HRHMom: Why am I not in NYC? Our Saks no longer carries St John. The St John in the city is very helpful. Mr. Ellebud and I were in the city two years ago…and they really helped find some fabulous things. And Mr. Ellebud didn’t mind…they gave him some scotch (single malt) and he was fine.
I would go with the right styles, but I would not necessarily go with St. John…which I’m not a fan of.
I think this gal needs quality…but if you spend too much, she will never upgrade again. Get classic styles, good quality, and things that can swing from casual to more dressy with the addition of accessories.
And as noted…don’t forget the foundations!
Some St. John’s is great. Some screams old lady! Their styles have updated a lot over the last 5 years.
Saks has a whole floor of the bridge stuff too on sale (Diane Von f) on 5. shoes on 9.
Bloomingdale’s, Saks and Lord & Taylor will all have personal shoppers. You will not likely find one at Ann Taylor and surprisingly their store on 5th Avenue, diagonally across from Saks is pretty small. Half the inventory is for Petites. Both Banana Republic and J. Crew are located there also.
SAks and Neimans are far better for full wardrobe help. That said, I love Nordstrums for my son. BR is more hit and miss.
" Is Theory that much, too?"
No, but not inexpensive either.
Imo, St. Johns is on the frumpy side.
Plenty of Theory at Saks, too.
Emilybee, lawyers sometimes have to wear “frumpy”, i.e., dark colored pencil skirt suits. They spruce it up with shoes, blouses, and bling. What sets St. John apart, IMO, is its suits still look presentable and not wrinkly after a long commute in wet weather.
Another brand worth looking at is Max Mara. Great italian craftsmanship; cheaper than St. John, but still $$$. Looooove their dresses and suiting coordinates! The coats are simply heavenly.
A notch below in price is Lafayette 148. The quality is not always there, but some pieces are great.
Also worth looking at is Hugo Boss for women: suits, blouses, dresses, and especially shirts.
I highly recommend getting a quality blazer and coordinating slacks and skirt. The rest of the stuff can be assembled piecemeal from lower tier labels.
It is a great thing you are hitting the stores while the big sale is still on. I highly recommend browsing the sales rack; periodically, there are gems at amazing prices.
I’ve gotten Theory clothes at TJMaxx.
I think it still makes sense to go to Saks to get the idea what fits and what does not work and to get some strater pieces; then the friend can learn to shop online and at discounters.
I agree BB. Plus the folks at Saks will help her with a “plan”.
I was just saying…Theory clothing doesn’t have to be full retail.
If you can get her to spring for a couple of impeccably fitted Hugo Boss suits, she may be so thrilled with having gorgeous tailoring that she might be hooked on shopping:
http://www.hugoboss.com/us/womens-suits/
With her long slim body type, this jacket style would look great and can be paired with just about anything:
She has (obviously) been getting away with wearing the same pieces for 25+ years and they have served their tour of duty. Perhaps you can persuade her to “amortize” the cost of her new wardrobe over the remaining years of her career. The classics never die. As mentioned above, she can cut corners with blouses and accessories to round out her new wardrobe.
I think it is really, really difficult to build a business-friendly wardrobe right now. At least in LA, very few women lawyers wear suits – or even structured jackets – except to court. For non-court days, I tend to stick to a uniform of trousers, tank and structured jacket (usually in the brands mentioned on the thread) and I’m starting to feel very fuddy-duddy and out of touch. Women just don’t dress like that to the office any more. I’m seeing a lot more dresses with sweaters (or even sleeveless dresses to the office), or pants with unstructured cardigans, pencil skirts with sweaters, to the office. Because of the lack of a uniform, it is hard to figure out what to wear. I have a fairly extensive collection of the more youthful styles of St. John jackets and those especially feel very out-of-style all of a sudden.
For structured suit-type blazers, my favorite brand right now for tall women is Burberry. I have a few Burberry blazers and the cut just feels more contemporary. They are expensive but Off Fifth Avenue often has them. The Saks 70% off sale will probably have them.
(Unfortunately someone just spattered coffee all over my beautiful cream Burberry jacket and I didnt notice some spots on the back that have now set for a week or so. 
)
The one kind of structured jacket that still feels fresh is the asymmetric, zip moto-style jacket but I have a feeling those will be out of style soon. But that’s the style of jacket I see younger professional women wearing most often.
You might check out the blog corporette. Many of the women on there are lawyers who still wear more business style dress.
I’m not sure I’d go St John. That could be aging especially on someone who already isn’t up to date. I like the suggestion of Theory. At a lower price point what about Laundry?
OP’s friend practices on the East Coast and she’s in her 50s IIRC. There is also a significant regional difference in style. Whenever I’ve attended large meetings or closings with people from different regions, it’s interesting to see the differences. In situations like that, most female attorneys I know start out conservatively dressed then, after the week wears on, it’s interesting to see what comes out of the packing. YMMV.
Meeting with a Saks personal shopper tomorrow morning! I promise to give a run down as to how things go. I am going to copy and paste a lot of these suggestions and brands into an email I’m going to send myself. So any other suggestions for what to look for in Saks, keep 'em coming.
If I were shopping for me, then visiting all these different stores, including the discount ones, would be a blast. This woman hates shopping, which is why she wears clothing that is so old. (Another telling anecdote is when she wore the outdated pantsuit she bought for a bat mitzvah 13 years ago to a wedding last year. It just never occurred to her to buy a new dress – her logic is, if it’s in the closet and worked 10-20 years ago, why wouldn’t it work today?) I fear that the only way to get her to go shopping is if I go with her. What I probably should do is arrange to meet her at an outlet mall to get things like blouses and sweaters and business casual pants. She likes discounts.
Her motivation? Well, even she realizes that her clothing is falling apart. This venture started when she was packing for a presentation and realized that none of her blouses were presentable and that she wouldn’t be able to take off her blazer the whole time. A group of us explained to her that if she wears old-fashioned clothing, she may be perceived as old-fashioned and not up-to-date in other things as well. She is smart enough to understand that. (She frequently complains that management doesn’t take her seriously, and I wonder if her wardrobe contributes to that.)
Since I live in a different city than her, I can’t go and look at her closet, or help her select one item at a time. I’ve actually never seen her work clothes.
Thanks everyone!
Good suggestion above to check out Corporette blog. Lots of attorneys post in the comments section. Another good blog is Capitol Hill Style. She often posts clothes in high, medium, low price points. If you had the time Nordstrom Rack does have great deals on high end suits and separates. I stalk our local Rack regularly for professional suiting for my Ds. If you can get to a regular Nordstrom they are having their regular Anniversary sale right now.
So I may be totally off-base here, but I know three professional women who have used StitchFix and love it. They have the same personal shopper who sends them stuff every two months based on a profile they fill out, and they’ve pretty much been right on with what they send.
What I’m thinking is, if this woman gets some well-made, classic suit pieces, she could eventually start adding a few pieces to make it pop through Stitch Fix. I’m also thinking, if something comes in the mail to her every couple of months, she might be more open to things that she doesn’t have to go out to a store. The Stitch Fix pieces will not be of the same quality as some of the stuff you’d get at Saks, Nordstroms or Bloomingdales, but again, these would just be accent pieces - blouses, scarves, shells, etc., and maybe she’d like them enough that she would be willing to start weeding out some of her decades-old casual stuff, too. The people I know who use it are employed full-time, and just hate taking time out of their evenings and weekends to go shopping for work clothes.
The problem with stores like Nordstrom Rack is that they are very hard to take for people who hate to shop. I hate to shop and I can’t deal with Nordstrom Rack; I become overwhelmed in 5 mins. That’s why the personal shopper idea makes sense. But she needs a budget and a list of target items.