Are you following the fall fashions? For women, it’s suits, suits, suits. Fashion writers talk about a “chic revival” and a look that’s “polished,” “clean,” tailored. The color this season is gray, coordinated with brown, black, navy, burgundy and hunter green. How sensible, how easy, how temporary.
This column isn’t really about fashion. It’s about how American women spend their time and money. It’s also about how they present themselves to the world. In all these endeavors, suits are a good thing.
But let’s reflect on this odd reality: Traditional clothes have become all the rage precisely because few women, especially young women, now have them. The fashion industry looks at what people don’t have in their closet, then makes it the next big thing.
Women who follow the changing styles — either consciously or because that’s what’s in the stores — have been wearing a jumble of pieces that don’t necessarily go with each other. They are more likely to possess a baby-doll or trapeze dress than a tweed jacket with matching skirt. (There’s no need to find out what a trapeze dress is because that’s all over.)
Not only are suits the hot new thing, but suits with hats and gloves. This takes us way back into the fog of the mid-20th century. Check out the old movies in which Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and all the Hitchcock blondes wear suits tailored to within an inch of their tiny waists — and hats and gloves.
Interestingly, many retailers don’t expect ordinary women to pick up on the decorative head-and-hand accessories. In a perverse turnaround from 50 years ago, ladylike dressing has become a fashion statement only for the adventurous.
What’s so great about suits? Suits are uniforms, and uniforms are efficient. (Ever since I was a Brownie, I’ve loved uniforms.) Women who wear suits don’t have to get up in the morning, put another load in the wash, make lunch for the kids, then create an coherent ensemble of peasant, preppy and vintage pieces. They just grab a uniform on a hanger and add a top. In five minutes, they’re dressed.
Another nice thing about suits is that you don’t need many of them. You have your basic pieces, then accessorize, accessorize, accessorize.
Shoes may be the serpent in the garden. Many designers — perhaps uncomfortable with this modest mode of dressing — have paired their suits with shoes bearing pointy toes and towering heels. The word is pain, pain, pain.
If being sexy is the objective, then Mission Accomplished. If walking four blocks to the post office is the task, then it’s best to stock up stamps.
The vast majority of women will skip this footwear, with a few choosing the compromise of only moderately uncomfortable shoes. In truth, low-heeled pumps can do the job with suits.
There was a wonderful posting on style.com’s forum. A woman asked: “What color nail polish should I wear with my dark gray suit and lavender shirt? … I can’t exactly wear my signature bright crimson nail with that, now can I? LOL, I need something bold, we are all in gray suits, I want to stand out.”
Her respondents suggested “dark purple polish” or “Chanel’s Rouge Noir” (dark red). But one advised the woman that if she didn’t go to a nail salon, she should stick with “clear and boring to be on the safe side.”
Something tells me this suit trend isn’t going to last, which is too bad. For one brief shining moment, the fashion industry has bestowed its blessing on dignity, comfort and styling that could potentially last decades. So here goes a quick salute to the suit.
Froma Harrop is a Providence Journal columnist. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com.
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