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Wednesday’s TPS Report: Embellished sweater jacket

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Our daily TPS reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices. Banana Republic Embellished sweater jacketWe all know I love a good sweater jacket, and this one is no exception — even with the “eye-catching embellishment,” which looks (to my eyes, at least) muted enough for the workday. I'm intrigued by the “special yarn” that features a “hint of cashmere and lofty texture for inviting softness,” and I like the collar and general jacket styling. I also think it looks great with the belt. The sweater is $130 at Banana Republic (sizes XS-XL) — use code BRFREE50 for free shipping on orders over $50. Banana Republic Embellished sweater jacket 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 12.5

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

58 Comments

  1. Love this sweater! Also love BR’s no wrinkle shirts. I had taken a break from Banana b/c I thought their summer clothes were not very fun. I am happy to see that their fall/winter line of clothes is interesting!

    1. I have found all of their dress shirts to have gotten a lot tighter in the chest recently. I’m usually a 6 regular, and this time, I had to go up to an 8 petite, and probably should have gone up even further, to a 10, and had the rest of the shirt taken in. I also have snaps installed between the buttons on the chest, which helps a bit. But I find it really annoying that the tops are getting smaller and smaller. (Comments from other buyers on the website seem to agree with mine.)

  3. Collar aside, this looks a bit more “sweater” than “sweater jacket.” I think it would be cute with jeans or a non-work dress, but not sure I would actually wear it to work . . . and I generally wear a lot of sweaters to work.
    Something about the combination of sparkles, sloyuchyness & the color just makes me hesitate.

    On an aside, I have been seeing the belt over sweater/jacket/whatever trend getting seriously abused in recent months. I like the look but I think it’s likely just a matter of time before the whole thing ends up feeling incredibly dated, which is sad but inevitable when so many people “do” the trend in so many hideous, inappropriate ways.

  6. Love the sweater.

    Quick rant — I’ve got that silly “Shots” song stuck in my head. It is far to early for this type of thing. Ugh!

    Rant over.

    1. i hear ya. i’ve got lee brice songs stuck in my head. i love country music but… i don’t even know all the words to the songs stuck in my head. that’s the WORST.

      1. It sounds like at this point it’s a matter of YouTube-ing the karaoke version. Sometimes you just have to do these things.

    2. I’ll see your “Shots” and raise you one “Puff the Magic Dragon,” which is what has been in my head since yesterday… :(

      1. When I was a toddler I used to play “Puff the Magic Dragon” on repeat on my little cassette player that I would carry around, all day. Soon after I got it, the cassette “broke” (i.e. my mom let out all the tape and took a hammer to it), and my mom refused to buy me another one “because they’re all cheap and made in China anyway.” My 3-year-old self was devastated…until I found “Puff” on vinyl in my basement!! Bwa ha ha!! :-D

      2. When I was in elementary school, on cold days we would sit in the auditorium and they would play a movie for us to watch (as opposed to running around the schoolyard). They had three movies: Puff the Magic Dragon, Rumpelstiltskin, and some movie about the dangers of being a litterbug.

        Puff the Magic Dragon is kind of risque, considering the actual subject matter?

    3. Usher’s OMG. Playing over and over and over and over and over in my head for 2 days. And I only know a few lines. AGH.

        1. Ok, the G6 song is the only one that has been successful in replacing OMG! I’m grateful (for now). :)

      2. My 2 year old son loves that song!! He calls it the “oh oh” song and does the Ohs in time. Hysterical, though it always ends up in my head.

    4. I have “Toucha Toucha Touch Me” as sung on Glee last week. It was fun at first….now, not so much.

    5. The worst song that ever got stuck in my head for two days straight was Mambo No. 5. Awful.

  7. Quick threadjack – the talk of bonuses yesterday got me thinking – for those of you who are in-house attorneys, are bonuses given at the end of fiscal year (we are a June 1-May 31 year) or at calendar year’s end? I’m new, and have no idea, and can’t figure out how to ask without sounding tacky :)

    1. If no one else here knows (unlikely) you might be able to ask by framing it as a tax question. That is, is the bonus on 2010 taxes or 2011 taxes?

    2. My company with a non-calendar fiscal year end gives bonuses to everyone in line with the fiscal year, but worth checking policies at your particular firm. Agree with the advice about framing it as a question about tax planning.

    3. It’s almost always with the company’s fiscal year, bc bonuses are usually determined after the company’s audit and performance review. When do you have your individual performance review?

    4. Depends. Our fiscal year ends in December, but bonus is typically paid the Thursday after taxes are due….

      And it important to know if you will have tax implications…

      1. Any great ideas on how to phrase the question w/r/t tax implications so that it doesn’t just sound like a thinly veiled attempt to determine when I may get a raise/bonus ?

        1. Yep, when I say that it’s paid with the fiscal year, I mean after the company has finished its audit etc to confirm company performance. So it can be delayed a few months, often late March/April. Regardless, I guess I don’t think it’s bad to just flat-out ask someone you work with. Of course you want to know when to expect your bonus. You have financial planning to do. Nothing to be apologetic about.

  9. Hi, quick question for the lawyers/corporate counsel out there. I’ve been practicing law for about 10 years in giant international law firms and am thinking about moving in-house, mainly because I am tired of billing time, working nights and weekends, and am pretty sure that as a specialist I will never be a truly valued partner in a big firm.

    The recruiter I’ve worked with in the past is great, but really only works with law firms. I have asked around a bit but am having trouble finding a good resource for in-house positions. Can anyone give me some advice? I am sure there is something out there that I just don’t know about.

  10. Pretty sweater, but I swear anything not cotton gives me staticky, fly-away hair.

  12. Hi, quick question on cell phones. I have always had a flip phone. Love that I can throw it in my purse, briefcase, etc or carry in my pocket and not worry about protecting it. Very easy to pull out and use – even with one hand.
    My phone died and plan to replace it tonight. I am on verizon and am looking at the Blackberry Bold 9650 or Droid 2.
    How do you protect the screen and what type of case, etc do you use so you can access it quickly? (seems like taking it out of a case and swiping etc is more complex then just flipping the phone open with one hand). All recommendations on the phones or cases would be greatly appreciated :)
    thanks for the help!

    1. If you’re not getting a slider, get the rubber case. I have the HD2 from T-Mobile and I have dropped it quite a few times, but not a scratch on the phone itself. It actually bounces a little bit.

    2. You need a case (rubbery is my preference) plus a thin film screen protector. I ge\ot them both online via amazon for super cheap. My blackberry “jelly” type case was 3 for $3 and the film was 3 for $2. Shipping is usually more than the cost of the item, but if you’re careful you can get a bargain. Some malls also have cart/stores that sell both for instant gratification.

    3. ahhh a question after my own heart! here is my opinion on the subject matter:

      i own the original motorola droid. i have had it since the day it came out (well, actually, this is my second droid, due to a short in the speakers in my original phone). i have never once put it in a case, in a special pocked, or actually… i’ve never done anything special to protect it at all. i drive with my phone in my lap and i ALWAYS forget it’s there when i get out of the car. my phone is constantly dropped on the pavement, has tumbled about 20 feet down a sidewalk, been stepped on, absolutely soaked in a storm (hello, nashville floods!) and there is not a SINGLE scratch on my screen.

      there’s some slight scratching on the corners, but never once has anything happened to this phone. i treat it much worse than i treated my digital camera, and it has a busted lcd screen.

      that said, i also happen to be a sort of android insider, and many of my blogger friends, who have a new phone every month, basically, use screen protectors. they’re cheap little pieces of plastic that just cover the screen and they’re supposedly great. i just don’t want to bother.

      the original droid, at least, has the best glass i’ve ever seen on a screen (known as gorilla glass). i’m assuming it’s the same for droid 2.

      i find it very intuitive to use with just one hand. there are also several keyboards you can try out that make typing a breeze with one hand (i’m currently getting used to 8pen on my droid, but prior to that i loved swype).

      as for BB or Droid… ok, i might be biased because i have always been an android fangirl and i have always thought that BB was ridiculous but….the way i see things reported on my tech blogs, BB/RIM is not doing too well. they’re slow on the uptake, not catching on to where mobile devices are heading, and are fast becoming obsolete outside the business world. developers are loathe to develop for them (not like android is the BEST dev community, but it’s better than BB, to be sure). this means that all those cool apps that are great for multitasking, keeping up with things you have to do, etc? probably not going to be available on BB, at least not with all the variety that you can get on android (let alone iphone. although iphone is an ENTIRELY different matter for me. do not recommend, unless you are simply hopeless at technology or don’t care at all).

      now, as far as verizon phones go, it’s really a shame you have to replace tonight. not that i don’t love droid 2 (i would update, but it’s not enough of a hardware boost for me to justify), but if you’re in a major city, verizon will be rolling out 4g and LTE phones in december/january. this means superfastphone. also, iphone is coming soon.

      but since you ARE replacing tonight, yes, go for the droid2. it’s a lovely little phone that’s easy to get the hang of and has infinite options to customize, so that you get the exact experience you want. this phone is a CHAMP.

      (can you tell technology/mobile devices are my THING?!)

      1. since you seem to know something about this topic – I am thinking about the droid incredible and I heard they are coming out with a droid incredible 2? which makes sense because right now the droid incredible is super-cheap. do you know when that’s set to drop?

        also – assuming verizon gets the iphone (so no horrible at&t service to contend with) – would you go for the iphone or the droid? I assume the droid because you seem anti-iphone, but what in particular about the droid do you prefer to the iphone?

      2. Oh! You are so knowledgeable! I still have my 2004 Sprint flip phone (and a sweet $34/month plan. I just use my work BB for everything else). I have resisted switching to a smartphone for years, mainly bc the AT&T service in Chicago is so very bad. Considered the Evo, but heard that the battery life was ridiculously bad and just gave up the idea, didin’t have time to think about it any more. What do you think about the Evo? Or should I just move to another carrier (seems like everyone I know in Chicago hates AT&T, loves Verizon (though I’ve heard that they are evil about hidden fees), and doesn’t really use anyone else).

        1. i haven’t heard details about the incredible 2. if i had to guess, i would assume a q1 drop for that, since that’s when the new LTE phones are supposed to come out. i can’t imagine the incredible refresh going anywhere but to LTE, since i haven’t really heard anything solid about anything better than snapdragon or other hardware changes. there could be a drop in nov/dec for holiday shopping, but i do know that the LTE network isn’t set to roll out in the however many NFL cities until december, and last i heard it was january or so for the phones.

          re: iphone/android
          here’s my problem with apple in general. i LIKE changing things around on my phone. i like installing a custom ROM and changing the color of my notifications. i like being able to decide for myself if an application is suitable or not. there are some people for whom this is not important at all. beyond the freedom to choose, though, i am also an early adopter of technology. i like the newest thing as soon as it comes out. i want to have nightly builds of ROMs, to be honest! apple is very, very cautious about updating. they’re slow to change anything. that’s just not something i like.

          also, i’m a big fan of my physical keyboard. and of having more than 1 button. using the iphone makes me feel like i’m setting an alarm clock, constantly scrolling back with just one button. ugh. painful!

          in addition, my non-boyfriend has an iphone. so does my brother-in-law. i’ve worked with both of them a lot on this issue, and there are just a few problems that are really annoying to both of them. the difference between iphone and android is that, while yes, both have little annoying things (can we PLEASE stop with the skins on android phones?!?!), on android, you can actually go and change those things yourself. some of it requires rooting, to be sure, but if i’m going to void my warranty anyways, i’d much rather root an android phone and get full access than get the limited access of jailbreaking an iphone.

          re: the Evo
          i actually haven’t heard anything negative about it. i have a friend who’s using it now, i believe. as for battery issues… again, as i said before, if there are things that bother you on an android device, you can CHANGE it. go can go into your settings and tweak things until you get optimal performance and best battery life. also, as with most (if not all) android phones, it has a removable battery. keep a spare or two with you and it really doesn’t matter.

          and regarding crappy service: you can run your wifi -enabled smartphone on wifi only, completely bypassing your network. i do this a lot when i’m working in rural alabama. only person on staff who can take a call on my cell!

          hope that helps!!

        1. phandroid.com
          androidforums.com
          cnet.com
          gizmodo.com
          engadget.com
          androidcentral.com

          i used to read a lot more, but honestly, phandroid is about all you need for android phone news. between their website and the forums, you’re covered! (also, those guys are my pals :) )

    4. The Blackberry comes with a little case that’s quite secure. I also frequently just lock the keypad and slide it into the cell phone slot in my purse.

    5. I don’t generally use a case for my Blackberry, just keep it in the side pocket of my purse/work tote. When I am not tucking it in a purse pocket, I use the leather case with a clip (like a lot of guys clip onto their belt) to clip it to the inside of canvas bag I take to the farmers market, or other tote. I have not done anything special to protest the screen and after 2 years no issues.

  13. To me sweater looks like old lady clothes – detail is too fussy, also something about the shape of it. Would not wear. But I do love Banana.

    2. I agree that plain bags are best for interviews…but this one meets my personal standard of “plain enough”. Guess we all have different tastes :)

  15. In celebration of the SF Giants World Series win, Banana Republic is offering 25% off regularly priced merchandise, TODAY only. Use code: GOGIANTS.

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