Suit of the Week: St. John

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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.

Some of the most comfortable jackets that exist in general are from St. John — in sort of a sweater/jacket/cardigan style. (By the way, you might want to check out our roundup of the best sweater jackets for the office.) Their knit jackets are renowned for their comfort, and they're all really classics. Today we're featuring this gorgeous peplum sculpted knit jacket, which comes with a matching skirt as well as a sheath dress. It's gorgeous, polished, and sophisticated. The jacket is $776.98 (sale price), while the skirt is $595 and the dress is $795. St. John Milano Suiting

A more affordable option is the reader-favorite Woolf Jardigan from M.M. LaFleur, which is $195 and comes in several colors.

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!

Sales of note for 2/7/25:

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

55 Comments

  1. This is absolutely gorgeous and I have no idea when I’d ever wear such a thing again!

    1. I agree, but I was praying today that we will all be back in the office @ work by July 4. I do not think that is to unreasonable, provided that between now and then, we all continue to do the social distancing, and NOT meet up with new people that could be carrier’s of the virus. Dad thinks we young people do NOT have the stick-to-itiveness to stay distant for another 2 months, but I said if that is what we need to do, then that is what I WILL do, even tho I miss going to work every day.

      The manageing partner says the judge is thinking of retiring, and that would be awful for me, b/c over 63% of my cases are in front of him, and if he retires, I have no idea who will be appointed pro hock vice for him to take over his cases that he is not done with by the date he is retiring. The manageing partner is talking him into staying on for another few years b/c the judge told him his stock portfolio is down over 30%, which is his retirement nest egg. The manageing partner said if he stays for 3 more years, he could come here and work with me part time for a couple more years after at a partner’s salary. I hope he agrees b/c I will have great billings and money if the judge stays on for 3 years, and mabye by then I will find a guy to marry! I hope so! YAY!!!

      1. I get your point on quality, but I don’t think I’d call $1,200 for a suit a “great price”

    1. Agreed. It’s very Alicia Florrick, which makes sense because I’m pretty sure she wore a lot of St. John.

  2. I’m not sure that I’m looking for anything other than internet hugs and commiseration here, but really need to vent. I’m a BigLaw associate and have been working in an extremely toxic group. I began to actively look for an in-house position in January, but obviously the current situation has effectively eliminated those opportunities for me right now. I thought that perhaps working from home away from in-person interaction with certain especially toxic partners would help, and it has in some cases, but in other cases these individuals seem to have become even more determined to break me (I know that this is personalizing the issue, but this is how it feels). I wish I could share details but don’t want to out myself – suffice to say that there is some truly unprofessional mean girl bullying that has been happening. I know for a fact that I am unable to meet the expectations of these people, which is the whole reason why I was trying so hard to find something else so that I can quit. I am not financially able to quit without something else lined up but today I am coming pretty close to just saying “f*ck it f*ck all of this I quit”. I feel so trapped and the power imbalance in my firm and the way the group is set up makes it clear there would be no upside to me attempting to raise this (I don’t even have anyone to raise it to as anyone I could go to is complicit in it). Even if I were to raise it, I know that it would only serve to highlight the ways in which I am failing to meet certain expectations – which I acknowledge I am failing at but unfortunately they are too much for me to meet. Just trying to put my head down and work and fly under the radar until job postings start going up again :(

    1. *hugs*

      I was working in a toxic environment like that except the “mean girls” were actually guys (petty, backstabbing, rumor mongers).

      Fortunately, I got laid off! And I am only half kidding about the “fortunately” part.

      I did the best I could and tried to get along but it was never going to work because I wasn’t a fit. I wish they’d laid me off a year earlier to be honest.

      I wonder if you can work out some kind of severance deal if you talk to your supervisor about how you don’t think you’re ever going to fit with the team? Don’t quit voluntarily.

      Hugs to you. It’s all so difficult.

    2. I just want to offer some commiseration, and validate that your experience is not unusual, unfortunately. I was part of a small, toxic practice group during the last big recession from 2008-2010ish, and also objectively failed to meet certain expectations (no training + thrown into a niche practice because they had work during the recession = poor performance). Anyway, no sugar coating it — it was awful. But even in 2010, not the height of the recession but still not a great time for hiring, I was able to find an in-house job at a company where I still work today. You’re right that most places now have hiring freezes, but eventually the jobs will start opening up and you’ll get out of there. In the meantime, do whatever you have to do to disengage and try not to take things personally. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, but you will get through it and find something that better suits you soon. All the hugs.

      1. OP here – thanks so much for these comments. Actually made me tear up to read and I’m so appreciative for those like you in this online community

    3. Saw this late but I’m another internet stranger who is sending you positive vibes! It will work out and you will be happier when you are on the other side, and I’m so sorry that CV has made the timeline further out for you.

    4. Sending kind thoughts from another toxic environment survivor—mine was years ago though—in fact I quit about a week before 9/11. Job hunt was so TOUGH then. But that experience shaped me profoundly. I’ve held several jobs since, and in each have been able to appreciate my work and colleagues even at the most stressful times. I’m a positive force on any project. I’ve had amazing mentors and done my best to be one. I say all of this because you’ll come out of this so much stronger. By going through the worst, you’ll be the one that is steady somewhere else in the future when chips are down. As painful as it may be, seeing what not to do is sometimes a valuable lesson in itself. (I recognize—and pivot—from the toxic much sooner than most others do now.) You can do this.It won’t always be this way.Future you will look back and marvel at your strength.

  3. I just found out I am getting seconded. I’m a mid-level associate, they are a major client, it sounds like an interesting placement, I realize I’m fortunate to have a job, let alone one where I get a biglaw salary for what will probably be reasonable hours. But I can’t help but feel like I’ve been… taken off the A track or something. And I will need to start working remotely with a team I don’t know. Any secondment advice?

    1. This is flattering. Firms don’t usually offer up people for secondment if they worry they would reflect poorly on the firm, and especially not for a major client. They think you have sufficient independent judgment to work with the client on your own!

      From the firm perspective, make sure you are getting a fair deal for how your hours count. I would say you get a minimum of 40 hours per week counted as billable and if you do more than that of course you get credit for the overage.

      And if you ever wanted to go in-house, this is the world’s best interview (as well as great fodder for later interviews when asked why you’re interested in an in-house position).

    2. Also agreed that secondment is actually quite flattering, not something where you’ll get off track. I was seconded for six months last year to a major client (think large investment institution). Upon my return, everyone has viewed it as an asset for the firm. When I speak to people who went in-house, they have noted that secondment is a great experience to have to show ability to work cross-functionally and on different projects.

      My firm paid me the same salary, and I did not have to worry about meeting billables or any hourly requirements during that time, and I had no concerns about my bonus. You could try speaking to someone at your firm to get a sense of how this may affect your hours for the year, as I know different firms have different expectations. Because I had more free time, I used it to explore non-biglaw jobs (either through LinkedIn or online, or reaching out to people). The latter may be more difficult considering we’re all working from home, but still worth trying to make connections there!

    3. What a secondment means really varies from firm to firm. I worked at a firm where secondments were uncommon and seen as highly desirable, and the firm absolutely expected you’d return.

      I also worked at a firm where secondments were given to associates that were well-regarded but generally not viewed as likely candidates for partnership – typically because their work was technically good but they weren’t seen as good at client management or business generation. In the second case, the hope was that you would make a good impression at the secondment and be offered a permanent job, which you would accept, thereby happily departing the firm with no ill feeling.

      If you think you will want to return to your firm from the secondment, agree with others that the biggest issue is how this this affects your hours. Kind of like maternity leave, there is a ramp down/ramp up associated with a secondment and so it’s not as simple as just reducing your hours expectation in proportion to how long you’ll be gone.

    4. I would ask, not assume you know the likely impact on your trajectory. We have seconded associates who were really valued when we had a contract with the client that required a rotation or when we expected a dip in work and did not want it to hit that associate. We have also seconded people as a bridge to them going in house. So talk to someone you trust.

    5. I was seconded in Fall 2018, ended up staying (this was not expected by me or my firm). I always knew I’d go in-house eventually, but I did not think it would happen as early as it did. I have taken barely any pay cut at all from biglaw (hard to price mid-stage startup options, yadda yadda), and it’s been glorious and almost weird to have weekends free or largely under my control, although working in tech has meant some intense hours too. I worked in biglaw as staff and an attorney for many years, and always thought going in-house would be boring, but at a fast growing late-stage startup, it was not boring at all. Ever. My colleagues were smart, I loved partnering with the business, and I loved broadening my skillset to new areas (privacy, soft IP, immigration, general employment counseling) from a mostly corporate-heavy practice before secondment.

      Tips:
      – take your client list/conflicts list so you have them
      – take your CLE tracker/administrative binders (if you keep stuff on paper) so you have all your CLE in one place
      – discuss a scaled ramp or “hours bonus” so that you are not expected to work at pace immediately before or after.
      – ask that you begin “de-staffing” at least two weeks before–I was in corporate and was being put on new clients and new matters mere days before I was leaving and moving cross-country for a secondment–it was a nightmare to wrap old deals and gracefully tell partners, “please, no more”.
      – find out what kind of transition memo specifics are expected by your firm so you can prep background docs and do handover meetings early.
      – bonus out your assistant if you’ll be gone for the holidays before you leave
      – find out what your firm’s policy is for associate bonuses if you’re on secondment–will your time on secondment count “at-pace” or will your bonus be pro-rated? This may seem tone-deaf in the current environment, but it’s a fair thing to understand by asking gently before you go.
      – will you have access to your firm laptop (generally not due to conflicts, so….take whatever precedents you need now (with permission)?
      – will you be de-staffed from current deals/clients, or will you be working a shadow job (generally yes, but I have heard of PT secondments).
      – any changes to your healthcare of benefits, and is secondment kosher with bar authorities or do you need to update bar registrations? (In my case, I was seconded to another state, had to get fired from my firm because of multijurisdictional practice/registered in-house counsel restrictions, and had to strike a deal re my rehire from my seconding firm). This led to changes in my FSA, health insurance, employer etc., so it was a “secondment” but not a true one.
      – backdoor ask around what has happened to previous secondees from your firm. I don’t think you can say no to anything in this environment, but it’d be helpful to hear from any returned secondees how the firm treated them, even if they are firm alumni. Ask older associates to put you in touch with those folks.

      Oh, and as for remote onboarding, get the lay of the land and then schedule short webex meetings with clients and colleagues to understand the lay of the land in the legal dept and in the depts you serve, what their pain points are, etc. Your job is not to rock the boat, but to maintain status quo and uplevel–you’re a visitor. Good luck–I genuinely enjoyed the secondment and truly don’t miss biglaw, keeping my time, or firm politics.

  4. So my kids’ teachers are sending out various things for them to do, including schedules of zoom conferences. They send everything to my work e-mail (otherwise, I’d never see it). I want to get each kid an e-mail to I can send their zoom meetings and tasks / etc. to them for them to keep up with and so I have to stop breaking away from my day to log them in all the time.

    For a kid, which e-mail / outlook-type program is workable? They won’t otherwise need it going forward except for scouts (also zoom meeting now, but with various things on a routine basis going forward) and to use as a family calendar.

    Kids are 9 and 11, if that matters. Middle school starts in the fall where more things are online compared to K-5.

    ALSO, I’m assuming it will be better to get them home computers eventually (vs using something like an iPad). Yes? And if they use Chromebooks at school, do I need that at home or will any computer do?

    1. I would go with Gmail. They may already have Google accounts at school.

      A Chromebook is cheap and doesn’t have the functionality of an actual computer. If that’s what they use at school and it’s capable of accessing all the school resources, it’s fine. You can also get keyboards for their iPads. If you want them to be able to install and run actual software, they need real computers, not Chromebooks.

    2. OP here: I have a home computer (a windows laptop; not touchscreen). It is <5 years old and seemed to be up to the task of periodic kid use and various personal at-home tasks for me. Maybe in modern families computers are like toothbrushes — everyone has their own and periodically replaces? [Older one is also due for a phone due to wanting kiddo to stay connected with friends as that kid is going to a magnet school next year across the city from our house with only one other kid she knows.]

      1. Kids only need their own computers if they need to take them to school or if multiple kids need to do computer work simultaneously. In the absence of pandemic distance learning, neither of these conditions is likely to apply until high school, and maybe not even then. My kid’s high school classes use phones quite a bit, but never computers during class time. Teachers don’t lecture anymore, so computers are not even useful for taking notes.

        1. Your kids’ experience has been so different than my kids’. My kids are both on their computers every night doing homework, mostly over google docs. Pre-pandemic.

          1. OP again. In middle school, they seem to get assigned chromebooks (vs actual textbooks) and take them home nightly. Not sure what they do on them. Like I have always done math on paper or a whiteboard and probably could not function on a computer. I could type things in or spreadsheet what I’d worked out, but I like to write. I also markup things while I read and take notes on paper. It just must be potentially very different these days.

            We may just need stuff short-term. I had previously thought that one computer on the kitchen island (in public) was sufficient for 2 kids + my household tasks. Now, with competing logging in and zoom calls, it’s not ideal for now (and “now” may extend into the fall).

            ALSO A QUESTION: are the icloud.com e-mails that you get on an iPad worth transitioning to? Or just go with gmail?

          2. I can only answer for myself. My iCloud email address is my main personal email address. I have a gmail but it’s much less close to my actual name and hard for people to remember. My iCloud is myfirst_mylast, and no one has ever questioned the @icloud dot com part of it.

            My kids both use their school-provided email accounts for almost everything. They both have iCloud email addresses but I don’t think they check them.

      2. Phones and replacing laptops every once in a while are both pretty much inevitable. My kids really started needing their own laptops in middle school. They started with chrome books but moved up over time – my son just built his own desktop computer at age 17, replacing a laptop, and my 19 year old daughter just had to replace her 5 year old MacBook for college. They have also had their own phones since I decided they were old enough to walk home from school, which for each of them was also middle school.

    3. I think setting up gmail accounts for them makes the most sense. Do them a favor and have them all set with professional-type personal accounts from the start… unlike me whose first email address, if I recall correctly, included the word “sweet” and my nickname.

      1. I should add, if you’d rather not have their full names in there, this doesn’t mean you need to use actual names — initials and a number are good, etc. I suggest gmail in particular because many parents I know end up using google calendar.

      2. My first ever email was, thank god, deleted but I’m pretty sure it was horribly cringey. And then I made one that was mynamelastinitial_1 on MSN (MSN!!!!!), which is also my Instagram name to this day. Much better but still not ideal. I envy people who can get their full name as their email.

        Also, don’t put their birth year in the address because people/interviewers/etc immediately know how young you are. Ask me, firstinitiallastname91 at Gmail, how I know…

    4. Set them up with a basic Gmail something like firstnamelastname then they can keep it forever and use it job hunting, applying to university, etc.

      1. I think it’s kinda cute that you think first name last name Gmail addresses are still available for anything but the most unusual names.

        1. Ha, I got my gmail account when it was still invite only (olden days!) and get SO many junk emails from other people with my common name who assume it is still free for them to use.

    5. Agreeing with Gmail, there is now a way to designate an account as a child’s which is connected to a parent’s until they turn 18, so you can help manage it and access as needed.

  5. I somehow posted this in yesterday’s Muppet Shoes coffee break…Posting again:

    Bye bye, Bernie! Some good news for the day.

    Except for that Bernie Bros have bought into the “Biden is mentally fading” thing lock, stock and barrel. Bro, if you don’t think that all 75+ year olds have some level of cognitive decline, including your golden boy, you’re delusional.

    1. Umm have you heard Biden speak lately? It seems pretty clear he has some cognitive difficulties… It’s actually sad.

      1. He has a stutter and has always stumbled over his words a lot (or at least a lot for a politician).

    2. Oh come on, enough with all Bernie supporters are Bernie Bros. WOC here who supported Bernie and is being mansplained on social media about why I must support Biden. There is mansplaining and bad behavior across all candidates.

      1. Yes agreed. Bernie wasn’t my candidate but that doesn’t mean he and all his supporters are trash! Most of them are sincere genuine people who wanted what’s best for the country. It’s okay for them to take a moment to be sad.

      2. Ugh I know, SO tired of the mansplaining and condescending behavior from Biden supporters. Is that supposed to get me enthused for my second-choice candidate? I know better strategies…

        1. I’m a Biden supporters who came here to say the same thing. We have a lot of work to do to get Bernie’s people enthused. This is not helpful.

    3. How nice of him to drop out before the primary this time. I’m not sad to see him go.

  6. If anyone is looking for new Kindle reading material, there is a great sale going on! Bad Blood, The Water Dancer, Nickel Boys, Killers of the Flower Moon, the Hamiltome (Alexander Hamilton by Chernow), Just Mercy- all for sale for under $5!

    1. Thanks! I will probably buy several of these, and then continue to read the trashy series on Kindle Unlimited that seems to be all I can manage to focus enough to read.

      1. same. I keep thinking I’m going to read better books on my kindle, but trash it is. I seem to only be able to focus on real books when they are on paper.

  7. So this week we have been flooded with applications (more than we’ve ever received in years of operation) about potential first year jobs. It’s alot of applicants who seem great who have lost their jobs or job promises. I feel pretty terrible about each one. It’s been a rough morning. It was bad enough when everyone temporarily laid of their paralegals and we got those emails last week- they will probably be hired back. These young people are not going to get jobs at all.

    We have a relatively junior lawyer at our firm so hiring another one would cut into his work so we can’t take on anyone junior right now. I have tried to give them some helpful advice and that’s all I can do.

    1. You’re kind to want to give them advice. I started law school in an environment in which I could reasonably expect to get a biglaw job as long as I didn’t badly mess up. I graduated throwing my resume into the abyss. It would have meant a lot to me to get a kind note back that my qualifications were good, but a given firm just wasn’t hiring at that point. No need to give advice, because I don’t know that there’s anything meaningful you can say.

      If it makes you feel any better, I got on my feet and I’ve had a great, if somewhat untraditional, career.

      1. Criminal law is a very particular field. The reality is that it’s a virtually impossible market to break into in my city as clients choose their lawyers even with publicly funded lawyers. The clients ask for their regular lawyer or lawyers they’ve heard of. We are one of the only areas of law still going (I basically practice prison law and I am if anything busier than usual). It’s actually smart to call our firms because we do have work. I still have court every day.

        The lawyers I work with have criminal practices but work less with inmates so their work is far more limited. One has no work to do. We can’t bring in another criminal lawyer, if we had the work I’d send it to the guy doing nothing.

        Even before COVID-19 it would have been hard to find a job in criminal law. Now it’s impossible in my city. I don’t know much about the other areas of law but I would imagine the situation is very similar.

        We can’t hire but I am always happy to provide information on how to start your own law practice or manage a practice in my jurisdiction (I actually teach this). It’s just weird because now I can’t even take the young lawyer for a coffee and show them how to do it on a screen, we’re having to do it on zoom.

        For a lot of these young people their best bet is to work in their own criminal law practice and keep expenses low and then apply for a government job once they have some experienced (government is always hiring in remote regions). Eventually they’ll be able to transfer to a city or maybe they’ll enjoy living in a small community.

  8. I posted a while ago about wanting ways to read. Maybe this will help someone.

    Scribd – Has been fantastic. I use it for short story collections. It has a lot of audiobooks for anyone interested. I am currently still in my free trial and am considering extending it. Has a lot of YA and popular (like top ten list books)
    Bookmate- I really struggled to use this one. Found it harder to deal with than Scribd. It has a free trial as well but I felt like they were trying to scam me into agreeing to pay for it every time I logged in. Eventually I got fed up and deleted it.
    24symbols- you can make a completely free account if you don’t want to pay for premium. There didn’t seem to be a way to try premium for free so no idea what’s there. A lot of older books are available for free like HG Wells and a lot of independently published stuff is free.

    1. I use SimplyE on my phone. It’s great – I can use it with my local library for ebooks and then also separately to download free older books to keep (Jane Austen, Vanity Fair, etc). What I like is that I always have a novel in my pocket so I am less prone to just scrolling thru news which I find helpful for my mental well being at the moment.

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