Splurge Monday’s Workwear Report: Wilde Floral Tapestry Jacket
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
Dramatic textiles are trending for Winter 2026-2027 and I am here for it. This ornate floral tapestry jacket from Veronica Beard is so gorgeous that I can’t decide if I want to hang it on my wall or wear it every day until spring.
Remove the collar and pair it with high-waisted trousers for a very cool business casual look, or grab the matching miniskirt for a very non-traditional suit.
The jacket is $898 at Nordstrom and comes in sizes XS-XL.
Sales of note for 10/30
- Nordstrom – Extra 20% off clearance
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase + extra 15% off your $200+ purchase
- Brooklinen – Friends & Family – 20% off sitewide and 50% off select bundles
- J.Crew – 2700+ markdowns
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Save 20% on suiting and dresses! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Talbots – Enjoy 30% off your entire purchase
I’m attending the ABA national labor & employment meeting this week in DC. I last went ~10 years ago and it was very formal. Will I be horrendously out of place if I wear jeans and a stretchy top layer/no blazer?
I’m active in the ABA though I haven’t been to that specific conference. Yes you will be horribly out of place in jeans, even with a blazer. You don’t necessary have to wear a blazer but I prefer it so I can clip the name badge onto my lapel.
I’ll be there! I do think jeans will be out of place. Most women will wear jackets or dresses.
Based on the pics from the last year or two that sounds underdressed. Lots of jackets when you see waist-up pics of the different sessions.
Why do you want to dress that way? I mean it’s a professional conference in DC, which is a dressier place on average. Even if it’s technically fine, do you not own a blazer or a pair of real pants?
+1. This seems like such a strange question to me. Wear business casual!
+2 – the last thing I’d want to be known for is standing out as the lawyer who doesn’t know she’s a lawyer and dressed like she dropped in on a tech conference.
I don’t think you can wear jeans. I’m in a more lax field than law and women especially wear a range of things to conferences but no jeans. Lots of dresses, slacks + non matching jacket, or one of those 2 piece matching sets from ann taylor etc
At professional conferences in my (different) industry, jeans are typically only spotted on the last day, when everyone is heading to the airport immediately from the final session. Those jeans are definitely worn with blazers and a business-oriented top, and the jeans themselves are well tailored, very dark rinse, and the rest of the styling and accessory game is on point.
I normally like Veronica Beard. But that looks like it belongs at a smelly thrift store.
I love it so much. I hear you on smelly thrift stores though, I have to swear off buying used things because everything smells like smoke or Tide. :(
+1 I detest the smell of Tide, way more than smoke.
It reminds me of shabby chic 90’s throw pillows. A vintage teddy bear would be next to it.
Smelly thrift store, or musty curtains in a very old, very overdecorated rich lady’s house.
I love The Sound of Music so much that I want all items that look like upholstery. Give me all of the brocade and heavy fabrics!
Saw this jacket in person, it is lovely but requires a bit of gravitas to pull off or a willingness to do a Carrie Bradshaw type pairing.
I feel that not only do I love it, but I would buy the set (but not as a miniskirt; I would want a full below-the-knee skirt), budget permitting.
I know that below-the-knee can be frump city if styled wrong, but I feel that if we could get more Baroness Schrader outfits, I’d be here for it.
Ha! I’m here for any and all Baroness style, just not Maria’s….
Ha! Same! And for you Baroness Schraeder fans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELSx0Kq8xZs&list=RDELSx0Kq8xZs&start_radio=1
The hills are alive with the sound of truth bombs!!!
Anyone else think Baroness Schrader was an absolute class act in maintaining dignity and kindness when the Captain called off their engagement?
She’s the one who called it off, no? (After basically telling dude what he hadn’t realized about his feelings?! Agree with you on that scene, though, which was great.)
7 homeschooled kids and he is in love with the nanny? Pass.
Love the Baroness and her sidekick Max
Yes, and they had two really great songs in the stage version that got cut out of the movie.
another vote for loving the jacket. if i have any association with it it’s maybe for the tapestry-type vests that were popular in the late 80s to be worn with big floofy shirts OR wifebeater tanks.
Looking for advice from anyone who has successfully re-invigorated their attitude to their career. I did the exciting / high stress / long hours career until my kids were very young, getting relatively senior before I took a generic corporate role. My stress and flexibility are definitely way better, but I’ve been disenchanted since about the lack of intellectual stimulation and frankly feeling like I’m treated as more junior than I would like (I’m one level down from c-suite but often feel like I’m doing analyst-level work given the structure of my team and my general mandate). My kids are still little so there are times I think I should just lean into what it is for this time in my life, but ugh. Every Monday I just can’t believe I am just logging back in for something I’m so unexcited by. I don’t know what would help – a new job, somehow changing my mindset?
Do you understand what was exciting about what you were doing before — was the work itself exciting? The corporate culture? Your coworkers? Were the stress, deadlines, and long hours part of the excitement for you?
A new job might help, but what you don’t want is to get yourself into a stress / long hours job again, but this time without the excitement. That would be worse than what you’re dealing with now.
Writing a daily gratitude list is what has worked for me:
lack of stress
well compensated
all the time off
no night or weekend calls
mental space to do independant projects instead of putting out fires
This helps me. I’ve intentionally shifted down due to life circumstances, and get frustrated because I don’t feel I’m living my purpose, then I remember all the things above + health and family are top focus right now.
I trained to be an EMT and my mind is so happy to be back to powering on. I didn’t quit my day job, but a volunteer shift does wonders for me including making me feel sharper back in the office.
How busy are you? Is it sometimes a lot of waiting?
Shifts are the fastest 13.5 hours I’ve ever spent, in the biggest city in my state, so there is a lot going on, all of the time. I know where the good bathrooms are in every hospital ER in my county and I’ve been in all of the hospice facilities. It’s really stunning how horizon-broadening this is, all from a community college class.
I’ve been in your shoes. First, abandon the notion that this job will ever get you the intellectual stimulation that you want. Sounds obvious, but I see lots of people bang their heads against the wall trying to will themselves to be excited about or interested in a job that just doesn’t merit excitement or interest. Lean into your non-work life (family, health, hobbies – emphasis on hobbies to fill that ‘excitement’ and ‘learning something new’ gap) and focus on gratitude for a job that enables the rest of your life without taking to much from you. Or, feel out what it would be like to find a new job that’s more intellectually stimulating. Send out some applications. You might find that when faced with the prospect of longer hours and more stress (which often, but do not always, accompany the intellectually stimulating jobs where you have more responsibility), you have a new perspective on your current job. Or, you might find out exactly the opposite.
I was underpaid for about 8-10 years coming up through being a mid-level to senior associate and then junior partner, before I made equity. Even so, I stuck it out because the time off was *precious* while the kids were little and no one ever called me on a weekend. I also had a volunteer activity once a week that took a lot of brain cells, so never felt under-utilized – maybe lean into something work-related but volunteer that you can do during work hours?
Do you get paid well? Have time with your kids? Sounds like you’re winning at life.
Anyone else furious about the NYT? Seriously considering canceling over their “both sides” re Alaska/Michigan and the top headline today. But where else do you read? WaPo also sucks and WSJ has always been biased.
Went through this a few years back and cancelled NYT and WaPo. Now we have a Bloomberg subscription and pay for the patreons/substacks of a few journalists we like (we being me and DH, who share logins). DC is starting to have some good local journalism again with the Banner and the Sun.
I feel like the NYT has been making overtures to seem more balanced for the past few years but it’s always a bit off. They publish these articles about people in flyover states feeling betrayed by Trump or whatever and it just comes off as coastal liberals looking down on uneducated voters. My take as a coastal elite.
I was pretty pissed at the NYT recently for their coverage of the attempted flyDubai hijacking, calling it a “midair altercation”. I still listen to The Headlines in the morning though listen to The Daily less as it’s mostly become complaining about Trump.
I’ve realized all news is biased at some level so I just try to diversify sources.
I feel the same way. WTF NYT?
Which headline?
Yeah, I don’t see what you’re referencing on their website.
this was the lede earlier today
“The Parties Make Their Closing Arguments: ‘This Isn’t Just Red Versus Blue’
“Republicans, worried about losing control of Congress, are sending dire warnings about the opposing party. Democrats are trying to keep their focus on affordability, corruption and President Trump.”
I don’t know if I’m going to cancel, but I also am frustrated. It is where I get the majority of my news. I cancelled WaPo after Bezos changed the opinion section. Both of my local large metro area newspapers are owned by USA today and their website infuriates me (in addition to the bad coverage).
I don’t understand why it’s a problem that two people on the ballot have the same name. Voters look for a party affiliation not just a name. I don’t think there’s any risk of confusion.
And what, people with common names shouldn’t be allowed to run for office if the incumbent has the same name? That’s idiotic. And thankfully the Alaska courts agreed.
This whole thing smells like a desperate attempt by the GOP to paint the left as just as bad as the GOP have shown themselves to be. “You don’t like our modern day gestapo m*rdering people in the streets? Well look what the other side is doing! They’re… checks notes… recruiting other John smiths to run for office to confuse you! They’re the REAL bad guys!” I mean it’s laughable. Is anyone actually falling for this?
But imagine if the GOP had done this. You would say it is undermining democracy. It is definitely shady business.
We don’t have to imagine! The GOP does do this. Frequently.
Yeah, that’s business as usual in downballot races in the Miami Dade area.
Well, they’ve already done this. Republican PACs funded Green Party candidates to run in the primaries in Alaska, some of whom don’t live in Alaska and another who’s in jail. Did the NYT mention that?
People have been ignoring the greens or making fun of them for decades.
I mean, asking for the vote to be set aside if your guy doesn’t win is also pretty shady.
100% shady. I’m glad the courts have tossed that out, and I’m glad news organizations, including the nyt, covered it
But “Team A did really shady newsworthy stuff so we’re not going to cover kinda-shady newsworthy stuff if Team B does it, because at least it’s not *as* shady” is the death knell of an independent press.
100% shady.
I mean… if the campaign (or a rogue campaign manager) looked at a list of ideas and said “hey, let’s see if we can get John Smith the 3rd to run, cause it’ll be confusing”, that’s distasteful. And I want my politicians to focus on winning on the merits of their good ideas and track record of successful governance, not wasting time with shenanigans like this.
Now, it’s also totally legal to try to recruit a spoiler candidate, and it’s a thing plenty of politicians have done before. But it can be legal, and I can think the federal government implying otherwise is a very dangerous sign of weaponizing centralized power and at the same time – if the story was adequately researched and fact checked, it’s still something I want to know about as a voter, was a legitimate topic of reporting, and it still damages my view of Peltola.
Isn’t this the plot of an Eddie Murphy movie?
when i heard about Dan Sullivan it just seemed like a fun quirky alaska thing.
i’m in Ohio where the “socialist” candidate is funded by MAGA. all the flyers that say “join the revolution”… 100% guarantee my working-class cousins will vote for that guy. not because they’re socialist but they always vote for the third party.
I cancelled years ago over them both sidesing and sanewashing fascism. At this point, it’s Reuters or NPR for me.
I canceled it a long time ago over BS like this
Same, cancel and head over to The Atlantic instead.
Yes! Did the same thing
Yup, exactly. And call to make sure they know why you’re canceling (it’s what I did and they track)
Cancelled them already. Try another publication.
I canceled the NYT years ago for similar reasons. I either read it for free (reader mode trick) or through the library if there’s something I want to see. I have no qualms about giving them the anti-ad-revenue finger.
Also, I think it’s gross that the NYT has sunk to the level of tabloid journalism with the embrace of super-clickbait headlines (“He thought it was an innocent hike. What happened next stunned him” and the like). I understand the motivation for doing it and also think it’s cheap and scammy.
Big fan of NPR and of my state and local independent news sources. I also follow several independent journalists whose reporting focuses on issues that are important to me, and who are clear about their biases in ways that I respect, even if I don’t always agree with them.
Does anyone have a setting powder for eyeliner/shadow to recommend?
Just use eyeshadow over your eyeliner
Use eyeshadow primer and a good eyeliner instead. What products are you currently using?
Bobbi Brown. I currently dab a little neutral powder eyeshadow over the (creme) shadow, and between two layers of eyeliner. The result is so-so
I’ve never heard of using a setting powder on your eyes. Doesn’t it cover up your eye liner?
I use a primer and it seems to hold things together pretty well. I also use a setting spray and I guess some of it must get on my eye lids.
I’m launching a job search! I’m relatively senior in a niche real asset finance field that’s in high demand right now. I understand networking would probably yield ~90% of solid leads. In the meantime, there are some job postings at “hot” companies that seem almost like a perfect fit. Do I wait to network my way into the company or just apply online and then continue networking to try to have a human pull my resume?
Any other advice for job searching in the current moment would be enormously welcome.
Apply immediately. A job you apply to without a referral is still better odds than a job you never applied to because you didn’t have a referral
I saw that there were three shootings in college towns this weekend (Indiana University, CU Boulder, U Delaware) and they barely made the news- some involving students, some not. Are shootings near colleges just so commonplace these days that they aren’t even newsworthy?
I think that there were more than that, sadly, including in Alabama. IDK that any of the shooters were students or aiming at students. But it’s a reminder of where there are large groups of people, late at night, and maybe some alcohol, things like this often happen (in my city, it’s often unaffiliated groups go to to the same event that the rest of the city is celebrating at, armed, and bring their pre-existing beefs with them, and then start shooting and now we can’t have things like First Night or team celebrations without a heavy but needed police and EMS presence).
It was Halloween weekend, one of the biggest party/drinking nights of the year in college. I would bet the gun violence was connected to large parties and pre-existing beef as outlined below.
Shootings at parties near college campuses have never been national news.
Two at Michigan State, too, which I saw nothing of on local news in Detroit and only caught it on Reddit when I was browsing this weekend. Both were off campus but very close, within a block or two.
I lived through a shooting at my small liberal arts college almost 20 years ago. A girl I knew died, we were on lockdown for a few days, and that experience still affects me in unexpected ways to this day. I expect no one who didn’t live through it knows/remembers it happened or would even know something like that happened if you said the name of the school.
I expect in the US that is a much much much more common experience than people think.
I think it’s time for this country to move on from a two party system- the moderates from both parties should combine to form a new one.
Your parties are already central and crazy.
My thought – those moderates need to vote in more primaries. The primary voting numbers are abysmal so the wackos have a bigger voice. I don’t care which primary, but you can’t complain about the candidates unless you vote in a primary.
For those of us registered independent, you’re not able to vote in the primaries. Wish that would change!
what is the purpose of being registered as an independent?
you are a voter but don’t want to declare yourself a member of either major party
To clarify, there’s usually two things – registered with the Independent party (which means you can vote in the Independent party primary, if they have one) and registered to vote without a party affiliation (lower case I independent)
For what it’s worth, you can just switch your party affiliation before the primaries to vote in whichever you want! There’s nothing about being registered as a Democrat or Republican that obligates you to vote for them in the general
My state now lets anyone who is registered with a 3rd party or as unaffiliated just go ahead and vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary (they provide you both ballots, but you have to choose and vote only one), so I don’t bother registration-swapping anymore.
One problem is that “moderate” means a lot of different things, which may not add up to a coalition. I just finished my ballot and in partisan races (some of our local stuff, like county commissioner, doesn’t list party affiliations), and I voted for 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans, 3 third party candidates. In the primary, I voted for a dsa candidate in one of the races I ultimately voted third party for, because it was absolutely time for the incumbent to leave office.
I’d call myself an independent moderate (on average, with extreme views on a few particular issues) and I know what *I* would want out of a 3rd party, but I know that’s not going to align with what other 3rd party moderate independents want
I’m starting Zepbound, any advice? I’m concerned about getting enough protein because that’s something I struggle with normally, I’m not a big meat eater and I hate eggs. I guess I can do a lot of protein powder in smoothies. My mom is on Zepbound as well and she’s sick all the time which I’m not really looking forward to, but I do need to lose weight.
Side effects are very individual, I haven’t had any. Suggest meeting with a dietitian (not nutritionist) as soon as possible. I prefer people who have experience with glp-1 because of bias and misinformation. Same with my doctor, I switched to a doc that has experience with glp-1. Drink 100 oz of water, make sure to get lots of fiber and protein. I take magnesium at night for migraines, am sure it’s helped to stay regular. Just take it slow and steady, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made for my health and have seen so many other positive impacts, especially on inflammation. Good luck op!
Thank you! Luckily my doctor has been great and really helpful.
I’m on zep and have had very few side effects. I don’t worry that much about protein although I do drink protein shakes a lot, they’re an easy breakfast when I don’t feel like eating much. I’d track fiber and water, those are important. My other advice is to make sure to eat on a schedule even if you’re not hungry. If you wait too long to eat you might start to feel sick.
I’ve been on a glp-1 for 2.5 years, first Wegovy, then Zepbound (and I’m still on 12.5 zep). I struggled more with side effects on Wegovy, especially on the lower/loading doses. I rarely struggled with them once I got to the higher ones. Tips below are from that early time. Also – everyone reacts differently to the meds. Just because your mom is sick on them doesn’t mean you will be. My BFF struggled HARD on Wegovy before she moved to Zepbound with no issue.
I found taking my shot at night helped. I do it on Thursday evenings because I wfh on Fridays, so I had that precaution in place if I was feeling bad.
About an hour before my shot, I’d drink a protein shake (even just 1/2 of one) to make sure I had good protein. I also took a dramamine for nausea.
What I struggled with is I’d feel sick and not want to eat, which made me feel worse. I gave up (at the beginning) trying to eat perfectly when I felt bad and just ate what I could. Goodles mac & cheese was a go-to – the comfort of carbs + protein.
Lots of water & electrolytes. Small, frequest snacks. If you’re struggling at a dose, don’t move up after one month because “you’re supposed to”. Stay at the lower dose until you feel the side effects are under control.
Thanks so much for commenting. That’s a good idea to take the shot before a WFH day, thank you!
I started it a couple months ago and haven’t had any side effects, maybe light constipation, but it hasn’t been uncomfortable and may just be because I’m eating less in general. Have not noticed being sick more, at all, and I get sick fairly easily. It’s the best thing I’ve done for my health in a long time!
Fingers crossed, thank you!
Piggybacking on this, but also considering a GLP-1 and one thing that gives me pause is that people recommend frequent, smaller meals. That really doesn’t work well for me mentally as someone who prefers to be out doing other things and who prefers set meals. After reading the Obesity Code, I also think there are solid arguments for not jacking your insulin every hour. Has anyone on a GLP-1 managed to stick to more regular meals instead?
I commented below on just eating as I did but less food, and I keep regular meals. I do breakfast, lunch and dinner and I don’t snack in between, never have though. It’s been absolutely fine. I think there’s a whole industry around GLP1 products and it doesn’t need to be that complicated.
eggs aren’t great protein actually, each egg is only 6g of protein. egg whites are better but yeah, gag.
get the shelf-stable fairlife – it’s ultrafiltered not protein powder, tastes good, and is 30g of protein per.
to mitigate side effects I’ve heard to take a fairlife (or other big source of protein) right after injection. hydrate hydrate hydrate; liquid IV is your friend. the side effects are worst when your body is adjusting to a new dosage. if you’re sick and not on a new dsoage, in my experience, it’s time to move to something else. (got the rotten egg burps from Wegovy after I’d been on it for months without issue. for weeks everything i ate made me sick. I finally said WTF and stopped it. tried it again 2 months later and nope, same deal. so I switched to Zepbound.)
My advice is don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. When I first started, I ate like I was getting over a stomach bug to see if I had side effects. Fortunately, I didn’t and it’s been a miracle drug. On eating in general, once I felt comfortable, I went back to eating around an 80% healthy diet, just less food overall. I don’t freak about protein or anything else. I dropped weight quickly and easily on this for the first time ever and my regular workouts now result in visible muscle. Take it one step at a time. Oh and take your shot at night too, easier to sleep off any initial discomfort.
Be careful when going up a dose, because you can get complacent. Normally I have very few, if any side effects, but two or three times when going up a dose I’ve had some bad digestive experiences. (Sulphur burps was not something I ever want to experience again.)
They say to go up by 2.5 but that is too much of a jump for me so if I’m increasing my dose I only go up by 1. My current dose is 6 and I’ve lost about 30 lbs without changing much else. Definitely stock up on protein drinks, which are a great help when you don’t have any appetite, and I’ve found my Nutribullet for smoothies to be helpful as well.
i started it in March on the lowest dose and did 4 weeks. the first week the side effects werent so bad, but by week 4 I could barely eat. I did lose weight, but had 0 energy. Then I stopped taking it for month and continued to lose weight and still felt the side effects of the drug. Then I tried doing it every other week, then every 3 weeks – all at the lowest dose. I got “lucky” in the sense that my body has responded extremely well to it without having to go up a dose, but I could not handle taking it every week. I’ve lost like 20/25lbs and feel good about it. I don’t really want to lose more bc I think too many people look emaciated.
Can someone explain how we have gone from a world where you submit SATs to one where we don’t to a one where you don’t have to submit an SAT but only 1550+s are now considered “worth submitting”?
Why do you think this is a confusing or scandalous development?
Grade inflation!
Are you applying to schools where median SAT score is >= 1550? That info is usually available. And then, yeah, you’re applying to very competitive schools, so only very competitive results are going to strengthen your application
At our flagship state U, they don’t want to know your score unless it is very high. Like my kid was told to apply test-optional and not submit a 1380. I get that at HYP, but state U is acting like they want to be both broadly accessible (SAT-optional) and elite and this just leads IMO to a lot of stressed out kids and parents who are rightly upset that not only are their kids stressed but they are hearing that “good” scores are now not considered to be good enough. It is rotten all over and makes it more of a crapshoot / lottery where you don’t know if you will get lucky or not.
Colleges trying to look more selective by having only maybe the top 5% of all applicants submit scores while remaining test-optional so that can actually admit enough students to fill a class?
And this is why we keep seeing headlines like California kids are so bad at math that they have to add tutoring and remedial math teachers. When you treat a 1050 like a 1250 like a 1450, a lot of kids who try out STEM majors or anything where numbers matter will fail or fail out or lose scholarships or change majors. SAT optional makes kids fungible to their detriment.
Coming to New York this weekend to meet some old friends. Four women in their early forties. We’re doing dinner Friday night and have tickets for a Broadway show we all want to see Saturday.
How would you spend the day? We all lived in the city at one point. Help me out I’m drawing a bit of a blank! I can easily schedule a day in the city with my kids, but when it comes to friends I’m at more of a loss!
A friend and I did a sort of self guided walking/bakery tour – we just looked for bakeries or stores we wanted to visit and wandered the city for the day, it was great. My favorite was Librae in Cooper Square, which is also easy to combine with shopping in Soho, which I appreciate because there are so many brick and mortar stores of places that I mostly see online (Wolf and Badger, the RealReal/other good secondhand stores, Flabelus were a few I had looked into last time I was there).
Can you base your plans simply off what you enjoy doing together as friends, rather than try to capitalize on being in New York?
Do you like to shop together, walk, exercise, be outside, go to museums, wander through gardens, visit historical sites, go to events . . . ? Are you a “go and do” group or do you rarely see each other and just need space to talk for hours? Do any of the other women who lived there have favorite places they want to revisit, and the rest of you would enjoy?
I love a food tour so I’d do that. Also if you haven’t been to the Museum of Broadway, it’s really great. And of course you can’t beat shopping and lunch at someplace nice.
Petty gripe: a few weeks ago, I placed a catering order at a large chain grocery store for pickup yesterday. Earlier last week, ie still in October, I called to bump my pickup time to 2 hours earlier. The catering lady said, we don’t do that during the holiday season. THE HOLIDAY SEASON. Lady, November 1 is not the holiday season. Harumph and bah humbug!
I felt that I always had oily skin and notable pores. But even into adulthood, my skin is still really oily and I feel that the skin on my nose resembles a strawberry. IDK how to even get makeup on there or concealer. You can’t hide it. Anyone else like that?