Power dressing. Women and power

The relationship between fashion and power has always been controversial. On the one hand power used fashion to represent itself, on the other side power distanced itself from fashion, considered too frivolous and unstable. So, accordingly to classical literature, power became the realm of men and fashion was the way women used to find their role in society (Simmel, Veblen). The changes occurred in the role of woman in society, marked by the transition from a family context to a wider socio-professional one has been characterized by the birth of new fashions: trousers, miniskirt, male tailleur marked some crucial passages in women condition. Power dressing refers to a style of clothing which aims to seem authoritative and professional in business and politics. It usually refers both to men and women even if we use the expression to stress the adoption of male dress code by women. Examples move from first ladies to head of State and Prime Ministers, from business women to emerging women in developing countries.