Women in business, and that includes women lawyers, are now free to wear dresses to the office. So sayeth the Washington Post. Thank goodness. We all know how much fun little dresses are, as compared to the standard fare pantsuits of prior decades, and, according to a leading news source, we are now free to wear them on the job and enjoy the experience.
Even though most of us already knew this — because we watch TV shows like The Good Wife and Scandal — it is good to know that the Washington Post is on our side. After all, Washington, DC is a city of lawyers and Washington, DC institutions are touted as having some considerable authority on all things lawyerish. However, DC trends toward conservative in many respects, and those women in the halls of Congress and the lobbyist law firms are not necessarily the first to “get the memo” on the new styles of dress for professional women. More often, the dress of choice for powerful women in Congress is the designer skirt suit or pants suit a la Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. Nice, but a little boring — even with those fantastic Tahitian pearls she wears so well!
Power dressing has come a long way. I loved seeing a little blue dress (with what appears to be black leather seam details) on the cover of the Sunday, May 25th, Washington Post Magazine. The cover photo and the article inside definitely resonated with me. Recently I delivered a keynote address at a law school Women’s Bar Association banquet, and I was the only woman in the room in pants. Nice pants, but, still, pants. That’s when I knew that my professional wardrobe needed rethinking. Although I have been enjoying little dresses for business casual events for some time, it is now time to bring them on the road for speaking engagements as well. What an exciting and liberating notion. The advent of dress dressing in the corridors of law schools and law firms puts a new spring in my step, especially as endorsed by the venerable Washington Post!
However, let’s not get carried away. As the Washington Post article points out, what is good for the office is not necessarily good for the courtroom. For the judge and the jury, you should continue to err on the side of caution and conservatism — and keep those arms covered. And for everyone’s sake, at all times —- both in and out of the courtroom and everywhere in between — reign in the cleavage and cover up the thighs. Neither look belongs in the office. If you need to know why, read Chapter 5 of my book, Best Friends at the Bar: What Women Need to Know about a Career in the Law (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers, 2009).
Speaking of arms, ladies, there is nothing that can ruin the little sheath dress and pumps look faster than bad arms. Learn to love those weights that are hiding in your closet. Pump some iron. Get buff. The little black — or blue — or even red dress is waiting —- and you want to be ready and in good form to thoroughly enjoy and celebrate how far women have come.
No more dressing like the men. Today, women are setting the agenda, and they are following that by dressing to please themselves. And having a lot of fun doing it!
Bravo for that!
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