Stara has a question about suiting:

As you may have noticed (not at all due to my incessant mentioning of this fact), I am an attorney. And I have been informed by an inside contact that I will likely soon be contacted by an ultra conservative employer regarding an interview. For which I honestly need a new suit. The last “interview” suit I bought was nearly 6 years ago, and it is showing it’s age.

My query is this- I am 27. How do I buy an interview suit that is both job appropriate and does not betray my age? I don’t particularly want to plop down $400 on a suit I will never want to wear again. I’m willing to spend a fair amount of cash so long as it is on something I actually like, and not something I feel forced into buying.

I think Stara has exactly the right attitude here: she wants a suit that will make her look professional and competent, but she doesn’t want to go into the interview pretending to be someone she’s not. And she absolutely wants to come out of this with a new job AND a suit that she can actually WEAR to the new job, something that will work with her current closet.

That sounds like a big request, but it’s actually fairly simple, as long as she keeps a few things in mind as she shops.
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An embarassingly long time ago, I had this very nice e-mail from Jaime.

I have lately begun to buy all my clothes from the Lands’ End catalog because it makes dressing myself a total no-brainer in the morning. (I am not a morning person and neither are my two girls, ages 1 and 3.) Plus–I’m embarrassed to admit this–but I HATE to shop. Yikes! I know–I am so missing the girlie genes! So, I have ended up with a closet full of Lands End’s 7-day chinos and button down collar dress shirts in all colors. Sort of like a guy’s closet. Occasionally I will throw on a dress from J.Crew just to shake things up a little. I work in the local Farm Bureau office, so I don’t need to “dress up” very much. I also am completely hopeless with the iron, so clothing that doesn’t need pressing is very appealing to me. Especially since we don’t have a dry cleaners here in the small town where I live. (I am in a very rural part of Missouri.)

What can I do to make my wardrobe more “girlie” without losing any of the versatility that I have now? I frequently walk or bike the 2 miles to work. I would like to add accessories, but I’m clueless about what kind. I don’t own any belts and I almost never wear earrings or even a watch–mostly because I never know what to buy. I get sort of overwhelmed anytime I step near a jewelry counter.

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