Yesterday I heard a report about a UK Study that found that women who wear skirts, rather than pants, to work make better first impressions and are ultimately more likely to succeed at work. The study does focus more on skirt suits than just skirts and dresses, but it suggests that "women can still dress in a feminine way yet still be perceived as confident and successful," so this made me think about skirts and dresses in general, not just skirt suits. I found this really interesting, especially when you look at women's professional fashion of past decades. In the 1980's especially, women's work wear was designed to look more like men's, as women worked to shatter the glass ceiling. Shoulder pads added to that perception, and were used as women "power dressed" for the office.
I've spent my entire career, a good part of the 'oughts, in a business casual office, so wearing a suit has never really been required for me. But I have kind of seen this shift. When I graduated college and started looking for jobs, I wouldn't dream of wearing anything but a pants suit to an interview (part of that may be that I couldn't afford another suit, but pants were still my first choice). If I ever had an important meeting, I'd always go with dress pants and a button-down. But something shifted over the past few years, and I know that now if I ever want to convey any kind of message like "please, take me seriously" or "pay attention to my presentation," I skirt up. But I wonder, why is that?
Do you think there's any truth to the notion that skirts make better first impressions and lead to more overall success? How do you dress when you want to make a good impression?
Cardigan: Limited
Dress: Target (last worn June 15th)
Belt and Necklace: New York & Company
Shoes: Naturalizer
Cute outfit! Especially the green cardi.
ReplyDeleteI guess I found this article a little confusing, because the quote from the professor suggested that only skirt suits, not just skirt based outfits, had such an effect. When shopping for my one and only suit, I decided on a skirt suit (despite everyone else's preference for a pantsuit) because don't find pants as comfortable as skirts. I did some rooting around online and found that the most conservative work environments (very high end law firms, for example), demand skirt suits for women. Perhaps because of pants' association with women's liberation, the older perceptions are that they remain a "risky" and more casual choice, at least for interviews.
http://corporette.com/2008/08/11/reader-mailbag-part-i-what-to-wear-on-interviews-generally/
I prefer to wear skirts and dresses because I feel more comfortable in them. I wonder how much of the good first impression is based on confidence the woman in the skirt/dress projects?
ReplyDeleteI thought about that too - women didn't work pants to work until, what, like the late 60's or early 70's. Yet now, they feel like a more conservative choice. It's interesting how it all comes around. They talked about this study on the local news yesterday, and the discussion they had was more around skirts/dresses vs. pants in general, which I forgot to note in my post.
ReplyDeleteI think the impression is definitely related to confidence. And that's why I gravitate more towards skirts/dresses, because I'll feel more comfortable and confident.
ReplyDeleteWhen I didn't care how I looked day to day, I wore pants. Wearing pants to work was my way of saying "I don't like this job, and I'm not going to put any consideration into how I look."
ReplyDeleteHmmm... When interviewing for jobs, I always wear trousers, but I think it's because I expect to be ushered around the building/s of the workplace, so I want to wear something I can comfortably climb stairs in or sit in different chairs in. However, I do feel more confident and pretty with skirts and dresses on. A sure-fire way of making a good impression, for me, though, is putting on makeup. I'm unstoppable after that.
ReplyDeletevery interesting...when I was first interviewing for jobs, I always wore skirt suits. I find that I feel more confident and comfortable when I am wearing a skirt versus pants!
ReplyDeleteIn college in the early 90s, I did wear a skirt suit when I wanted to impress people, but I don't think I've worn one since then. And certainly not to any of the interviews I've gone to. But, I do always wear a skirt when I want to be taken seriously and usually a pencil skirt or a sleek A-line. Nothing too full or frilly that implies that I'm immature (even though I totally am and wear them to death after I get hired).
ReplyDeleteThat's how I often feel about pants.
ReplyDeleteI love trousers and would wear them much more frequently if it were easier for me to find ones that fit me properly. It is really for this reason that 3 of the 4 suits that I own are skirt suits. I wish it were otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAnd ultimately I think this kind of crap is just another obstacle that women have to overcome to succeed in their careers.
I love this outfit -- in fact, I will be stealing it pretty soon as I own both the dress & belt (or at least a very similar NY & Co. one). I find that this dress can look slightly sloppy on me but I think you've really upped the polish of it here!
ReplyDeleteI don't actually own a suit of either the pant or skirt variety. For my time on the job market, I went with a mix of separates that I think ultimately felt more "me."
That outfit looks great on you. I usually wear a pants suit to interviews, but have never really put a lot of thought into it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting conversations in the comments! I too used to always wear pants and a button-down for serious meetings, mainly because I had never really seen dresses that weren't party dresses. Day dresses for work were unthinkable to me even 5-10 years ago. But I did have plenty of skirts, and skirt suits, and as long as I was wearing a blazer, I considered that to be dressed up.
ReplyDeleteNow for me, pants are the more casual look, and dresses and skirts are more dressed up. I think it has to do with that I am still the lone wolf in a dress, so I stand out more against my colleagues.
I felt the same way about dresses until about 5 years ago. Anytime before that, if I wore a dress, it was for something special, not work. And I don't remember work-appropriate dresses being as easy to find until a few years back either.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with this dress! Belting it, rather than using the self-belt it came with, definitely helps break up the sloppiness. Looking forward to a copy cat :)
ReplyDeleteHello Anne! I'm a late participant to you and Cynthia's No Repeats so I'm popping in to have a look! This is an exceptionally killer outfit. And such an interesting topic! I wear pants and skirts/dresses equally for variety but am a "pants girl" at heart. In my corporate days, I recall wearing mostly separates, though now I'm curious to go back and dig up some pictures...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting discussion.