I currently only have 3 professional outfits in rotation because I don’t need to dress up THAT much for school. I need to start building up a professional wardrobe for my IB internship next summer and I was wondering what are some reasonably priced brands I should look to. Also, are professional dresses okay?
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Ann Taylor, J.Crew, Anthropologie ($$), Banana Republic
What about Calvin Klein dresses? Or are those too mature?
Love CK dresses and suits, Basically all of my professional clothes are J Crew or Calvin Klein
Would casual wear for work be dresses? I know the guys talk about the Patagonia vests as their casual.
Is Theory too much for an intern?
Unrelated - but I just saw a bunch of Theory stuff on sale at TJMaxx!
online?
Short skirts ONLY
pretty much my entire professional wardrobe right now is Ann Taylor and J.Crew. they have a lot of reasonable and versatile pieces.
Ministry of Supply is a good one.
I like Calvin Klein dresses, they have some nice, simple ones and are easy to maintain. I also like dress pants from Express -- I think their clothes in general are hit or miss in terms of quality, but you can still find some worthwhile staples and they're pretty affordable, especially if you get things on sale.
Loft Outlet, JCrew Factory, and Banana Republic Factory are also good if you're looking for quality professional clothes on the cheaper side -- they're just the discounted version of the stuff in typical stores! Express is also solid and tends to have really good sales
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Rent the Runway Unlimited is also great for nice dresses/suit sets once in person meetings come back.
I usually get suits from Ann Taylor and banana republic during sales, and I get my shirts and accessories at TJ Maxx for the most part. I recommend looking throughout the year for the sales rather than buying all at once, I’ve gotten a lot of high quality clothes for cheap that way!
Lululemon for dress pants! the in power cropped pants and noir crops are so great for a business casual office. I own 6 pairs of Lulu dress pants and swear by them all. Very easy to dress up or down.
I'll also echo that J. Crew and Banana Republic are great places to start building a wardrobe. Sale sections are the place to go! I would suggest buying a lot of staple tops that are easy to wash so that you don't need to go to the dry cleaners. You can always find solid shells at BR factory for $10-$20 each.
Where can I get good dress shoes? I'm looking for a pair of loafers, or some kind of low heel. What is generally acceptable in the office?
I like going to Nordstrom Rack for dress shoes, since you can get good quality (which is important when you're wearing them all day in the office) for a fair price. I usually go for flats with a pointed toe and small block heel, they're comfortable but still look polished. I think Sam Edelman has some nice loafers, I have the plain black pair that I usually wear with dress pants on casual Fridays. And I have a couple of Hazel pointed heels from Sam Edelman as well for more formal occasions, I think they're the most comfortable from the different brands I've tried and not too expensive.
Thank you so much!
Recommend theory and mm lefleur for dressy wear
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