Power Dressing
パワー・ドレッシング / 1970s–1980s / Style / Fashion History
Dress that makes workplace authority visible. In the 1980s the sharply tailored, big-shouldered suit became a sign of upward mobility for women and men, enlarging and hardening the silhouette while also carrying the pressure to conform.
Padded jackets widening the shoulders / A fitted waist and inverted-triangle silhouette / Dark worsted cloth and pinstripes / Coordinated suit, shirt, tie or pumps
Dictionary entry
- Best used for
- Giving a character professional authority and decisiveness at a glance · Showing the 1980s through the shoulder line and silhouette
- Type
- Use a strong condensed face and align it with the horizontal of the shoulders.
- Composition
- Keep both shoulders in frame and stress the inverted triangle from a frontal or low view.
- Material
- Dark worsted cloth, pinstripes and firm interfacing, with small controlled jewelry.
- Caution
- Exaggerated shoulders alone become costume. Address both the authority the suit grants and the conformity it demands.
- Further study
- The 1980s big-shouldered suit / Authority and conformity / Women entering the professional workplace
Related entries
Cite this entry
The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.
- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/power-dressing
- Markdown
- [Power Dressing — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/power-dressing)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/power-dressing">Power Dressing — IndexStyle</a>