Workwear Finds: Readers’ Most-Bought Items in 2021

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3 Women, each wearing outfits to showcase a beige work heel, and black/gray work sandals.

After a ton of reader requests, we’ve been rounding up some of the top things readers have bought recently — so here are some of the most-purchased items from all of 2021!

See the whole series here. We’ve tried to note in the text when an item is in our Workwear Hall of Fame, as well as whether it’s on sale!

Pictured above: suit / cap-sleeve blouse / scoopneck top / circle cardigan / purple dress (lots of colors) / beige pump / black and gray flats

Tops and Blazers Bought by Corporette Readers in 2021

A woman wearing a black work jacket and pants, plus a white work blouse.

The Cutaway Blazer In Bi-Stretch

A Woman wearing a black work jacket and work pants with a black and white patterned work blouse.

The Long Two-Button Blazer In Seasonless Stretch

A woman wearing a black work jacket and skirt with a white blazer.

The Long One-Button Blazer In Bi-Stretch

A Woman wearing blue work jeans, navy blue work jacket, and white blouse.

Parke Blazer In Bi-Stretch Cotton

A Woman wearing a floral pattern white blouse, black work jacket, and space gray work jeans.

Calvin Klein Women's Two Button Lux Blazer (one of our favorite classic-but-affordable suits for women!)

A Woman wearing a gray work jacket with a black double-breasted blazer and pants.

Plaid Double Breasted Blazer

A Woman wearing a black work jacket and pants with a white blouse.

CozyChic Lite® Circle Cardigan

A Woman wearing a lavender work jacket and pants with a white work shirt.

The One-Button Blazer (lots of colors available)

A Woman wearing a black skirt and blazer with a white work shirt.

Executive Collection Single-Button A-Line Skirt Suit (now on sale)

A Woman wearing a white blazer and white shirt with blue jeans.

Staple Linen Blend Blazer

A woman wearing a black sweater jacket and shirt with blue jeans.

Merino Sweater Jacket

A Woman wearing a floral pattern lavender and blue work blouse with a dark turquoise work skirt.

Floral Mixed Media Ruffle Neck Top

A woman wearing a black work blouse with a black floral pattern skirt.

Petite Mixed Media Bubble Sleeve Keyhole Top

A woman wearing a maroon belted boat-neck and maroon pants.

The Belted Boatneck Top In Flannel

a woman wearing a leopard pattern v-neck blouse with blue work jeans.

Halogen V-Neck Top

A Woman wearing a magenta long sleeve floral pattern turtle neck.

C. Wonder Print Turtleneck Top with Long Sleeves

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Long-Sleeve Top (regular and plus — now on clearance)

A Woman wearing a white work blouse and blue jeans.

Hidden Button Long Sleeve Blouse

A Woman wearing a white work blouse.

Mixed Media Pleat Front Top

A Woman wearing a black work blouse and maroon pants.

Petite Essential Shirt

A collage of two women wearing black work blouses.

Perfect Blouse (regular, petite and plus sizes — reader favorite and one of the best plus-size workwear blouses)

A Woman wearing a scoop neck women\'s tank-top with black pants.

Scoop Neck Woven Shell

A Woman wearing a white work blouse with black tights.

Rumpled Satin Blouse

A woman wearing a puff-sleeve mixed-media top with blue jeans.

Puff Sleeve Mixed Media Top (lots of colors on sale)

 A woman wearing boat-neck elbow-sleeve - black, and blue jeans.

Ballet Neck Cotton & Modal Knit Elbow Sleeve Tee (regular, petite and plus) — one of our favorite t-shirts for layering at the office!

a woman wearing a mint sweater-tee and shorts.

Pointelle 3/4 Sleeve Sweater

A Woman wearing a black collar-sweater shawl with blue jeans.

Silk-Cashmere Shawl-Collar Sweater (looongtime reader favorite!)

A woman wearing a maroon cardigan with blue work-jeans.

Open-Front Cardigan (still available in petite and plus sizes)

A collage of two women wearing work blouses.

Cap Sleeve Blouse (regular, petite and plus sizes!)

Skirts & Pants for Work Bought in 2021

Two women wearing gray pants. One with a gray top and one with a white top.

Nic + Zoe Pants (regular, petite, and plus sizes)

 A woman wearing a skinny black seam black pants.

The Perfect Black Pant Back Seam Skinny Pants (regular, petite and plus sizes!)

Two women, each wearing black work pants and white work blouses.

Stretch Knit Trousers (regular & petite) is included in our recent roundup of the best dress pants for women and one of Kat's favorites!)

A Woman wearing kelsey knit trousers.

Kelsey Knit Trousers

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Betabrand Dress Pant Yoga Pants (featured in our roundup on comfortable pants and leggings you can actually wear to work) (try this referral code for $15 off your first purchase over $50!)

A Woman wearing a secret-fit-belly shirt and slim ankle maternity pants.

Curie Secret Fit Belly Slim Ankle Maternity Pant

A Woman wearing a black work jacket and pants with a white shirt.

Foster Pant – Everstretch (included in our recent roundup of the best dress pants for women!)

A Woman wearing a blue top with navy-blue pants.

The Straight Pant

A woman wearing black pants and a patterned top.

The High Rise Ankle Pant

A woman wearing a white blouse and black work pants.

The Ankle Pant In Seasonless Stretch

A woman wearing gray leggings with a striped white work blouse.

The Petite Side Zip Straight Pant In Bi-Stretch

A woman wearing all maroon work top and pants.

The Audrey Pant In Bi-Stretch

A woman wearing mustard yellow pants with a beige striped top.

New Remi Pant in Bi-Stretch Cotton

A woman wearing blue work pants and a white tee.

Departure Ankle Pants (regular, petite and tall sizes — and included in our recent roundup of the best pull-on pants for the office!)

A woman wearing a black pencil skirt with a white blouse.

Ponte Pencil Skirt

A woman wearing a blue high-waist skirt with a white work blouse.

The High Waist Seamed Pencil Skirt

Two women wearing white blouses, the one on the left wearing gray pants and the one on the right wearing black pants.

Diana Stretch Corduroy Skinny Pants (regular, petite & plus) (some styles now on sale!)

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Tailored Black Maternity Pants (now on sale — see all of our favorite maternity pants for the office)

A woman wearing a zebra top with black work pants.

Maternity Ankle Pants

A woman wearing a gray top with black pants.

Mid-Rise Crossover Panel Bootcut Maternity Trousers (up to size 18) (see all of our favorite maternity pants for the office)

Dresses for Work Bought in 2021

Retro Slim Work Pencil Dress

A woman wearing a navy--blue skirt.

Wool Sheath Dress

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The Etsuko Dress (a big reader favorite — and included in our roundup of colorful sheath dresses for work!)

A woman wearing a pink/beige dress.

Tie Wrap Around Midi Dress in Nude (one of the great ones we featured in our roundup of power dresses for work!)

A woman wearing a floral pattern dress, black red and white.

Prescott 3/4 Sleeve Faux Wrap Dress

A woman wearing a black and white dress with high boots.

Wrap Dress

A woman wearing a gray dress.

Crepe Shift Dress

Shoes and Accessories Bought in 2021

a black business shoe.

Zala Pumps (looooong-standing reader favorite and on our list of comfortable heels for work!)

A black shoe.

Bardot Pump

A black high-heel.

Hazel Pointed Toe Pump

A scale texture black heel.

Josie Kitten Heels (several colors available – one of our favorite comfortable low heels for work!)

A black heel.

Rowan Flats (reader favorite and one of the best comfortable flats for work)

2 Black/Blue slippers.

Rothy’s Flats (reader favorite and one of the best comfortable flats for work — try this link for $20 off your first purchase)

A pair of orange shoes, each with a giraffe picture.

C. Wonder Women's Conversational Smoking Flat

A blue-camo boot with laces - water-resistant.

Saltwater Water Resistant Camo Duck Boot

A woman wearing a purple hair clip.

Maximas Silky Hair Clip (reader favorite and great for easy office up-dos!)

A gold-colored hair clip

‘Ficcarissimo' Hair Clip

Lingerie Bought in December 2021

Weekend Items Bought in 2021

A Woman in a blue dress with white shoes.

Rosie Sleeveless Woven Dress (sold out now, but check out other great dresses from Zella)

Two women, one with blue jeans and a blue patterned top. The other with a dark gray top and gray jeans.

Rounded V-Neck Tee (regular, petite and plus) (one of Kat's favorites and included in our roundup of all the best women's weekend t-shirts!)

A woman wearing a blue-gold-star patterned tee and white work-shorts.

Fun Voop Tee (tons of colors and patterns)

A woman wearing a pink top with white work shorts.

Scoop Neck Tee (regular and plus sizes, short and long sleeves)

A woman wearing a black top with space-gray pants.

Crewneck Sweater

A woman wearing a black tank-top and blue jeans.

Raw Edge Tank

A woman wearing a blue tank-top and black jeans.

Mixed Jersey Tank

A woman wearing a cotton v-neck pocket tee, white.

Whisper V-Neck Tee (a Kat favorite and on our list of best women's weekend t-shirts!)

t-shirt for work

New Crew Tee

A woman wearing a Zella Live In Pocket Joggers

Live In Pocket Joggers

A woman wearing a Zella Live In Pocket Joggers

Restore Soft Pocket Leggings

A woman wearing a Zella Live In High Waist Leggings

Live In High-Waist Leggings

A woman wearing blue jeans and a black sweater.

Totally Shaping Pull-on Skinny Jeans (here's Kate's review)

A woman wearing a red maternity tank top

Maternity Layering Tank Top

A woman wearing a Marika Women\'s Carrie Tummy Control Mid Calf Capri
Leggings

Live In High Waist Pocket 7/8 Leggings

A woman wearing a Zella Studio Luxe High Waist Pocket Leggings

High Waist Studio Lite Pocket 7/8 Leggings

A woman wearing a GAP Full Length Maternity Leggings

Maternity Leggings

A woman wearing a Zella Peaceful High Waist Pocket Slim Joggers

Restore Soft Pocket Jogger Pants

Two women wearing Spanx Faux Leather Leggings

Spanx Faux Leather Leggings (regular, petite and plus)

A collage of women wearing bootcut pants

Ab-Solution Itty Bitty Bootcut Jeans (regular, petite and plus) — Kat recently called these the most comfortable jeans!)

A woman wearing a Marilyn Straight Medium Blue Premium Denim

Marilyn Straight Leg Jeans

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Moonlight-Pajamas.jpg

Moonlight Pajamas (some of ours and the reader favorites for pajamas for grown-ups)

Other Most-Bought Items in 2021

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Homz-15.5-Quart-Clear-Plastic-Latching-Sweater-Box-Storage-Container.jpg

15.5 Quart Clear Plastic Latching Storage Container (Kat loves these for her Expedit/Kallax shelves!)

mooas Multi Cube Timer/Rotating Timer
Kitchen timer

Cube Timer/Rotating Timer (here's Kat's review on how she uses it for the Pomodoro Method as well as to help her ADHD-ish mind stay focused)

white lip balm still in drugstore packaging; the cardboard reads NEOSPORIN LIP HEALTH - it\'s our favorite lip balm for kids with chapped lips in winter!

Neosporin Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy (here’s why Kat LOVES this if you’ve got crazy chapped lips)

A close up of a Revlon One Step Hair Dryer and Volumizer Hot Air Brush

Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer And Volumizer Hot Air Brush (Kat was BLOWN AWAY by this and it's a great gift idea! Here's her Revlon One-Step Styler review)

And all of the little products we mention in our post on gaping blouses are always among the most-bought items!

Some of the top products to help you fix a gaping blouse include:

collage of 5 products for gaping blouses including toupee tape, medical tape, flash tape, fearless tape, and a variety of safety pins
Above, some solutions for gaping blouses: 1) Topstick toupee tape 2) double-stick medical tape 3) Flash Tape 4) Fearless Tape 5) black & white and colorful safety pins — see more clever solutions for workwear problems in our Amazon shop!

Sales of note for 8/12/25:

  • Ann Taylor – 30% off your full price purchase, and $99 dresses and jackets — extra 60% off sale also
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
  • Boden – 10% off new womenswear styles with code
  • Dermstore – Anniversary sale, up to 25% off everything
  • Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale
  • J.Crew – 30% off wear-now styles & up to 60% off all sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything and extra 60% off clearance
  • Mejuri – Up to 25% off everything
  • M.M.LaFleur – New August drop, and up to 70% off sale – try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
  • Neiman Marcus – Last call designer sale! Spend $200, get a $50 gift card (up to $2000+ spend with $500 gift card)
  • Nordstrom – 9,800+ new women's markdowns
  • Rothy's – Ooh: limited edition T-strap flats / Mary Janes
  • Spanx – Free shipping on everything
  • Talbots – Semi-annual red door sale! 50% off all markdowns + extra 20% off already marked-down items

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

One Comment

  1. It’s a bummer that there are so few brands that sell appropriate women’s suits.

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