Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409120096
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most don't remember it as the first year the United States Naval Academy allowed women to join the ranks as midshipmen.
And not unlike the average American workplace, the Academy had a uniform, albeit a good deal stricter. So in 1976, the United States government had to take an age-old livery and adjust it. For female midshipmen, the hats were stylish. Dress uniform pants were replaced by skirts.
Back in the '70s, the uniform worn by women in America's workforce bore some semblance to that of the female midshipman's.
It was merely a woman's version of what men wore to work. A tailored jacket with lapels. A just-below-the-knee length skirt. And a white shirt.
Instead of a tie, we got to wear those cute silk foulard bows or a simple gold pin at our neck.
In the `80s - thanks mostly to TV's ``Dynasty'' - things changed. You could equate the size of our shoulder pads with the amount of power we wielded.
But this is the `90s. Almost the mid-`90s.
And things have changed.
What we wear to work reflects who we are. Not a man's vision of what we ought to be.
We are classic. Confident.
And to go along with that, our careerwear is streamlined. Softer. More relaxed.
We wear pants more than skirts and both more than dresses. Our jackets are fluid.
But our pants are cuffed and our ``uniform'' does include a tailored vest - often in a floral pattern.
It's post-modern in its best form: a juxtaposition of the original from a decidedly feminine point of view.
In menswear this fall, the strongest statement is the three-button suit, a silhouette that will prove to be the new mainstay in modern men's dressing. New dynamic fabrics will punch up single- and double-breasted dressing for the office, in subtle colorations in hues of bordeaux, charcoal, cream, and olive.
Bold windowpane checks, textured plaids and dimensional stripes give most collections depth and broad appeal.
Men and women dressing for work, remember:
Today you are perceived in equal parts of what you wear.
And how you wear it.
by CNB