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Weekend Open Thread

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Banana Republic Crinkle day dressSomething on your mind? Chat about it here. Reader A recommends this dress, noting “I bought it to wear to an evening dinner and dancing gala, but I wanted something versatile that I could dress up and down. This dress really fit the bill. It's called a day dress, but with sparkly jewelry, a black wrap and killer shoes, it was the perfect little black dress for evening. The crinkle linen really goes well from day to night – with a blazer over it this would fit right in at the office, and with a cardigan I would wear it to brunch over a weekend. I have a large chest, and usually can't wear empire waists without looking awful and pregnant, but the wide waistband on this one was really flattering to my figure. Plus, there are on-seam pockets in the skirt! They had many more sizes available in the store than they seem to have left online. Some of the online comments found the sleeves restricting, but I did not find that to be the case. Also, the neckline comes to the top of my cleavage – I found it office appropriate for my figure. The hem also hit me just at the knee – the model in the picture is really tall.” Love it! This is totally the kind of dress that I would pass over while browsing online because yes, something about it says “maternity” to me, but do note that this sucker is nearly sold out in regulars, petites, and talls — always a great sign. It was $150 to start, but do note that Banana Republic is offering 30% off your entire purchase through 5/1 with code BRKING30. Banana Republic Crinkle day dress (L-2)

Sales of note for 5/14/25:

  • Nordstrom Rack – Looking for a deal on a Dyson hairdryer? The Rack has several refurbished ones for $199-$240 (instead of $400+) — but they're final sale only.
  • Ann Taylor – Suit Yourself! 30% off suiting (ends 5/16) + 25% off your full price purchase (ends 5/18) + extra 60% off sale (ends 5/14)
  • Talbots – 40% off all markdowns (ends 5/18) + 30% off dresses, skirts, accessories, and shoes
  • Nordstrom – Beauty Deals up to 25% off (ends 5/17)
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 25% off
  • Boden – 10% off new women's styles with code + sale up to 50% off
  • Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off sale + $1 shipping on all orders
  • J.Crew – Up to 50% off long-weekend styles + 50% off select swim and coverups
  • J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off $100+ + extra 20% off $125+
  • M.M.LaFleur – Lots of twill suiting on sale! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
  • Rothy's – Up to 50% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

350 Comments

      2. As a non lawyer (so erroneous points of law don’t bother me) I LOVE The Good Wife. The characters are well drawn and complex, and the female characters are totally awesome. AND the clothes are amazing, and would be on the whole, corporette approved. I swoon over the clothes.

      3. It’s a fantastic show, both for the writing and for the fashion.

        The women are all dressed appropriately for their age and their profession. It’s wonderful to see.

        And the stories are smart, and the characters (especially the women!) are deep and complex. Wonderful.

        I keep comparing investigators in my office to Kalinda… :)

  2. Advice Threadjack.

    I’m a 3rd-year environmental sciences undergrad starting to seriously consider a JD/PhD for greentech IP. I’m going to do research this summer with a prominent professor in this area, and he mentioned that a PhD for a biological major was pretty much a must (internet agrees).

    I don’t even know what I’m asking for, really. General advice? What I’m most worried about is the time sink – my hardworking, self-sacrificng parents are getting older and I feel responsible for providing them with an ROI (lol) and moreover, I’m not immortal. I would love to do the Stanford JD/PhD program in particular.

    … and I am really not getting to a point here. Just. If you have advice for someone like me, please, please help!

    1. *sacrificing

      Also, yay for breaking my Corporette virginity! This is my first post despite a 2-year stalking period. :)

      1. Oh god, fail again. This isn’t even a threadjack because it’s an open thread.

        Anyway. I will wait patiently. TIA!

    2. Don’t worry so much about what it is called! Here are my general thoughts on this subject.

      I know that it is recommended to get a PhD to do bio (I am a chemical engineer, so I have not found it necessary), but do you really want to enter a PhD program expecting to leave the field and become an attorney? I just know that many people find that it is difficult to go through a PhD program anyway, so I would be concerned how to make it last if that is your initial goal.

      Stanford has an excellent PhD program (many of my undergrad friends are there now), but none of them are also getting JD’s, so I don’t have anything to say for this experience. All the JD/PhD’s I know who want to go into IP (or rather, law students with PhD’s) , got their PhD, then worked a bit, then came to law school.

      On the other hand, having a JD/PhD may help defray the cost of the JD — but most of the people I know who entered expecting to do a JD/PhD were going to stay in their initial field — i.e. were getting a PhD in Modern European History and were going to do research in Modern Legal Development if that makes sense, rather than expecting to leave the field immediately. I think this makes the most sense if you want to be an academic, and do research in the funding of greentech IP or something like that (which might be a particularly good research environment out at Stanford) — and it might even make sense to apply to the econ department concurrently with biology.

      As a final note, firms are a bit skeptical of hiring “academic types” who might leave the firm, and the chatter around the law school was that it was better to tone down the PhD and any interest in that area when looking for a job. But obviously, I have no actual statistics regarding this.

    3. My understanding (from looking for jobs in the field myself, and talking to classmates who are looking) is that a PhD in bio is really necessary if you want an IP job. I’m not so sure a PhD would be necessary if you want a job in greentech, then a masters might be enough. I would contact a lot of people doing the kind of work you’d like to be doing and ask them for informational interviews. Most people are happy to give advice to students just starting out, and you’ll get a really good feel for the field. Plus, you’ll have a ton of contacts once you start looking for summer internships in the area. Cold emailing people is really scary at first, but it gets easier every time you do it.

      1. I posted a similar question awhile ago (i.e. BS in biology, thinking I needed graduate work to be competitive in the job market), and everyone kept telling me that so long as I want to do litigation and not prosecution, I DO NOT need an advanced degree. I was so certain I needed an advanced degree before then, but there were many, many posters who disagreed.

        I’m curious to see what they have to say about this! I’m still thinking of applying to programs in the fall. It can’t hurt to apply, right?

        1. If you want to do litigation you don’t need to have a science background at all (don’t need to pass the patent bar), just being a good litigator is enough.

    5. I don’t know anything about your field. But I know that 1) graduate school (especially law school) is super expensive; 2) most graduate programs like to accept people who have been in the working world a year or two; and 3) I wouldn’t jump into a dual-degree grad program without an advisor telling me that it was really necessary for a field, and without knowing for sure that field was for me.

      My advice: Take a year or two in the working world to figure out whether this is really what you want to do. Your parents aren’t getting any younger, and grad school for the next 10 years (or however long your PhD takes) might not be the way to help them out the most.

      Don’t jump into academia just because your professors tell you it’s the best track. It was *their* track, and they may not know too much about other options.

      You need to talk to people in the industry. The best way to do that is to get an internship, which will help you form connections. It may turn out that the industry you think you want isn’t what you anticipate.

    6. It varies depending on the field, but I would not get a PhD in a science if I had to pay for it – you’ll never make that money back. I had fellowships and tuition waivers so that I finished my PhD without any debt (I only had $300 to my name, but still). I’d also think hard about getting a PhD unless it is something you really, really want to do. You will be expected to eat, drink, and breath your field for a number of years, and dig into it deeply enough so that you not only understand the field as it is, but know enough to develop new insights and move the field forward. It’s a much different situation than most types of school, I think. The emphasis is much more on creating new information than learning existing information.

      That said, it’s probably not impossible to move from a scientific PhD to a law or policy position. American Association for the Advancement of Science has a number of fellowships for people with PhDs, and some for PhD students (maybe also Master’s degree, not sure). I think there was one in the environmental field, so not exactly greentech, but close. I do know several people who got their PhDs and then went to law school. I think some may have gotten help from the law firm in paying for law school, but I’m not sure. Plus this was 10+ years ago, so things might have changed.

    7. If after this summer and next year, you still think this is the path for you, I would recommend that you do the PhD first, not the joint program. There are several tech oriented firms/boutiques (both coasts) that hire internal technology specialists and who will pay for them to get their law degrees. And as others have said above, you should not be getting a PhD that you have to pay for. Doing your training in this order should save you from a lot of the heartache associated with student loans if you decide at any point that this path is, in fact, not for you.

    8. THANK YOU to everyone who has replied. This has been extremely helpful. I hope some good karma has found its way back to you today :)

      1. My husband did his PhD in biochemistry several years ago, thinking that he wanted to be a scientist. It turned out that he decided half way through that he had no interest working in a lab, but by then he felt very stuck. He now works for a biotech company and is happy, but a part of him feels like he wasted time getting a PhD given that most of his colleagues don’t have them (or need them for their work). I would think very, very seriously about doing a graduate program that could take upward of 6 years. If you need it for your line of work then by all means do it, but if you don’t need it, I would think twice.

  3. Hi Corporettes! Medical question for those of you who’ve had experience with gallbladder issues. I have mildly painful (easily controlled by meds) gallstones and my surgeon (in my small-town, not-especially-awesome local hospital) has recommended removal. He basically said to do it now while I’m young (30) and in control of the situation (vs. something emergent). However, except for childbirth, I was the world’s most boring medical case before this with literally ZERO health issues to speak of.

    My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, and in a fit of Googling tonight I suddenly want to cancel. Not sure if it’s: 1) normal jitters, 2) the fact that this hospital has a decidedly average rep (though to be fair I know several others who had this procedure done there w/o issue), 3) fear of parting with an organ (irrational or otherwise), 4) my upbringing (mom is big into natural remedies and is totally against this surgery w/o my trying vitamins 1st, or 5) some combo of the above.

    It just seems so FINAL — but emergency gallbladder removal can be excruciating and much more threatening. Help! Maybe a 2nd medical opinion is in order?

    1. The advice I got from doctors in my family is: 1) Always get a second opinion on a non-emergency surgery if you have any reservations about it; and 2) The best place to get a surgery is where the surgeon and the hospital do the operation a lot. The surgeon who always does the aneurysm operations, for example, is the surgeon that you want doing your aneurysm surgery. The data is pretty convincing on this point.

      Just my (non-professional) $0.02 worth.

    2. Get a second opinion. On the one hand a gallbladder operation is often “no big deal.” On the other, a complication from even a properly conducted procedure could be life changing. You are clearly having doubts, and my sense from your post is that you are not connecting with your surgeon. There is no big urgency to this procedure. If there is a medical center within two hours that has a better reputation, consider going there. If nothing else, you need to go into this operation with a clear head and conviction that YOU want to do this, and are willing to accept the risks involved. It doesn’t sound like you are there yet, and I would strongly advise you to not undergo an operation you are not committed to. If God forbid, a complication happened, you would not feel right.

      And, BTW, complications are rare and you will likely do fine.

    3. I second the thought of getting another opinion. Complications are rare but when they occur can be life-threatening. You really do want someone who has done a lot of these surgeries; those surgeons are the ones least likely to have complications and to recognize and treat appropriately if they do occur.

      I live in a small town as well and have been elsewhere for elective surgeries. Caveat: I practice medical malpractice law and always see the worst case scenarios!

      Do not be too embarrassed to get a second opinion. It happens all the time. I backed out of a major elective surgery and wound up using another surgeon, three days before surgery (prophylactic mastectomy). Talk about getting cold feet! Not the best way to do it, but doctors will understand.

    4. Joining the advice to get a second opinion. It sounds like the surgery can wait a few weeks while you think about it. You’re right that this surgery is so final – nothing wrong with thinking twice before you make a life-altering, unchangeable decision.

      1. Ladies, you are amazing. Thanks for answering and validating how I’m feeling. I’m going to cancel/postpone my surgery and already have a referral from a family friend for a second opinion. I so appreciate this!

  4. THreadjack:
    Two women I work closely with are pregnant – one just about to go on mat leave, and the other just announced (i.e. 3 months).
    This is totally embarrassing (but that’s what anonymity is for!) -but here we go: I do not have a flat stomach because well, i just don’t. Since my most recently pregnant colleague announced her condition, I *think* I have caught a few looks directly at my non-flat belly. I am not a paranoid person normally, but I feel really self conscious that naturally enough higher ups are wondering if I am next. I don’t wear overly tight clothes, by the way.
    So I am wondering what I can do to stop feeling self-conscious.
    Thanks gals

    1. Spanx, control top hose, blousey-full tops, or just don’t give a hoot.

      I highly recommend the last choice. ;o)

    2. Probably some of your coworkers can’t remember which ladies are pregnant, and glance at your belly to confirm whether you’re the pregnant one. Don’t worry about it.

    3. Or the pregnant ladies aren’t sure if they are showing yet and are looking at other women to compare and see if they “look” “bigger” than the non-pregnant ladies.

      I also agree that someone may have forgotten who is pregnant and who isn’t and is looking around to see.

    4. I lived abroad for a while in a culture where it was considered complimentary to ask someone if they were pregnant or fat (and I do not come from that culture). Eventually, I just starting saying I was having a donut or cookie or other common non-healthy food baby. Generally, it just caused a laugh and everyone left me alone.

      1. Haha, West Africa? When I lived there I never could get used to someone walking up and saying “Eponine, you’re looking very fat lately.”

  5. Two women I work closely with are pregnant – one just about to go on mat leave, and the other just announced (i.e. 3 months).
    This is totally embarrassing (but that’s what anonymity is for!) -but here we go: I do not have a flat stomach because well, i just don’t. Since my most recently pregnant colleague announced her condition, I *think* I have caught a few looks directly at my non-flat belly. I am not a paranoid person normally, but I feel really self conscious that naturally enough higher ups are wondering if I am next. I don’t wear overly tight clothes, by the way.

    So I am wondering what I can do to stop feeling self-conscious.
    Thanks gals

    1. I have no solutions for you, but take comfort in the fact that when months go by and your tummy is still the same size people will figure out that you just have a stomach (like a normal woman).

    2. Well, if you catch the Looker in the act, you could say something like, “I saw that and I know what you’re thinking — no, I am not next… “

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