When brilliant films align with inspired styles, fashion icons are born.
1980s
Movie: Working Girl (1988)Icon: The Power Suit
When the economic upturn of the 1980s hit, women found themselves in a new and exciting position of power. Women were educated, experienced and able to assert their know-how, but the playing field was still very much a man's domain that called for a man's wardrobe. For Melanie Griffith's Tess McGill, the corporate secretary with a "head for business and a bod for sin" in Working Girl, this meant dressing the part. Enter the Power Suit. Boxy jackets with shoulder pads to rival a football player's and tapered knee-length skirts in somber colours allowed her to separate herself from the secretarial pool and rise to executive status. She was an office warrior. And women across corporate America sat up and took notice. The decidedly male silhouette allowed women to blend in to the boardroom and get noticed for their contributions and not their bra size. Although these were still the early days of equality in the workplace, it was the first sign that the feminist fight that began in the 1960s was starting to set its roots in the professional world. Image from image.toutlecine.com
