Last month at Paris Fashion Week, models took to the Chanel runway dressed as modern-day suffragettes, bearing placards, shouting feminist slogans (like erm, ‘Women Rights Are More Than Alright’), and making the show one of the season’s biggest talking points.
But clothes were political long before Karl Lagerfeld let Cara Delevingne loose with a megaphone.
From the original Coco Chanel and her sharp, tweed trousers, to Thatcher and her power suits, women throughout history have used fashion as a means of shaping their place in the world.
Now a new exhibition, Women Fashion Power – opening this week at London’s Design Museum – explores how successful women have used fashion to build their reputation and assert authority.
The curator, Donna Loveday, says: ‘The women we invited to contribute to the exhibition were chosen because they are leaders in their field, and they understand that the clothes they wear are a part of the way that they communicate with the world.’
But what place does ‘power dressing’ actually have these days? As a phrase that still conjures images of Dynasty-era power suits, the term feels a bit irrelevant in this post-shoulder-pad world.
READ MORE: What To Wear To Work When You Don’t Have To Look Corporate And Dreary
The good news is, you can still mean business with your clothes without looking like an extra from Working Girl. We've taken some tips from women at the top to discover the new power dressing rules…
** You don’t need to man up (unless you want to)**
In its eighties heyday, when the phrase ‘power dressing’ was first coined, a masculine aesthetic was the order of the day, with tailored suits and wide-shouldered jackets a staple of most women in power. Today women are far less inclined to emulate men with their wardrobes.
Fashion blogger Susie Bubble says ‘choice and freedom’ should be what dictates our work wear today. ‘If men like Mark Zuckerberg can sloth around in a sweatshirt and jeans’, she asks, ‘why shouldn’t women have the same freedom?’
Slouchy clothes are perfectly acceptable for work, as evidenced by the sports-luxe trend of recent years.
A bomber jacket paired with some tapered trousers is the very definition of ‘smart casual’. Bomber jacket, £24.99, Missguided.co.uk
READ MORE: It’s 2014 So Why Are We Still Judging Women By What They Wear To Work
Madonna was right. Expressing yourself is a good thing
As more women achieve success on their own terms, this freedom is reflected in their wardrobe, too. Kathryn Parsons is the co-founder of digital training company Decoded. According to her, ‘Looking amazing, feeling confident and achieving success aren’t about conforming to a particular dress code any more. It’s much more about an expression of your independence, creativity and identity.’
In a recent post, blogger Leandra Medine – AKA Man Repeller – echoes this sentiment, arguing that fashion ‘at its best, is an outward expression of something internal.’ She describes how her wardrobe choices after graduation reflected how ‘seriously different she felt as a person who could no longer call herself a student.’ This change showed itself in choices such as going from Birkenstocks to boots.
A grown-up, over-the-knee pair of boots like these from Zara, teamed with an A-line skirt and a polo neck, are smart but playful. Boots, £139, Zara
You really don’t need to look like a contestant from The Apprentice
It was Hillary Clinton – a woman who knows a bit about power – who doled out this advice.
In the past, convention dictated that women in positions of power must stick to suits and skyscraper heels to command authority. But from curating the exhibition, Loveday has noted a definite shift in attitudes. Women are ‘moving away from playing safe and following the rules’, and instead using their individuality ‘to project a sense of empowerment.’
Dame Zandra Rhodes, the iconic British designer, is one of the influential women featured in the exhibition. She believes that ‘women can only be empowered if they maintain confidence in themselves and not simply follow the crowd.’
Stand out in a sea of grey suits with this smart jumpsuit. Jumpsuit, £175, Whistles
Stop worrying about ‘being taken seriously’
In the workplace, it’s your actions that should command respect, not the clothes you’re wearing, so the need to be ‘taken seriously’ isn’t something worth dwelling upon. Kathryn Parsons reckons she is guilty of the opposite – ‘as evidenced by the extreme amounts of glitter in my wardrobe.’
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and director of the children’s charity Kids Company, is another woman featured in the exhibition. Famed for her multi-coloured and patterned outfits, she says: ‘There is a discrepancy between the madness of my outfits and the rigour of my brain. Fools think I’m a fruitcake, the smart ones realise I’m just having a bit of fun.’
Basically, fun doesn’t equal frivolous.
Embrace colour. Cape, £170, French Connection
No pain, no gain is bullsh*t when it comes to workwear
It’s the oldest trick in the book – feel good about yourself and what you’re wearing, and it will translate into confidence.
BBC Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark – another woman featured in the exhibition – reckons ‘there isn’t such a thing as power dressing.’ Instead, there’s ‘dressing in a way that you feel is comfortable, settled, stylish and authoritative’.
To achieve this combo, it might be worth upgrading your trainers from mere commuter convenience to a workwear staple.
Trainers, £55, Aldo
**Women Fashion Power runs from 29 October to 26 April 2015 at the Design Museum, London **
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.