It's all about the clothes

[rolanni]

Back in the Dark Ages, when Rolanni had to appear daily behind a desk, she was an early adopter of so-called "menswear trousers" for women. These were fitted at the waist, fell smoothly, had nice, useful pockets, broke at the instep and wore like iron.

Now that there is somewhat more of Rolanni than there was back in Those Days, and she mostly works at home, her clothes are divided into "everyday" -- read, jeans and t-shirt or jeans and flannel shirt, depending upon the season -- and "con clothes" -- involving wide-sleeved, flamboyant shirts, and leather. Neither one of these lifestyle choices is reasonable for office wear. That being the case, I went looking for a couple pair of the old-style menswear slacks.

...only to find that -- at my usual sources, anyway -- "today's body-hugging fashions" have totally eclipsed the classics. Trust me, you don't really want to see a middle-aged, six foot, 170 pound woman in belly-button-baring lycra crop pants.

So, anybody have a lead on classic clothes? Pointers very gratefully received.

Comments

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

I live rather distantly from Maine, so I'm going to have to keep to on line sources.

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/
Coldwater Creek calls itself "unique" but I have found their offerings to be close to classic, comfortable, and they are extremely well made: seams finished, sewn to proper sizes, and they wear well. ( I particularly love their outlet near here, in Lesburg VA)

http://www.landsend.com/
Landsend calls itself casual, but I've found quality office wear there, and they have always stood behind their quality. They've been purchased by Sears in the past couple of years, so i don't know current policies, but I've had items that had been worn by one child replaced when I asked for a new zipper toggle to use for the next: no hassle, didn't even want the original returned. They also hem pants and have an online 'model' that adapts to the measurements you type in to show you how their clothes will fit.

http://www1.talbots.com/talbotsonline/index.asp
The Talbots is what I grew up knowing as the "Classic" store... after Best & Co folded. High quality, very New England reserved style. Excellent customer service.

Hope this helps somewhat. I'm kinda used to offering this type of help to many of my local fiends: I'm about the most 'vanilla' person in the crowd of Rennfaire and performing artists that I usually run with.

[od-mind.livejournal.com]

Land's End and Talbots were the two I was going to mention. I'll note in passing that fit is a very personal thing -- I buy most of my office clothing from Land's End because they fit me well off the rack (once I figured out what sizes to ask for) and allow returns for any or no reason. Other people I know have had less luck with LE and more luck elsewhere.

Talbot's is the poster child for classic adult female clothing, but they ain't cheap. Anne Taylor is another similar provider, less to my taste.