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Updated: Nov 1, 2018 42 Comments · by

Suit of the Week: Talbots

Suit of the Week

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Talbots Italian Flannel Ruched Jacket grayFor 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. Sigh: I hate when retailers refuse to show suiting pieces together. You know, as a suit. This Italian flannel set (which, in addition to the pieces I'm featuring includes two matching skirts, three matching pants, and a longer jacket) looks classic and feminine without veering into frumpy — and I like that all of the pieces are offered in multiple colors (some of which are either sold out entirely, like the teal, or are very nearly sold out, like the navy). All pieces are still available to some degree in “pumpkin” (pictured below), navy, beige, brown, gray, and black, and are offered with sizes 2-20 for misses, petites, woman, and woman petites. The ruched jacket shown above and below (Talbots Italian Flannel Ruched Jacket) is $199; the dress (Talbots Italian Flannel Sheath Dress) is $169.
Talbots Italian Flannel Ruched Jacket Talbots Italian Flannel Sheath Dress
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Sales of note for 9.30.24

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Comments

  1. zora

    Posting today since folks might not have seen yesterday:

    Bay Area meet-up this SATURDAY!
    Saturday, 1pm, Vino Locale in Palo Alto.

    Hive Fives to k-padi for setting up, and January for being our special guest!

    • Dulcinea

      Honestly, I think it might be because the garments are clipped in the back so they look more shaped than they are. In my experience Talbots is very boxy/straight, not tailored to be really fitted. This is a good fit for certain body types and I wish they would just show the clothes on the people who are flattered by that cut rather than make it look like it’s fitted and flattering on people with different shapes.

  3. Diana Barry

    PSA for people looking for patterned/tweed blazers. Do NOT get the J Crew “maple tweed” jacket. In the catalog it kinda sorta looks like a Chanel tweed style, but in person it is awful. It makes me look like my grandma (no offense, Grandma!).

    • TO Lawyer

      I had to go check out the blazer and saw J.Crew’s styling – maybe it’s hipster but I think I might want that hat…

      • Calico

        I went to go check out the hat but it looks like the J Crew site is down. The HORROR!

    • Eleanor

      Thanks for the warning! I was thinking about getting that blazer, but will stay away. I also like that houndstooth one from the most recent catalogue; maybe I’ll get that instead.

  4. NbyNW

    I had been waiting for a discount or sale to pull the trigger on the jacket. Here’s hoping.

    • lucy stone

      Ditto. I love this fabric from them and buy several pieces in it every year. They have the sweater sale now so I’m hoping there will be a suit sale soon.

  6. Miss Behaved

    Ladies, I just found out that a movie starring Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel is going to be filming on campus on Monday. Unfortunately, I’m working from home that day. I can honestly say I never thought I’d be disappointed about working from home.

    • Lady Harriet

      The Exorcist was filmed while my mother was a student at Georgetown. A bunch of her friends were extras in it, but she turned down the opportunity because she wanted to spend more time studying chemistry!

      • Miss Behaved

        Nope. My commute is about an hour by public transportation.

        I was actually an extra in a movie with John Cusack and Demi Moore about 30 years ago (God, I’m old!). And a lot of movies were filmed at the college I went to in NYC.

  7. lucy stone

    I ordered that sheath dress and it is quite body conscious and slim-fitting. If you are hourglassy I’d advise sizing up from your normal Talbots size. I ordered my usual size and couldn’t get it over my hips.

    • posey

      interesting, considerng my prior experience with Talbots has been that it is boxy to the max. I was actually considering stopping in for some second-trimester wear because I thought the boxiness would work for my outward-bound belly.

      • lucy stone

        Usually it is, but this dress is very close cut. I could zipper it just fine but it wouldn’t go over my hips. The fit and flare dress would probably work great for you – that’s their usual fit.

  8. Anonymous

    I’m starting at a biglaw firm in a few days and have almost zero previous exposure to the particular area of law I’ll be practicing. Over the past week or so I’ve been skimming E&Es and other basic study guides, but everyone is telling me I’m crazy to ruin my vacation since “you’ll learn everything on the job anyway.” Do people agree with this? How many of you started in a practice area you knew almost nothing about?

    • Anon

      “I wish I spent more of my vacation time reading about work before I started working 60-80 hour weeks”

      — said no one ever.

      PUT THE BOOKS DOWN. If you are a first year, it is expected that you know nothing.

    • posey

      most of the stuff you’ll be doing will be so mundane that I’d be shocked if it required any subject-area specific knowledge. You’ll pick up what you need to know as you go along.

    • Nonny

      Assuming you are starting as a first-year: no-one knows anything when they start, and that’s what all the lawyers you work with are going to assume. I’m in the “relax and enjoy your vacation” camp.

    • TBK

      You won’t learn anything in “a few days” that’s worth wasting your last days of freedom. Do try to spend extra time learning the area of law once you start work (you probably won’t be fully staffed for the first several weeks/months anyway) but don’t spend your time on it now.

    • LH

      Put the books down! SLEEP. and relax and cook and work out and read and see friends and do whatever it is you like to do with your soon-to-be-non-existant free time. But seriously, nobody knows anything as a first year. You’ll be fine – enjoy your vacation!!

  9. dilemma

    Question for those of you more mature and wiser than me:

    I just graduated from law school and I’ll get my bar results on Friday. I don’t have full time work yet (right now working a temporary position with a solo practitioner for trial prep, getting paid law clerk salary). My parents had been supporting me while I studied for the bar/waited for results and a full-time job. Well…my dad lost his job very unexpectedly (also a lawyer) a few weeks ago and to say it’s hitting us all pretty hard is an understatement. I don’t mind minimizing everything in my budget; I was living pretty barebones through bar prep anyways and had put myself on a shopping ban till I had a few paystubs in hand. I volunteered to move into a close-by relative’s basement and sell all my crappy furniture on craigslist and they said it wasn’t quite that drastic, ha. My real concern is my parents’ well-being. Dad is taking it hard, of course, and we all know how lousy the market is, but I think my Mom is slipping into full fledged depression and I don’t know what to do. My little brother is out of state in college and I’m also in a different state. Truthfully I’m not sure they would do any better if I were there and I can’t job search here from there–too much distance.

    How have you all handled parents/close family going through struggles like this? My dad had told me that one of the things that was keeping he and my mom grounded was that I didn’t seem to be freaking out, which is NOT true–I’m mortally terrified that I failed the bar and that I’ll have to put one more misery on their plate, I don’t know where I’m going to live when my lease is up, I don’t have full time work, and I have a mountain of student loans certainly headed for extended deferment. I’m generally keeping it together, and mom and dad have had a lot of people from both his former job and our church reaching out to encourage them. I know they’re reeling and I just don’t know what to do. I feel kind of isolated partly due to unemployment and partly because a lot of my friends from school have left the area. I don’t even know what my question is, I think I just needed to dump all this on an anonymous source. :/ Anyway…advice would be appreciated if you’ve got some.

    • Bonnie

      Don’t make any big plans until you know the bar results. Can you get a part-time non-legal job to defray your expenses while you look for legal employment? Good luck!

    • Eleanor

      A couple of years ago my mom lost her job and took it really hard. To make matters worse, my dad was not all that emotionally supportive of her. She likes to have contact with people, so being at home alone every day was hard for her, and I took to e-mailing her a few times throughout the day – just links to articles or comments about funny things that had happened to me. I also called her much more frequently. To be clear, my mom and I do not typically have this kind of contact-every-day relationship.

      I also talked through her stress with her and generally encouraged her about her job search, since she likes to talk through problems and was freaking out about being unemployed (not for financial reasons, but because she tends to define herself through her job, too much if you ask me). I don’t know if this kind of thing would help your dad; it would depend on his personality. As it happened, my mom found a new job (which she likes much better than her old one!) after four months, but those four months were pretty stressful.

      I know no one goes to law school wanting to take a menial-type job right afterward, but could you get a part-time job waitressing or something, so your parents wouldn’t have to support you? I strongly believe there is no shame in doing this (and have done it myself when I was between jobs), and it’s nice to have money coming in.

      Other than that, it sounds like pretending to your parents that you’re calm about the whole thing is the best thing you can do for them. Rant here, or freak out about the situation to your friends, if you need emotional support, so your parents can focus on themselves for a bit.

    • dilemma

      thanks y’all. The pay from the part-time gig I have now is actually pretty good and the plan at the moment is for me to move in with a relative (rent-free) pretty soon so my costs will be significantly defrayed. I have waitressed in the past and I could do it again.

      • Sydney Bristow

        Are you in a bigger city? Document review work isn’t desireable but it can pay well if you get projects with lots of hours. At least in NYC there are some projects for people with JDs and lots more once you pass the bar.

    • TBK

      I’m so sorry. This is really hard. First, don’t borrow trouble. You’ll get your bar results on Friday, so don’t use your energy these next couple of days worrying what you’ll do if you don’t pass. You can worry about that on Saturday if it turns out you didn’t. And if you did pass, no use worrying for nothing. Second, do you have relatives or family friends near your parents who can check in on them and give you status updates? It seems like the distance is really hard on you right now because you can’t be there for them and it’s hard to tell how they’re doing just from phone calls. It might make you feel better if someone (a church friend?) stopped in every so often and let you know what was up, especially to tell you how your mom really is doing. This friend might also be able to get her additional help if she needs it. Third, can your pastor/priest pay your parents a visit? Clergy are trained in counseling and s/he might be able to: (1) help them with ways of coping; (2) suggest other professional help if needed; and (3) pray with them, which may give them comfort if their faith is important to them. Fourth, keep doing your thing. I know what it’s like to want to fix things for your parents, and focusing on your life might seem selfish right now. But I’m sure that even though you’re still looking for work and you’re worried about the bar, your parents are just bursting with pride that you’ve graduated from law school and your brother is away doing his thing in college. Good parents know they’ve been successful when they’ve been able to launch their children into the world. Let them have that pride in you by continuing to build your life as an adult. Finally, keep in touch. Make sure they (especially your dad) know you still look up to them. At this point in his life, your father may feel ashamed to be unemployed. He may be afraid his family won’t respect him as much, so show him he’s still the same Dad to you. Ask his advice on things, especially on things related to being a lawyer. Also talk to your mom. If she knows how, see if you can Skype with her. You might get a better sense of how she’s really doing if you can see her. Good luck with everything. I can’t even say how much I hate this economy. I’m sorry you’re going through this.

      • dilemma

        TBK, this was lovely, thank you so much for your kind words and good ideas.

        Sydney, I’m not in a bigger city, but I do know of a couple of places that could have document review potential once this temporary thing I’m working on is done. Not glamorous, but that’s okay.

    • OHCFO

      I’m sorry for what your family is going through. My situation was different (I was on my own when something similar happened to my folks) but it still sucked.

      The thing that I was not prepared for was how hard losing his job (long-time family business) would be on my dad’s sense of self-worth as a man/father/husband. He felt like when he couldn’t provide for his family that he was somehow “less.” He didn’t handle it well–and even a decade later is still scarred from it.

      The actual details were almost unimportant–how much to cut, what to spend on, etc. He was just so broken.

      I don’t have any words of wisdom or advice, but just to keep that in mind as a possibility.

      Good luck.

  10. Phone interview help?

    I have an interview on Monday for a promotion within my organization. Do I wear a suit all day since it isn’t really a secret that I’m interviewing (will be meeting with team members as part of it)? Do I need to go check-in with reception even though I’m an internal candidate?

    • Susie

      I’d wear something in the nice end of the spectrum I normally wear, not necessarily a full suit if that is not normal at your office. Regarding checking in, not sure how your office works for us you would only check in with reception if you need a visitor badge otherwise most likely you would just let your interviewer’s assistant know you are there

        • Phone interview help?

          I’ve passed the phone interview stage but since I’d already posted under this name I thought I’d continue to use it.

    • Ellen

      Yes, alway’s wear a suit to an INTERVIEW, even if it is in the SAME COMPANY. This way, they know you can dress profesional, and can meet with cleint’s if they need you to.

      I have had alot of troubel with the manageing partner’s computer today. I think there is a VIRUS or something on it b/c there are alot of POP-UPs that keep popping up telling me that my virus definition’s are OUT of date and I need to buy new software. There is also some popup where there is a girl who is wearing a VERY skimpy batheing suit telling that I should click here and watch her loose her top completely. FOOEY! I think the manageing partner has been to PORNO sight’s and now they are askeing that he come back. DOUBEL FOOEY b/c I need to work and am worried that my file’s are being looked at by these sights b/c of the viruses in his machine.

      I think I will ask the manageing partner if I can get the teck guy to scrub his disk of these dirty things, or mabye I can get the teck guy to configure MY machine for office use, even tho it is a MACBOOK AIR and we use window’s here.

      Does any one in the hive have a MACBOOK AIR in a network that runs Window’s? This way, if the answer is YES, I can tell the teck guy that he can do it. Now I can ONLEY access my email from HOME but when I bring in my MACBOOK AIR, I am NOT abel to access anything unless I go through a WIRELESS network and it is VERY slow here.

      The manageing partner is now lookeing at places on Park Avenue for us, but they are all below 34th street. I perfer closer to Grand Central or even closer to my freind, who work’s at JP Morgan bank uptown. The manageing partner says he looked there with the rental agent, but he did NOT like the space.

      Willem called me again on my cell– I think he is geting more interested in me b/c he say’s he like’s my voice (that sound’s strange, but OK, it’s better then saying he like’s me for my tuchus), and he said he had to go to a meeting in Newark, New Jersey today, so he will call me to TALK tonite. YAY, but Myrna is comeing over to bake cookies with me so he might have to talk to Myrna if my hand’s are full of dough. We will see if he calls. Sam also keeps texting me and mom called to say again that dad is not goeing to talk to me until I set up another date with Sam. I am getting tired of dad dictating who I should see and date. FOOEY!

    • Wildkitten

      Wear a suit but don’t wear the jacket for the rest of the day. If they need to gather a group together you should probably check in with reception, or ask reception at the start of the day what you should do and then do that when the interview time comes.

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