Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have an idea of what brand is one step up from AT/BR? I have a number of both suits but would like something a little bit nicer.

Brooks Brothers

Not if you are tall. A lot of tall women I know (including me) love BR, but Brooks Brothers just does not fit tall bodies.

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette 148 is the step down from Armani. Agree with PP who mentioned quality varies, but I've generally been happy with their stuff.

Thirding this suggestion.

Lord and Taylor. Formal or dressy you cannot go wrong.

Lafayette 148 is the step down from Armani. Agree with PP who mentioned quality varies, but I've generally been happy with their stuff.

I think someone mentioned Talbots on the other thread, but I have a number of their suits and they've held up great. For comparison, I also have AT and BB suits, and much prefer my Talbots and BB suits to my AT suits. I have only BR blazers, so I can't compare their suits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jones New York and Anne Klein. Check out the Leesburg outlets.

Even if you find BB stuffy, you can mix up a conservative suit with a more fun blouse/accessories.
My advice is get the best quality fabric you can afford and get it tailored to fit your body.

That's a good point. I totally agree about getting the best quality. I wish there was something just a step below Armani.

I'm the PP that buys Armami for work. Try elie Tahari which is available at Bloomingdales or Nordstrom. Not the $100 Tahari at Macy's. Mid-career I bought a few Classiques suits at Nordstrom that looked and wore great.

I have some excellent quality suits from AT that I bought five years ago. Great fabric, great cuts and they've held up beautifully.

I hate the current styles they have - it seems like they're trying to be trendy.

I'm not a fan of BR. The quality sucks.

Given how much quality has gone done almost across the board, I get lots of my suiting pieces from The Limited. You can almost always get it on sale, and the blacks match season to season. They just introduced petites online, which is great for me, since I have short arms and it's $$$ to get sleeves taken up.

Lafayette 138 if you can get it on sale. Although the quality varies quite a bit from suit to suit - I have some that are fantastic but I have seen plenty that are junk.

I've had good luck with J.Crew suits, as well as BR, Ann Taylor (although all of my suits are older, so can't speak to current quality), and actually, Tahari by ASL. But that's because the latter fit me really well right out of the gate, and a cheaper suit that fits properly is going to look better than an expensive suit that doesn't. Miss the old Loft--they used to have nice women's suits.

Anonymous wrote:Are they all still made in cheap china?

Theory is made in china too.

Are they all still made in cheap china?

Op here. Yeah, BR does not fit well on my curvier short frame. Ann Taylor used to be just right before they decided that lasting more than a year is not a requirement for clothes. brooks brothers looks more expensive than I am willing to deal with. So far I have been making due with macys but I was not pleased with my trip to the mall this weekend so I am looking for alternatives.

They don't hold up to a few trips to the dry cleaner.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have an idea of what brand is one step up from AT/BR? I have a number of both suits but would like something a little bit nicer.

Theory.