Best place to shop for "professional" clothes

I''m a teacher/grad student, and I personally find clothes from Banana Republic to be the best for my needs. I like to look polished but comfortable. The clothing breathes well and I feel that the fabrics hold their quality/shape if you''re good about how you clean them.

I also shop at J. Crew and Marshalls, because you can find some really nice stuff if you''re patient! :)

I like J crew and Express.  Both affordable, good quality and they look nice.

Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft when they have their sales.. you can find some screaming deals. I don''t know if you have any outlet malls near you, but I have recently found them to be really amazing of late. I love J Crew and I have found some really nice Worthington and Jones NY wear at *gasp* Penneys. Right now, I''m all about pinching pennies... H&M has some great pieces!!

Though it has already been mentioned, I love Banana Republic, as their range of clothing is rather large in terms of dressy, business casual and professional attire for work. Also understand that you do not have to spend a fortune on your work clothes to look put together. For instance, Gap has wardrobe basics that can be paired with a couple of higher end pieces to give you the professional look you are going for without looking like a poor grad student.

Check out 6pm.com, as they have great prices on wardrobe basics, accessories and shoes.

Gap, Banana, Express, J Crew, Ann Taylor

Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft are great.

A good place for button-up shirts is Lands End. You can order online or go to a Sears, they have a great Lands End section (much to my suprise). If you are a bit busty and have problems with gaps on button-up shirts, I LOVE Rebecca and Drew (www.rebeccaanddrew.com). You can order all their tops by length and your bra size

If you are near outlets, Nordstrom Rack, Off Saks 5th Ave and Neiman Marcus Outlets are always great for amazing quality items and reasonable prices, especially if you are a patient shopper and are willing to sift through sale racks. For that matter, Bloomingdales has AMAZING sales. You can get quality cashmere sweaters for the same cost as a lower quality one from other stores.

Happy Shopping!!!

I think the answer to this question could be totally different based on the person's age. Amanda, I think we're relatively close in age (late 20s, early 30s), right?

I buy most of my work clothes from Banana Republic, JCrew, Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, and NY & Co. Sometimes I shop at Nordstroms as well, but not often. Also, a lot of what I buy I get from the outlets, you can get great deals there.

I do most of work clothes shopping and New York & Co. They are the only place that have a pants selection that I like in tall. I am not that fond of their shirts. I like to buy shirts from Macys and Victorias Secret. I almost forgot Kohls is pretty good for work shirts.

I like to buy basics from Banana, and then I add a bit of whimsy with pieces from Anthropologie and thrift stores. My workplace has a pretty casual dress code, though.

I like Ann Taylor Loft, Express, and Macy's.

I personally get all of my "professional" clothes from express and occasionally other stores like Ann Taylor.

Talbots and Brooks Brothers are good too.

I think all of my work clothes Are from banana republic with some from ann Taylor as well. They both have a wide selection and good sales

Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft are all my favorites! They have great websites for online shopping and great sales, too!

Nordstroms is my favorite. But I have pieces from Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, bloomingdales, talbots, etc.

IMO I would work up to the following.

Invest in two good suits... three pieces if you can find them. Black for one. Gray or Navy for the other. Or Brown. Wool only, or wool and stretch IMO.

Buy 3 other nice skirts-- at the knee. With a nice pattern or plain. Good quality.

Buy 3 blouses. I love Nordstrom Rack for these. Try not to get too many sleeveless.

3-5 cardigans. With something for under them.

And three additional slacks. I like to have an extra pair of black slacks, and beige/camel, navy or gray or chocolate.

If you like to wear dresses, I do, I would try for three nice dresses as well.

This is a super old thread but I gotta say I have been really impressed with Talbots lately. Not sure when they started making "younger" clothes but they have some cute stuff.

Thanks for bringing this thread back up Tacori! I'm going back to work part time for the first time in 6 years and need all new work clothes. I'm totally stressing about it. Ugh. I will definitely be hitting some of the suggested stores.

Written by Feb03Bride » August 26th, 2011, 8:42 pm:Thanks for bringing this thread back up Tacori! I'm going back to work part time for the first time in 6 years and need all new work clothes. I'm totally stressing about it. Ugh. I will definitely be hitting some of the suggested stores.

I love some of Talbots stuff, but usually think it's overpriced. But they have frequent sales. However... their outlets ROCK. We have two here and I've gotten some amazing deals. If you have one near you I highly recommend it.

I really liked Gypsy's recommendation regarding what kind of clothes to buy.

I try to weed out my closet, but it's hard to get rid of items for me (DH accuses me of being a hoarder). That is one of my goals for this fall...to whittle my closet down to items that I actually wear.

I'm not the best person to answer because I'm not a working professional, but I'd think some place like Land's End would have very durable clothing and they do have suits. I've also been happy with the quality from Banana Republic and Gap.

Written by Gypsy » August 27th, 2011, 5:20 pm:

Written by Feb03Bride » August 26th, 2011, 8:42 pm:Thanks for bringing this thread back up Tacori! I'm going back to work part time for the first time in 6 years and need all new work clothes. I'm totally stressing about it. Ugh. I will definitely be hitting some of the suggested stores.

I love some of Talbots stuff, but usually think it's overpriced. But they have frequent sales. However... their outlets ROCK. We have two here and I've gotten some amazing deals. If you have one near you I highly recommend it.

I agree! I only buy sale items! Luckily they send out coupons and have sales often. I will have to see if we have an outlet here!

I'm fairly conservative in professional dress and have two main stomping grounds, Ann Taylor, Brooks Brothers Outlet and if I want to go wild Banana Republic. I can always count on these stores..

But we went to Rome for vacation last year and staying within the confines of the professional look I like, sheaths, sweaters sets, skirts, I found these great dresses that I just have to post- they have the classic look of the stores I like to shop, but taken up a notch with the great European style of the amazing Italians... also picked up a bunch of the scarfs European women of so casually wear to finish their incredible look.

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Those are lovely dresses. When I was thinner I had a bunch of stuff from Europe and it was just like your dresses perfect tailoring and conservative but with flair.

My favorite pieces and where I bought them:

My black suit. I bought it from Nordstrom and paid full price for it and it's a Lafayette. They tailored it so that it fits perfectly and it's all season wool with stretch. It's classic and when I put it on I know I'm dressed just right for any professional challenge.

My Jones New York slacks from Macy's. I have 4 pairs of the same slacks. Black, two different grays, and brown. They wash at home and dry perfectly. I use Woolite. The only problem with these is they never go on sale. But at 80 a pair they are pretty affordable considering how much wear I get out of them.

And my favorite cardigans are my winter ones from Banana Republic. Their merino wool cardigans are super quality. And just do not die. Unfortunately I only managed to get two black ones last year so this year I'm hoping to snag a two more in other colors. I also have a really nice Jones caridgan set in Navy that surprises me with it's quality each time I wash it.

I used to pay a lot for camisoles from Ann Taylor and Banana but I switched to Old Navy and have been pretty happy and saving a ton.

I have a couple fun blouses (Nordstrom Classiques is the best for these IMO) and a two dresses that were SUPER cheap (20 bucks each on clearance) from TJ Max (one is calvin klein and the other is unknown) but are the pieces I get the most compliments on. I've been drooling over Nanette Lapore at Nordstroms, but she doesn't make anything in my size. Still her tops and dresses are to die for.

Dresses are the best, IMO because on those mornings when you crawl to the closet (Thursdays for me) and just do. not. care. what you wear it's ONE decision, one piece and it's DONE. Underwear, shoes and out the door. I hate panty hose so I skip them... and since I live in CA, it doesn't matter a bit.