Suit Up, Ladies!?

The Wall Street Journal has declared it, so it must be so:  Power suits for women are baaccccck!

It seems that suit sales have surged 12% among younger women (they’ve been up among men for a while now) in the past year which has gotten the attention of major designers once again.  Today’s suit may not have the big shoulders of the “Dynasty” 80s or Feminist 70s, but they feature tightly cut jackets, pants or pencil skirts that signal ambition and sex appeal at the same time.

In the Journal’s article, Giorgio Armani, the once and future king of power suiting says that, “Power now can be feminine.”  Silly me, I thought it always was!  That said, power suits come in many varieties today, because women want choices (duh):  Pants can be long or cropped, skinny or wide-legged; skirts are short, narrow, knee grazing, or “trumpet”-like; and jackets are “strong,” whatever that means.  (Tight? Armor-like?  Black and grey? All of the above?). 

Apparently the cultural zeitgeist is supportive of this tread, with TV heroines like Kerry Washington (the crisis management guru of “Scandal”) being one prominent example of a power suitor.  But I must tell you, I’ve worked hard over the past 5 years to move beyond the matchy-matchy female work warrior look for the more laid back, West Coast-ish comfort of stretchy/flowy separates. I’m all about comfort now -- even on days when I have a big business meeting, and then, I’ll more likely wear a dress (if I must!) than a suit.

Suits feel, I don’t know, itchy to me now.  And I can’t comfortably sit cross-legged in them, which I do sometimes in meetings because I’m 60 and I still can. 

It doesn’t mean I don’t get the occasional hankering for a Katharine Hepburn moment; but when I put a suit on, I almost immediately wish I hadn’t.  So then, next time, I don’t.

Every fall, I try to treat myself to at least one new outfit for work.  Because the stores will likely be dominated by suit looks, I’ll probably try one on.  I hope I’ll have the good sense to throw my shoulders back, keep my head high and walk instead in the direction of the racks of more comfortable clothes.  Power is as power does and, in my case, the suit doesn’t make the girl.