MyShingle Fashion: Suits, Suits, and More Suits!

I’m back with something far more useful for this site’s readers: Suits! Suits to wear to court! Exciting. Some of you harassed me about suits on Twitter and I went poking around for cute ones in different price ranges in the hopes that you will return my kitten unharmed.

When looking at suits, you can go with either pants or skirts. An interesting note on pants and heels: apparently, the rules have changed, and you can wear pants that hit at exactly your ankle bone with your normal pumps. (Before, pant legs were supposed to be a little longer, a little lower, if you were wearing heels.)

As for skirts, the skirt should hit your knee. That’s not particularly shocking. But lest you’re surprised later, take a chance to sit down at the store when you’re making your selection. Do it in front of the mirror so you can see what the client or partner or judge will see. If it rides too far up, obviously you need a different size.  Even blabbing about things you already know – let’s get to the suits!

I picked some relatively expensive ones, but I picked a number of suits on sale, in lower price rangers, too.

A simple three button pleated skirt suit. Snap notches, too. I’d wear this with a pretty printed shell and shoes in some color other than black. Maybe purple or green.

I do like pinstripes, I have to admit. This is a cute 2 button pantsuit from Jones New York – on sale!

Since I’m all about options and, um, exciting alternatives, in addition to that black pantsuit I offer you this gray-black pantsuit. COLORS ARE FUN!

This two-piece is from Anne Klein and is $149.99. A little more interesting than the black on black, and the jacket is pretty cute.

This is actually a 3-piece, in the sense that you get the jacket, the pants, AND the skirt for $100 total. It’s great for the struggling law students or new lawyers who don’t have that much cash to spend as they try to nail that interview. Suits are necessary, and thanks to Macy’s, you’ll be able to mix and match and hopefully no one will be wise to the fact that you don’t actually own two different suits here.

I saw this Cavalli suit and had to include it. You’re welcome. I don’t like how long the pants are. I’d get them shortened, for sure. But then again, I’m a square.

So. Pretty.

Again – so pretty!

Another reasonably priced skirt suit, but this time in gray. Hah, this reminds me of the ‘issue’ we had in the comments section of my first post. Apparently someone reallllllly didn’t like that I suggested wearing a skirt suit to a law firm interview.

Now, Corporette says that lady lawyers should NOT shop at Express. And Corporette also says that we should all buy one size up because apparently clothes that actually fit us are inherently too sexy for the workplace.

I don’t know, it was hard for me to follow such bull-plop logic.

I do not agree with those statements, as you might have brilliantly deduced by now, and that’s why I picked this cute suit from Express. It’s a one button jacket (love! Most of my suits are one-buttons) with tweed editor pants. I own quite a few editor pants from Express and love them all. If you agree with Corporette, please close your eyes and scroll blindly on down to the next item.

We are finishing off strong with this lightweight suit from Banana Republic. Wool suits are the best – quality fabric, strong, durable, and they breathe. Speaking of that, if your suit is all or mostly wool, it’s better to get it steamed. You’re not spilling mustard on it all over the place (I have a no-mustard-in-public rule for this reason, because I can’t be trusted, and I also can’t have nice things) and you’re not running marathons in it. Chances are, when it’s time for it to be cleaned, it doesn’t reek or anything.

Dry cleaning it actually wears it down and degrades the fibers a lot faster than necessary. Since it’s probably not in a terrible, stinky state when you take it in, just get it steamed. That will clean the suit and keep it in better condition far longer than if you keep dry-cleaning it.

And there we have a bunch of suits, some reasonably priced, some not so much, to be worn to court and wherever else fancy-pants are required.