women's fall office clothes - gimme some ideas

trousers cropped @ ankle length, or baggy menswear style..

the j crew has a lot of stuff in this weird orangey canteloupe color, i really like it all of a sudden. they have other strange pastels that i guess were inspired by all the marc jacobs stuff which i thought i hated, but i kind of dig the colors now.

http://images.jcrew.com/erez4/cache/images_eiec_86_86227_86227_YL5424_tif_65740b0bd890182c.jpg

want

http://images.jcrew.com/erez4/cache/images%5Feiec%5F86%5F86227%5F86227%5FYL5424%5Ftif%5F65740b0bd890182c.jpg

<img src="http://images.jcrew.com/erez4/cache/images%5Feiec%5F86%5F86227%5F86227%5FYL5424%5Ftif%5F65740b0bd890182c.jpg";>

I think I just bought a j crew v neck in that color. I thought it looked like the american apparel saffron/gold, which looked kind of like one of my high school colors.

yeah so i am gonna need some nicer stuff than whawt i wear to work now which is just jeans and crap bc my job is a joke. but for newjob (whatever it may be), i need to impress. how to do this on little $? cheap stuff just looks cheap :(

i really want something in saffron, super bright saffron. tricky though because the wrong shade is going to look awful on me

how little is little? i am such a big fan of the club monaco.. i guess trousers there will cost about $100 though, but in the back the sale stuff goes on really big sale. they always have a nice range of v-neck cotton and/or merino wool sweaters.

one of my colleagues at my old job would get items like simple black cotton shirt dresses at forever 21 and they actually looked quite nice. depends on how tall you are though, on me they're way short so no getting away with that. there is also laredoute.com, sometimes they have nice things - i got a great sheer patterned blouse there for about $20

that whole post is otm

to be frank.

Ooh I forgot about laredoute.com somewhere along the line.

I don't want fall, I have no idea what's "new" and I prefer summer dresses to pretty much everything ever.

fall clothes are my favorite! fuck summer clothes forever, i hate showing skin.

^^^ yes

Yes, well, my summer dresses do run a little old-fashioned, the only skin in evidence is probably my arms and legs. I still would rather pull on one patterned dress and some sandals than:

* 1 pr thick tights
* 1 skirt, fully lined
* 1 top, assorted styles; must fit underneath...
* 1 suit jacket or cardigan, invariably dry-clean only
* 1 pr tall boots
* all accessories

Etc. I am truly sad about this, but maybe this thread will push me along in the right direction.

I predict buying about 12 pairs of tights from sock-dreams.com in bright colors, though. And 3-5 black dresses.

I want to buy tights now!

I love fall clothes. Bring it on.

fall clothes are my favorite! fuck summer clothes forever, i hate showing skin.

-- bell_labs, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 9:33 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

i'm wearing this t shirt 2day and uh i don't think i should be. and i forget we had a meeting this morning. bad.

laurel, sock dreams is fantastic! i could spend multiple Cs in the over the knee section alone.

i can't wait to start wearing tights again! no more daily shaving yusss

I think this will be the fall I just bite it and buy a pair of ridic Frye dress boots and call it good.

not office clothes at all, but i love these 2 dresses:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2735123665_470d4858d2_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3184/2735123659_a08175979c_o.jpg

styling on the 2nd one reminds me too much of halloween, though.

I am looking forward to leaving summer dresses behind and returning to pantsuits. I wear them with semi-fitted silkscreened t-shirts (invariably American Apparel brand) that I get on etsy or whatever. When it's colder, a thin, fitted sweater under the jacket No ironing! No buttondowns! No tucking in!

Suit can then do double duty: the pants I can wear with heavier sweaters (sans jacket) and the jacket I can wear with cords or jeans for casual Friday, weekends, etc. A basic navy suit works well for this.

I vow not to buy any more gray suits this fall.

quincie i may have asked you this before, but what brand of suits do you buy?

I don't work in a officey office, and I don't wear pants, so my fall clothes will be skirts that go with jackets and cardigans on top. Every year I swear to sew more skirts so that they fit right, and then I don't. So underwhelmed.

I have a couple of Anne Kleins, a couple of Isabel and Ninas, a Tahari, a Calvin Klein, and one J. Crew. I had a Brooks Brothers I loved but it was when I was a size 4.

Department store discount racks have always worked best for suit shopping for me--I will try on seriously 30 suits from the clearance rack at my local L&T and maybe two or three of those will look good enough to consider purchasing.

Once in a while I find something promising at Filene's, but that is usually much more hit-or-miss.

There are some Isabel and Nina suits on Overstock.com that I really want for super cheap but I know I'll need like 3 sizes larger in the skirt than the jacket. Shit.

i should really give my two j.crew size 2 suits away to a skinny young go-getter. sigh. any takers?

ugh i need a summery suit i think. also just some updated suits/office attire in general. mine are like ages old and whatever pants i bought with them (and inevitably wore much more frequently than the jackets) have been lost by now... why are suit pants always so dumpy? i have the hardest time finding a good pair of black trousers!

i LOVE tights though! tights and boots and cute dresses are so much fun.

My current want for fall is a pair of knee high flat (or flat-ish) brown leather boots. I saw a pair that was super awesome at some chi-chi boutique in Bethesda, but they were mad $$$. I can't justify $575 shoes, even if they are like 50% off!

I'm drooling over Frye's boots now but my size is sold out from all the sales. Life.

Oh I hear ya. Totally love these: http://www.piperlime.com/browse/product.do?cid=19797&pid=540445&scid=540445002

i spent all of last fall/winter looking for great flat boots and was so sad about the selection.

i need some flat-ish boots, too. i have a pair of black suede flat ones, but i'd like a dressier pair. i guess i'll spend some time on endless.com tomorrow...

I'm still considering going with these guys; most of the products aren't amazingly styled, but they're good ENOUGH and the sizing could save my ass cos I can't find anything else.

Laurel I have these Duo boots:

http://www.duoboots.com/images/2007/boots/2_casual_bologna_1.jpg

I seriously wore them almost every day this past winter--they're really comfortable and sturdy. And, yeah, they fit my calves, which is nice.

woah those look cool!

i wore a pair of black sued shorter boots last winter but they were destroyed by weather and city streets.

Aw Lub, those are one of the pairs I really like! I'm glad they're so awesome for you.

i love tall boots but can't really find a good way to wear them.. never been keen on the jeans-tucked-into-boots thing (not that it doesn't look good, just not my style).. and I feel like tall boots with a skirt usually looks strange on me. been wearing this same pair of black boots with a sort of rounded heel (brand is mosquitos, can't seem to find them in the states) for 8 years though, i would like new ones..

http://i8.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/c1/a4/825b_1_sbl.JPG
huh, found a pair of this brand on ebay but not sure if these are my cup of tea

attn tall people: h&m currently has some cute, missoni-ish knit maxi-skirts.

one piece i really need: a really basic nice kind of jumper-y dress that can be either layered underneath, worn solo or worn with a sweater/jacket over, depending on how dressy it needs to look.

That would be the ultimate dress, wouldn't it. You didn't say anything about the cut or color or style that you want, though.

attn tall people: h&m currently has some cute, missoni-ish knit maxi-skirts.

as a tall person, this is good news.

color = probably black/neutral. if i found a really great one i would buy it in a couple of colors.

i don't really know dress cut names? i guess a slender cut. and a square neckline with thick straps if that makes sense. like a fitted jumper.

a tunic?

not really a tunic...something that goes to just above my knees, with a fitted waist. haha sorry i suck at describing this

I think I know exactly what you mean. Jumper is what I would call it too.

attn tall people: h&m currently has some cute, missoni-ish knit maxi-skirts.

Oooh. I am into this idea I think esp for fall but I haven't worn a long skirt in ages. What kind of shoes go best w/ long skirt in cooler weather?

Boots.

with that particular skirt, i think boots would be best. it really depends on the style, though.

yeah i am always having issues with the shoes/long skirt combo. i think good boots would help, yes.

i was at a bar with a girl last night who was wearing a 90s-styled black powersuit. i was like damn girl, what kind of executive ass did you kick today

The giant yellow buttons are falling off my yellow jacket. ;_; Have to buy some yellow coat thread and re-sew. Sigh. The quality is actually perfectly decent for the price-point, but no buttons come from the factory properly secured.

Just for reference, T, I know my style is pretty conservative but the brands I bought at Christmas were Relativity, Evan Picone, Laura Ashley (seriously a hilarious cardigan), Jones New York... stuff like that.

None of them are especially creative with their seasonal output but they're all good basics for layering with some hysterical accent pieces cropping up here and there, especially if you're not really going to wear them in the style the manufacturer intended.

Oh and I kind of hate broadcloth (like Oxford) dress shirts because they NEVER FIT but my mom bought me one from Lands' End for Christmas and I swear it's a pleasure to wear. Also it's some new "No Iron" treatment and always looks really good. Want more.

Do you feel like there are no good clothes in the stores, or that you look at things and you can't tell whether they'll be "good" or "bad" on you?

i feel like every single store is filled with things i hate. nothing looks nice anymore. it all looks like trendy stuff that will go out of fashion in 2 weeks and then you're stuck with a closet of 'lol remember when that was in? what were we thinking!?' (although these days i don't even get that far bc most of the trendy stuff i don't like). or the quality is not nice - i find if you look at grey suits or pinstripes and it's not a super nice fabric, it starts to look cheap really quickly, even at a mid-range price point. i feel like banana/ann taylor used to be good for finding nice looking, well-cut basics but i couldn't even find any tops i thought were versatile or not too trendy. all i want at this point is a black suit with pants that are not dumpy and a jacket that is long enough but cut to have some nice shape and is not boxy (all these suit jackets are short-waisted or cropped, and that is a big no for my frame. i am also seeing lots of jackets with cropped sleeves. ew.) and an assortment of shirts (some colors, some neutrals) that i can wear with it. why is that so hard???

If you're getting annoyed by tops, may I gently suggest some solid-color sweaters? A turtleneck/rollneck collar will fill in the top of a suit, or a round jewel-neck will give you room for a necklace or scarf. Lambswool, cashmere if you find good stuff on sale, whatever yarn you're comfortable wearing next to your skin (probably not cotton b/c cotton sweaters look a little casual for a suit & they don't wash well).

It's stretchy, it doesn't have to be as fitted as a woven top, and it leaves room for chunky jewelry or a brooch or something as an accent.

I really like short-sleeved turtleneck sweaters, btw. Not as hot under a suit jacket in the office.

I am wearing one today in fact. Under a grey pin-striped Alfred Dunner suit jacket. Unfortunately I had to pair it with jeans b/c I was too lazy to go to Macy's on the weekend and buy any more tights.

Have you considered Talbot's at all? They can be really lol conservative East Coast Old Guard but that also means that you can count on their basics to age well. I don't have time to look through their whole website right now but it seems like a go-to store for classic dressing.

Quick glance suggests they have the cropped-sleeve disease, but I am totally susceptible to that condition and in fact love it, so...ymm obviously v.

Quincie, who makes your suits/what brand(s) do you like? T is broad-shouldered and relatively slim in the hip and leg, maybe a menswear style would suit her more?! I have no idea who makes affordable men's-style suits for women because I couldn't wear one in a million years.

I have broad shoulders, too, but do have hips. Anne Klein (not to be confused with Anne Taylor) has been good for me for suits, though I always have to have the pants tailored. J. Crew has also been useful because then I can get a size 6 long jacket and size 8 tall pants (which still have to be tailored, grr). I like that J. Crew suits are made from decent wool and are fully lined. Isabel and Nina is a younger-looking line that I have had luck with. I've had Calvin Kleins that had good menswear styling. I dunno basically I just end up with armloads of suits from sales racks (or Filene's or Lohmans) and try them all on and *maybe* end up with one or two that work. I aim for a jacket with a good fit and pants that can be tailored into submission--it is amazing what a good seamstress can do to take in dumpy pants and make them look nice.

Oooh, I have really liked Isabel and Nina suits that I've seen. Never owned one, but I'd like to.

They have a decidedly "younger" look--sometimes I think they border on the trendy, but they have some more classic styles without the boxy fit I expect from a lot of lines.

i hate cropped sleeves!!! l, i love sweaters, i just haven't seen any i really liked. although i guess the larger issue is not seeing any suits i like and walking into stores to be bombarded with crazy weird print yellow and black dresses screaming at you when you just want something plain. i went to talbots but it kind of sent me running! even white house black market seemed like party clothes and not something i'd want to wear in a professional situation i don't know, it's strange. maybe an odd time of year? i feel like all the spring looks that are in stores now are super casual and would just look sloppy on me. i miss filene's basement! damn you, casual city!

so does j crew only sell suits online? because i went in the store and they had no suits at all :(

Maybe just online or at larger stores? I always have to do online because that is the only place to get extended (i.e., tall) sizing.

If I had mad cash I would do Hugo Boss suits all the way.

Maybe Seattle is weird? ;_;

it is v weird ;_;

i mean no one ever claimed it to be a fashion capital or anything but wow.

http://images.bloomingdales.com/is/image/BLM/products/4/optimized/1030914_fpx.tif?

Basic black Boss suit.

oh that is nice.

Yeah Boss manages to be not boxy, good fabric. $$$, though.

Oh man there was an AKRIS suit at Filene's that I died for, but not in my size :(

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/products/mg/NMT2FRP_mg.jpg

oops, too small. But <3

Re the black Hugo Boss, I think, "That woman looks awesome in that suit" but then she would anyway, because she's thin and leggy.

this is sooo annoying!

Yeah see there is no way I would wear that to work.

but that is on the "women's suiting" page of j crew! this is the type of thing that is making me so aggro when i go shopping!

Oh god really? That is horrible.

Today I am wearing a Tahari suit; not a brand I recommend as they tend to be v. boxy. However the boxyness of this particular jacket appealed to me somehow.

Good lord that's horrible. The J Crew, I mean.

omg I totally horrified that J Crew is only showing the suits all broken up! You need to see the jacket WITH the pants/skirt wtf???

What's scary is that J Crew has more suiting choices than Brooks Brothers :(

Not actively trying to be boring here, but would you consider

http://s7.landsend.com/is-viewers/dhtml/images/spacer.gif

?

It's from Lands' End. Here.

GRR well follow the link anyway. And it's on sale!

yeah! it's ridiculous!! if you click on the jacket there's usually an option to see the whole thing but they're styled horrbily.
xpost

Or there's a 3-button gabardine jacket in black, navy, or khaki. You'd have to buy the pants separately but they offer them to match. Some sizes sold out in some colors -- this is the sad part of "on sale".

could work with some tailoring. at least the jacket is not cropped!
those pants look dumpy on the model, though :( will look around at that site!

so here is a fun thing: i went to jc penney lol. anyway i got this jacket and some black pants for a total of like $55 and that will have to tide me over til i have the time and $ to invest in something else better. i wish i could figure out how to remove the shoulder pads bc i def don't need them but they are sewn in between the lining and the outer and i am afraid if i open the lining stitches i will do something weird when restitiching and it won't lay properly.

wait scratch all that. i am taking it back. yesterday i got the pants for this look and the jacket is on order (out of my size in store). 25% off and infinitely nicer than the worthington look. i hope the jacket works out, but if not i will probably keep the pants anyway because they are pretty decent and ended up being like $55. i think it looks nicer irl than in those pics on the site (another case of v bad styling/posing).

huh that didn't work
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/outfit.do?cid=40130&oid=OUT17278

http://bananarepublic.gap.com/Asset_Archive/BRWeb/Assets/Product/702/702700/big/br702700-00vliv01.jpg

Good work! I've never had a jacket tailored, but I have had pants and dresses made infinitely better with some nipping and tucking.

Today's work outfit will be the PJs I slept in: snow day in DC = work from home pour moi.

GAH I have so much laundry to do.

i wore the pants today with a too-big jacket i already had... they definitely have some stretch in em. i may have to have them tailored a bit. also i had a total emergency situation where my foundation dripped when i was putting it on and got on the leg of my brand new black pants !@#)(IOFJKv

i learned from googling that you can use rubbing alcohol to get it out, which mostly worked! i was amazed. i wish i had known this ages ago because i have this pair of grey slacks that has a foundation stain that WILL NOT COME OUT and i think washing them just set it in more.

Today's work outfit will be the PJs I slept in: snow day in DC = work from home pour moi.

welcome to most of my december lol.

holy shit i sold my soul (read: checking acct) to the ann taylor factory store.

I think this is the right thread for this.

Flu shot season is starting, and I'll be doing intake paperwork for flu clinics (at grocery stores, nursing homes, etc.). We're required to wear clothes that are dressy casual/business casual or better. (I'm the only clerk that actually follows this dress code, but this is the only chance I get to dress up for work, and I'm taking it.) I've got two questions.

1: The black pants that I've been wearing for the last three years are badly faded. I'd like to get a new pair or two. What style would you recommend for a 180 pound 5'5" woman with a long waist, short legs (I wear petite pants and skirts because of this), and a slight belly?

2: What kind of shoes should I wear with a just-below-the-knee (there's a formal name for this length, but I forgot it) denim ballerina skirt?

i needed a new suit and bought the first one i tried on yesterday because it was passable and i was not interested in trying on suits all afternoon. am i going to regret this?