Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Women’s suiting through the ages
Whether it’s because we’re back in the office, or because we are reclaiming formalwear and making it our own, three-piece suit sets are a leading trend in 2023. With brands such as First Mśe, Nude Lucy andThrills setting the trending shapes and colours of women’s suits, the look deserves further probing. From the Victorian era to today, we share all about how the humble suit has challenged gender norms, helped advocate for equality and re-defined the wedding “dress”.
Do Menswear Trends Define Women’s Fashion?
Menswear and womenswear trend cycles have lived vastly different yet coexistent lives. Throughout history, our perception of fashion, and tailoring in particular, has changed drastically. Today, what we consider masculine or feminine was once reversed in the eyes of the Ancient Greeks, the Renaissance, and the French Revolutionary period, not to mention the differences between the rich and the poor. But in this period of modern history, men’s and women’s clothing has taken on a rigid identity. When a man chooses to wear a pearl necklace it’s branded as feminine, and when a woman opts for a men’s shirt it’s considered to be a masculine look. So in 2023, how much influence does menswear have over womenswear?
Victorian Era: Vindicating the Victorian Silhouette
As early as the 1870s, women were dabbling in wearing menswear. Famously, Sarah Bernhardt, who the BBC argued was the first A-list celebrity, wore men’s clothing in public which was scandalous at the time. Known for her talent, extravagance, and eccentricity, like many actresses Bernhardt usually played male characters. Even as time went on, female characters held little allure for her. “It’s not that I prefer male roles,” she said at the time, “it’s that I prefer male minds.”
She wasn’t the only one drawn toward the freedom of thought and expression that were offered to men at the time. Men’s fashion has historically been more practical compared to women’s fashion, allowing for more movement and activity. In an era defined by metal frames and bustles, menswear was an alluring alternative. Featuring sleek coats and suits with accessories like pocket watches and ties, which still carry an association of class and elegance today, menswear was glaringly designed for dignified practicality when compared to womenswear trends, which were often uncomfortable and restrictive, especially among the wealthy classes.
Cross dressing was an especially risky business in the Victorian era, when homosexuality, and freedom of expression in general, were outlawed.
Suffragettes: A Feminine Look to Further the Cause
The 1800s, and along with them the puffy shouldered and long-skirted women’s walking suit was fading into the past. Women began to dictate the form and function of the women’s suit at the start of the suffragette movement in 1910. Fighting for the right to vote and for many more freedoms that would come with the cultural emancipation of women required clothing that was easier to move around in. To balance their notoriety for smashing windows and committing arson, the Suffragettes opted to always be well dressed, maintain a feminine style, and present the cause as respectable and even innately feminine.
At this time, not only were women embracing fashion that freed up their movement, but also embracing their desire to look good and to innovate (or risk it all) for a fit. Hobble skirts were pencil skirts that reached past the knees and were named for the lack of movement they offered. While this seemingly went against women’s suffrage ideals that were making headway at the time, it signaled the embrace of a wider sense of freedom of expression.
The Jazz Age: Depravity vs Tradition
Looser morals and cheaper liquor if The Great Gatsby is anything to go by. But in terms of suiting, the 1920s were when it became socially acceptable for women to wear pants to play sports. Before this time, such a break in gender-specific dress codes would have seen a person sent to jail for cross-dressing. At the same time, the hemline of skirts became shorter and clothing became looser as women began to venture on nights out unaccompanied by men for the first time.
Designer, Coco Chanel eschewed corsets in favour of tailoring and created the defining silhouette of women’s suiting of the era; Tweed skirt and jacket sets in a boxy silhouette. The staying power of this look can still be observed today.
With depravity and tradition vying so closely for a space in the 20s, both boxy suits and pants for women would go on to define the following decades of tailoring.
The boyish silhouette of the 1920s signaled the beginning of the emancipation of women and was the vanguard of a new tradition of understated sensuality.
The 1950s: Suiting Up in the Pinup Era
In the era of the pinup and the dawning of unattainable body ideals for women, the suit became tightly cinched at the waist to accentuate an hourglass figure. Marilyn Monroe even wore a suit at her wedding to Joe DiMaggio. The dark brown jacket and skirt set was a demure way to show off her iconic curves in what was her second marriage.
Monroe and her showbiz peers brought the era of the femme fatale to its peak, but placing this body type in a suit brought new meaning to the term, and broadened the spectrum of what women felt they were "allowed" to wear, and by extension, to be.
In the 50s, Lucille Ball and Vivienne Vance were known to wear pants on the television show I Love Lucy, but it wasn’t until Mary Tyler Moore started wearing them consistently on The Dick Van Dyke Show that the sponsors of the show threatened to terminate their contracts. Thereafter she was limited to wearing pants for just one scene per episode. The undeniable power of the pant was to become more popular just one decade later, when women began to wear cigarette pants as an alternative to skirts.
The Swinging 60s: The Pantsuit Breaks Through
In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent designed “Le Smoking” tuxedo. Smoking jackets were first created to be worn in smoking lounges to protect clothes from the smell of cigars. Yves Saint Laurent’s version for women kept all the main hallmarks of the tuxedo while adapting it for a woman’s body. While the women’s smoking suit was snubbed by the haute couture crowd, the younger clientele from their Rive Gauche or Left Bank store turned it into an icon of the brand. Proving itself to be integral to the brand, the women’s tuxedo featured in every Yves Saint Laurent collection until 2002.
Rock 'n' Roll & Shotgun Weddings: The Wedding Suit of the 1970s
Bianca Jagger skewed the Earth’s orbit slightly when she wore an Yves Saint Laurent Smoking Suit to her wedding to Mick Jagger in 1971. In unmistakable form, they met at a rock concert and had a shotgun wedding nine months later. She paired a long bias cut skirt with the tuxedo jacket and no blouse underneath, and the look went down in history as an iconic rock ‘n’ roll moment.
The Yves Saint Laurent Smoking Suit came back into the fold again in 1975 when photographer, Helmut Newton, shot the suit in a black and white colour scheme to highlight the androgynous features of the garment.
Women’s suiting from this moment on, was no longer about menswear with a feminine twist, but liberated women from the need to look feminine at all. Newton had now carved out an androgynous space that had only been occupied by the hard-edged punks of the early 70s, and gave it the high fashion glamour we still see on catwalks today.
1980s: Shoulder pads to rival the NFL
At the start of the 80s, the women’s power suit became synonymous with success. With more women in the workforce than ever, and with a rise in the consumption of television media, successful businesswomen whether they be young, old, mothers or not, were portrayed wearing broad shouldered, oversized power suits to mirror the proportions of their male counterparts. In standing up to institutionalized misogyny, suiting helped provide women with the appearance needed at the time to be taken seriously in the workplace. By the latter half of the 80s, the powersuit relaxed into a softer silhouette, cinched at the waist but still with oversized shoulder pads.
Women’s Tailoring & Suiting in the Era of #MeToo
From the 90s onwards, women’s tailoring has been skirting the realm of gender neutrality. But why is this trend significant in the era of the pandemic?
Importantly, menswear is born from a tradition of tailoring and suiting. This tradition has stood the test of time, you need only watch a celebrity red carpet event or attend a wedding to see "exhibit A" of the sameness of men’s formal fashion compared to women’s.
However, this sameness has meant that a ritual of dressing has resulted in a routine of wearing well-fitted, dependable pieces which stand the test of time, having alterations made to ensure that it feels like it’s made for the wearer specifically and repairing garments that have tears or imperfections in them.
In contrast, women’s fashion has recently taken a turn for the impermanent. The speed with which womenswear trends move has made attitudes towards dressing up focused on trendiness rather than fit, quality and longevity.
During lockdowns, the warm embrace of loungewear was typically gender neutral. Hoodies and track pants, shorts and crew neck sweaters all offered to exact same thing, often in the same sizes to both men and women. As such, an appetite for something equally applicable to all genders that can be worn out of the house has appeared.
Women have been discovering, not just the comfort afforded by unisex clothing, but also are forging a new criterion to dictate which clothes they buy. As such, women’s suiting has become a trending option for those that are looking to invest in quality and longevity and is directly inspired by men’s tailoring.
2020s: Fourth Wave Feminism
In light of the MeToo Movement and the ongoing crusade for equal rights and equal pay, Fourth Wave Feminism has necessitated a resurgence in the power suit. Trending right now in a mix of masculine and feminine proportions, women’s tailoring provides endless options to suit your personal style. Broad shouldered or with a plunging neckline, tailored suit sets can be worn in many ways.
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