Power dressing

The term power dressing relates to a fashion style typical of the business and politics environment of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the expression "power dressing" is no longer commonly used, but the style is still popular. Power dressing arose in the United States in the second half of the 1970s. Power dressing could be analyzed through visual sociology, which studies how fashion operates in the relationship between social systems and the negotiation of power.[1]

The concept of power dressing was brought to popularity by John T. Molloy's manuals Dress for success (1975) and Women: dress for success (1980), which suggest a gender specific professional dress code. Molloy's manuals addressed a new kind of female workers entering in a typical masculine environment recommending them a "uniform" that would have helped them to acquire authority, respect and power at work.[2]

Initially power dressing consisted in a conservative style recalling directly the male wardrobe including tailored suits, jackets with padded shoulders, roll-neck sweaters and knee length skirts. With the power dressing uniform, the female body was divided in two parts: The upper part covered by a jacket to de-emphasize breasts, the bottom covered with a skirt that was a reminder of femininity.[3] These outfits were usually matched with feminine accessories, discreet pieces of jewelry like pearls, diamonds, gold necklaces, earrings, scarves and ruffs. Elaborate patterns such as floral prints were usually substituted by polka, pinstripes and hound-tooth ones. As far as colors were concerned, more sober ones such as blue, black, navy and grey were commonly preferred to feminine ones like salmon pink and red.

The origins of power dressing can be found in the Chanel suit of the 1920s. The Chanel suit was composed by a tight skirt and by a wool, collarless button-up jacket, usually with braid trim, metallic buttons and fitted sleeves.[4]

This suit represented a turning point in the way women dressed. In fact, it was the very first professional suit specifically thought for women, which enabled them to look modern and feminine while feeling comfortable. It included traditionally masculine elements which gave women a very authoritative appearance, but at the same time it left space for a refined and sophisticated look.[5] The most important innovation of the Chanel suit was that it was deliberately designed to adapt to the changing lifestyle of women that, during and after the World War I, were slowly entering previously all-men environments. This suit encouraged women to try to reach their professional goals giving them comfort and mobility to fit with their independent and active lifestyles. According to the costume historian Harold Koda[6] the Chanel suit allowed women of the time to de-sex their feminine look and to have a more masculine appearance in order to be accepted as equals in the professional sphere.

It was only when enough women were clearly established as authoritative in the work environment, that it was possible to renovate the women suit: no more feminized imitations of men's professional garments but suit different in fabric, cut, color and ornament, helping women to show both their authority and their femininity. Wearing a suit did not represent an effort to camouflage with men but an effort to stand out and define a clear visual presence.[7] In fact, it was only in the second half of the 1980s that more feminine garments were introduced in the "power uniform". For instance blouses, usually seen as romantic, were now worn with intricate stock or cravat effect neck wrappings, made up in silk or polyester satin foulard. Jersey knit bodies, buttoned under the crotch, were used to have an elegant silhouette.

Power dressing discourse was significant in building a new type of working woman appearing in the society at the time. The notion of career woman stepped into contemporary society as women reached high powered job positions, which previously were intended to men. With the help of an empowering self-presentation such as power suits, women were trying to break through the glass ceiling. The development of power dressing was pivotal in bringing to public visibility women in executive or business position. It served as a way to construct their image and to make them recognizable at public society's eyes. Women saw this new clothing style as way to detach from the classical feminine meaning of fashion, mainly associated with aesthetics and frivolity.

Power dressing locates power at body level giving a message about women and their profession, enclosing at the same time something about self-esteem and confidence.[8]

One of the main purposes of power dressing was to reduce the female body's sexuality in order to gain authority in the workplace. According to Entwistle,[9] in western culture female dress is considered to be more sexual than male dress. The feminine body has historically been associated with nature, nurturing, and reproduction, something that can be problematic in most workplaces, where manifesting such sexuality is considered inappropriate.

According to some sociologists and psychologists, the primary function by which most women choose clothes and accessories is to look sexually appealing so that they may attract a partner. Feminists and even Freud have spoken out against this theory, since it has been well observed that both men and women take pleasure in being looked at by others, as well as take pleasure in looking at others, in a sexual context; however, it is only the female body which remains overly sexualized culturally.[10]

Power dressing thus attempts to counterbalance a woman's natural femininity and inherent sexuality, with the goal of preventing the sexual misinterpretation through her clothes that might otherwise allow.[11]

• Shoulder pads (fashion)
• 1980s in fashion

• Nava, Blake, MacRury, Richards (1996) Buy this Book: Studies in Advertising and Consumption Routledge ISBN 0415141311
• Akbari (2008) Fashioning Power – Visual self-presentation in Social Life, The New School for Social Research. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
• Wilson, E. (2003) Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity London Virago ISBN 0813533333
• Entwistle, J. (2000) The Fashioned body – Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory Polity Press ISBN 0745620078
• Koda, Bolton, Saillard, Garelick (2005) Chanel Metropolitan Museum of Art ISBN 9780300107135
• John T. Molloy (1975) New Dress for Success Warner Books ISBN 0446385522
• John T. Molloy (1980) New Women's Dress for Success Business Plus ISBN 0446672238