• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, March 13, 2007

A friend of mine used to paint her fingernails red on Friday nights but removed the polish on Sunday so that her co-workers (at The New York Times!) wouldn't think she'd had a wild weekend.

Imagine being concerned with what people at work thought about what you did on your own time. Apparently, two decades later, women still are concerned about being seen as sexual beings. At least, that's what Bluefly, Inc. would have us think.

In new TV ads that run through April, the online retailer portrays the professional woman as needing to wear a new outfit to the office after spending the night at her male co-worker's place. The ad, which comes in 15-second, 30-second and way-too-long versions, shows two easy-on-the-eyes office mates discussing tonight's dinner date. During the meal, he gets a call and takes it in the coatroom. There, she attacks him open mouthed and desirous, needing, wanting ... sorry, got carried away. Body parts and lace follow.

In the next scene, she is stepping out of the shower at his place in the morning. He has taken delivery of a package, a box marked "Bluefly," which, he says, "just came for you." "What did you think I was going to wear to work today?" she asks, rhetorically and, surprisingly, not sarcastically.

In the news release sent by the company, the female character "is imaginative and remains one step ahead of her love interest." She represents "what we imagine the Bluefly customer to be - confident, stylish and always prepared."

The woman is stylish, we'll give 'em that. Yesterday she was wearing a lovely, tasteful sleeveless black dress, the kind we all have in our closets, with a black jacket. How she is said to stay a step ahead of the man here we don't know. Was there a contest we missed?

Bluefly says its commercial invites the audience to ponder what they would wear to the office following a weeknight sleepover with a date. Men? Let's hear what you'd wear. New tie? No tie? Would anyone notice? Would anyone care? Of course not. In fact, anyone who did notice would likely give a man kudos for the get.

"The Catch" is, as promised, sexy. We wouldn't mind changing places with our heroine. But do we need a new outfit? Honey, pack a scarf. Or pick one up on the way in. That's what we'd do before we spent hundreds to have lover-boy take delivery of ... wait a minute, how did she know she'd end up at his place? (How embarrassing it would be to have clothing delivered in absentia.)

Maybe this woman really is confident. Still, we'd either accessorize or, as Bonnie Raitt so liberatingly sang, give 'em something to talk about.