What does it mean to 'Dress Like a Woman'?

When I was young, I desperately tried to wear appropriate outfits: the shoes that gave a lift even though I suffered with high arches, matching blouses to skirts the right way (society had rules for color matchings), dresses that didn’t make me look like a potato sack. Add to the fact my makeup challenges and dressing remained a constant struggle. I was attempting to follow the social mores of the time —not to mention what my mother expected of me — and I failed over and over again.

Slowly, I rebelled. My feet ached from high heels and pointed toes so they were the first to go. Makeup produced powerful headaches so I had an excuse to give that one up, having to utter “I’m allergic” time and again to others who found it an affront that I wasn’t wearing any. I read an article about Katherine Hepburn who stated early in her career that she didn’t like dresses so she only wore pants. I thought, if Katherine Hepburn can do it, so can I, and I never looked back.

Why, I always wondered, did it matter what I wore to work if the job’s getting done?

A new book asks this question as well. “Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore” showcases women in all walks of life working in both what is expected of them, what makes them comfortable, what their profession demands and some that rebel against convention. There are women in lumberyards, shelling peas and harvesting crops, Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles in action and German actress Marlene Dietrich in a tuxedo. A journalist in 1917 wears a dress atop a roof to catch a photograph while Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the only female assistant surgeon during the Civil War, poses with her Medal of Honor in a man’s suit.  And then there are my personal favorites, the Rosie Riveters and other women during World War II, performing jobs men could not and beginning what was to become the feminist movement, along with photos of leaders such as Hillary Clinton, activist Janet Mock at the 2017 Women’s March, Malala Yousafzai, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

The book also shows examples of how dress codes restricted a woman’s job. A photo depicts New York City policewoman scaling a barricade, one in a dress and another in pants. Guess who’s having trouble? It took to 1979 for the city to rescind requirements for women to wear skirts, gloves and to carry a handbag.

The book’s foreword by Roxane Gay explains how restrictions for women’s dress were often detailed, down to how stockings were worn and makeup applied. Many of those requirements continue today; Pres. Donald Trump insisted that female members of his administration “dress like women.”

“You will see (in the book) how dress has evolved as the role of women in contemporary society has evolved,” Gay writes in the foreword. “And you will see that sometimes, dressing like a woman means wearing a pantsuit; other times, it means wearing a wetsuit, or overalls, or a lab coat, or a police uniform. Dressing like a woman means wearing anything a woman deems appropriate and necessary for getting her job done.”

And sometimes it means reading about other women for the courage to wear what you want. I haven’t worn a dress in years, and I doubt I ever will.

"Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore"

Published by Abrams Image

Foreword by Roxane Gay

Introduction by Vanessa Friedman

$24.99

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire in her home office, many times in pajamas and slippers. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.