ByKat Hours Updated
Comments 122 Comments

Suit of the Week: Henning x Universal Standard

woman wears black suit jacket, black pants, a striped blouse, and sneakers with her suit

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 2024!

Ooh: I'm excited to see that former luxury/indie brand Henning is still kicking in some fashion — Universal Standard now has a collaboration with them! There are a bunch of great elevated basics like pants, blouses, and this pantsuit.

It's available in sizes 00-40 (4XS-4XL), and it comes in black as well as a pretty brown “pony.” The pants are $198, and the double-breasted blazer is $298. (There's also a great basic sheath dress, but it sadly does not come with a matching blazer as far as I can tell.)

Hunting for more great basic suiting? This ponte suit from Boden caught my eye because the wide-leg pants look perfect (I'm linking to it in “hot pepper” because it brings up most of the matching pieces, but it also comes in black and navy); it's available in sizes 00-22.

Some of our favorite plus-size suits for interviews as of 2024 include Eloquii, Universal Standard, Lands' End, Talbots, J.Crew, Lane Bryant, and Calvin Klein.

navy skirt suit in plus sizes with white blouse
Eloquii
woman wears black suit jacket, black pants, and a striped blouse
Universal Standard
plus-size woman wears black washable suit
Lands' End
plus-size model wears great basic interview suit
Talbots

Sales of note for 12.5

122 Comments

  1. I feel like headphones have gotten ubiquitous, but IIRC they are actually bad for your hearing (the ones for hearing sounds, not the ones that are noise-cancelling). Yes? no? I keep telling kiddo that she can’t wear them at home (she has her own room with a door on it — she can listen to things no one else wants to hear in there). But decades for kids now listening to stuff in their ears won’t be good for them later on, I’d think.

    1. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/well/live/headphones-hearing-loss.html
      TLDR: it’s volume that matters most, so headphones that block out background noise are actually better than turning up the volume so that you can hear better.

      But if you don’t trust your kid to regulate headphone volume, I can see the argument for you being able to monitor the volume by hearing it yourself. My husband and I are in our 40s and he already has a noticeable amount of hearing loss, presumably from attending concerts without adequate hearing protection. I’ve had earbuds in my ears pretty much nonstop for the last 20 years, and my hearing is fine. I always keep the volume low and avoid loud places like the plague.

    2. Some headphones designed for kids have built-in volume control. I feel pretty comfortable letting my kids use those.

      2. If your kids use an Amazon tablet, there’s also a max volume setting under the Parent Controls that is helpful to use.

  2. It’s too late to post in the mom’s forum so posting here. My husband takes our K kid to school. He is constantly late. Kid doesn’t care and is part of the problem too, but husband is a major part. He is late to important meetings, has missed flights, etc. What can I do to solve this issue other than micromanage the mornings or do them myself? I have a fairly demanding job and do all after school because my schedule is more flexible and frankly think that doing the mornings would make me lose my sanity (I am often up crazy late working because I deal with kids 3-8 pm). Have had multiple conversations and fights about this but gave up because he cannot get it together so kid continue to be late but this is a big problem. He is otherwise a great dad and husband so please DTMFA advice :)

    1. What about being late to K is problematic? Other than modeling lack of punctuality for your kid? Unfortunately he would have to want to change this behavior himself, you can’t really make him. Has being late to meetings and missing flights resulted in any consequences? If not, then I suspect he will continue being late until it becomes an issue for him (like losing a job).

      1. I doubt that when kid goes to first grade and beyond, OP’s H’s lateness issue will go away. Also, being late to K is disruptive to the entire class and to the kid who has to quickly get settled, etc. after finally arriving to class.

        This would infuriate me because while H should deal with the consequences of unpunctuality, but their kid should not have to be collateral damage for it.

        2. In addition to that, repeated tardies can result in parents having to have meetings with the principal or superintendent, and potentially even referrals to CPS if it gets bad enough. Lateness is not something to take lightly in K-12 school, and I say that as someone who regularly did daycare drop off at 10 am.

          1. Exactly. School times, even for kindergarten, are not flexible like daycare times can be. It’s a whole different thing.

          3. I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong – lateness is very disruptive to the classroom and is often a symptom of a deeper problem at home (though it sounds like not in OP’s case).

            In my experience districts are hesitant to involve CPS and will likely do so only if the child is frequently late and is struggling in school (either academically or behaviorally), so it’s definitely not a given. But the possibility exists. (And tbh that teacher who had to wait 20 minutes after school for the dad might be pushing for escalating the issue, and I wouldn’t blame her!)

          4. Let husband go to those meetings and explain himself.

            I used to always be on the verge of lateness when I was the drop-off parent, and I’m not a late person normally, though it happens. I had a kid who had a really really hard time with transitions, we went to therapy and did the “in 15 minutes we are leaving, find your shoes now” and “we are leaving in 10 minutes, do you have your shoes on?” kind of stuff that was recommended, but it was never perfect. It’s really, really hard to manage mornings. OP, you yourself said doing morning duty would drive you nuts, so cut your husband a break about how hard it is. If it’s really bothering you, switch it up and do it yourself for a while. I’m serious.

          5. Jesus Christ, I hope schools aren’t referring families to CPS over tardiness.

    2. Why is being late to kindy a big problem? What are the consequences and is he dealing with them?

      1. Oh, I get it. Because it’s not self-limiting. And dude misses flights. FLIGHTS! IDK. Micromanaging would drive me nuts. I’d do it or hire a morning driving nanny as a cost of doing business. At least you can fire the nanny for this.

      2. I dunno, being late once in a while isn’t a big deal but I would be really upset if my husband consistently got my kid to school late. It’s not that they’re missing crucial academic material at that age, but it’s modeling a lack of respect for teachers and peers. It’s really disruptive for a kid to come in in the middle of the school day.

        1. This. And the fact that the husband has missed flights and meetings over this is wild to me, and he clearly doesn’t see it as a problem.

          What are some of the biggest pain points for both of them to get out the door in time? Can any of those individual factors be addressed?

          And, I’m being completely serious not flippant: is there any chance that one or both of them could have ADHD? Because time blindness is real.

          2. Time blindness isn’t unusual even in neurotypical 5 year olds, but agree it sounds like the husband should look into ADHD.

          3. I get that missing flights is extreme and would stress me out personally, but OP needs to choose her battles. She is not responsible for fixing that for her husband. This is a pick your battles situation.

            Also, as a frequent flier, I will tell you that TONS of people miss flights. It’s really amazing to me.

          4. Tons of people miss flights because of airline delays and tight connections. I’ve never heard of adults missing a flight because they weren’t paying attention to the clock. Certainly it’s not something that happens regularly for anyone I know!

          5. Lots of people miss flights- I personally miss them all the time- but are they missing them because they just can’t get to the airport on time or because of factors beyond their control, like late connections? I’ve missed tons of connecting flights (or had them hold the plane and been the last person to board), but only one flight because I was late to the airport, and even that was due to the car breaking down on the way, back in the day before cell phones and Uber. I don’t think it’s all that common to just not bother showing up to the airport on time for no good reason.

          6. yeah, I’m not sure how being a “Frequent flier” gives you information about why people are missing the flight. I assume 6:06 is referring to getting last minute upgrades due to other people missing flights, but that’s likely due to missed connections and/or CEO types who have last minute work demands and cancel a business trip on short notice. Not people just deciding not to show up at the airport.

            I’ve missed one flight in my entire life due to my mistake. I went to SFO instead of SJC (two airports I regularly flew out of at the time). And even then I would have made it except I caught in a huge pileup on the highway. I don’t think regularly missing flights because you fail to show up at the airport is normal.

        2. He sees this is a problem but cannot get it together!! Which is mind-boggling because he has been super successful in HS/college/his career but struggles with being late. When he was younger he was interviewing with a partner of the job of his dreams after 6 rounds of interview and didn’tt get the job because he was 30 minutes late to the interview lol.

          It was an issue with the oldest but we managed it because she cared, and was on top of him to get her there on time all morning and all hell broke lose if i saw her upset over it (she would get me, I would yell at him, he managed to do well for a couple weeks and the cycle repeated all over again but it was exhausting for everyone). But it’s hard for me to motivate myself to micromanage this when my younger kid gives no $$h*t if he is late. Older kid is in 5th and walks herself to school because she hates being late. I do pick ups but in the once in a blue moon he does pick up he is late 50 percent of the time and the poor teacher is standing there with the kid waiting for 20 minutes.

          1. Wow this just gets worse and worse. Being 20 minutes late to pickup is incredibly disrespectful to your teachers. I would be so embarrassed and unable to look the teachers in the face.

            He needs to get his act together, whether that looks like meds or therapy or some combination. I know you said no “dump him” advice but this is really unacceptable.

          2. Oh, looks like this is something your husband is incapable of changing. If you need kiddo to be on time then yes, you have to have someone else do it.

          3. I have one who never cared about the time or being late at that age, and to put it bluntly I didn’t care. Being on time was the expectation that was taught and enforced.

    3. Where is he from 3-8pm while you’re doing childcare? Can he take over the after school so you can work until 6 and then you do mornings?

      We pick out clothes for the whole week for the kids on Sunday afternoons. And make a list of lunches for the week. Makes mornings go much more smoothly.

      I’m late a lot – time blindness is a super annoying feature of my adhd but it’s not an excuse. I have calendars and timers everywhere to keep me on track. DH does mornings because that’s a weakness for me. I do bedtimes. You need a new plan for how you will do it or you need to pay someone. He will not change.

      1. We have a child with ADHD and mornings were HARD HARD HARD for a very long time. But I will say that having multiple alarms on the many A l e x a devices in our house has helped a lot. First, for reminding him to do his stuff. But also, it means that we, as parents, don’t have to micromanage quite as much because it’s the “thing” telling him what to do, not us.

        YMMV. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it has helped our family.

        OP, totally get that this may not be feasible, but is there any way to flip your routine so you’re doing mornings and your DH can take on more of the less time-sensitive evening tasks from 6-8?

      2. He is at work 3-7 pm and then helps with bedtime or driving to our oldest to activities (so we split 7-9 pm usually). I hate the idea of paying someone because I figure it’s better that dad takes them than a nanny, even if dad is 10-15 minutes late. But maybe I should reconsider.

        1. I think you need to reconsider. It’s one thing if your DH wants to screw up his own work life, but it’s not fair to put that on your kid.

        2. Agree. Having him do it isn’t working for anybody so I think the best course is to accept reality and hire it out.

        3. Oh I’d also reconsider and just hire this out. Some things just aren’t worth the constant fight. If this is his flaw, throw some money at it and let it go. We have bi-weekly house cleaners for similar reasons. Keeps the household functioning and happy. That’s what the money is for.

    4. Sounds like it could be an executive functioning problem.

      One other thing I’ve learned: when stacking a lot of small tasks, some people do really bad in estimating total time. Let’s use the example of taking the kid to kindergarten. Potty, 3 min; brush teeth, 2 min; clothes, 4 min; breakfast, 15 min; wrangle kid into car (coat, walk to garage, get into car seat, get strapped in), 4 min; drive to school, 8 to 11 min; get kid out of car seat, to the door, and checked in, 3 min. That’s 39 to 42 minutes, and a lot of the chronically late people assume it’s “about a half hour.”

      Your strategy is actually to put numbers to this. Have him run a stopwatch every day, or message you when he starts the morning routine and again when kiddo is dropped off. Do this several times and it will become apparent that those little things add up.

      1. YES that is him. I just hate that I have to manage this. I feel like at work and at home I constantly manage other people not doing things correctly without my involvement, it’s infuriating. I only have so much to give.

        1. Do the stopwatch for a week. Five days. It’s long enough for him to not feel like it’s an aberration and maybe he could make the process faster, and short enough that you won’t go crazy.

          Just ask me how I know these things. :)

        2. I know, I an sorry. Managing a dysfunctional male is so annoying, infuriating, and unfair.

        3. He’s your partner, not staff. If this is a big deal, he needs to deal with it, not you micromanaging him.

      2. WHY are you managing him! He’s an adult and a co-parent. Don’t take responsibility for him like this. If this is actually a problem then he should deal with it.

        1. If “he should deal with it” actually worked, the problem would have been solved a decade ago.

          She can either acknowledge that *sometimes*, a spouse is needed to break a logjam, or she can wish and hope and get teary-eyed waiting for an ideal world in which her husband magically gets it together.

    5. How late is late? And how strict is your school about arrival times? K technically “started” at 815 for our kid, but we quickly learned this was a fairly loose starting time, and it really didn’t matter if you arrived any time between 815 and 830. That being said, being late to school will likely become more a problem as your kid gets older. Though at that point, the kid might start to care more, and the late arrivals (for school at least) will take care of themselves if kid can tell time and pressure dad to leave on time.

      1. Also, one strategy that works for us… Set a timer for 5 minutes before you need to leave. This is the put the shoes on and go to the bathroom timer, and one timer for when you actually need to walk out the door. I have these set as a recurring alarm on my phone. At least then your kid, who might not yet tell time well, will know when they should be leaving.

        1. I have a recurring alarm in the kitchen echo – ten min before we leave it’s shoes and sunscreen. It takes them about ten min to brush teeth, shoes, sunscreen, jacket, backpack etc., but it’s a good warning. It also tells me to start getting ready too.

    6. I agree with you that it’s a big problem. It’s disrespectful to the class to come late b/c a parent just couldn’t be bothered and it’s setting the kid up to be late when the stakes get higher (middle school, high school, college, work, flights(!!!!)) Kid doesn’t care probably b/c DH doesn’t make a big deal of it. Moreover, it seems like a dereliction of the co-parenting agreement. You do the afternoons. He does the mornings. He needs to do them right. This is not a wife micromanaging something where there are multiple reasonable options and she just doesn’t like the one the husband picks. There is a correct choice here, and it is getting the kid to school on time.

      Options:

      (1) If you and DH switched mornings and afternoons, would that let you get work done early enough so that you could not be up late working? (Also, it sounds like you’re doing kid things for 5 hours every afternoon and he is doing mornings. Mornings don’t take 5 hours? He should do more in the afternoons.)
      (2) Hire someone to take the kid on time. And the kid goes, no matter what, even if he’s still in PJs and has only eaten one bite of breakfast. Many if not most kids will start to care about lateness when it becomes a personal inconvenience. (I twice took a then-four year old who refused to get dressed to pre-K in his underwear. Granted, pre-K is not K. But he didn’t like it, and the number of arguments about the necessity of clothes and getting dressed on time dropped in a hurry.)

      I feel pretty annoyed for you.

    7. Based on the pattern, it sounds like your DH has ADHD, or some other related issue. Has he been diagnosed as such and medicated/receiving therapy for it?

      Barring any progress on that front, does he admit/agree that it’s a problem, or just think it’s NBD? You didn’t say what exactly you’ve talked/argued about. This absolutely needs to be a topic for therapy, whether individual or couples. If he agrees it’s a problem, he needs some strategies that help him get out the door faster (probably start with all the ones you’d use for a kid, like timers to stay on schedule, doing part of the morning routine the night before (pack lunch, set out clothes), etc.). And he needs consequences to himself every time kid is late to school (money in a “swear” jar, no fun money for the week, not allowed to play golf that week/other activity – I’m sure you can come up with something relevant to his life). If he doesn’t agree that it’s a problem, that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

      1. He sees it as a problem but not a big problem if that makes sense.

        We talk about it and then he tries to get up earlier, hurry, etc. but still runs late sometimes. We have the same conversation over and over, what he will do different etc. today he was late bc he got side tracked washing the dishes. When I push it things get better for a while and then he reverts back to being late after a couple weeks. But we have been married for over a decade, rarely fight and I do not enjoy these fights which seem to be over the same issue over and over again.

    8. He really needs to look into an ADHD evaluation and work with a therapist or coach or someone to come up with some skills for not being late. It’s not good that he’s been late for flights and even lost a job offer due to his lateness. Dude needs to get his act together.

    9. Is kid being late causing an actual problem? Has the school reached out re: punctuality? If not, ignore.

        1. The teacher that had to stay 20 extra minutes cares FOR SURE! And the teacher may not say they care, but it’s disruptive to have a bunch of little kids reasonably settled and then another one comes in and you have to do the coat/backpack/lunch thing again.

    10. Based on how long this has been going on, I think this might be a cost of admission to being married to him. If he’s suffered the worst consequences for this – missed flights, lost job opportunity – I don’t see anything changing him at this point.

      But it also sounds like you have too much going on. He’s at work until 7 pm every night? You’re staying up all night working? You’re both oversubscribed, and one of the reasons people are late is they are trying to do too much. If cutting back on your work schedules isn’t an option, consider what you can cut from the morning routine. Have you tried having your son sleep in clean school clothes every night? Stash a hairbrush and a Costco box of breakfast bars in the car and call it a day.

      1. Yes, 1000% part of problem. He works 60 hour weeks and I probably 40-50 depending on week. We have lots of money to throw at problem but I don’t love the idea of more childcare. My oldest did great in aftercare but my K kid doesn’t Iove it hence why I pick him up at 3 even though we have the option and pay for it but just don’t use it much. I could send him to aftercare and do mornings instead but my kid would prefer to be late and not do aftercare.

        1. Maybe this is an incentive for kid. He needs to step it up in the mornings or you will have to switch your schedule and keep him in aftercare. Only you know if it will work with your particular kid (K is a little young), and would DH be on time even if kid were ready?

          Or, kid has to be ready to walk to school with sister. That doesn’t involve Dad’s chronic lateness.

          1. It’s not reasonable to expect a 5 year old to manage an adult in the mornings. The most motivated, organized 5 year old can’t be expected to be on top of an adult.

        2. Ok, sometimes you have to make an executive decision to do something your kid doesn’t like if it makes the rest of your lives easier. He’s in Kindergarten and the reason you’ve got this wacky schedule is because he “prefers” not to do aftercare? Is there something else going on that you haven’t mentioned? Is there a kid in aftercare who bullies him? Is he way over stimulated by the end of the day and just needs quiet time at home (in which case your childcare duties once he gets home should be fairly limited because a neurotypical 5-6 year old should be able to play by themselves or *heaven forbid* have some screen time for an hour or two)? I “preferred” not to go to Sunday school when I was a kid but it wasn’t an option in my family.

          I would also suggest that maybe you need someone to help out at home to reduce your household chores so that your husband isn’t doing dishes at 7 am and losing track of time. Someone who comes in twice a week to tidy the kitchen, do the laundry, set out clothes for your son, etc. Or maybe an au pair who minds your kids in your home if aftercare is really truly that bad.

          1. I also think many 5-6 year olds can play solo in the afternoons. I have my K kid home with me after school and it’s been surprisingly manageable, even without screens. Even doing this 1-2 days a week would provide a nice break from aftercare.

        3. Woooooow, you’re giving your child way too much authority over how you manage your lives. And frankly not setting good examples for your kid or teaching him to be resilient.

          1. Harsh, but I agree. Sometimes you have to do what’s best for the whole family unit, not the one individual. Your kid doesn’t have to love aftercare but it sounds like your family really needs it.

        4. You sound like you don’t want to throw money at it because you’re waiting for your husband to magically change. That’s not happening. You know how to fix the problem by getting more help, but you can’t fix your husband. You just need to accept that.

        5. Is your current level of busy (for either you or spouse) temporary? If so, if it’s not causing problems for the school, honestly I think you’re fine letting it go for kindergarten. (And if you’re not sure if it’s disruptive to the class even if they haven’t complained, can your husband reach out to the teacher and ask?)
          Think of it as something like deciding you’re going to order a lot more takeout than you typically want to, in order to get through an unusually busy couple of months

        6. You have a solution you’re not using because your *K aged child* doesn’t love it!?
          It sounds like you have more problems going on than your chronically late husband.

        7. You clearly need an after school nanny then. Like. Tmrw. Fix that and see if it helps overall.

        8. Omg! He works 60 hours a week? I’d be late all the time if I had that schedule. You are both working too many hours and your kids will
          Suffer for it.

    11. If your husband is not willing to change, and you can’t do it yourself, then hire someone to do mornings, and put kid in aftercare, even if they don’t like it. Being late all the time is just disrespectful to everyone.

    12. He’s not going to be on time unless he wants to be on time and he clearly doesn’t care.

    13. Honestly shocked by the number of people who think it’s fine to be late to school and that it’s wrong of schools to enforce consequences for that.

      1. Yeah it’s super weird to me! Like I get that it’s Kindergarten and they’re not learning calculus, but it’s still extremely disrespectful to everyone else in the room, especially the teacher.

        1. The idea that when someone shows up for something that isn’t time sensitive anyway is a matter of respect is just so exhausting to me… irrational, uptight, and narrow minded. I don’t want to live in that kind of culture or encourage people to think or feel that way.

          But maybe this is the kind of kindergarten where this is actually disruptive, and the baseline isn’t just relative chaos at all times anyway.

          1. To be clear, OP still has a huge problem because picking a kid up late is exploitive of the teacher and neglectful of the child.

          3. I guess I feel like it is time sensitive, at least to some degree. I’ve been in my kids K class in the mornings and 5 minutes after the bell the kids are sitting down, have had the morning announcements and are ready to start school. Coming more than about 5 minutes late would definitely create extra work for the teacher, which seems disrespectful to me.

          4. But it is time sensitive? This isn’t daycare where the kids are just playing all day and you can come in pretty much whenever. It’s school, and it’s disruptive to the teacher and the rest of the class to show up when the teacher is in the middle of a lesson.

          5. If it has a start time, then it is ‘time sensitive, and arriving after the start time is disrespectful whether you find it exhausing, uptight, and narrow minded or not.

      3. Seriously!
        One of the earliest -and best- pieces of parenting advice I got was to always remember that I was raising an adult, and if something would not be cute or acceptable at 15 to not allow it at 5.

      4. Hard agree. Like….shocked that a board for “high achieving professional women” think like this.

    14. Can the kid go on the bus? Or is there any option to carpool with neighbors?

      Is there a range of time during which you can drop off? At our school the drop off begins at 8:40 and most kids get there by 8:50, but you’re not technically late until 9. I don’t know if this could work but maybe he could reframe the “deadline” as being the beginning of the dropoff window, so then if he’s late he’s not really late. (My K-er’s school has a horn at the beginning of the dropoff period and “beat the horn” is a very popular game at our house, and very motivating for getting kiddo out the door.)

    15. Why do you have the kids from 3-8 p.m.? If you both work full time (which it sounds like you do since you’re making up the hours after 8), you should have full time childcare, not just rely on school hours. Assuming you can afford it, get full time childcare, pick them up after your work day is done, and spend your night relaxing and resting for the day ahead so you have energy to parent in the mornings, take over the morning routine, and get your kid to school on time.

  4. There were a few comments about layoffs this morning. I work in tech and we had a brutal year last year with downsizing, but the economy is looking up more broadly. How do folks feel, anecdotally, about the job market? Are your companies considering more layoffs? It feels ominous.

    1. I’m in finance and my company is making layoffs to my area this year (I’m in Audit)

    2. I’m in the federal consulting world and we’re hiring a lot.

      I wrote a whole thing about how the economy is actually doing pretty great by nearly every metric but deleted it. Tech layoffs mean virtually nothing in the broader economy, and the tech sector overall is still growing rapidly and expected to continue to do so. If you’re in tech, surely you know that the whole “over hire and then in 6-9 months cut a bunch of staff so we can say we’re cutting costs” is just how they operate, right? The whole lifecycle of a product from conception through R&D and testing can require a lot of people, so when a company cuts the product they can cut hundreds or thousands of jobs. But then the next product conception starts up, maybe at a different company, and they’re going to hire hundreds or thousands of people to develop it. Are there actually significantly fewer people employed in tech now than there were a year or two ago? Or have they just sorted themselves into different companies in different roles after each layoff? I’d be much more concerned if we were seeing significant and sustained layoffs in retail, construction, and manufacturing, because that would mean that people aren’t spending money, which is the driver of the US economy.

    3. I am tech, and I feel the ominosity. Also like there’s been a permanent cultural shift – layoffs are for making the stock price go up, and for “whoops leadership couldn’t come up with a strategy and threw some spaghetti at the wall”; not for “we aren’t going to get to profitablity if we don’t cut”

      1. This has always been a Silicon Valley thing. People used to save 6 months in salary because of it. I remember the days when Apple would lay people off, give them a year’s worth of severance pay, then rehire them a few months later.

    1. Fitness Blender. They have lots of free videos but also have printable versions of the workouts on their website. You can pick videos on your own or purchase one of their workout programs.

    2. For gym or home? Home is really hard to find.

      I keep seeing this book recommended but it requires gym equipment I Think

      Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body https://a.co/d/gQ14rZs

  6. Can we have a thread on ridiculous things that social media would have you believe is very trendy but in your area it’s totally ridiculous?
    I’m in the Midwest and here’s my list:
    – hill house dresses
    – Sue Sartor dresses
    – lounge sets
    – dresses with sneakers and tube socks or ankle socks

    1. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but where are Sue Sartor or Hill House dresses ever appropriate, other than a country club lunch or maybe a Sandals resort? Every single one looks ridiculous on the model. I can’t imagine any scenario in my life where one would be a good choice.

      1. Who knows, but they’re recommended all the time here so I guess people are wearing them.

        1. I honestly laugh any time a link is provided. That is just so, so far from reality in my universe, not just for me, but for anyone I really know or hang out with.

      2. I think they are generally for daytime, social, non-work events. So – baby showers, bridal showers, charity lunches, etc. They’re not really my style and definitely not my budget, tho!

      3. Where I wear/wore mine-
        -brunch and dinner in summer
        -travel to beach destinations since they are super comfy / on vacation
        -showers and celebrations

        Would never dream of it being a work look!

      4. Well I wear Sue Sartor to the office and for weekend events too, I work in a casual office where they’re just fine. They’re absolutely perfect in the summer and look pulled together. I get a zillion compliments every time I wear one.

    2. funny how trends and geographies vary. I would say Hill House Nap Dresses specifically peaked around Philly in 2021-2022 and are on the wane, but just saw a cousin in Wisconsin wear one for the first time on vacation this winter (she posts on social a LOT so I think I would know, lol). I see Sue Sartor style dresses constantly on my friends that live in the Charlotte area but not here. My entire neighborhood wears lounge sets for house days or travel, and plenty of 20yos are wearing the white sock look with skirts and pants!

    3. Southern California: people who live in $2M+ homes, drive fancy new cars, wear more money (clothes, jewelry, surgery, athletic trainer bodies) than the cars cost retail – yet someone don’t have high-paying jobs or own obvious sources of passive income. My bet: it’s just a matter of time before it catches up with them and they either get real or move away.

    4. I saw a woman at the gym yesterday with her Stanley cup color coordinated to her cropped sweatshirt/sneakers/socks/airpods case. I have NEVER seen that aesthetic before IRL (especially at my local Y where it’s mostly college kids and older adults who don’t want to pay for the Pure Barre/Orange Theory/Crossfit/Sculptcore specialty gyms).
      I walked around London last summer in sun dresses and white sneakers during a trip and 90% of the women I saw were also wearing dresses with fashion sneakers. My friends who went to Paris and Italy reported that they also mostly saw/wore dresses and sneakers. I was thrilled since it was SO much more comfortable than wearing strappy flat sandals/flip flops like I did as a college kid in Italy (and my feet didn’t get dusty!).

    5. I’m in the Midwest and also have never seen a Hill House dress in the wild, except on college sorority girls.

      1. In my experience, contour looks a lot better on camera than it does in person. It’s weird in person.

        1. Yeah I think it’s used primarily by TikTok influncers and celebs because it’s a very “on camera” look

        1. *Seven year old who’s in second grade, ha

          Also, I wear nap dresses and see them all the time. I’m in the South, though.

    8. Maybe this is a Bay Area thing, but women my age around here are very casual. Even a fancy coordinated lounge set would stand out.

      I did make a point about a month ago of counting how many people were NOT wearing some sort of sneaker as I drove my son around town for a bunch of errands. He and I were amused by how few people that was. A handful out of hundreds, at most. Everyone wears sneakers. Almost no one wears any sort of dress. In the summer I occasionally see someone in a sundress, but my reaction is that she’s dressed up, or it’s an extraordinarily hot day for our climate and that she’s just wearing it for practical reasons. But people wearing any sort of flouncy dress for just grabbing a coffee or running to the produce mart – that’s not a thing.

  7. I often do a little makeup at my desk (private space) because I like it for zooms/teams meetings. But I need a magnifying mirror and I would like to have a lighted one that can stay open without me holding it. Any recommendations for such a thing?

    I tried to order something on amazon but it was a piece of crap & had to return it.

Comments are closed.