it, hence my question).

      • Anon13

        I’m in a similar situation (and I thank God every night for this) where we spend less than we make. We both have a spreadsheet to track our expenses and I average around the same each month. I shop a lot but never go crazy on things and always buy items on sale. I never over spend because I make it habit to only buy at a certain price range. When I was younger, I thought I would be totally different and shopping at Saks or Nordstorms once I make more than minimum wage but I’ve never gotten into the mindset. I still shop at exactly the same places I shop at when I was younger and now that I buy things on sale/clearance, I can honestly say that I probably spend less on clothes now then way back when.

      • ace

        I think part of “staying on budget” is feeling like your money is going somewhere worthwhile – not being wasted. We work with a financial planner who helps us figure out where money should go, so in addition to paying off our monthly expenses, every month we pay toward retirement accounts, 529 accounts for kids, extra principal payments towards our mortgage, and additional monthly amounts that go to a mutual fund. We have a budget and use mint to keep track of where our money goes and make sure it goes where we want it to – we won’t bounce a check or incur overdraft fees if we spend twice as much at restaurants one month than intended, but I want to be aware of it.

        Also, KIDS. amazing how excess cash flow disappears when you suddenly have $2000/mo in childcare expenses.

        Hope that helps.

        • CJ Craig

          I agree with this, and we have the same thing…we are lucky to have extra even after we have fully funded retirement and kids’ college savings and make generous charitable contributions (yay for low cost of living areas w good dual incomes!) We don’t have another big savings goal, which I think is why budgeting is hard. And yet I’ve been frugal for so long that I feel guilty for not budgeting (we aren’t lavish spenders but still).

      • CDA

        Hopefully this isn’t too late to be of use, but rather than thinking of it as budgeting as a limit (spend no more than $w on x), we focus on it as a floor (save/put aside (at least) $y for z) each month. We set what we think are generous floors and as long as those are met, we don’t really worry about the rest. We realize that is a privileged position to be in, but so long as you have reasonable and similar ideas about money and your financial goals, it all seems fine in the end.
        So, if we have “an emergency fund”/cushion in the accounts, have fully funded various retirement savings vehicles, and put money aside for whatever else we know we buy (food, dining out, trips, car, housing), we don’t necessarily track the rest – just maybe glance at credit card bills to make sure there isn’t any expense we are off base about. Once our needs are met and there is money left over, it isn’t worth the hassle to track whether I spent $50 or $100 on lunches any particular month.

  3. la vie en bleu

    Creativity help needed!
    Participating in a fun ‘run’ (not really running) this weekend that is really all about having ridiculous costumes. With my friends we are a group of 5, and we waited till way too late to decide to participate, so we need a group costume idea that isn’t super boring but that we can pull together by Sunday for cheap.

    Group costume ideas for 5, go! ;o) Thanks!

    • Sydney Bristow

      Legends of the Hidden Temple team? Khaki shorts, kneepads, all one bright color t-shirts, and helmets.

      That sounds like fun!

    • SF in House

      Grass skirts/hula dancers; Where’s Waldo?; construction workers (hard hats and vests); jeans and hoodies, with signs on the back about being the next start up billionaire/agent of gentrification. Enjoy Bay to Breakers!

    • Anonypotamus

      Minions from Dispicable me? Overalls, Yellow caps, single and double eye goggles.

      • la vie en bleu

        these are all awesome, thank you for the brainstorming smart ladies. I’ll be deciding with the group but I’ll report back after the walk. And we will have fun, SF in House! ;o)

  4. Anon for this

    I’m posting anon because I don’t want to out myself. But I work at a small law firm that doesn’t always have the most fair salary or compensation practices. I know we’re all severely undercompensated in relation to market rates for the type of work we do so I spoke to my boss today and he agreed that I deserve a raise and he’s going to do some research to try to bring my salary up to market value.

    I’m so relieved and proud of myself for advocating for myself!

    • Ellen

      Yay! I love Tahari, Kat! Great Pick (tho no pant suit’s for me–even if this model does look svelte, they only highlight my tuchus, which Dad says is way to big for my body. FOOEY b/c some men love my tuchus and say it is worth grabbing, with or without clotheing on! YAY!

      As for the OP, Kudo’s to you for challenging your compenseation practice. I was afraid to advocate until I spoke to my Dad, who agreed to back me up once I started to perform on the job. I think firmly that we women need to speak up, or if we can’t, that we get a man (such as my dad or a husband if you have one, or even a boyfreind if you are romantic enough with him) to speak up FOR us and get us what we deserve as equals. Men have for way to long taken nearly all the money for themselves, leaving just crumbs for us. So if we lean in and speak up (like Sheryl Sanberg says), we should do better. We do NOT have to look like Gizelle Bunchkin to make money. Sheryl herself is smart dad says, so she does NOT have to be a batheing beauty like Gizelle.

      And dad says that goes for the rest of us–as women, we have to be smart and show men we are as smart (or smarter then) they are. If men onley think of us as sexueal vessels, then that is all we will get. Most men onley want to have sex with us and then walk away. That will NO longer work in the 21st century. They must consider us EQUAL’s on an intelectual level. They must be abel to discuss politic’s with us and think of us as equals, and pay us as equals. If we let them, they will continue to walk all over us, and use us just to satisfy their carnal desires, and once satisfied, they will just roll over and go to sleep (or worst yet, get up and walk away, leaveing us to wash the sheets for them–FOOEY on that!).

      Once we as ladie’s learn to hold men accountable, and this means makeing THEM take the sheet’s to the laundery–then they will respect us more. And in the pay department, I recomend people who do not have the strength of the OP, get a boyfreind to do your barganing for you with your boss. Your boss will know that you have a boyfreind that has guts and will do your dirty work (and dirty laundery) for you! YAY!!!!!

    • Jordan

      It’s so hard to ask. But the worst they can say is no! I am in a similar situation and need to do the same but am dreading it. We are on a freeze but things are supposed to be reassessed in June. 2 more weeks. Congrats!

  5. Op

    So I hate the consumer lifestyle we all have that just replaces stuff when it breaks. But where do I get stuff fixed? Right now I’m talking about my electronic toothbrush. I would pay a fair amount of money to get it fixed rather than throw it in a landfill but I have no idea where to take it. Thoughts? I’m in Houston.

      • Mpls

        Yeah…electronics just don’t get fixed anymore (though they should definitely be recycled). Mechanical things are likely more fixable (sewing machine, vacuum, toaster, blender).

      • Anonattorney

        There are small shops that still exist! Search on yelp for “small appliance repair” or “electronics repair.”

      • anonymous

        I think this might be right, but I have the same impulse that you do to not throw things out. I’ve been trying like hell to find a recycling service that’ll take my old worn out clothes, but no luck so far…

    • A

      You could check with the manufacturer, just in case they do repairs. Doubtful, but some do for small appliances.

      • tesyaa

        Even if the manufacturer wanted to help you out, it’s more likely that they would sent you a new replacement rather than fix the old one.

    • Sakina

      In my city, some electronic stores take e-waste for the purposes of recycling. Nothing with a circuitboard in it should get thrown directly in the trash, it’s toxic waste.

      • Anon in NYC

        Yes, I think Best Buy does stuff like this. I’m not sure what they accept, but worth looking into.

    • Katie

      I feel you, I hate throwing things away. I try to research the crap out of what I buy to get the most ethical/ green/ good value/ longest-lasting product that fits within my budget and go from there. I now tend to stick to the lower-tech end of things like this, since I’ve been burned before. A regular old toothbrush is going to have less of an environmental impact no matter what you do.

    • Jen

      Even if you cannot get it fixed, you can recycle it responsibly rather than throwing it in the trash (and when you recycle it, the parts will be used and it won’t end up in a landfill!). There are places you can take electronics for recycling.

  6. Jordan

    So I finally finished all my clothes on the Marie Kondo cleanse and it has been such a wonderful experience choosing my outfits. People have asked me all week “did I get a new outfit?”. Nope just wearing what looks good without sifting through what I hated. I would highly recommend this belonging cleanse although I am well behind the curve on this.

    • purple balloon

      I’m almost done with my whole house/life (only papers and mementos left- went slightly out of order). My wardrobe and home feel so much lighter, and I was pretty “decluttered” to start.

      It’s also really changed how I think about things before I purchase them. I think harder before I buy anything, buy less stuff, and enjoy the stuff that I do buy more. The change was profound enough that my husband commented that our credit card bill dropped enormously in the last few months.

    • Ella

      Never thought I would say this, but yes, I think you could wear that to work with a grey blazer, pair of pumps (probably keep them on the subdued side), and a long necklace.

      Ten bucks people won’t even notice that it was a jumpsuit.

      • Work jumpsuit? (?!)

        I know, right? I am coming to the conclusion it looks rather chic. Like I said, it’s a cold day in you-know-what that I find myself close to pulling the trigger on a work jumpsuit…

    • Killer Kitten Heels

      I was ready to nope you right out of the room on this one, but I looked at the link, and with a blazer, I actually thing it’s fine (assuming the fit on you is reasonably similar to the loose-looking fit on the model – I’m a pear, so jumpsuits on me are usually hilariously tight in the bottom half while simultaneously being hilariously loose in the top half, which is just not business appropriate. Or anywhere appropriate).

    • Mpls

      I’m with the rest of the ladies – generally no, but maybe yes for this one.

      Of course, that doesn’t solve the eternal jumpsuit/bathroom conundrum requiring almost complete undressing to use the toilet.

      • Anonymous

        Right? It’s too late for anyone to see this, but the thought of trying to de-blazer then strip down in a work bathroom gave me flashbacks to the few times I tried to wear a dress to work while pumping.

  8. Baconpancakes

    Just discovered the designer B. Yellowtooth, and her stuff is gorgeous! With all the tricky issues about appropriation of Native design, however, I’d be hesitant to wear her more traditionally-Native-inspired pieces for fear of provoking a backlash. (Not much this season, but last season there was a lot of beading-inspired design. Not that I can afford the green maxi dress I adore anyway.) I’d love to support Native designers and artisans, but when it comes to clothing and accessories, I’m not sure how to navigate the waters. The traditional answer is to just buy things from Native designers, but I don’t want people to think I’m appropriating designs, and most of the time, they probably can’t tell which articles are from Native designers, and which are from copycats. Any thoughts?

    • Anonymous

      I live in an area of the southwest that shares its boundaries with many Native American pueblos and a reservation. From what I have noticed here, it is fine to buy and wear Native American jewelry and some clothing, like moccasins for example. The reputable shops have a certificate of authentication or you can buy directly from the artist in many cases. It is not ok (and generally not for sale) to wear a ceremonial headdress or spiritual elk tooth necklace for example.

    • Pendleton

      Pendleton has many things (esp. blankets) using designs I associate with the West (so . . . native?). I’ve never thought twice about buying things from them. [Or Seahawks gear.]

  9. Carrie...

    Am I the only one that isn’t a fan of ankle length tapered pants with a suit?

    I do love this length of pants, and wear them often with more casual/trendy outfits…. but not for work. And I really dislike them with a classic pump,

    Am I the only one? I just see this outfit and think ….floods…floods…FLUDS! My eyes just can’t take it.

    • anyanony

      I think it would look weird on me, as I’m not very tall or thin. But maybe I’d grow to like them as housecounsel says below.

  10. housecounsel

    It took me a while. I bought flood pants a couple of years ago and just couldn’t wear them to work. Now I have two J. Crew suits with ankle pants and I LOVE them. I feel appropriately conservative but a little bit fashiony.

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