The pre-fall styles have arrived at MM. LaFleur. Textures, patterns, transitional colors, it’s great. Here are my favorites, in case you need a little something extra to brighten your day and spruce up your closet.
I thought we’d start with my favorite piece in all the new releases. How fantastic is this dress? Flowy, sophisticated, versatile — fabulous. The small print, of jacks, is lovely. Had to have it, no excuses.
This top is one of my favorites. The knotted neckline looks great under a blazer. The slate color is great with black, grey, navy, or ivory. Too busty for this style? They Fey top comes in a gorgeous eggplant and it’s extraordinarily slimming.
This textured ponte dress is a great Friday dress or not-so-busy Monday dress. It’s comfortable, easy, comes in great colors, and wears well desk-to-dinner. It also comes in plus-sizes.
This sweater, a must. There might be five items in my home that I feel as strongly about as this sweater. Cold office? This sweater. Not feeling well? This sweater. Traveling, lounging, walking the dogs on a chilly fall day? This sweater. Don’t take my word for it, buy it, you’ll wear it so often that you’ll need other colors. Also in plus-sizes.
An empire waist is a nice change of pace. The print is a black-and-white pebble. I’d wear it over a black tie-neck blouse or under a long black jacket.
Every time a new run of MM. LaFleur pieces comes out, I try to tell myself that I won’t buy anything. And then, I see the one thing that is fabulous beyond words and I have to race the other women to get it. It’s exhausting, but necessary.
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Ummm I want all of these, now! My poor bank account…
Can you please find some knock-off versions of the sweater? You’ve sold me on the utility. However, I just can’t bring myself to spend that for a sweater, at the end of the day.
I just ordered this, can’t vouch for it just yet, but it looks cozy! https://www.jcrew.com/p/womens_category/sweaters/cardigans/wrap-cardigan-in-supersoft-yarn/K2809
Great find, thanks! I’d rather stick to my budget than fall prey to the latest fashion FOMO.
I really loved MM.LaFleur‘s clothing, particularly a few years ago when I started law school and thought I needed expensive clothes in order to present myself confidently in professional situations. Since then, it seems that their recent marketing strategies unnecessarily drive up anticipation for new collections, leading to emotional purchase decisions rather than rational ones. That gives me pause and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It flies in the face of the female empowerment they sell as a company. Plenty of online fashion caters to professional women without enabling emotional spending. Sorry for the rant (kind of), but readers, you too can make smarter financial decisions! Put that $265 towards your school loans instead, the sweater can wait.
Hi M.L., dunno if you’ll see this, but can you offer examples of online fashion companies that cater to professional women without enabling emotional spending? I don’t mean that as snark – it’s just that I can’t think of a brand that doesn’t play on our emotions in one way or another, and I’m genuinely curious!
Really? I find this disingenuous after your recent past post about being down to the last $1k in your emergency savings. If things are that dire it’s fiscally irresponsible to keep shilling new clothing that you “must have” dear readers. Maybe a few posts about shopping your closet for new combinations to keep thing fresh would be more on point.
Yes, things looked financially pretty bleak last month, and that post was written in a dark moment, where I didn’t think I would be able to figure it out. But after I got over the initial shock, I put on my big girl overalls and got to work fixing it. I had to make some hard choices (selling my car was a low point), and take on some legal work that I didn’t initially want to do (but that’s life), but once I made the tough decisions that I was avoiding, the sky started to clear up.
I shared that post with y’all because I think it’s important for people to be honest about when they’re going through something difficult, and eventually I will talk more in depth about the mistakes I made and how I’m fixing it. But I won’t be shamed for buying a dress so that I could feel my best at an important professional event next month. This is why so many bloggers don’t talk about what they get for free, and what they earn, and what they spend, because we are obsessed with telling women their financial choices are wrong.
I trust my readers to know what is a must-have for their lifestyles and their budgets. I do write posts about using what’s already in your closet. I do show cheaper options. I do talk about consignment. I’m not standing here with my closet full of $2,000 bags asking you to mortgage your future to dress like me. But I do tell you when something I’ve bought has been worth every penny and then some, because that’s the kind of advice I want.
Also, I probably could have asked MM to give me the dress for free, but I’ve built this blog by not being the blogger who always has her hand out. And I want to keep the majority of the content on this blog unsponsored and ungifted, so that when there are sponsored things you’ll know the money didn’t change my opinion.
Please keep being you!! I a, a faithful reader to this site because you are honest about your ups and downs, don’t take every free option that comes your way, (and we seem to have the same skin type and I’m holding my breath until my Clear Sailing serum finally ships). There are always going to be haters, but I hope you know that you have readers who understand that even when you’re down to your last $1K, you can still dream about (and buy it if you want!) a $200 dress. Keeping it real is your best attribute IMO.
Belle, I love your picks, and I love your style. Both in instagram, and your writing style and you picks here.
I know EXACTLY what it’s like to be broke. I don’t find anything disengenious about this post, or any others! Just because you can’t have it today, doesn’t mean you won’t get paid in a week or two and can buy it then.
This reminded me of Refinery29’s response to the recent criticism of Money Diaries’ propensity to focus on “unrealistic” high-income or financially-subsidized women. They pointed out that they always receive much higher readership for those pieces, because people enjoy the voyeurism.
I think we all appreciate Abra’s radical honesty on many subjects, but would you honestly look forward to new posts as much if they focused exclusively on budgeting choices? Chicness-to-aspire-to mixed with pragmatism has always been this blog’s brand.
Twice now I’ve gone to the showrooms and bought things I mostly wasn’t planning on. But the clothes totally hold up (wore some pieces weekly last year and they’re still going strong), so I’m not mad about it. Really hoping my next workplace is a blend of “I can wear sneakers, but also MM.LaFleur pieces”.
They do really hold up. I bought one of the first Akiko dresses five years ago; still looks new.
Can you comment on the sweater? I have such trouble with even really high end pieces pilling, and I worry that this one will too. If someone who actually has it and has worn it regularly for a year or more could comment, I would really appreciate it.
Minnesota —
I’ve had mine for two years. It’s typically hanging on the back of my chair at work (so I can don it in the chilly afternoon), but it’s also gone on week-long work travel slogs. Very minor pilling — still looks almost new other than needing to fix the thread holding on the tie belt.
I agree that the Morandi holds up well. I bought the cream in late 2013, kept it on my chair at work and wore it regularly at my desk, and just replaced it this year.
I looked at the sweater, I have some very light pilling under the armpits. The kind I could removed with a razor in less than a minute. Other than that, I have been wearing it 40+ times per winter for 4 years, and I don’t see any pulled threads.
Thanks for this post, Excellent choices and keep on sharing your style with us.
I love my MM pieces. I have several dresses that are my favorite power dresses for work. And I love the Fey top I have it in black and just ordered the merlot. It is ultra flattering. I have a Morandi sweater too in the oatmeal. It is very comfy. Mine is a few years old and still looks good. Yes they are an investment. but i wear them a lot and the quality, fit and fabrics are great. Thanks Belle for showcasing some of the new items!