What do you put to go to the office?A suit?A custom dress and heels?Jeans and an elegant top?Do you even remember?The last 18 months have fragmented the idea of the workplace, previousabroad.

From the moments of camaraderie to romanticism in the office and collective creativity, the companies of the old guard who resist change have talked about the advantages of a physical workplace, desperately calling employees to return to their past fromopen plant.But the current office model continues to be created and fed by a majority of white and well -off men.

The complicated history of women with the office - from their entry into it until its attempt to break the glass ceiling and, ultimately, its struggle to balance their inflexible culture with motherhood - seeks to benefit from a hybrid future.

Nowhere is the complex history of women with the office than on the screen, and in the locker room with which female characters dress to project an image of professionalism and progress (and their slender figures).

In the fictitious advertising agency Sterling Cooper of the 60s, in Mad Men, the women's attire in the office suggests the acceptance of their subordinate position.The secretaries sneak up with tight clothes, accepting sexual harassment.With her red hair, her red lips and her second skin dresses, the office director, Joan Holloway (Christian Hendricks), takes advantage of her sexuality and makes her a weapon to get ahead.

"I think the women of the office at that time were seen as ornaments," says Mad Men's costume designer, Janie Byrant.“Joan takes command of his femininity in the office: it is a bust, waist, hips and containe.It was like the matriarch of the office, so I loved the idea that it was in jewel tones to represent the female force.I was inspired by the women of the time that distilled that sexuality: Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Jane Mansfield ".

Like Joan he uses his sexuality to get the attention of his male colleagues, Peggy Olson's schoolboy (Elizabeth Moss) is subject to reproach."It's fashionable and it's more serious," says Bryant."His circular skirts, Scottish paintings and frown create a more innocent and sweet silhouette".Peggy Chiquillería threatens the authority that Joan has perfected.“Do you want them to take you seriously?Stop dressing like a girl, ”Joan warns.The promotion of Peggy from Secretary to advertising editor is a style transformation, since it begins to wear bags and skirts, finally, a pants suit.

“I wanted it to be more professional, stronger, willing to illustrate how it progressed in a world of men.He climbed the stairs thanks to his intelligence, so he wanted his outfit to also reflect that, ”says Bryant.

4."There was suficient ... https: // t.CO/HOPFHBO4ID

— Erin Bates Fri May 31 12:53:44 +0000 2019

Read more: "Hundreds of men" investigated by sexual assault towards a woman in a Pakistan park

When women's work clothes are not adhered to female tropes, it is usually an intentional argument: let's think of Miranda in Sex and The City and her character of "I do not need a man", or in Rosalind Russell as the reporter Hildy JohnsonIn the comedy of 1940 his girl friday.The baggy sacks at diplomatic bay and Hildy tailor costumes are as sharp as their ingenuity and raised it to the level of their male editor (and ex -husband), Walter Burns (Cary Grant), but its femininity, presented through numerous hatsdecorative and a daring red lipstick, keeps it in a position of attention to all its whims.

As women began to claim a position in the boardroom in the 1970s, the question of how they should wear.A 1975 book by John T Molloy intended to help them.Women: Dress for Success, the sequel to their Sales for Success sales, for men, argued that women would not be taken seriously if they dressed femininely or sexy, or if they tried to dress as men, which would only serve foremphasize that they were not."A society in which the rulers insist on keeping the barefoot, pregnant and as far away from the boardroom cannot design clothing for women with serious executive ambitions," he wrote.

Molloy raised another issue presented through the female office attire: the class.When dressing at Working Girl, 1988, costume designer Ann Roth observed the costumes carried by the secretaries in the Ferry of Staten Island.Tess's great hair (Melanie Griffith) and her striking jewels stand out in front of the discreet gray costumes, pearls and the subtle makeup that her head of high flights carries, Katherine (Sigourney Weaver).In the 1980s, the "Power Dressing" became a kind of sartorial armor for working women who were looking to get out of the secretaries' bag, occupying physical space with shoulder pads and high heels."The impression that people have of me begins with you," Katherine tells Tess on the first day, "simple, elegant, impeccable".

Daniel Lawson, costume designer of several professional dramas, such as Lipstick Jungle, The Good Wife and The Good Fight, underlines how women's clothes on the screen are usually more recharged to contrast with the limitation of men's clothes.“When I started with The Good Wife, women's work clothes were very influenced by the masculine.But I didn't want the female protagonists to wear a group of men.I almost never use a classic dress shirt in a woman because half of my cast already carries it ".

After the issuance of the series, the New York women's association association contacted Lawson to organize talks on how to dress and leave the standard uniform in which they had felt stuck with shoeally."They were very excited to watch the lawyers on television dress in a new, powerful and feminine way.".

The idea of sex as a power in office dress also occurs in the legal drama Suits, famously starring Meghan Markle as the parallegal Rachel Zane. En la serie, la jefa del bufete de abogados neoyorquino Pearson Specter, Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), refleja su posición profesional a través de su vestuario de diseño con vestidos de estructura arquitectónica, desde Dolce & Gabbana hasta Roksanda Ilincic.Zane also invests her salary in design clothes for the office, and even reference is made to her sexual attraction in the script: "You were too busy looking at me to listen to a word of what I have said".

But you have to ask how many female characters can be powerful when they fold to the male gaze.Emma McClendon, fashion historian and Power Mode.

“Ally McBeal's miniskirt costumes caused a lot of stir in the 90s, when the series was first broadcast.They were an accessory in the narrative to show how McBeal was a feminist lawyer of the third wave, who was not afraid of being sexy, but they also served as an accessory for male executives to attract viewers ”.

This idea is not limited to workplaces on the screen, says McClendon.“A perfect example of the schism between the male and female expectations in the office is the general director of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, with his gray sweatshirt, and the director of Facebook operations, Sheryl Sandberg, with his pencil skirts and his dresses tube.Both represent the same company, but they dress very differently.This exposes expectations about women and female body.Ultimately, women are forced to comply with stricter clothing standards in the workplace ”.

We also see a pressure for women to have a “shine” in the office in women led by women.In The Devil Wears Prada, Andy (Anne Hathaway) is immediately rejected for her little elegant clothing: "Who is that sad person?" Asks the editor, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).As Andy takes his position seriously, so do his design expenses.

Other more recent series, such as The Bold Type, have injected a level of individualism into the characters' cabinets, but polished sensuality remains a key ingredient.Also, in Industry, by BBC Three, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) wears tight skirts and blouses with ties, in contrast to his superior Daria (Freya Mavor), which has advanced enough to gain the right to go to work in suit in suit ofpants.

After spending most of two years working from home, giving priority to comfort and adopting an approach to the work of "Zoom's boyfriend", how will this translate into our return to the office, and how women are portrayed on the screen?

For Lawson, the idea of informal clothing in the office is not attractive and has been an opportunity to return to glamor."In The Good Fight, we opted for the feeling of I'm going to fix myself because I've been in Chandal for a long time.".But he also wants to highlight the fantasy of life on the screen.“On television and cinema, every day is a great day and people dress for it.In real life there are days when nothing happens and you don't have to go dressed blank for that day ”.

Francesca Muston is a fashion vice president at the WGSN trend prediction company.He explains that in recent years there has.“The designers have struggled to better understand the changes in the lifestyle of consumers and have incorporated improvements such as elastic tissues, panels or sleeves that allow more movement.Ultimately, all these changes are durable because they represent a gradual and sustained change in the way of dressing, rather than an instinctive reaction to the pandemic ”.

But, says McClendon, the office usually goes several steps behind the fashion industry."We see it in the acceptance of women with pants, which were a great fashion tendency in the 70s but were not accepted in the office until 90, and more recently in the debates prior to the pandemic of the heels".

In the last year and a half, the office culture has pauses and the daily movements of dressing for work have stopped.When reconsidering the value of the office in our lives, we are recognizing the cracks of a system that does not work for everyone and the opportunity to change the status quo.So, before putting a pencil skirt again and applying the strips, it may be time to take a moment and ask ourselves exactly for the success of who we are wearing.