Blast from the Past: Would You Wear These Today?

I was thinking, how I’m always amused to stumble on older pieces that we’ve featured here on Corporette® … sometimes they still look good, or I remember liking them. Other times, the styling or the featured piece of clothing is just… fug.

Anyway, I started thinking… it might be fun to share some previously featured pictures with you guys, and discuss — would you wear these items today? If so, how would you style them in 2024? If you’ve replaced items like this in your closet, what are you wearing instead of them?

First up, some of the things we featured on August 20 over the years… today we’re starting in 2018 because the stuff we recommended in 2019 is still available (a dress from The Fold).

On August 20, 2018…

I still really like this dress, which was $398 at Brooks Brothers. I was particularly excited that it had a concealed back zip.

I feel like this was at the very beginning of the loafers-with-dresses trend.

Sheath Dresses We’d Recommend Instead

Dresses like this are a lot less popular now, but if you’re on the hunt, here’s what we’d recommend instead today…

On August 20, 2015…

Urgh… I think we all had a blazer like this at some point in our closet. It isn’t offensive, per se, it just isn’t very remarkable, either. The fit isn’t great even on the model, the collar kind of can’t decide whether it’s a waterfall or collarless… it just doesn’t look sharp.

At the time I compared the waterfall jacket ($81 at ASOS) to the “classic silk waterfall jacket, Becky” from Rebecca Minkoff, which I don’t remember at all. It’s pretty dated, though…

Did you have waterfall jackets in your closet then? How did you wear them, and what have you replaced them with today?

On August 20, 2013…

I think this J.Crew blouse has stood the test of time — while that peachy pink color was definitely VERY popular at the time (it’s very close to Millenial Pink!), the rest of the details still look lovely.

The silk blouse was $178 at J.Crew; because we were in the midst of a secretary blouse trend I was all for the split neck seen here. “They strike me as less fussy than a silk collar, but more easily layered (such as with a blazer or cardigan, or even a contrasting cardigan if the V is deep enough) than the silk bows.”

On August 20, 2012…

Our Splurge Monday pick was this knit blazer from Theory, $333 at Bloomingdale’s. I was horrified by the rest of the suit and joked about it, noting that I loved “the wool herringbone, the perfect charcoal, and the schoolboy fit. And the rest of it… well, let’s just snicker and move on.” (All of which you could DEFINITELY see from the tiny photos we used then…)

This was how the rest of the suit looked:

I would STILL probably wear the jacket, and the miniskirt would actually be a total find if I came upon it in a thrift store today. But I would never think to wear it with a matching suit blazer.

Sweater Jackets We’d Recommend Today, Instead

If I remember correctly this was a knit, so here are some of our latest favorite sweater jackets for the office in 2024…

On August 20, 2008…

Sooooo… this was our Suit of the Week! It is, I think we can all agree, a LOT OF LOOK. Even at the time I wasn’t sure about it, noting:

Another week, another suit! This week’s suit is by Nanette Lepore. We’ve actually had wildly different reactions to this suit: the first time we saw it we thought, oh, hell yes — but then we saw it again and thought it was a bit fug.

Now we’re thinking it’s fabulous but perhaps only on very tall girls? O, confusion. Things we like: that rich-looking knit blazer with the button details on the hip pockets and cuffs, the ruched sleeves, and the belt detail at back.

Things we’re unsure of: the skirt and it’s ruffles. Jury’s still out on the knit itself, too.

Hilariously, the name of the suit was “Don’t You Dare,” and I must say I agree with that… don’t you dare wear this sucker today!

The one thing I do like still in 2024: the wide neckline and shrunken fit to the blazer, although this may just be because I owned a short-sleeved Nanette Lepore jacket that had very similar details, and happened to get engaged in it (Friday night after work), so it has a fond place in my heart! If I recall it was a yellow floral pattern, maybe against brown? Not very much my usual thing at all.

Shrunken Blazers We’d Recommend Instead (Today)

Bonus Accessory (from August 20, 2010’s Weekend Open Thread)

Le sigh… these shoes seemed so normal for a time period, with the platform and the shootie/bootie vibe… for someone who finds heels much more comfortable if they have straps on, I can’t say I hated this era, but boy it looks pretty dated now, doesn’t it?

These Michael Antonio shoes were $71 on sale at Endless.com (remember Endless?!).

Nude-For-You Sandals We’d Recommend Instead

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