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Washable Workwear Wednesday: The Cate Classic Tie-Dyed Buttondown

Machine-Washable Work Clothes· Recent Recs

When I saw this I knew I NEEEEEDED it. It is completely within my wheelhouse — button down, cotton, loose fitting, and tie-dye. The pink version looks so fun and cool — it’s summer vibes in a shirt. It needs sunglasses and a margarita to be complete. For my workplace, I could probably get away with wearing the “blue motif” version; it seems like it could be more professional looking than the other two and dressed up more easily. Right now it’s on sale for $58.80, and keep checking back since Anthropologie has been running a lot of sales lately. It is available in sizes XS–XL, and “citron” is available in plus sizes 1X–3X as well. The Cate Classic Tie-Dyed Buttondown

Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.

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About April

April is a working mom, a longtime reader of CorporetteMoms, and wrote our morning fashion advice for working moms from April 2018 to October 2020. She has one child (born 2/17!) and she’s a public interest lawyer in NYC.

Comments

  1. Anonymommy says

    My mom wore a shirt like this for her annual hippie Halloween costume. Nope.

    • GCA says

      But now I know what I might do with my 5yo at Camp Shelter In Place. That and braiding lanyards.

    • Anonanonanon says

      I actually normally DESPISE tie dye but I don’t think I hate this?

      • Anon says

        +1

        To me it looks more like an abstract floral than like tie dye (I definitely don’t see any patterns that suggest fabric that was tied in knots before being died, the way we made our own t-shirts in the 90s!).

        • CCLA says

          Yes, you’ve nailed it. I love this, and I normally wouldn’t touch anything tie dyed…definitely because it looks like happy water colors rather than my 3yo’s preschool project!

  2. Pogo says

    OK hive I need all the help today.
    1) Toddler has started doing that thing where they pretend they are a baby, because they know you are having a baby. Demands to be carried like a baby, fake cries ‘wah wah’ in an annoying voice. We watched the DT which addresses this and I try to channel Mom Tiger and say things like, “OK if you’re a baby, you can’t turn on the light like a big boy!” He just thinks that’s hilarious.
    2) I’m sure related to my pregnancy and the insanity that is covid house arrest, we are majorly sleep regressing. He’s been in a toddler bed for ~2 mos and it’s like that time never happened. We’re back to me (and it has to be ME) sitting in his room til he falls asleep, or walking him back to his room every 3 minutes until he finally crashes at 9pm, and middle of the night wakeups where he sits at the threshold of his room (yknow, so technically still IN there…ugh) and whining for me (has to be ME).

    All the advice is like, keep kiddo’s routine the same! Give him some extra time so he knows you will still be there for him when the baby comes! etc and all sorts of covid-impossible solutions when there’s two FT working parents in the house.

    • lsw says

      I am hearing this. I am not pregnant, but my 3.5 year old is doing a LOT of baby play. He is also VERY mommy-oriented right now with a lot of screaming if I don’t put him to bed. My soon to be 14 year old wants hugs and snuggles all the time. It’s really strange to observe from the outside that this is how they are adapting. It’s also really hard from the inside to deal with people touching me alllll theeeeee timmmmmmmme.

      I agree that all the advice is just impossible to follow. I saw something about food that was like, “have structured snack times and meal times!” Sure, I’ll just make sure I tell my boss he can’t call me at pre-determined snack and meal times. Uh huh.

      I’m sorry it’s so hard. I can’t even imagine being pregnant on top of all of it. Hugs.

    • ifiknew says

      How old is he? We had to go back to a crib for my daughter. Unless you are night training, maybe go back to crib? or try a product called door monkey, it’s like a lock, but it doesn’t lock completely and they can peek. Might be time for some old fashioned CIO if this doesn’t resolve in a week or so. Exhausting I know. Hugs

      • Pogo says

        Ooo the door monkey looks interesting. We do have toddler-proof door knob thingies that during the first phase of toddler bed transition I put on once during a CIO situation, and now I can usually just threaten that again and he goes back to his room. Maybe time to bring that back or get this other contraption.

        Unfortunately, he was climbing out really frequently and we had no incidents but I worried it was only a matter of time. He’s pretty nimble but a broken arm is not something I need in my life right now, so we’re staying w/ the bed. Plus want to move him to his big boy room at some point.

        That’s also a good point that CIO might be in order. I caved last night because we’ve had such crap sleep and I was like, can’t deal with a super cranky toddler so I need him to sleep however I can (as it was, he camped out on his threshold from 1:45-3:30 a.m.!! Kid has stamina). Maybe on the weekend when we don’t have to work?

        • CCLA says

          We loved the door monkey and coupled it with the hatch rest. We transitioned older DD to a bed on the floor a little before 2 since baby was coming soon, and we basically turned her room into a giant safe space and took the position that we didn’t care if she was sleeping as long as she was inside when the rest light was set to purple (her cue for “bedroom time”), so it had the same safety aspect in that we didn’t have to supervise her if she wasn’t physically in bed. There were a few nights of some crying but it was pretty short lived, we we eventually settled on something like one check in after initially getting tucked in and no more after that unless she had a legit issue like we’d forgotten to leave her a water cup.

          Also, yes I realize locking kids in can be problematic, but our view was that at that tender age of 22 months, most of her companions were still in cribs so she was no worse off than that. We stopped locking her door at night when she was almost 3 and we no longer worried about her safety if she got out in the morning and wandered around the house (and because she was potty training and needed access!).

          If your door does not accommodate a door monkey, we also have had success with a sliding “top lock” (search that term for examples) for the door.

    • Anon says

      The only thing that has solved the me rocking our toddler to sleep (and, like you, has to be me), recognizing this goes against every piece of sleep advice I’ve ever gotten but is working for us, is giving her the tablet when she goes to bed and confiscating it if she wants to stay in our room (and if she stays in our room, I have put a blanket on the floor and she knows she needs to bring her pillow and blanket from her bed to her “blanket bed” if she wants to stay in our room). 2 nights in a row (MIRACLE) she has fallen asleep on her own in her bed (and I retrieve the tablet for charging after she falls asleep). But even every other night (our track record the last couple of weeks) is so much better than it was before. MOTN she still crawls into our bed, but spending half or three quarters of the night not getting kicked is a huge improvement.

    • DLC says

      We went through this sleep thing when I was pregnant with our third. I ended up sleeping on the floor of toddler’s room, next to his mattress (kiddo slept on a crib mattress on the floor), and then going back to my room around 2am when I had to get up to pee anyway. My husband hated that the pregnant lady was sleeping on the floor, but I figured at least this way we all sort of got sleep. (This was also the phase when the oldest decided she wasn’t going to put up with sharing a room with the crying toddler and started sleeping in the guest room). Things are better now (nine months later). Sometimes we still have to sit with him til he falls asleep (3 out of 7 nights I would say.). I tell him that I will sit with him, but I’m going to read on my phone and he has to stay in bed and not talk to me – so at least I get some reading done…

  3. lawsuited says

    A week ago I thought that DH and I trying to split full-time childcare and our full-time jobs while being able to leave the house very little was the worst. But a week into being isolated from DH and the kids recovering from pneumonia, and none of us being able to leave the house at all (except for me going to the hospital), DH and I are psyched to go back to regular physical distanced programming. It will feel relaxed compared to the crisis mode we’re in.

    • Anon says

      Oh that’s terrible!! Do you have COVID-19? It’s awful regardless, I was just curious. Have your husband and kids stayed healthy?

      • lawsuited says

        I’m not eligible for testing, but I’ve been told to assume I have Covid-19 based on symptoms. I’m a healthy 30-something without any underlying conditions who got my flu vaccine so pneumonia would otherwise be pretty unusual. Neither kid has had any symptoms; DH had a bit of a cough for a few days last week.

  4. Little Victories says

    I slept all night! For multiple nights in a row!

    I sleep trained my five month old because I figured I’m already in a global pandemic, I deserve some sleep. I did the full on extinction version, which I felt too bad to do with my first. Worked like a charm! Baby is quiet from 8pm to 6:30am in her own room.

    And my three year old is now fully observing her Okay to Wake clock instead of getting up ready to party at 4:30am.

    This was my first leisurely morning in a long time.

    • Sleep Training Too says

      I’m with you. I just sleep trained my 5 month old for the exact same reason. We did graduated extinction via Taking Cara Babies but I’m hesitant to drop night feeds. Baby is breastfed but I worry 5 months is a little young to fully night wean.

      Is yours also breastfed or formula fed?

      • Sleep Training Too says

        To clarify, we’re on 2 scheduled night feeds that I wake the baby for. Taking Cara Babies says to wean them but I’m kind of a wimp.

      • AnonLaywer says

        Mine is 4.5 months and I’m keeping usually 1 but occasionally 2 night feeds plus a dream feed (depends on the night). But she dropped in weight percentiles at her 4 month appointment and is breast fed so I want to make sure she gets as much as possible. I don’t know.w.

  5. Used Infant Clothes says

    Is there a good resource like poshmark, etc where you can cute used infant clothes that are in decent enough shape?
    I was on Zulily this morning and I love JoJo Maman Bébé (so cute!) but not the price tag for something that will be grown out of very rapidly. Has anyone found a good online secondhand store for clothes? There are a few Once Upon a Child stores in my area that are of course closed right now.

    • CPA Lady says

      I buy a lot on facebook groups like smocking hot mamas (and its spin off groups) and properly purged. The admins are typically very strict on these groups so you’re not going to be buying a bunch of trashed junk, because they will kick people out of the group so quickly for selling something in bad condition. Also you can buy kid and baby clothes on poshmark. I’ve done that too.

    • TheElms says

      There are BST groups on facebook for most of the expensive brands (Tea, Boden, Hanna – I’ve never looked for JoJo but it probably exists). I’ve had good luck with them.

    • CPA Lady says

      I’m stuck in mod, maybe for naming specific f b groups? But I use those mainly. They have a ton of smaller sized nicer baby and kid clothes.

      P r o p e r l y P u r g e d and smock ing h o t m a m a s and its spin off groups are the main ones I use.

      If there is a particular brand you are looking for, there will probably be a second hand f b group for that particular brand. The larger groups seem to be generally more strictly moderated, which I appreciate.

      • Anonymous says

        CPA Lady – question for you on the BST facebook groups (and anyone else who wants to respond on BST FB groups). How do you keep up with these? Granted, I am not into the smocked clothes, so maybe this is different (I also only look at facebook maybe once a day at night) but jeez, I feel like one minute after something is posted in a group, it’s gone. Specifically, I like the Kyte Baby footie pjs. They’re about $30 each new. And people sell them used for around $25 plus shipping. It just seems like a lot of hassle to save a few dollars, but I am perhaps missing some of the tips and tricks you all use to be ready for these deals.

    • AwayEmily says

      This is not what you are asking so feel free to ignore, but I save my “really nice” infant clothes (Hanna, Boden, etc) and then when one of my friends has a baby, I pick out a couple of things and fold them/package them up nicely with tissue paper and a new toy in a gift box and send it to them with a note saying something like “These clothes were so special to [my kid’s name], hope [your new baby’s name] enjoys them too!” I think it’s a step up from giving people a giant bag of used clothes to sort through (though lord knows I do that often enough too!). And I like knowing they are going to someone I know.

      • AwayEmily says

        oh I’m an idiot you were looking to BUY nice clothes, not SELL them. Sorry.

  6. octagon says

    Seeking recommendations for S/T/E (not math focused) ipad games for pre-K, K, or 1st grade level. Happy to pay for good content but finding it very challenging to sort through everything.

    On the math side, we love Moose Math and Elephant Learning ($).

  7. Anon says

    Some good-ish news…Fauci was asked about school in the fall at yesterday’s briefing and while he gave the standard caveat that he can’t predict the future, he said he was very optimistic about it, and he didn’t think there would be any reason not to open in the fall if cases declined steeply beginning in late April/May as predicted.

    • Anon says

      i saw that as well, which i agree is great! but his answer did not totally make sense to me. he said we will need to have rapid testing + the antibody test and that things still won’t be the same…. high schools near me have 4,000 students + teachers/staff. they walk through the halls to switch classes, etc. so this would mean we can have events with 4,000+ people again?

      • Anon says

        I took the “things night not be the same” to mean things like people might be required to wear cloth masks in public (based on results from Asia I think this could do a lot of good) or maybe that schools would need to take certain steps to minimize contact like smaller class sizes or teachers switching room instead of students. But he sounded overall very optimistic about school happening in person in the fall, which was encouraging to me.

        • Io says

          Rapid testing and antibody testing means that we may certify people who’ve had Covid-19 to go out while not allowing everyone out. And rapid tests means we’ll use hot-spot shut downs. So nationally schools may be open only to recovered students or may need to be prepared to shutdown with only a couple hours notice.

          • Anon says

            Shools being open only to recovered students doesn’t make any sense to me. If social distancing continues, well less than 5% of the country is going to have this virus between now and August. (Currently only 0.1% has had it – I know some experts have said real cases are 10x reported cases, but that still only puts us at 1%). It does not make sense to have schools open for a handful of kids. I agree about rapid testing; I also think states with few cases should enforce mandatory quarantine periods on students who have traveled out of state (which will discourage travel and hopefully keep the community safer when people do travel).

          • Anon says

            having schools open to only recovered students sounds extremely undemocratic to me and almost seems illegal? i also do not see how we would get a bunch of preschool kids or teenagers to keep masks on all day.

          • Anon says

            Yeah I don’t think you can bar students from public education because they don’t have antibodies. There would be a million lawsuits about that.
            I think teenagers would wear masks if they had to though. If the alternative is no school and no contact with friends, the teenagers I know would mask up in a heartbeat.

          • Anonymous says

            This whole “you can return to normal life when you have antibodies” idea sounds very dangerous to me.
            I know a lot of people (myself included, tbh) that would be deliberately trying to catch the virus in order to get the right to return to work and school. Wouldn’t it be better to gradually resume normal life, starting with the essentials of work and school, but take measures (masks, testing, limits on travel and non-essential gatherings) to keep spread to a minimum? I just feel like the whole “recovered people get a normal life; everyone else is on lockdown” thing is going to totally backfire with everyone trying to get it at once to be “free” and we’ll have another huge outbreak. It also feels so dystopian to classify people based on the results of blood tests.

    • avocado says

      School in the fall scares the heck out of me. At my daughter’s high school, kids are packed into classrooms and the lunchroom like sardines. There are no windows, so there’s no fresh air. The kids never wash their hands. It would just take one asymptomatic carrier to infect the entire school. And don’t even get me started on sports practices and choir rehearsals. There was a choir in Washington where 45 out of 60 members were infected by an asymptomatic carrier during one rehearsal, and two died.

      If schools are back in session in the fall, my employer will feel even more entitled to pressure me to go back into the office and start traveling again. Even though our state’s stay-at-home order specifies that everyone in my org should be working from home, our office is still open and people (who are incidentally mostly over age 60) are still going in FOR MEETINGS. I don’t think I’ll be able to get a doctor’s note, either. I’m high-risk, but at my regular appointment just two days before schools closed my doctor didn’t think it was necessary for me to work from home. I may have to become a home-schooling SAHM.

      • Anon says

        I don’t know why the idea of school five months from now “scares” you since you can always opt out and keep your child home. The idea of kids missing another whole year of school is way more scary to me. The privileged kids of commenters here will be fine, but there are a LOT of kids for whom no school means no education, no supervision, no hot meals, the opportunity to get involved with dr*gs and criminal activity, etc. It’s not like every kid or even most kids has an attentive, educated parent homeschooling them.

        • Anon says

          I also agree that the idea of kids missing more school than they already are scares me way more.

          • Anonymous says

            We aren’t going to be much more prepared to handle a massive number of cases in the fall than we are now.

          • Anon says

            We will (theoretically at least) be a lot more prepared with large amounts of rapid testing, which means we might not get a massive number of cases even if/when the virus returns.

        • avocado says

          Fauci himself has said that there’s likely to be a second wave of infections in the fall. Now he’s saying that we might achieve herd immunity over the summer, which seems unlikely unless we totally abandon our efforts to flatten the curve and let the virus run rampant. I’d like to see school districts preparing to help kids with substantive distance learning options, meal service, etc. instead of assuming that everything will be back to business as usual in the fall. Our district’s approach is, let’s let parents pick up some paper worksheets and sack lunches and we’ll just call the rest of the year a total loss, then get back to learning in September.

          • Anon says

            Fall for seasonal viruses usually means November/December. School is supposed to start August 3 in my state. I agree schools should be better prepared for the possibility of online learning than they were this semester, but it seems really premature to declare no in-person learning for the semester when we could easily have three or four months of normal instruction before a second wave.

        • CCLA says

          Both views can be valid. Even if you can keep a kid home, opting to do so may have lots of downsides for both the kid and the parents. I’m scared we will be faced with two bad choices and have to pick the less bad option, without knowing ahead of time which will ultimately be less bad.

  8. Anonymous says

    I am heading into the second trimester and wondering if people have any recommendations on clothing. I’ve been wearing sweatpants and no bra or a camisole or one old bra with an extender which is getting pretty old and not sustainable as it gets warmer. (Although one perk of WFH!). I did order a coobie bra based on some recommendations from old posts. I own some yoga pants but they’re just uncomfortably tight. Any thoughts appreciated!

    • Anonanonanon says

      I got coobies my last pregnancy based on posts here and it was the best.decision.ever. So, definitely the right choice there!

      I preferred dresses throughout my pregnancy. Old navy probably has some jersey ones in solid colors that you could accessorize. It’s the most accepted way to get by without pants, unfortunately.

      • Lyssa says

        I agree, as long as your legs are warm, dresses in stretchy material are by far the most comfortable pregnancy-wear. Nice, solid colored ones can often be dressed up or down pretty easily. And definitely get yourself a new bra!

    • Anon says

      At home, I wore sweatpants or running shorts throughout my pregnancy. Shorts were regular size; I think I had one pair of maternity sweatpants and a couple non-maternity pairs one size larger than I normally wear, which was good for postpartum too. For work, I liked jersey dresses (with tights in winter but that won’t apply to you). I didn’t need to size up on bras until I bought nursing bras so no advice about that.

    • Anonymous says

      This is probably TMI, but I could not stand wearing underwear while pregnant. I wore a lot of maxi dresses and a sloggi zerofeel bra.

    • Pogo says

      To feel more put together I am wearing maternity jeggings at home. I have a pair from AG (Nordies I think) and HUE which I got on Zappos (But also available at Nordie’s I believe). Then yes, coobie bra, maternity tank, and comfy sweater. I also recommend investing in maternity leggings – I wear them for everything (working out, lounging, yardwork, etc). I probably have like 6 pairs (but like 4 were hand me downs from friends/sister in law).

      There is no reason in my mind to wear a real bra. None.

    • DLC says

      I also wore mostly dresses while pregnant last spring/ summer. Uniqlo makes these tank/ tshirt dresses with sewn in bra cups. They aren’t maternity, but they are pretty stretchy and I wore mine at least three time as week during all three trimesters.

    • Anon says

      Maternity yoga pants for WFH, soon to be maternity shorts. Once we’re back in the office, strongly recommend dresses.

    • Anonymous says

      I’m 21 weeks and have found sizing up one size in the lululemon align leggings to be much better than maternity leggings (plus, can wear them after). I’ve been wearing leggings at home with tunic tops, maternity tees/tanks and lots of open cardigans. I still have sweaters and non-maternity loose blouses that fit, so wearing those for now too. I have 1 pair of maternity jeans so if I feel the need to be more put together I wear those.

      Once I go back to work (when/if…), I will be in dresses only!

    • KatieWolf says

      Second pregnancy here, and I bought the storq bundle, plus one extra dress. It’s basically all I’m in right now, bc the material is SO SOFT. Also, lululemon aligns fit me (in pre-pregnancy size) thru 3rd tri, and their cool racerback is long and stretchy enough to wear throughout as well. So storq for day, lulu for exercise.

  9. AnonATL says

    Hello from 24 weeks!
    I’m a weird one that prefers pants over dresses. I really love the Levis baby bump jeans on Amazon. I own both the skinny and boyfriend cut. They have a couple inch wide elastic in the front half, so its not full panel, and the back is a normal jean look. I find them incredibly comfy, especially the boyfriend style.
    I got a couple of the cute tshirt maternity dresses that are fine, but not practical for me at home. Old Navy and Target both make inexpensive ones. I also have one maternity maxi dress I got on super sale in February.
    Loungewear, I have 1 pair of “maternity” sweatpants, utter nonsense, from Motherhood Maternity. They’re just regular sweatpants.. My pre-pregnancy sweatpants, workout leggings, and gym shorts fit fine so I just wear those under the bump. If not, I would likely just go up a size and get non-maternity bottoms that are stretchy enough to hide under the bump and will work post-pregnancy.
    Up top its bralettes (I’m like a D right now, so it’s manageable), maternity tshirts or tanks. Then a cardigan in the morning until it gets to be 70ish here in Georgia by the afternoon.
    Being pregnant while working from home is the best. You really don’t need a secondary professional wardrobe, and no one else notices when your clothes are getting too snug.

  10. Anonymous says

    My kindergartner is zooming with her 4 besties from preschool. they all go to different elem schools, except one girl who is in my daughter’s class, but they do a bunch of activities together and have been friends since they were like 2.

    You guys, it’s hysterical. They are gossiping, talking about their hairstyles, telling jokes and stories, they are like….big kids. “What are you guys reading?!” “My mom made me do a math sheet AGAIN.” “Oh X, I love your earrings!!” “Omg X you are so gross. Go wash your hands.”

    I’m dying.

    • Anon says

      Amazing – while I was juggling two conference calls at the same time, my toddler (2.5) decided to video chat my mom. She snuck an unlocked phone off my desk and knows to open the folder with the G apps, click on Duo, navigate to grandma’s photo, and press the video call button. She was showing her the movie she was watching, telling her all about her blocks and little people and that she took a bath this morning. And then says “bye” before hanging up on her.

    • Anonymous says

      “Guys, wanna year my new song? It’s from my newest album.” !!!!!!!

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