How do Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Dress for Success?

You often hear that, in order to become the boss, you should dress like the boss.  Well, not wear the exact clothes your boss wears; that would be creepy.  Rather, the guidance you often hear is that you should dress as formal as the most senior female in your company.  In other words, if she wears a suit, you should wear a suit.  If she wears heels, you should wear heels.  And so on.  This makes me curious about how the most successful businesswomen dress for success.  Do they all wear black suits and pumps?!

Or, as this Wall Street Journal article advocates do they all wear dresses?

But first, who are the most successful businesswomen? 

Well, that is probably subject to interpretation.  However, a good place to reference for the most important businesswomen is Fortune’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Business.  You probably will recognize a few of these women, maybe not.  I encourage you to read more about these women; they are impressive and inspiring!

How do Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Dress for Success?

Before I jump into it, let me explain how I assessed how these women dress for work?

• Step 1:  went to Fortune’s 2019 List of Most Powerful Women
• Then, Step 2:  in order to get a sampling of their attire, I did a Google search and clicked on “Images”
• And, Step 3:  took a screenshot of the first 3 rows of images (basically one computer screen’s worth)

This isn’t a perfect methodology but gives us some insight into what they wear in a business setting.

When it comes to business attire, here are the questions you are probably always struggling with when it comes to seeming “powerful:”

1. Do I need to wear a blazer?
2. Should I wear a button-down?  Is it ok to wear a blouse?  Should the blouse or button-down be a solid, bold color or is a pattern ok?
3. Should I wear pants or a skirt?  Or a dress?

Here are the top 5 women on that list:

1. Marillyn Hewson (Chairman, President, and CEO, Lockheed Martin, 64)

1. Does she wear a blazer?  YES, nearly always wears a blazer, mostly in black
2. Button-down or Blouse?  Pattern or Solid?  Mostly wears blouses; blouses are mostly solid black
3. Pants or skirts?  1 example black pants and 1 of a red dress/skirt

2. Mary Barra (Chairman and CEO, General Motors, 56)

1. Does she wear a blazer?  Yes, mostly black blazers, 1 example of a cardigan
2. Button-down or Blouse?  Pattern or Solid?  Mostly wears blouses in a mix of solids and patterns, mostly boatneck; 1 example of a button-down
3. Pants or skirts?  N/A

3. Abigail Johnson (Chairman and CEO, Fidelity Investments, 56)

1. Does she wear a blazer?  Mostly black blazers, 1 example of a cardigan
2. Button-down or Blouse?  Pattern or Solid?  Mix of blouses and button-downs, mostly solid colors with a boat neck
3. Pants or skirts?  1 example of a dress w/o a 3^rd piece (see 3^rd from the left in the bottom row)

4. Ginni Rometty (Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM, 61)

• Does she wear a blazer?  YES, always wears a blazer, mostly black or brown
• Button-down or Blouse?  Pattern or Solid?  Not 1 button-down, mix of boat neck and v-neck.  All solid colors
• Pants or skirts?  N/A, no images

5.  Gail Boudreaux (President and CEO, Anthem, 58)

Note: there are images that are not of Gail above but that is what showed up in the Google search!

1. Does she wear a blazer?  Always wears a blazer, mostly black
2. Button-down or Blouse?  Pattern or Solid?  Mix of blouses and button-downs, mostly solid colors (white) with a boat neck
3. Pants or skirts?  N/A

After all that, what can we learn about how to dress for success from these 5 women?

In conclusion, I have come to 2 findings:

1. Consider wearing a blazer:  Each of these women consistently wears a blazer (though there were a couple of examples of cardigans).  Moreso, I take away the importance of a black blazer.  Seems that a blazer is a very important part of dressing like a powerful woman!
2. Blouses are just a powerful as button-downs:  Many of these women wore both button-downs and blouses.  I think we can conclude that wearing a button-down isn’t required for business attire.  Blouses with pretty patterns will do just fine!

Well, that was fun!

In summary, I’d also like to caveat that the methodology here isn’t perfect.  For example, looking at the top Google images is not a comprehensive view of what these ladies wear day-to-day.   So, I’d have to say to use your best judgment when making your own fashion choices.

I’d love to hear from you and your experiences with how to dress for success in your organization.  Please leave comments below!

If you like this post, be sure to check these out:

• Dress for Success: Best Blouses for Work
• 4 Tips for Choosing a Day-to-Night Outfit for a Work Party
• How to Pack for a Business Trip

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