Suiting Up

Blazer: J.Crew Factory Lightweight Wool Blend, heather graphite, 8P

Top: Uniqlo Rayon Key-Neck Sleeveless Blouse, dark green, M

Skirt: J.Crew Factory Lightweight Wool Blend, heather graphite, 4R

Shoes: Cole Han Tali Bow Flat, black

Only a few weeks into my new job, and I've already had one business trip and two formal "in court"-type occasions, with at least two more to come in the next few weeks. It's quite different from the experience that I'd be getting if I'd gone back to my previous job, and I couldn't be happier.

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Naturally, I now dress in business formal significantly more often than before. I figured it was a good time to share an outfit photo with my new favorite affordable interview suit from J.Crew Factory. These suits, as well as most of J.Crew Factory's more fitted, number-sized items, are generally a better fit for less curvy figures than mine, but the suit with a petite jacket and regular skirt still fits me pretty well. (I'm 5'3'', with petite-length legs, a more "regular" sizing torso, and "petite" length arms.) Outside of the chest (which is just right), the jacket is a little loose and maybe a touch long, though not enough for me to rush to a tailor. I think this photo exaggerates the length of the jacket and skirt a bit. The skirt doesn't cover my knee fully when I'm standing. Also, I've gained an inch in the chest since I last took outfit photos, though the rest of me is still pretty much the same size, which I'm utterly baffled by. This makes me a bit self conscious.

My Uniqlo Rayon blouse is obscured by my phone, but the key-neck opening is small and the top quite conservative.  It's a good suiting top, though it fits rather boxy, and it has been washing and line-drying well. It can get wrinkly if folded up wrong, so I keep it hung up. Do note that this top has a second layer of fabric sewn in right around the collar/neckline, which might show through oddly on the lighter colors. I don't have a problem with this in the light pink, but it's something that borderline could have been an issue, and is probably good to know about before purchasing.

I took this photo in my business trip hotel room. It was my first ever real business trip, and I think I did a pretty good job packing, getting everything, including a few binders of documents, into my trusty Longchamp Planetes tote (current version) and my unbranded rolling carry-on, which I bought years ago in a Beijing tourist market. And well, the trip was only two nights, so it wasn't that hard to pack. I'd always thought that I could never get all my skincare products and makeup into a TSA-approved plastic bag, but with my current pared-down skincare routine, everything just barely fit into a reusable TSA-friendly "Beauty on the Fly" bag (out of stock) that I picked up from Sephora.