Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [13]
Every decade or so, black comes back as a fashionable color for women. (In fact, as a choice of late-afternoon-through-evening, the “little black dress” is one of the oldest and perhaps best-known clichés in the fashion world.) This has once again been the case in the last few years. However, black is still not the best daytime choice for women who appear frequently in public. This is especially true for the woman with delicate coloring, where black looks particularly harsh against the face; and for the woman whose face is starting to show her age, where black’s severity can make the face look even older.
Clothes for Women
Even though you may feel at times that you are working in “a man’s world,” that doesn’t mean you have to dress like a man. An expensive, well-cut suit can be accessorized to look feminine. Be creative to soften and individualize your look.
Obviously, however, a woman who is in business or perhaps is a physician may have to dress more conservatively than one who is speaking before a civic group or a charitable organization or an interior decorator meeting with her new clients.
Inventory the clothes you already own and update them with minor changes or alterations. Get rid of clothes that are hopelessly outdated, too small, or not suitable for your public image. You need only a few good, classic outfits that fit perfectly.
The original financial outlay for what could be called your “in-public clothes” could be considerable; therefore, each piece must be carefully chosen to play a significant role.
Good fit is essential—better a little roomy than too tight. Tight clothes with stretch lines across the front make you look heavier. They also tend to wrinkle more quickly, especially across the front of your skirt.
Another important rule of thumb for the woman appearing often in public is to always wear long sleeves, even in summer, since short sleeves give an informal look. Bare arms attract the eye away from the face because they are lighter in color. Long sleeves slenderize the silhouette and look more professional.
You must feel comfortable in your clothes. Never wear a new suit for the first time in front of your audience. Instead, try it out in private until it feels like an old friend and has no surprises. You need to know that the sleeves are the right length, how the neckline fits, how the skirt falls, and where the pockets are. You need to know in advance how the whole outfit looks when you are standing, sitting, or moving about. Since the same audience seldom sees you twice, you can wear the same tried-and-true things time after time with total confidence. This enables you to forget about what you are wearing and concentrate on your message.
What should you wear if you are going to address a group of truck drivers? Should you dress like they do? The answer, of course, is no—you dress like the person you are, with a few minor adjustments to the circumstances, time, and place. You are brought in as a speaker because you have a message your audience wants to hear. You are an expert in your field, and it would be a mistake to appear in jeans and a plaid shirt. Maintain your own high standard of simplicity and good taste. A plain shirtwaist dress or a well-cut suit will take you anywhere. Since in such a circumstance you will be in the minority and will stand out more, your appearance should be understated and conservative.
Similarly, if you are running for political office, you should dress for the office you wish to fill. In other words, if you are running for the U.S. Senate, dress like a senator.
Color Coordination. When putting together a minimum wardrobe for campaigning, book tours, selling real estate, or whatever aspects of your life take place in public, it is possible to coordinate your colors so that you can make multiple outfit combinations. By carefully choosing two basic colors that are very becoming to you, you can create forty different looks out of a dozen or