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 In the early twentieth century a business suit
became a recognized feature of a lady in a men's world. Those daring women were
laughed at and often they appeared to be the reason for social outrages.
Despite all these difficulties the women faced a new fashion was created. This
new fashion was a fashion of a business woman.
The
tale of a business suit could have started even before it mattered who wears
it, whether a woman or a man. However, at that time there was no need in
business suits. Clothes were needed to fulfill the simple and practical needs
such as to protect from cold or heat.
The
patriarch society that existed in almost every country in the world at the
beginning of the new era made its first business suit for a woman. We know it
now as it is seen in the prints and engravings of the historians: emphatically
feminine, unsuitable for work and mostly used to attract ones as an eye-candy.
Only churls and such could afford wearing wide skirts and coats whereas women from
the upper classes were doomed to wear corsets, tiny narrow shoes and
complicated hair-dresses.
In
nineteenth century the only female uniform a woman should have worn was the
ones from gymnasiums and universities. In 1834 an emperors decree was introduced
and so scholars were ought to wear special uniform-coats. The decree was
introduced firstly for boys but girls also had to wear uniform dresses. However
those could not be considered as business suits or suits at all: classical
corsets, luxuriant skirts and a mantle covering the arms and shoulders.
In
the end of the nineteenth century only women were allowed to work in production
and manufacturing. Therefore a need for a comfortable business working suit
appeared. It was designed with the help of those elements and combinations that
were used in a classical dress. In the beginning ladies' business suit was seen
as a challenge for morals and traditions even though the suits didn't differ as
much from the dresses which the non-working women usually wore. There were the
same long skirts and jackets that only different in colors and textures of
cloth.
There
was no such revolution that could have introduced a female business suit into
fashion in the nineteenth century. But big transnational companies that started
to appear in the beginning of the twentieth century have done their bits to
change the look of a worker. The suits first and foremost had to be
comfortable. Another point was to have every single worker look no different to
another one and therefore they all had similar clothes they wore.
There
is no doubt that the First World War had changed the style of a business and
working women. The time had changed the lives of women: emancipation,
feministic movements, revolutionary thoughts, lack of army forces, all of these
factors got combined. A girl that was brought up during the war period differed
so much from her grandmother and mother that started to work in the nineteenth
century. At those times the suits hadn't been considered as a part of the image
of a lady and had been very functional and comfortable.
Business
ladies of the new generations not only wore jackets and skirts to the work but
also went out as representatives of certain professions. There was a revolution
going on in a place where a lady with a short skirt appeared. (Oh dear God,
this is terrible! I can see her ankles! What if she puts one leg on top of
another!? Her knees will be seen!) The lady from now on didn't talk to other
women about ostrich feathers but talked with men about cars and politics.
Marlin
Dietrich was considered as the style icon of the 1930-s. She was the first
woman to appear in public with a men's suit on. The scandal biography did
nothing but helped her to become the ideal lady for her coevals and the
inspiration for the generations to come. However a woman in a men's suit still
was a somewhat shock for the society that still believed in the traditional set
of morals. Plus men did not want to give up their role in the society which a
lady with a tie tried to take away.
Men's
tie didn't become a part of an image of a business lady, not as much as the
jacket, shirt and classical skirt anyway. George Sent who first used her lovers
bowknot two centuries ago still was an exclusion and was considered as a
creative person, one of those who usually appear a bit cranky, that's all. Such
things would be considered normal for ladies only around one hundred years
later.
World
War Two changed the way society looked at a woman in trousers. Nobody cared
whether it was a man or a woman at the machines. Working suit had to look in a
way to maximize the capacity and nothing else mattered. So ladies in pants
simply became something normal and later on trousers became something
fashionable. Despite the fact that the first ever trousers were worn in the
middle of the nineteenth century, they became a part of the fashion in 1960-s
with the help of Eve Sent-Loren.
The
last radical change in the woman's closet was introduced in 1950-1960-s and was
linked to airplanes. Ladies were accompanying their husbands in business trips
and traveled a lot on their own. It was easier to travel with a small light bag
as compared to a large suitcase in which a large and heavy bag would fit. Plus
a small bag fitted the jacket perfectly. This is how Jacqueline Kennedy wearing
a bright suit and going down the airplane ladder made «mini» an element of a
business clothes style.
Everything
that was introduced to the business lady style later on in the decades to come
was only a continuous trend that happened. Nowadays it is normal to see a
classical office-lady in culottes and a strict men's shirt sitting beside a
female designer wearing extravagant jeans and rubbed jacket. Business style of
a new century becomes more and more similar to casual style and ethno-style
elements and details are seen in it more often. Some time ago a business suit
was a sign of class and diversity whereas today it becomes a part of everyday
life.
Polina
Kolozaridi
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