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Suit of the Week: LK Bennett

blue and white striped suit; model is slouching against wall with her hands in pants pockets

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!

I like a stripey blue-and-white suit ALMOST as much as I like a light blue suit for summer.

They say it's made with a “cotton-rich blend fabric” (?), but the only material listed is cotton. I tend to think of seersucker as a specific KIND of cotton (with a bit of a puckered texture), but this looks lovely by itself. I like the loose, straight pants, and those patch pockets in the pants look plenty big.

The blazer is on sale for $460 (was $575); the pants are $280 (were $350), both at LKBennett.com.

Psst: Not on theme for today, but the Sephora Sun Safety kit just came out — we'll take a closer look in a future Coffee Break.

Hunting for something similar? ‘Tis the season for light blue suits, so there are a lot out there — look for nice ones at Reiss, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor (“blue echo” and lapsis); you can find plus sizes at Eloquii 1.State (lucky sizes), and Wildfang (sporty). If you're hunting for a shorts suit (or, perhaps, just a blazer), Cinq à Sept has a nice “French blue.”

light blue pant suit
Banana Republic
light blue suit with dress instead of skirt
Brooks Brothers
a woman wears a dusty light blue suit
Blue Echo
light blue skirt suit from Eloquii in cornflower blue
Eloquii

Sales of note for 12.5

93 Comments

    2. This suit is so cute/casual that I could see wearing it for other spring/summer social reasons.

    3. I would wear the heck out of this. I wish it were a little less pricey, but I am tempted.

    5. My husband bought a jacket that looks like this but mens style to wear to an upcoming wedding. He’ll wear it with navy pants. He is not quite at the seersucker head-to-toe level of DC.

  2. Suburbanites — do you get your house vents/ducts cleaned? Is it a scam? We were quoted $250 for cleaning (neighborhood discount) and the guy came and said whoa, you need deep cleaning, that would be $700… we sent him on his way but now I’m curious. One A/C, central heating.

    (Our house was new construction when we bought it and we did have the vents cleaned sometime around year 2 (year 9 now) because a neighbor had it done and said they found disgusting construction drywall, dust, etc in the vents. Meanwhile, my parents have been in their place for 30 years now and never had the vents cleaned.)

    1. My vents get really gnarly build up in them, so cleaning for me is not a scam. I can stick my phone into a duct and record a quick video to see for myself how dirty they are. I would suspect there isn’t a set ‘rule’ for how often you should clean and it’s more based on a variety of factors such as pets, any neighbourhood construction, local geography (green and lush vs dry and dusty), etc

    2. We are like your parents and never have. I do the dryer vent myself and am exceedingly diligent about changing the air filters for the HVAC.

      1. Yes to cleaning out the dryer vent regularly! A family member’s house burned down because the lint caught fire. Thank God they were outside in the yard when it happened.

        1. You mean the exterior vent to the outside? Do you clean it from the inside or enter from the outside somehow?

          1. They stick a hose down the vent itself, not inside the dryer.
            Does that make sense?
            It’s a vacuum. They move your dryer to get to the house vent. They may clean out the dryer too, not sure. Yes a brush helps initially but you also need a vacuum.

    3. My HVAC company (who has replaced my AC and furnace) told me that it can be useful after construction/renovation projects, but weren’t pushing me to do it for my 1940s house.

      So, my impression is that it is not a regular maintenance thing, like changing the air filter in your furnace. It’s more something you do because of specific incident (like construction).

      1. They’ve invaded our neighborhood Facebook group, too. It’s bizarre. Finally, someone got wise and started blocking all of them.

        We’ve been in our house for 12 years and have never cleaned the ducts.

        1. we did when we moved into our house because the prior owners had pets and my husband is allergic. made a difference.

    5. My parents did because my mom has allergies and she swore up and down that it’s caused by filthy ducts. They paid $800, too. Haven’t heard her complain about allergies since (but they also got rid of their carpets and installed hard flooring). Honestly, do it if you have allergies and think it will help. Otherwise don’t fix what’s not broken.

    6. We had them cleaned when we moved into the house (26 years ago), there had been children in the house with the previous owners and they pulled out a lot of Barbie shoes and small objects. We had it done when we had all of the flooring replaced about 6 or 7 years after that, but haven’t had it done since. We clean the dryer vent ourselves and replace the heat pump/AC filters regularly.

      1. Not the OP, but this is why I have been wondering if I should have it done – floor vents and between the prior owners kids and my pets I bet the lego and ransom small things collection in there is not small….

    7. I commented last time this was asked. I do think it’s a bit of a scam. You’re constantly blowing forced air through those ducts, so while there may be stuff on the walls of the ducts, nothing is blowing out that hasn’t already blown out. If it’s still there, it’s gonna stay there, so what’s the point?

  3. Inspired by this morning’s thread — have you ever given clothes (or shoes or bags) away and regretted it? I still regret a J.Crew size 14 wool dress – midi, wide square neckline with thin-ish straps and a tulip flippy skirt. I lost weight and said buh-buh. Gained all the weight back and wished I’d had the dress.

    1. Sometimes I think I do, but I’m really missing my idealistic memory of whatever it was, not the actual piece of clothing, which had some kind of flaw that led me to get rid of it.

    2. Gave my sister a J. Crew Resume dress in red and black tweed from a few years ago that I LOVED, but didn’t fit into after baby. Told her I didn’t care what she did with it, I wasn’t going to fit in it again. She gave it away; not her style.

      One stressful fall later, the pounds have melted off me and I want that dress back! (There are a few on Poshmark…)

    3. No- more likely the reverse. I saved clothes from smaller sizes and when I fit into them again 6-7 years after wearing, many of them immediately read as too young and a bit dated, so I should have sold them or given them away at the time!

    4. Yes, I’m not used to my weight fluctuating, so when I gained some peri weight, I got rid of some smaller items. Surprisingly enough, I’ve managed to lose the weight and I’m kicking myself.

    5. I’m the one who posted about how I never regretted not buying something and how I now have all this stuff I have to get rid of before I move. Despite that, I do actually argue for holding onto things that you once loved but haven’t worn in a while simply because they don’t fit, if you think there’s any real possibility of wearing them again. My weight fluctuates due to a chronic illness and medication, plus I’ve moved and travel between different climates, so I really do go back to items of clothing I haven’t worn in years and start wearing them again regularly.

      But my logic for holding onto good purchases is actually the same as for not making impulse buys. At this point in my life, I have very specific tastes and I don’t tend to deviate much from them. When I buy something that looks pretty but isn’t something I really need, it’s almost always something that I end up ignoring because it’s actually impractical or uncomfortable or just not that useful. If it’s something I love enough to use regularly, I should keep it, even if it’s temporarily too big or small or warm or cold or formal or casual.

    6. Yes! A beautiful pair of tall brown leather flat “riding” boots with wide calves, which I gave to Goodwill the first time boot styles changed to heeled pointy-toed ones and I thought my old ones were hopelessly frumpy. Little did I know boot styles would change almost annually for the rest of my adulthood . . .

    8. A beaded cocktail dress that I could fit back into now. The designer went out of business.

      1. This reminds me of a time I went to Loehmanns in my 20s and tried on a gorgeous heavily beaded/embroided cocktail dress for an upcoming wedding. It was maybe $160 which was a LOT on my salary at the time but the entire dressing room of women all agreed it looked incredible and that I had to buy it. I still kind of feel nostalgic for their communal dressing rooms, it was such an experience!

    9. My shape fundamentally changed after kids so I gave away a lot of my smaller sized items. I had a gorgeous black wool/cashmere princess coat from Tommy Hilfiger’s luxury line. The flagship closed down in 2004? 2005? I bought it for maybe $200 marked down from 1400. It was a size 2 and there was no way in hell it would fit me but I’m still kind of sad about it. Ditto with a gorgeous silk plisse halterneck dress that I got in the same sale for $50(!!). At least I truly loved and wore both of those pieces for years before giving them up.
      I also gave a friend a black leather coat from Florence that I got sweet talked into buying from the maker at the leather school. I don’t regret buying it but it was SO not my style (very Buffy the Vampire slayer and I’m more a Charlotte York). She adored it and wore it into the ground which made me feel better about the whole thing.

    10. I have been through two pregnancies and have gained and lost and gained and partially lost a ton of weight over the since the late 90s. I got rid of a lot of clothing along the way. I regret getting rid of one 1990s coatdress that I absolutely loved, even though I know I would never wear a coat dress now, or wouldn’t have in the last 20 years or so! But man, I felt like a million bucks in that thing!

    11. I gave away a bunch of stuff last year because it hadn’t fit for quite a while. Fast forward to this year and I’ve lost some weight and it would fit now and I regret it in theory, but honestly I can’t really remember any particular piece, so…

    12. My Doc Martens from the late 90s. To be fair, I had moved them TWICE without wearing them over a period of five years, but they were great shoes.

  4. Help me find a dress that I can wear to an evening awards event, a wedding and maybe evening my kids’ school’s fundraising gala. Can be different dresses. I’m a size 18/20 and largest in the stomach and chest. I would prefer a sleeve, and a price not more than $250.

    1. don’t know where you are or how you dressy you want but i bought a satin skirt (could also get satin dress) and have been wearing it with a cashmere sweater over it in the same color. I hate being cold and it’s fit in just fine at a work event, my kids school benefit and a bat mitzah

    3. I’m a 16 sometimes 18 and I really like Anthropologie–it’s a touch too casual for a gala, but for the evening event and wedding I think it should be perfect.
      I’ll also say: Macy’s! For Plus evening-wear it really can’t be beat especially since they allow stacking coupons and run sales. I would filter cocktail and formal and then by size and then by price and see what there is

  5. I’m a first time manager and just need to vent / express my imposter-syndrome-y concerns. I’m basically concerned that I’m not doing a good job – and I’m usually very confident and don’t feel that way.

    I started this job, where I’m managing a team, about a year ago.
    Before that I had managed people or projects, but never a team. I had always liked the management work I did, and overall I like being a manager. I like working with people and collaborating and finding solutions that work for everyone. The things that people don’t like about managing, I like.

    My review in December was good. The negatives were small and fixable and I’d say one of them is already fixed. My boss has given me both positive and negative feedback in the moment when warranted – I would say it all makes sense and has been helpful. I just can’t tell how I’m doing overall.

    I have better relationships with other teams than my predecessor, including one we work with closely. Other higher ups have told me that.

    One employee has been difficult to manage – my boss is on the same page as me about it. The other employees have been straightforward enough to manage. We’re hiring 2 people. I figure they wouldn’t let me hire people if I wasn’t managing well.

    I’m taking a management course soon so that should help.

    1. I’m going to hone right in on that problem employee.

      IME, problem employees require an entirely different set of management skills and different ways of interaction than non-problem employees do.

      The question is whether this person is worth keeping around or needs to be managed out.

      1. Yeah my boss and I are talking about that. It’s heading towards the managed out direction.

    2. Both things can be true. It sounds like you are doing allright, but it’s also normal to be unsure in a new role and take some time until you are confident in it. Hang in there!

      1. But also, management is not a fire and forget thing. You have to scan and adjust all the time. Establishing good habits and a good culture in your team is crucial, but a lot of the actual managing just changes with the people and the conditions you operate in, so you may feel you have to re-invent the wheel again and again just to keep everything humming along.

  6. For those of you who are looking for a home, how are you reacting to the NAR settlement? In my area, 3% had been standard for both the buy and sell side. Given the fact that the payment of the buyer’s agent fees is now a line item in the contract, in a competitive market, my expectation is that as a buyer, I will likely have to cover that cost. I do want an agent but would be happier about finding one at 2 or even 2.5%. My current agent is confident that nothing will change and sellers will continue to offer to cover these fees, but I believe in a multiple offer situation (which most are in my area), covering these fees will come into play and if I don’t cover, my offer will be less competitive. Is anyone else looking for a new agent as a result of this settlement?

    1. I guess I’d have to go back to my contract but I paid significant closing costs as the buyer in my last two houses (2013 and 2022) and I thought that included commission for my agent. If it didn’t then idk what that $25k+ was for. I bought a house in a different state in 2007 and seller paid all closing costs – which was typical of that market at that time. So I’m not sure that sellers always pay the commission regardless of market. It’s already been such a competitive market for so long in my area, people waiving contingencies even on problem houses, houses going for $100k+ over asking on the first day on the market.

      1. There are a ton of closing costs, including reimbursing the seller for taxes already paid, and funding your escrow account for the next payment. The normal fees can easily add up to $25K, and it would be highly unusual for you as a buyer to have paid the commission

      2. Transfer tax, title service and insurance, escrow fees etc. There are a ton of closing costs in most jurisdictions. The broker fee is usually outlined in your closing documents, paid by the seller. But it’s absolutely reflected in the price.

    2. My mom is realtor in California, and my best friend is buying a house right now. My mom said that buyer’s representation contracts are going to be mandatory in CA starting July 1. Current contracts tend to read along the lines that if the seller does not pay commission to the buyer’s agent of 2.5% or 3.0$, then you (Buyer) agree to make whole the Buyer’s agent (up to 2.5% or 3.0%). So far, no realy price reduction, but possible shifting.

      1. This setup confused me as a first time buyer. You start talking with agents, they are all so happy to talk with you and occasionally show you houses, but there was no binding commitment to use that agent. I could have wasted 10 agents’ time and only one of them would have gotten a commission in the end. But as I wrote in last week’s discussion of the topic, I also wasn’t blown away with the level of advice that our agent had to offer, given that we had a lot of questions and were doing this for the first time. Podcasts and Homebuying for Dummies, and websites like Nerdwallet answered all our questions. This lady didn’t, but she still went home with the commission. I think if I had to sign the contract myself, worth several months’ salary, I would shop around much more, and feel entitled to get a little bit more than ‘well maybe you should offer higher, because the lender preapproved up to XYZ’.

      2. Does your mom have any insight into who will be a class member? We sold a house in CA in 2021.

    3. Don’t think you wouldn’t already be paying the 3% buyers agent commission. It’s reflected in the price, and it’s reflected in your mortgage. I would be surprised if it doesn’t become standard to have the seller offset it the way it’s done now so that it can be financed. I sold my last house to a couple who didn’t have much money for closing costs, so both of our realtors worked together to increase my selling price so that I could essentially rebate their closing costs to them so that they could finance them. I just tell this story in order to let you know that there are existing ways to work around this.

    4. The whole profession is so worthless and such a con. I hope this is the beginning of the end for realtors.

    5. At the end of the day, the buyer has always paid these fees just in the form of what the house costs. That the seller is paying anything is a fiction. I don’t expect anything to really change.

    6. As a buyer you don’t need a relator. We just sold our home without an agent (offered 2% commission to sellers agent if they had one). We ended up accepting an offer from a buyer who came in without an agent because it saved us the fees. So, neither party had an agent. We both had attorneys. The agent really doesn’t do anything that’s worth paying so much money for!

  7. “Martin Innes, an expert on digital disinformation at Cardiff University in Wales, said he and his colleagues tracked 45 social media accounts that posted a spurious claim about Catherine to a Kremlin-linked disinformation network, which has previously spread divisive stories about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as about France’s support for Ukraine.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/world/europe/princess-kate-middleton-russia-conspiracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f00.1Efl.huZvH_17N1__&smid=url-share

    Are we living in “Leave The World Behind” yet?

    1. It was really wild to see, as a longtime royal watcher, the difference between how Kate’s medical leave was treated between 2012/2014/2017 with her hyperemesis (some snarky comments like Caity Weaver saying she was hospitalized for “morning sickness for princesses” and morning news show segments) but no one made it a conspiracy when she wasn’t seen in public for two months each time. By week 6 this time it has spiraled totally out of control, weeks before the photoshopped Mother’s Day picture.

      I think Russian bots were definitely a part of it – the “body double” thing came from them for sure, that was all identical tweets. But I also think The Crown and the Harry/Meghan of it all created a situation where people were hungry for controversy. I don’t agree with Ellie Hall, who is one of those people who styles themselves a “royal expert”, on most things but she is one of the only people who flagged that this whole thing started as part of the “fan war” between the so-called Sussex Squad on Twitter who reflexively hate anything about Kate and William. None of what happened online was in good faith or out of concern, and it was easy for Russian bots to fan the flames of conspiracy because the appetite for controversy was already there. The whole thing makes me terrified for the election.

    2. Pretty much whenever it feels like no one was talking about something yesterday and then today everyone is talking about it, I assume Russian trolls are behind it.

      This includes HBO prestige dramas and March Madness moments, but I can also override my skepticism.

      1. Interesting, because I didn’t really know what was going on before it was posted about here!

  8. Someone please convince me I don’t need to buy a whole wardrobe of pretty linen and cotton dresses for a trip to Tuscany this summer that I would never use in my regular daily life, in which I just wear work clothes, athleisure, or grungy clothes for yardwork and never live the type of life where I need a cute dress for brunch. Because Garnet Hill and Boden have got like 7 different dresses or skirts that are tempting me.

    1. I bought a bunch of pretty dresses for a trip to Hawaii and became a person who wears pretty dresses!

    2. Can you give yourself a budget and then buy a few pieces vs. nothing? I bet if you set up sale alerts you’ll be able to snag at least a few items on sale between now and then. Or better yet – poshmark! Or you can promise yourself you’ll do a bit of shopping there as a compromise?

    3. Oh – a rec that may surprise you – check out the ‘fit and flare’ dresses at Lands End. They wear like iron, wash well, and are often available for $40-$50. They’re my go to church dresses – you may want to size down though as they do run a bit big.

      1. OP here: I already own several of the sleeveless version of those. Which is another reason I probably shouldn’t be buying more dresses…

      1. agree, I’ve had great success with Nuuly for vacation wardrobes recently, and less laundry when you return.

    5. I have some cute linen dresses that I wear to the zoo (we are members and our toddler loves to go), church, the arboretum, picnicking, the occasional outdoor summer concert, and the like. So I care if they get a bit dirty? No… the other option is that they wither away in the back of my closet, unworn.

      Get 2-3 that you LOVE. Enjoy them on the trip. Wear them in real life whenever it wouldn’t be ridiculous.

    8. Save a bit of money for buying a dress on your trip. Then it’s a souvenir as well as something to wear!

      1. +1 I love to buy clothes on vacation and I have a great linen dress from Tuscany!

    9. You don’t need a whole new wardrobe, but I enjoy buying a couple new dresses before a big vacation.

    10. I think that people wearing cute dresses to brunch must be a myth like the “desk to dinner” dressing that is so popular in women’s fashion magazines. I do not go to brunch in cute, festive, casual clothes, and I don’t know people who do. That said, I have a full wardrobe of linen and cotton summer dresses, and I wear them all the time. To run errands, to go to the grocery store, to hang out at the library, when driving 10 hours on a road trip, to hang out at home after I’ve cleaned up from grungy yardwork.
      Buy the dresses. Charge the money to your vacation budget. Wear the dresses in Tuscany and then wear them the rest of the summer.

      1. Which just shows how different people are because I go to brunch in cute, casual clothes all the time (at least once a month and sometimes more), but then I have two different friend groups that I go to brunch with every 4 to 6 weeks and I like to dress up a bit.

      2. I am confused – what is the distinction between cute, festive, casual clothes vs linen and cotton summer dresses? Or are you saying you don’t go to brunch at all?

        1. To me, a cotton summer dress is like a tee shirt dress or a simple tent, tank, or smock dress. A brunch dress is more intentional and fussy–maybe fitted or has a self-belt, a conversation starter print like Lisa Says Gah’s stuff, maybe a bit more sexy/shows more skin, playful, embroidered–a little more fragile than something you’d walk the dog and do laundry in.

    11. I actually think you do need them – I’m always much more comfortable on vacation with new things to wear that fit the location. It’s also fun to dress up for your not real life.
      Permission to shop granted.

    12. Every spring I watch the offerings at TJMAXX for 100% linen dresses, pants and tops to add a few to my already-sizeable linen collection that I live in all summer long. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $20-25 for pants and tops or $40 for a dress.

  9. Venting/whining — I got an underarm wax yesterday in preparation for spring break, and WOW I am still sore. It feels like I imagine it would be if you were on crutches all day — I’m incredibly aware of my pits in a way I’m usually not. Last time I had this done (a decade ago), it wasn’t nearly this bad. I have a few days before we leave, so things will likely calm down, but man — I was envisioning a few quick pulls and then smooth, sleek armpits, and it is not working out that way.

    1. I’m sorry you’re still in pain! I’ll take this time to suggest the Braun IPL – I’ve posted before about it but I’m honestly shocked that it’s worked so well, my underarm and bikini line are 90% hairless since starting in January.

      1. I’ll also stop now as I’m starting to feel like that weird women’s dress shirt poster. I swear I’m a real person who is fair yet hairy, hence the evangelism of a better way to remove unwanted hair.

    2. I remember that ouch feeling! IME it can depend on the skill level of the person doing it and the type of wax. Possibly skin sensitivity at a particular moment as well.

      Because I hated it so much, I had a bunch of hair lasered professionally even before the home devices came out, and I’ve never regretted it. I imagine the price has come down since.

      Hope you feel better soon!

    3. Try diaper rash cream at night. Helps restore the skin barrier pretty quickly.

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