Unsuitable

September 12, 2018

Top Winnipeg fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera walks outside Oseredok wearing a Zara moto jacket and carrying a Louis Vuitton Speedy 25 bagPortrait of top Canadian fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera wearing Anine Bing Los Angeles sunglasses and a Zara ribbed tank topTop Paris fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera sits outside Oseredok in Winnipeg wearing Mango trousers and J. Crew Esme kitten heelsOutfit details on top Winnipeg fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera including J. Crew Esme pumps and a Louis Vuitton Speedy 25 bagTop Canadian fashion blogger Cee Fardoe of Coco & Vera stands outside Oseredok wearing Mango trousers and Anine Bing Los Angeles sunglassesZara jacket (similar)
Zara tanktop (similar)
Mango trousers
J. Crew heels
Louis Vuitton bag
Anine Bing sunglasses
& Other Stories necklace (similar)
Madewell rings
Urban Outfitters earrings (similar)
Location: Oseredok – Winnipeg, Manitoba

When I first graduated from university, I got a job as a bank teller. Despite the fact that I barely earned enough to pay rent, the job required that I wear a suit to work every day. My co-workers and I were all young women. Unable to afford the required jackets and unwilling to bend to arbitrary dress code rules – because in truth, we were all well-dressed considering our budgets – we did our best to fake it, wearing a variety of black jackets that didn’t actually meet the requirements but were close enough to keep us out of trouble.

That job made me loathe suits. I could write a treatise about why, but what it boils down to is pretty simple: no suit jacket ever made me count cash any faster. The rule was purposeless, arbitrary, and designed to keep low-level employees in line. Our jackets weren’t so much a uniform as a form of managerial control over our bodies. It was only a few months before I landed a much better job. But for years after, I stayed away from anything resembling a suit. The few months I spent forced into a suit jacket on a daily basis left me with real sartorial scars.

Ironically, it’s since I’ve left corporate office life behind and moved to work remotely that my relationship with suits has finally improved. At twenty-two, wearing a jacket and trousers feels like playing dress-up. At thirty-two, it can be elegant and effortless, provided you do it right. For example, I still wouldn’t be caught dead in a matching jacket and pants, unless the full suit was perfectly tailored to my frame – and even then, I would want to pair it with sneakers or glitter pumps to keep it from feeling conservative. I still prefer to mix and match, pairing trousers and jackets in different colours to break up the look. A black jacket thrown on with black pants looks like a suit. A beige jacket over black pants looks like you just grabbed your jacket on your way out but happened to make a perfect choice.

It seems silly, but I still hate getting dressed for the rare work meetings I do attend. The workday suit will probably never be for me. But I’ve finally reached a point where I can appreciate a good suit under the right circumstances – those circumstances just can’t be work-related.

Where do you stand on suits?

5 comments so far.

5 responses to “Unsuitable”

  1. Courtney says:

    When I was on the job market as an academic I had a small collection of interview suits and just hated wearing them. I love a good pair of pants and a blazer (which is pretty much what I wear all the time to work now – not because it’s required but I’m the person in charge so I feel like it sets a good office tone if I at least appear in blazers a few days a week) but I loathed the matching jackets and pants/shirt combos.

    Courtney ~ Sartorial Sidelines

  2. If I am dressing up? I prefer a pencil skirt, fitted sweater and pumps to a suit. However when I worked in the corporate world I loved wearing my suit – it probably also helped that it wasn’t mandatory in my case! And I must say, your take on the suit is gorgeous, it’s polished and like you mentioned totally effortless, which is my fave. I’m a huge fan of adding something unexpected to break up an outfit!! xo

    PS – Thanks again for such a lovely phone date!! Had SO much fun as always!!

    http://www.girlandcloset.com

  3. Lyddiegal says:

    When it comes to trousers, I feel like they never fit me quite right, but I’ve always gravitated towards blazers. Over a tee shirt and jeans or a dress, they make me feel so put together. Granted, I very rarely wear them these days, but I still love them.
    https://www.iamchiconthecheap.com/

  4. Lorena says:

    I love suits. They make my life simple. I do not have to think much when getting dressed.
    However I stopped wearing them because they went out of style and I was always overdressed. Although the latter I do not care for.
    I loooove your hair.

  5. Stylease says:

    That’s a killer style, Cee!!
    You made me jealous babe. . .
    Xo
    Esha
    https://www.thestylease.com/

Cee Fardoe is a thirty-something Canadian blogger who splits her time between Winnipeg and Paris. She is a voracious reader, avid tea-drinker, insatiable wanderer and fashion lover who prefers to dress in black, white and gray.

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