Play Your Strong Suit By Jennifer Barger Special to washingtonpost.com Tuesday, September 19, 2000

The ladylike suit is back at Betsy Fisher. LaJuan Payton/washingtonpost.com

"We always have a lot of suits, really at the customer’s request," says Betsy Fisher, the hip young doyenne of the downtown shop of the same name. "But this year, there’s so much variety." Fisher stocks jackets, skirts and pants that are a far cry from those 1980s dress-for-success get-ups. Take Max Studio’s fringe-hem camel jacket ($230 to pair with pants or skirts) or Shin Choi’s cowl-neck brown tweed dress ($255) and knee-length coat.

The most feminine stuff in the store: Nanette Lepore’s lavender and purple mix-and-match jackets, skirts and sweaters, including a knock-out eggplant velvet jacket with a grosgrain ribbon wrap belt ($340). Other autumn bits to fall for: Nancy Nancy’s brown suede, mid-heeled Mary Janes in brown suede with flower appliqués ($225) and Pianura Studio’s furry olive-colored sweater ($185), which looks something like a wearable – and believe it or not – hip version of Oscar the Grouch.

Relish's mix-and-match approach. LaJuan Payton/washingtonpost.com

Uptown at Chevy Chase’s posh Relish, owner Nancy Pearlstein sells fewer matchy suits, preferring combos like Biella Collezioni’s purple wool cashmere jacket ($725) with a long plaid skirt. "We’ve always mixed it up here," she says. "I like to make two or three different outfits with one jacket." And when she does sell traditional suits? "They can’t be dumpy. They have to have a beautiful fit." For example, Biella’s tweedy gray herringbone wool ensemble of short jacket ($695) and sweeping long skirt ($450) looks like something Ingrid Bergman would have worn in a 1940s flick.

Pearlstein also trades in the lush, haute-style clothes of Dries Van Noten, whose divine "walking suit" consists of a mid-length olive tweed skirt ($850) and long, ruffle-collared jacket ($1,175), both with woven mohair accents in orange and gray. Other gotta-have-it goods include Fabrizio Del Carlo’s bright blue patchwork suede skirt ($695) and Gunex’s cropped wool pants in crayon-box hues of baby blue, moss green and rust.

The big chains also interpret fall's feminine, suit-obsessed style. Nordstrom carries a nice selection of separates, including Garfield and Marks’s glam crimson zip jacket with faux-fur cuffs and collar ($365), Talora’s Nehru jacket in oatmeal wool ($395) with matching pants and Vertigo’s Burberry-esque beige-and-black plaid pantsuit ($155 pants, $355 jacket). Like the smaller boutiques, the Seattle-based department store mixes and matches suits with other pieces like French Connection’s wool-cashmere camel pants or skirt, chunky sleeveless turtlenecks or blouses in Op Art prints, 1970s stripes and other "Valley of the Dolls"-inspired patterns.

Lower-priced lines – including BCBG for Nordstrom and Caslon (in Point of View) – translate the trends well, with finds like Caslon’s cowl-neck mohair turtlenecks ($58) and snappy little jackets. At discounters like Loehmann’s and Filene’s Basement, the hottest fall looks show up a bit later than they do at the chic boutiques. But both cheap-chic behemoths do have a good selection of suiting and new looks. At Filene’s, last season’s BCBG separates in red or black wool still look trendy, as do tweed jackets and skirts from Gianni. At Loehmann’s, a mammoth suit selection ranges from a law-partner conservative Tahari number in black gabardine ($259) to Narciso Rodriguez’s mustard wool tab-collar jacket ($399) and Fendi’s deconstructed pants and jackets. Just-out-of-school career girls who need corporate chic for work should watch for Loehmann’s promotions, such as a recent one offering two suits for $199.

Overall, the stores seem to suggest that dressier, more formal work clothes are back for fall, and that – gasp – women are buying them. "We are doing so well with suits," reiterates Relish’s Pearlstein. "They were dead for a long time."