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Suit of the Week: The Fold

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Black model wears vivid berry suit with double breasted blazer; she sits in a chair with her legs crossed

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 2025!

This “vivid berry” suiting from The Fold London is such a pretty color!

I love a deep saturated color like this, and it's definitely a standout suit. I'd wear this purple with neutrals (white, navy, black), but I'd also try it with accessories in colors like red, bright blue, or even an animal print. Lovely.

There are two pairs of matching pants (wide leg and slim leg), and you can find a dress and a “sculpt knit top” in the same color. There is also one of their beautiful Belleville tops in a berry, ivory and navy print that looks like it would really complement the suit. Pieces are $265-$665.

Sales of note for 6/18/25:

  • Nordstrom – Designer clearance up to 60% off
  • Ann Taylor – $99 dresses + 40% off summer must-haves + extra 40% off sale
  • Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything + extra 20% off
  • Boden – 15% off new womenswear styles with code
  • Eloquii – $19 & up select styles + up to 40% off everything else
  • J.Crew – Up to 50% off almost everything (ends 6/23) + extra 50% off sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – Extra 60% off clearance + extra 20% off $100+ + extra 25% off $125
  • M.M.LaFleur – Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
  • Rothy's – Up to 50% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Free shipping on everything
  • Talbots – $29+ summer shirts + $29.99 all markdown sweaters + extra 30% off other markdowns

129 Comments

  1. heading to a conference at the Gaylord Rockies next week – I’ll have most of Sunday afternoon/evening & maybe another evening during the conference free. Any recs for Denver or Aurora? it’s a nice hotel but not super convenient to anything else!

    1. That’s basically at DIA, isn’t it? I think you can take light rail into downtown Denver pretty easily, which gives you easy access to LoDo, Coors Field, the 16th street mall, and the River North Arts District.

    2. Some of my fave Denver recs are watercourse (delicious vegan that even meat eaters love); linger (cool restaurant in an old mortuary, also next to a famous ice cream place): el
      Five (though I haven’t been there in years so grain of salt).

  2. My mom wants to wear this black dress to a wedding. The problem is, she gets cold and wants to wear something over it, but isn’t sure what to wear or what color. Any recs? I found the sweater below but I’m not sure if black on black would look good. For reference, my mom is 65 and this is her brother’s wedding. The bride and groom are both late 60’s and the bride isn’t wearing white (she’s wearing a long, gray/silver dress).

    Dress: https://www.macys.com/shop/product/calvin-klein-womens-asymmetric-neck-sleeveless-sheath-dress?ID=20431850

    Possible Sweater: https://www.belk.com/p/calvin-klein–3-4-sleeve-knit-topper-/1501156CD4RNY76.html

    1. I would either a) go fancier for a bolero or b) go for a much much brighter cardigan. like the ones from Talbots. https://www.talbots.com/clothing/sweaters/charming-collection

      this would be better for the bolero – https://www.marypatpalmer.shop/product/women-blouses-knits-oscar-de-la-renta-sequin-cashmere-silk-bolero-silver/?gQT=2

      or even this in a brighter color:
      https://www.etsy.com/listing/257181415/evening-bolero-alpaca-cardigan-cropped

      for the bolero I’m guessing this is too fancy
      https://www.amazon.com/Allegra-Womens-Cropped-Cardigan-X-Small/dp/B09B1Q4MDZ?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&gQT=2&th=1&psc=1

        2. First of all, that place is a scam, second of all, take the flower off the dress and then sew it to the bolero, that is not difficult.

    2. I feel like this is where a light tan faux fur capelet / large stole would work. They are surprisingly warm and look more formal than a knit shrug.

  3. hoo boy all but one of my accounts in Vanguard disappeared this morning! they came back after a quick chat but my heart definitely stopped

  4. Thinking about some of the recent threads here and being in the throes of parenting an infant, I think I can say with some confidence that breastfeeding vs formula doesn’t matter, BLW vs purées doesn’t matter, sleep training or not doesn’t matter, but a warm, safe, stable, and happy household does. Mental illness needs to be treated; violence or threats of violence should never be tolerated; divorce is better than an unhappy marriage every single day. I’m starting to believe that nothing is more important than for child wellbeing than kids feeling safe at home, with safety including feeling loved and cared for.

    1. But also – you can not be a perfect parent and it’s fine kids will still feel loved and safe and respected and cared for.

      I grew up in a house where people had furry tempers and frequently yelled and occasionally threw things (not at people). I still felt loved and safe at home.

      No one is going to be perfect.

      2. Eh my parents had tempers and I’m hyper independent with insecure attachment. Wildly successful professionally though

        1. OP here and tempers weren’t the issue for me – silent treatment, untreated depression, and manipulation were. My success today is in spite of it and not because of it.

          1. Oh yeah my success is in spite of them not because of them. I’m so terrified of ever being unsafe again, I work incredibly hard.

          2. I wonder about this. My partner is the type who is successful and works very hard out of this kind of fear.

            My mindset is lots of people work very hard for not a lot of money and are never going to be safe. If the world is out to get me, I’m a goner. Hard work might shield me when times are good, but it won’t help me when times are bad.

    2. Just finished Freakonomics, and he has some interesting datadriven perspectives on parenting – apparently a lot of the things parents worry about has very little impact on their children long term.

      1. Totally – so much doesn’t matter at all. But if you live in a home where the concept of walking on eggshells doesn’t exist, you will probably benefit forever.

        1. Sure. And everyone should have a workplace where they don’t have to walk on eggshells, but home or at work, if you aren’t that lucky, you learn quickly to read a room and maybe make different decisions about what you do next.

          These types of environments hone survival skills, so while not ideal, not everyone becomes damaged by it.

          1. Agree.

            It’s mostly that parents and schools are becoming gentler places but the real world is not. I’m glad I didn’t have to get yelled at (truly screamed at) for the first time at work or school. Because I’m sure thats some people’s experience

          2. Right. I learned how to walk on eggshells because my mom was occasionally really moody and sometimes my parents raised their voices when they caught.

            Nothing was abusive. Nothing was thrown. No one snd nothing hit. But there was yelling and I learned how to act so I wasn’t the next target.

            It’s served me well in my career

          3. We’re all born with survival instincts for those situations and skills can also be taught. I don’t see how suffering for 18 years at home (in the worst homes) “adds value.”

          4. I grew up with parents who yell. It wasn’t abusive, it was just how they communicated when angry. Being able to remain calm, absorb the underlying message, and let it roll off my back has been a critical skill in my client-facing job.

        2. … who manages to grow up without having to walk on eggshells?

          You’ve never seen a sibling get reamed out as you try to not also get in trouble?

          You’ve never already been in trouble and been very careful to not further anger your parents?

          1. That’s not the same thing as walking on eggshells in the way this poster used it.
            I took this to mean that you are trying to control unpredictable and scary adults around you because you don’t know when the next outburst will be.

    3. It kills me on the moms board when people wring their hands over snapping at their kids after telling them for the 10th time to stop doing something.

      Guess what happens in the real world? Someone will snap at you after way fewer chances than 10!

      Of course as a parent you want to be your kids safe space. But you’re a person with wants and needs and emotions and the kids need to learn that

      1. Exactly. There is a world of difference between violence in the home and not being a perfect parent. Vilifying every less-than-ideal behavior as “abusive” minimizes real, actual abuse.

        1. Pretending emotional abuse doesn’t exist is no good. It forever scars you. I’ve seen people get fired for less bad treatment of others than my parents showed me. There are consequences in the real world in a way there aren’t when a parent scares their kids.

          1. Of course I recognize that emotional abuse exists, but I’m not convinced the example from the morning post was actually that. If it were happening frequently, absolutely. But a parent losing their cool a couple of times a year? That’s being human.

          2. Snapping at a kid after they ignore your polite request 10 times in a row is not emotional abuse.

          3. Emotional abuse exists but a parent yelling at a kid on occasion when they do something against the rules is not emotional abuse.

        2. This.

          I even got in an argument about “mild” spanking not being abuse. I’m super against spanking and would never use it and think it’s bad parenting but I don’t think it’s automatically physical abuse. Of course it easily can be of abusive but a few slaps with a hand on a butt isnt abusive.

          1. Yeah I agree with you. It’s not good parenting but not all bad parenting is abuse, and I feel like it sort of minimizes actual abuse to label every suboptimal parenting decision as abuse.
            FWIW I do not spank my kids, nor was I spanked as a kid, even though it was very common in my community growing up (rural Midwest). There was a spectrum of spanking but the families my parents liked mostly did it very lightly and the adult was always in control of their emotions, never raging with anger while spanking. A light swat on the butt from an adult in control of their emotions hardly seems abusive to me.

            My dad’s mother broke a wooden coat hanger over his head when he was a kid, while screaming at him. *That* was abuse.

        3. This x 1 million. I am so sick of hearing about how everyone has “childhood trauma.” My pediatrician told me I would damage the baby’s brain if I set her down crying for five minutes to take a shower. Sorry, but that is not remotely the same as my parent trying to k!11 me multiple times throughout my childhood. As a parent who did my very best, I am terrified that when my kid is 25 some therapist is going to tell her I inflicted “trauma” that is the cause of all her problems in life.

          1. I honestly worry about this, too. One of my kids jumps VERY quickly to: “you’re yelling at me!” No. Nobody is yelling. Someone’s voice may be slightly raised and sound more intense than normal (because you didn’t listen the first 10 times) but that is nowhere near close to yelling, dear child.

          2. My kid does this too! It drives me nuts. Being serious or delivering criticism in a neutral tone of voice is NOT yelling. And I yell, I know the difference.

          3. That’s a terrible ped! Mine told me sometimes babies just need to cry and if you’ve made sure physical needs are met (e.g., baby isn’t starving or has a dirty diaper, etc) it’s fine to let them cry.

      2. Of course. But a loving parent occasionally snapping is wayyyyy different than a mercurial parent snapping unpredictably, holding grudges, and using silent treatment to manipulate.

        1. 100%

          But the post about the husband on the morning thread sounded WAY more like your first example than the second and everyone jumped to him being abusive

          1. Nah, I don’t agree. I wouldn’t care if he punched a pillow in private but he’s choosing to scare his family. The OP used the word “scary.”

          2. Eh. I have a temper. Sometimes I have to go to my car to scream for… a longer time than most people would probably think is healthy. Sometimes beating the steering wheel is a thing.

            I have never screamed in front of my husband. I have certainly never hit or thrown anything in his presence. I don’t say this because I think I’m some kind of saint, quite the opposite, I would love to never feel intense anger like that. But whatever you happen to be feeling is your own responsibility to manage privately, you do not get to inflict your emotions on others.

      3. Yeah, I don’t think that people are doing their kids any favors by waiting until time 10 to get firm.

    4. Here’s the thing – something is gonna give us trauma. Having some reference to deal with unpleasant or stressful situations is important, and it’s not gonna wait til you’re 18 or 20

      1. Apparently a lot of people think this, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Nothing is worse being wary and frightened or even just badly unsettled in your own home every day during your formative years. That’s too high a cost for this “lesson.” Even if you could guarantee that kids growing up in abusive households have better coping skills at age 30 (which isn’t borne out in the data), I still wouldn’t put them through it because I want those 18 years to be as happy and secure as possible.

        1. Sure. But I think she has a point about trauma. I carry trauma from my childhood, and it wasn’t from my parents, who were not perfect and definitely yelled occasionally. It was from the peers I couldn’t get away from, ever (small, rural school).

        2. 18 years? Haha I skedaddled at 16 and would have earlier if feasible, I was constantly in fight or flight at home, relaxing was impossible.

          1. And that was wrong. You shouldn’t have been treated like that, even if it made you stronger in any way.

          2. Of course it was wrong, but it’s not a problem that’s going to be fixed as long as humans are humans. We’re supposed to grow from and overcome our experiences, not wallow in them.

        3. Not that your parents should traumatize you, but they also should neither bubble wrap you nor shield you from normal human interaction even if it’s negative like yelling

          1. I didn’t grow up in a yelling household (I only know this because my best friend grew up in a very very pro-yelling household) but my parents yelled a lot. And so what? I learned to ignore the yelling, focus on the “what are you actually mad about” and move forward.

            I don’t think I would have thrived in a gentle parenting home.

          2. I have to admit that sometimes I find it hard to interact with gentle parenting people because they won’t say what they mean, or disagree, or bring up a problem because they don’t perceive it as being “nice.”

        1. I guess that’s why we pay $200 to swath our 17 year old daughters in a limo to drive them to college summer camp.

          2. I still remember the summer a limo came to pick up my cousin from our grandmother’s house to take her to the airport. We have never let her (or her parents) live that down.

          3. That’s pretty unfair. I flew into the Hartford airport as a teen and my (very not overprotective) parents paid around that amount for a car service to get me to Yale. It’s not an area of the country with good public transit, and it’s dumb to put your 17 year old in the position of trying to find an Uber at the airport, when that may not be possible. What exactly is the kid supposed to do if they can’t get an Uber? You can’t even check into a hotel alone at that age.

      3. I agree. I’m not saying everyone needs to get bullied or whatever but having some suboptimal experiences are valuable.

    5. Divorce is not better than an unhappy marriage if your mentally ill or abusive spouse will get solo parenting time, which is almost always the case.

      1. I think jury is out on this. Lots of evidence to suggest what you are saying is not universally true.

        1. Yeah I think it’s unclear. Physical abuse the child is likely better off with the mom there to protect them, especially while very young. Although it’s easier in that situation for mom to get sole custody.
          Emotional abuse I’m not convinced stating married is optimal. I think there’s a lot to be said for the child seeing the healthier model of the mom not accepting that treatment from her partner, even if it means they endure some unpleasant time with dad until they’re old enough to have a say in custody. And lots of mentally ill people are decent, non-abusive parents so lumping that in with abuse is pretty gross to me.

          1. Co-sign. It gives the children the opportunity to experience two contrasting home environments. Granted, both may be less wealthy and there’s real implications of that, but in terms of emotional health I think it’s better for the kids (and usually better for the non-abusive parent).

  5. I was giving advice to a Young Person this morning and thinking about my law school experience and wanted to ask:

    For those of you who went to law school, was it a very clique-y school experience? I remember it being so much like a teenage drama with different groups of students and gossip and just assumed it was how law school is, but in retrospect, did I just go to a particularly drama-filled school?

    For comparison, my class was probably ~250 people, in a T20, fifteen years ago.

    1. Yes, my impression was that it was very much like high school. Although I wasn’t really involved in the social scene, because I did law school in the same city as undergrad and I’d moved in with my college boyfriend that summer, so I had a more adult life that mainly consisted of staying in with my boyfriend or meeting up with college friends.

      T25 law school, graduated in 2010, I think my class size was similar.

    2. My T20 school was neither clique-y nor drama-filled. I had read 1L and kept waiting for the backstabbing and drama and it just never happened.

      Which is not to say there were no breakups or arguments but it was not remotely a systemic or prevalent issue.

      2. same – I mean people had break ups or would be annoyed at the gunners etc., but mostly people were really nice and fostered community.

    3. My law school was like this. I floated above the fray because I was an older student (27) commuting from a different city, but I am also in contact with zero people from law school now.

      The law as a profession is incredibly clique-y, so law school is good preparation.

    4. I went to W&L, one of the smallest law schools, T50ish, and it was like the bubble of middle school, but with adults, about half of whom were 27+ (which seemed very old; I went straight through). I think it tries to attract kind people and I felt like they got it right for my cohort.

      1. Oh funny, I went there too (though back when it was still T20… sigh) and I had a similar experience. It was a bubble of middle school, and so maybe a little cliquey, but there was no backstabbing and people were surprisingly uncompetitive.

      2. Also a General, went back when it was a T20.

        The small size and remote location (no other grad students around, very few similar-age working adults) made it very insular. At least it was a bubble of generally kind people.

    5. There were definitely high school-y aspects to it (groups, lunch tables, lockers, a prom, clubs), but it wasn’t cliquey in my experience (small regional school, graduated 15 yrs ago). I also worked at two law schools, and saw the same: some light social aspects reminding me of high school/younger social constructs, but it was not distracting.

    6. My husband went to a T14 and they had a lot of drama, cliques, feuding study groups, etc. I went to a school ranked in the high 40s and it was chill. Also 15 years ago.

    7. Similar time period, T50 school. I had a group of friends within my section. We were often together during breaks between classes and had a study group. Whenever we invited someone else to sit with us in the lounge or something, they almost always said no. I’m sure someone thought we were cliquey but we didn’t gossip about people outside the group and there was no drama. I have no idea what anyone else in the class was doing — people had friends and dated but I didn’t know much about it. Some people from the group are still close but I rarely talk with any of them.

      1. Interesting – same school for me, about 30 years ago, and I did find it much more cliquey and middle-schoolish than college was. That may be because, unlike in middle school or college I was one of the “popular” kids, until I wasn’t, so there was drama I wasn’t accustomed to.

    9. T20, 25 years ago – mine was cliquey in that it was all about study groups. you had to be smart enough to get into the right study group and then you couldn’t really switch, which seems weird looking back because none of it was formal or guided by the school. good thing I liked my study group though!

    10. I went to a law school that had a very low percentage of K-JDs, and I don’t remember it being like that at all.

    11. I wonder how much of that has to do with law school specifically. I went to Georgetown’s MPP program and it was so collaborative and everyone was generally supportive and friendly. I remember going to an info session for something and sitting next to some SFS students. One of them wouldn’t tell the other which internships they’d applied for because they didn’t want the competition. The difference was so stark to me.

      1. I think it’s mainly the class sizes (most law school classes are closer to a typical high school than a typical college in terms of numbers). The drama at my school had nothing to do with law students being cutthroat or academically competitive. It was just very high school in terms of their being “cool kids” and “uncool kids” and lots of jockeying for position and friendship breakups associated with someone wanting to be more “in” with the cool kids. Popularity isn’t really a thing in college, because schools are so big and everyone just kind of finds their people. But law school felt a lot more like high school.

    12. Sort of? We had a few cliques, but generally about half the class was social and regularly went to bars/parties together. I had several different friend groups, and that was the norm for most of my classmates. Anyone who really didn’t make friends either was in that position by choice or because they did something incredibly egregious (like domestic abuse). I’m still very good friends with a lot of friends from law school.

    13. I went to a non-Harvard Boston-based school about ten years ago, and yes, there was a subset of “Straight-through/early 20s” kids who both thought they were the cool kids and were very HS cliquey/mean girls. However, I was in my mid-30s and watched this all with amusement. The idea of standing in a miniskirt in the dead of Boston winter to get into a subpar club for Bar Night–not appealing to me in the least.

      All of us found our people in law school–it’s no different than college. I had a lovely group of friends that has dispersed geographically but still keep in touch. I am at a very different life stage than my law school classmates who are now in the throes of parenthood and balancing law practice, but I still respect them.

      There will always be trash people who think they’re alphas in any group. You can learn to find your own way and hang out with good people. It’s not that hard.

      Worrying about the social scene would be approximately my 15th piece of advice about law school. There’s many, many more things I’d put higher–picking a school that has strong ties to where you want to live after, understanding the recruiting game, having a sense of what type of law you want to practice BEFORE school (you don’t have much time or luxury to explore), seeking out professors or internship managers who can be references, taking a wide variety of classes that interest you from professors you like versus chasing “prestige” classes in areas you think you should take….all of those would be more important advice, IMO.

    14. I went to Yale. It was smaller than any school I’d been to since preschool. I did not love it. In retrospect, I would have been happier in a bigger environment.

    15. T20, more than 20 years ago. More drama at law school than college, but it was mostly just the first year and I think part of it is that I had really bad culture shock (went to very bro-y law school on opposite coast from beloved fancy women’s college). In retrospect, I should have tried harder to make friends outside law school.

    16. I personally acted more like a high school girl in law school than I did in high school. It was very cliquey and I drank a lot.

  6. This is so pretty, I would wear it to speak at a conference in a heartbeat.

    Are we back to jewel tones, maybe? Looking at the other items on the same page, like the linked shirt, and the teal dress has me wondering.

    1. i don’t think they ever went away
      but especially in this moment of color-typing and seasons I think we’re back to wearing color.

  7. So many questions for the poster this morning who was cool with poisoning because the dude had it coming. So dark. A plane crash with some folks here as survivors would Lord of the Flies so fast.

      2. I am perfectly happy with both posters. It was super clear where they were coming from. It’s okay to want to make a point.

        2. I’m perfect “meh” with both posters. I prefer their type of drama to the THAT PENCIL SKIRT ISN’T CURRENT posters.

    3. My husband just told me last week he wants a divorce and honestly this place is such a good distraction. Guaranteed off the rails-ness every single day.

      1. I’m sorry to hear that. You should open your car door *somewhat* gently into his, if you really want to get revenge. And then tell this board about it–ideally with as much room for ambiguity as possible–and grab some popcorn. :D

          2. Uh huh. I found a giant scratch on my side door over the weekend and thought of this board. Somewhere out there is saying “it’s not a big deal!”

  8. do those airplane foot rest sling thingies actually work? any favorite brands?

      2. How so? I’ve never used this product and it seems silly to me but it doesn’t prevent the person in front of you from reclining, so I don’t see how it could be rude to them.

  9. What do you do when traveling out of the US? I ruined my shark hair styler and a portable steamer while in Europe. I have adapters, obviously. What do you do when you travel? Do you have a separate set of things from Europe?

    1. You can’t use anything with a motor or a heating element with just an adapter.

    3. You need voltage converters, not just plug adapters. Or only travel with dual-voltage appliances. DH spent the last two weeks finding a converter and adapter for a vintage synthesizer made in the 1970s in Italy, so I am recently educated on the topic!

      1. Same — I have dual-voltage hair tools that I take everywhere. (Don’t bother with the hair dryer any more, though. Most hotels have them and the dual-voltage one is pretty weak.)

    4. I travel internationally frequently enough that I have a separate steamer for the two voltages I encounter and travel with the appropriate one. I bought ones that are shaped like small kettles and also use them to boil water for tea in hotels that don’t have kettles.

      …It just occurred to me I might be imbibing a boatload of microplastics so maybe don’t do the kettle thing.

    5. Yes, I have a second dryer for European voltage (my dryer is less expensive than a Shark though)

    6. Yikes — what do I need to charge an iPhone in Central Europe? If you can post a link, that would be great for this newbie.

        1. And an adapter. Some hotels have USB or American style plugs but it’s by no means universal.

    8. I have a EU hairdryer that I use for rest of world. My U.S. hairdryer stays home! I use a converter for the plug.

      You can use a U.S. hairdryer in a shaver plug in Europe. Some hotels still have them. Most don’t now.

    9. For heating tools, I bought EU voltage versions. While a lot of electronics – phones, laptops, etc – can charge on either (meaning you only need an adapter for the plug shape, it’s not a voltage problem), that type of thing will not work. And voltage converters often can’t support enough “juice” to power a hair styling tool anyway. As a result I have never bought a converter as either entirely unnecessary or entirely useless.

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