What I Think of Power Dressing?
September 6th, 2011There are only three stances one can truly take regarding anything: to approve of it, disapprove of it, or be able to care less (if you are a cool kid, if you are not, however, then you would be unable to care less). I will attempt to explain each perspective, and then close with my own.
Power dressing allows people to look assertive and add to their appearance. It can be empowering, allowing one to broadcast exactly how they perceive themselves, or perhaps more accurately how they wish others to perceive them. It allows people to become role models and express themselves more clearly by putting themselves into templates which others are used to. These templates can be used as channels for communication and since they are familiar, it may actually be convenient. It can be team-building and morale boosting the same way a team in uniform works. Power dressing also allows people to create social stratum, very clearly communicating who is where and who belongs where. Again, this is a case where people know how to treat others in an office hierarchy and helps with communication.
Then on another note, this must do wonders for the fashion industry. Power dressing, for males, typically involves layers and layers of clothing. Not only is it heavy, but it can very quickly get extraordinarily and exceedingly warm under certain weather conditions. This creates necessity for multiple colors of suits, which very quickly multiplies the cost of a typical office workers’ wardrobe. Additionally, if changing colors is not an option then it calls for demand for suits that are less warm, which seems a bit silly in itself: let us make a multiple piece outfit and then present the problem of making it as cool as possible, but that is neither here nor there – the primary issue is that it is a difficult task and can get quite expensive.
On a very much related note, when one climbs far enough, then it is time for a wardrobe update yet again, and there is money to be made yet again. This can be viewed as a positive note for the economy, as it creates a demand to be supplied and things are done and money is exchanged. Due to gender roles, which I will not express my views on, power dressing creates yet another situation that females have to be prepared for. Once again, this is a huge case of wardrobe expansion and another place where money can be spent. Although females less often have the body temperature regulation issue, double standards typically dictate that they wear different outfits whether it be for variety or to convince one’s co-workers that it is certainly not the same outfit that is being worn multiple times a week. Economy stimulated and some more people are happy for it.
As for disapproval, a glaring issue could perhaps be the reinforcement of double-standards the attire calls for. This may alarm some advocates of gender equality as well as the perception of either gender. Additionally, as lovely as it is to re-stimulate the economy in this way, this spending is not something that all people truly wish to deal with. If anything, it is overhead for an employee to look such a way. It limits freedom of expression, and creates a vacuum where the attire is strict and can only mean a few things, whether one would like it to or not. The temperature regulation issue is not something all can afford to solve and the issue of discomfort becomes a very big problem very quickly. The stratifying effect that power dressing can have can also be viewed as a negative effect. Though the issue may be more deeply rooted in how some choose to judge people based on an arbitrary set of criteria (such as how they are dressed and where they work determining how valuable others are as human beings), power dressing creates an environment that allows people to do that. It could be viewed as yet another utility that allows corporations and big money to encourage the less-financially-well-endowed populace to continue running in circles in this way.
When disapproving of power dressing though, the issue of how to eliminate it arises, and this is an issue that is not so easily answered. Clothes are used to identify people in terms of status, occupation, and even personality; these are impressions and connotations that have existed for a nontrivial amount of time, and eliminating them for another system would surely be a nontrivial task. Imagine transitioning a society with power dressing into one where people are wearing their comfortable and or casual clothes every day – the connotations for being not power dressed then would still linger.
And of course, there is the apathetic party. There is very little to say about that stance, other than such a perspective would imply the individual is equally happy or miserable power dressed or not, and the cost of power dressing (or not power dressing) gets evened out in some way.
As a whole, I would say power dressing is unnecessary and expensive, but kept due to humanity’s love of both uniforms and comparison to others. Indeed, clothes have been used to differentiate people for ages and ages, regardless of both time and place. Royalty wore special clothes, workers were identified differently, and power dressing is just another specific example of society’s fascination with uniform. It is not notably harmful, as many of the problems it enables manifest themselves in many other aspects of everyday life, and eliminating power dressing wouldn’t address the problem at all. It is, however, largely inconvenient, as mentioned before, the clothes are not always comfortable and can get exorbitantly expensive; in terms of communication, however, it can be useful to establish hierarchy. Addressing the point of communication, however less expensive and obstructive forms of clothing could be use as cues, though this would be an extremely difficult transition that is unlikely to ever happen, due to how hard it would be to un-root the instilled connotations and impressions that people already have towards power dressing and power dressed people.
I suppose, my opinion is something like: power dressing is a tad expensive and uncomfortable and can cause problems, but these problems are deeply rooted and eliminating power dressing wouldn’t even fix the problem; changing power dressing is impractical and it would be most reasonable to keep the stupid thing and minimize the inconvenience while maximizing its utility.
