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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Bloomingdale's is having some good sales right now, including this great skirt from Lafayette 148 New York. Two points we like about the print: it will conceal any wrinkles in the linen, yet it's kept from being *too* busy by being black and white. We also love the front slash pockets. Was $248, now $148 at Bloomingdale's. Lafayette 148 New York Crescent-Print Linen Paper Bag Skirt P.S. Incidentally, check out the shoe sales at Bloomingdale's — take up to $150 off if you spend $500+ (or $50 off if you spend $200). Seen a great piece you'd like to recommend? Please e-mail editor@corporette.com with “TPS” in the subject line. (L-2)Sales of note for 10.24.24
- Nordstrom – Fall sale, up to 50% off!
- Ann Taylor – Friends of Ann Event, 30% off! Suits are included in the 30% off!
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything, and redeem Stylecash!
- Boden – 10% off new styles with code; free shipping over $75
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off a lot of sale items, with code
- J.Crew – Friends & Family event, 30% off sitewide.
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything
- Lo & Sons – Fall Sale, up to 35% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 25% sitewide
- Neiman Marcus – Up to 30% off on new arrivals
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off entire purchase, plus free shipping no minimum
- White House Black Market – Buy more, save more; buy 3+ get an extra 50% off
And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!
Some of our latest threadjacks include:
- What to say to friends and family who threaten to not vote?
- What boots do you expect to wear this fall and winter?
- What beauty treatments do you do on a regular basis to look polished?
- Can I skip the annual family event my workplace holds, even if I'm a manager?
- What small steps can I take today to get myself a little more “together” and not feel so frazzled all of the time?
- The oldest daughter is America's social safety net — change my mind…
- What have you lost your taste for as you've aged?
- Tell me about your favorite adventure travels…
lawyer
oooh man. linen in a pencil-type skirt? To me this predicts permanent horizontal creases across the crotch that even this print (which I love) wouldn’t be able to conceal.
AN
Love the print! I have a DvF dress like this and it’s amazing for work.
Just worried about linen as usual – though print should help hide the worst of the wrinkles………
Shayna
I can’t work up any enthusiasm for a fabric that hangs as limply and is as wrinkl-y as linen… but for those of you who are fans, the site I mentioned over the weekend – Ebates – has 3% cash back if you click on the bloomingdale’s site through them as well as a discount code for 25% of lingerie (should you be so inclined) — and (since this is my link) both you and I get $5 when you make your first purchase which is always fun… who doesn’t love money? ;-) http://tinyurl.com/22sw6u6
anon23
No offense Shayna but now that you have told everyone about ebates at least 5 times, can you stop mentioning it? Since you get money for every person that clicks on your link, it is basically SPAM. gracias.
kcaco
I will say that at least Shayna was upfront in disclosing that she’d get $5 when someone makes an initial purchase (still annoyed at the promotion/spam, but less annoyed since she’s honest about it!)
Shayna
Sorry! Did not mean to get over excited ;-)
E
It also deflects referral income from Kat.
Kat
here here ;)
anono
Is it “here here” or “hear hear”? Honestly asking – I’ve seen it both ways and was never sure which one is the right one.
kcaco
It is hear, hear
Anonymous
Kudos for being transparent about this, and also for letting commenters post links that would take away income from you. I appreciate that you don’t use this blog to shill for your own self-interest, as many bloggers do.
AN
@anono: It’s “hear, hear”.
Yet another anon
I will just say that I use eBates for almost all of my online purchases now, and just got a nice $92.00 check in the mail for last quarter…
CC
Oh shayna! you were not so forth coming about that little fact the other times you posted that link! spam and being sneaky. kudos to kat for allowing you to do so even at her own expense.
Right
I have never tried this tulip shaped type of skirt and am wondering on what sort of figures it would flatter. Maybe a more straight body type? Also, I have a linen suit that I love but I have sworn off most linen going forward because of the wrinkle issue.
Anonymous
I was wondering this as well. I love the print but am picturing “hip poufs”. It seems that at the very least you’d need to tuck whatever you’re wearing?
AIMS
I have two similarly cut skirts. In my experience, you need a flat stomach for them to be flattering — when I am feeling bloated or otherwise less than svelte, they make me feel like I have a kangaroo pouch.
As to hips — I am a fairly classic hourglass, 35/36 inch hips, I don’t think they make me look hippy. I do think they tend to look best on women who are relatively small on top & have a smaller waistline, but that’s my experience, yours may vary.
MelD
I am a pear shape and think that this type of skirt probably looks best on women who have a small/defined waist. Some linens are stiffer than others. I have one Classiques linen skirt that was featured here a while back and it was a very structured look for linen.
Ellen
I got a skirt like this (actually, it was the skirt part of a dress) in a more structured fabric for a formal event and for a pear/hourglass it was shockingly flattering. When the salesperson brought it to me, I thought, are you joking? But it actually looked great. The caveat is that I think the stiffness of the fabric somehow helped, and it was coupled with a narrow silhouette on top, so I wouldn’t totally rule it out. I would definitely try it, you may be surprised, but on the other hand, the linen may be a problem.
75
I like wrinkly linen , but am concerned about all of the tucks over the tummy – I prefer to see the tucks toward the side and a little bit flatter look in front. I am wearing a linen paper bag skirt today, but it is flat and smooth in front and has enough fabric in it that I won’t get those whisker wrinles right across the front. (Target.)
Elle
I have been on the hunt for a print skirt for a while and this is probably the first design that I’ve seen in a while that I really really like! I wouldn’t get it in linen, but am TOTALLY in love with the pattern. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes it work for me… maybe the fact that it’s not a big print pattern but one that’s small and intricate enough so that it blends together – it almost looks like just a grey skirt unless you’re actually looking closely. I think I could get more wear out of this type of pattern than say big stripes.
Heather
I really like the print but I think I would look pregnant in this.
AIMS
Unrelated request @ Kat — I know it’s unreasonable, but please get rid of the Orkin ads or at least tell them they’re creeping me out! I literally shuddered & almost spilled my coffee to open the webpage & have huge cockroaches crawling on the top screen!! I am so glad this blog is getting all this different advertising, but those ads are just so creepy . . . . ;)
Kat
Where are the ads? Is it the top horizontal ad and the big box ad on the side? I haven’t seen that one yet — I just signed a new ad contract and I think they’ve stuck Google ads in there for the moment, but I have no control over them — and they show something different to everyone who comes, so I can’t even monitor. (I keep seeing ads for deposit checks.) I’ll see if I can talk to the ad network peeps about at least banning the Orkin ads. Yick, sorry about that.
AIMS
They’re right at the top in the horizontal box. It’s totally okay (though if you could actually get rid of the roaches, you would have my eternal, undying gratitude!!!), I was more just taken aback first thing in the morning — they have similar TV ads and they just disturb me to no end because they look waaaaaaaaaay too realistic. Thanks for being so responsive — reminds me why I absolutely adore this site!
s in Chicago
I HATE those TV commercials! Their ad person must be a genius. I literally can’t get it out of my head when I’ve seen the spot run.
There should be an ick rating system. I’d take nudity or foul language over that any day. ;)
AN
I see Elle magazine ads….
Chicago S
I get Cole Haan ads, must be driven by the Cole Haan purse I purchased that was in a prior TPS report. If I opened to an Orkin ad/cockroaches, there would be coffee on my keyboard….
mille
I’ve read about people breaking thier tv screens because they threw something at the roaches.
L
Do not like the waistband and the pleat/tuck area in front, it looks like it would give you a pooch even if you don’t have one. Like the print though!
A
Thread hijack: I bought the Ann Taylor suit featured in last week’s suit of the week post and it arrived yesterday. It’s a nice cut with quality construction, but the fabric seems a little odd to me. It looks like a poly-blend even though it’s over half wool. It’s definitely not what I think of when I think of tweed. I think it’s still a keeper for me, but just thought I’d mention it in case anyone else was thinking about it.
C2
I just received it too. I found the jacket to be HUGE and shapeless, and I definitely agree with you about the odd poly-blend appearance. I might keep the skirt, but the jacket is definitely going back.
legalicious07
I love the Bloomingdale’s skirt!!!! Oh, to not be a law school grad with mounds of debt!
Louise
I really like this, and think it would flatter my figure. I’m quite pear-shaped and have a lot of trouble finding items that fit my small waist and generous behind. Elastic is the key. As tacky as elastic waistbands can be, this one looks quite nice in the solid, wide black.
I always wonder about the use of “hips” as a description of being wide on the bottom half. Ladies, it is NOT my hips that are large. It is my rear end, plain and simple. When I lose weight, I remain almost exactly the same width, but have less, um, depth. Do some of you get wider while your rear remains about the same?
When I try on pants, the vast majority don’t fit in any size. The waistbands are just huge. I find myself thinking that I must be some sort of freak. When clothing lines starting naming their trouser styles (“The Ashley cut” “The Madison cut”) I had hope that somewhere there would be a “Louise cut” and I would finally find my fit. The closest I ever came was Gap jeans in the Reverse fit, which of course they discontinued in the stores. Even then, it felt vaguely insulting. Reverse? Like the opposite of what normal women wear?
SF Bay Associate
Oh Louise, you bring back memories. I worked at the Gap for years as a denim specialist, including when they discontinued the Reverse fit. For a while it was available online, and then it was completely discontinued. Every 4-6 months, a customer or two would come in absolutely irate that the Reverse was gone. But that jean was so high-waisted, and so very tapered – even when it technically fit a customer, it was not flattering. The customer who preferred the Reverse fit typically looked much better in a Bootcut, though sized up and often with a bit of tailoring needed for the waistband. I realize it’s very unfair to have to tailor your jeans (shouldn’t there be a jean for every body?!), but it really was a more flattering look.
As of a couple years ago, the outlets still carried Reverse. I haven’t been to an outlet since I quit, so I can’t be sure. Alternatively, try Lands’ End. I bet they make a jean along the lines of the Reverse, and they have the best customer service ever.
SF Bay Associate
And – I think I remember why it was called Reverse. If you fold a pant leg at the knee, folding the ankle up to the waist, you can see the difference in width between the thigh area and the calf area. This is also how you can always tell if a pant is truly straight leg, or secretly tapered.
Usually, the two areas are pretty close in size in straight leg, bootcut or flared jeans. In the Reverse, the calf is much smaller than the thigh (so heavily tapered), so that the cut is kinda the “reverse” of the other jeans.
Louise
Oh, they were total Mom Jeans, so I wouldn’t wear them now anyway. But it was nice at the time to have a cut that fit my shape EXACTLY right.
Legally Brunette
Interesting. When I gain weight, it most definitely goes directly to my hips/saddle bag area, and sometimes a little bit to my waist. My behind is actually pretty small for someone who is pear shaped. Go figure. That’s the beauty of us women I guess, we come in all sorts of shapes and sizes! :)
For jeans, I have heard that Joe’s Jeans are good for those with a generous rear end.
SF Bay Associate
True – my hippy but ungenerous rear could not fill out the rear of Joe’s standard jeans, but I liked Joe’s (ugh to the name) “Provacative” fit, which is the petite line, during Nordstrom’s anny sale. I’m 5’6″ and the pants are still a half-mile too long, but they fit nicely otherwise.
I hear J-brand and Not Your Daughter’s Jeans are also good for the fuller-bottomed. I’d also consider Apple Bottom, Baby Phat and other jeans geared towards the latina/african-american community. There’s a reason that those brands are so successful – they fit their customers well!
But if Louise is looking for a Reverse fit (and I hope she tries on other styles), I think Lands’ End is the place.
Louise
Baby Phat’s line of corporate-friendly suits is premiering this fall, right? Because I don’t see it on their website right now ;-)
mille
Augh, you got my hopes up :( I’m thinking “oh, Baby Phat is finally doing suits? Woo-hoo!” and then I realized……
Anonymous
I have larger hips but a relatively flat ass and I tend to refer to myself as hippy, so I think that in your case the term is just being misapplied.
Louise
I think you’re right. So if I’m not “hippy” does that mean I’m “butty”? My husband just gave me a very detailed description of “bootylicious” and he says I am not that. Sigh. I am a woman without a descriptor.
Anonymous
Perhaps your husband is not ready for this jelly.
I don’t know… back in my day, bubble butt was an insult, but I’m told it’s now a good thing. So perhaps that’s what you have?
Louise
“It must be jelly, cuz jam don’t shake like that.” :-) He’s my biggest fan and rather fond of this shape.
He claims that bubble butt and bootylicious are very similar: the rear goes more out than down. I’m more down than out, but not in a particularly saggy way. Does that make sense? If you took a classic valentine heart shape and flipped it upside down, that’s me.
All this sounds rather salacious, but what I’m hoping for is other women will recognize this shape as their own and recommend work-appropriate brands of pants. We’ve had some really great threads about styles that work for other hard-to-fit shapes like busty petites, so I’m hoping for some of that Corporette brain trust to be applied to the opposite end of my body.
RoadWarriorette
And yes, now I have “Bootylicious” stuck in my head….. I guess there are worse songs…..
Can anyone tell me why this is called a “paper bag” skirt? I haven’t heard that term before.
Amy
I am also “bootylicious.” (And yes, my husband loves it.) I have the same problem with nothing fitting at the waist if it fits over my rear. Only solution I have found is tailoring, which is a pain but works every time. I have lost/am losing some weight and while my stomach has gotten a lot smaller (yay!) and my boobs have shrunk (boo!) my butt has stayed exactly.the same.size. It’s just perkier thanks to leg presses and abduction work in the gym. This junk in the trunk ain’t goin’ nowhere, apparently. And no, I don’t think of myself as “hippy.” I have an hourglass figure – balanced shoulders and hips with a small waist – until I turn sideways. I am the opposite of the girl in the “flat buns” Carl’s Jr. commercial, where if she turned sideways, she disappeared.
Anonymous
@RoadWarriorette – I think it’s called a paper bag because of the way it bunches out at the waistline and then falls. It looks somewhat like an upside-down paper bag.
jr. prof
I’m with you: big thighs, big boot-ay. My hips really aren’t that big, especially as compared to my waist. It seems like skirts and dresses are generally more flattering on my shape, though I love wearing pants and feel more comfortable in them. Sheath dresses work well, sized for my lower half, and with the top taken in. Joe’s Jeans in the Honey cut are da BOMB!
MelD
I have wide hips because that’s where my hip bones are. However, most of the weight I gain goes to my thighs or my butt. With a lot of pants, I get the dreaded back gap when everything else fits right.
Have you tried Joe’s Jeans by any chance? I think there are about 4 fits there that fit me in the waist and have enough room in the butt. I have a high-waist trouser style and a more casual bootcut along with 2 pairs of shorts.
Louise
I’ll have to try the Joe’s jeans. Thanks for the tip, everyone!
MelD
I forgot to add that I also have the Honey fit, but the Visionaire and Muse are also nice if you have a longer torso but aren’t that tall.
Intrigued
Haven’t tried any of em on, but while we’re on the topic of jeans sized for different shaped rears, ads for Levi’s new jeans (Curve ID?) that are specifically designed to accommodate diff shapes have recently intrigued me… maybe you could try those, too?
CC
Louise–I’ve got a “bubble butt” too. I love it (and so does my husband) but OMG finding pants/jeans that fit is a pain in the….well, you know. I haven’t tried their jeans yet, but I bought some pants from Lands End Canvas that work pretty well so I’d suggest giving those a try.
Another anon
Since we’re handing out jeans suggestions, I’d like to throw Kut from the Kloth into the mix, available at Nordstrom. Does anyone else have those? What do you think? I love mine and they’re the only jeans I wear now.
Amy H.
I’m another one. When I am at my heavier weights, I also get wider (i.e., saddlebags, sadly), but even when I’m fitter and don’t have those, my bum sticks out to the back ***really*** far. My waist is relatively small. (Small up top, too, so I’m classic pear.) I’ve never found any pair of jeans or tailored trousers that fit me in both the butt and thighs, on the one hand, and the waist, on the other. The BR Jackson fit came close, as did some of the Lucky jeans curvier fits — but never perfect. I generally just buy the size up and have the waist taken in (or use a safety pin if I’m being more frugal).
I’m psyched to try Joe’s Jeans now!
AE
This seems like it would be very difficult to wear and style for fall. I guess that’s why it’s on sale now!