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Since ancient times rulers have used clothing and style to communicate their wealth, power and ideals \u2014 from the cobra headdress worn by pharaohs in Ancient Egypt to the red-heeled shoes favored by Louis XIV to Chairman Mao\u2019s simple worker\u2019s uniform.<\/p>\n
For women leaders, the relationship between clothes and power is especially complex. A new book Power dressing: First Ladies, Women Politicans&Fashion, by fashion writer Roob Young, tackles this theme, deconstructing the wardrobes of history\u2019s most powerful females \u2014 from Hatshepsut to Hillary Clinton. Consisting of 50 profiles and 500 color photographs, it is an entertaining, thoughtful account of the role of clothing in politics, and the myriad ways \u2014 good, bad and ugly \u2014 that women all over the world have used it to communicate their ideas and their power.<\/p>\n
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I recently spoke with Young about politics, fashion and how to dress for success. The following is excerpted from our conversation.<\/p>\n
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In your introduction, you call fashion \u2014 particularly when discussed in relation to politics \u2014 the \u201cf-word.\u201d Why, when people are more interested in fashion than ever before, is it still such a controversial topic?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it remains taboo partly because clothes and grooming are, subconsciously at least, often interpreted as artifice. \u2026 Politics wants to present itself as a serious and sincere institution about substantive issues, rather than a popularity contest based on what the contenders look like. That\u2019s why giving attention to fashion potentially undermines it all \u2013 because politicians need the public to believe that their authority is earned and legitimate.<\/p>\n But the fact is that the right fashion on the right politician in the right circumstances can be mighty powerful political currency \u2014 and the opposite is even more true.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n You write that in the past few years we\u2019ve seen a major shift in how women dress in the political arena \u2014 that they no longer feel the need to blend in with the boys. Why do you think that is?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s down to the accumulative confidence, courage and sometimes recklessness of contemporary women politicians who are using fashion in different ways \u2014 like Gabriele Pauli in Germany, Michela Vittoria Brambilla in Italy, Quentin Bryce in Australia, [former Ukrainian Prime Minister] Yulia Tymoshenko and Rachida Dati in France.\u00a0 The U.S. and the U.K. have remained more puritanical about this, but thanks to globalization I think that many of these boundary-pushing international women are much more on the radar of some of America\u2019s up-and-coming Congresswomen and British MPs.<\/p>\n There is also now the youngest generation coming up who are even bolder than their predecessors. Take [German politician] Agnes Malczak.\u00a0 With her hennaed hair, elaborate gothic eye makeup and nose and lip piercings, she looks like a cross between a new-age hippie and an emo-band fan. But in 2009, when she was just 24, she was elected to the German parliament \u2014 and not as some eccentric novelty candidate.\u00a0 The public seems to have gotten over its initial shock rather quickly and, generally, her peers take her seriously.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your book not only included typical examples of power dressing \u2014Hillary Clinton<\/strong>, Margaret Thatcher \u2014 but a wide range of different ways women communicate power. Was there anything \u2014 a particular politician or outfit \u2014 you came across that particularly shocked or inspired you? <\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m fascinated with slightly less eye-catching figures like Rebiya Kadeer, a former member of the Chinese People\u2019s Congress.\u00a0 When I dug a little deeper, I discovered that she had grown her long gray braid to highlight the time she was imprisoned and nearly executed by the Chinese government after they arrested her for being a traitor and a terrorist.<\/p>\n I also find it very interesting how the sometimes very unflattering styles worn by women like Tarja Halonen, the Finnish president, and Angela Merkel,\u00a0\u00a0the German Chancellor, can have a \u201creverse effect\u201d on their popularity in certain circumstances and cultures. It proves that looking glamorous or elegant for some political women can be an advantage while looking more demure, matronly or even dowdy can be an advantage for others. It\u2019s really impossible to come up with a formula for successful political style. It\u2019s all about the wider political, cultural and personal context.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Any chance we can expect a second volume, analyzing men\u2019s power dressing?<\/strong><\/p>\n It could be interesting, but it was the particular issues that powerful women face that really made this book the more important of the two. First, there were all the inequalities and double standards in relation to what powerful women and men face when they open up their wardrobes and get dressed each morning.\u00a0 Another reason that focusing on women was important was because the \u201cstyle stories\u201d of political women are usually much more interesting than they are for men because the feminine wardrobe is far more diverse, ambiguous and potentially controversial in a hypersensitive arena like politics.<\/p>\n But if I were to write a book about men\u2019s power dressing, I\u2019d like to tackle the whole spectrum. Of particular interest might be men with the touch of the dandy or cowboy in their tailoring, like U.S. Congressmen Charles Rangel and Ken Salazar, or those like Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin who use off-duty outfits to affect public opinion. Others who might be interesting are former Brazilian president Lula da Silva\u2019s mixing of the \u201ccommon man look\u201d with sober suits, or elegant-looking men like the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, whose outfit is a high-wire balancing act of ethnic and tribal allegiances. Then of course there are the villains with powerful signature styles like Muammar Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il. There\u2019s definitely some fascinating material there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How would you, in this day and age, define \u201cpower dressing\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n You know, funnily enough, despite being almost completely immersed in this for two years of my life that\u2019s still one of the hardest questions to answer. As far as I\u2019m concerned, power dressing, in this context at least, is when women are adept at using style as a way to successfully enhance their political muscle, popularity or credentials.\u00a0 To some extent, I used \u201cpower dressing\u201d as a metaphor in the title of this book.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just about that particular \u201980s aesthetic that we all know too well. Power dressing is about how these women succeed and fail at using their image in their careers and causes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n