Clothes: source of comfort and power

the term ‘power dressing’ brings to mind quarterback shoulders and spiky heels made for frosty meetings and cavernous boardrooms. But when the meetings are cancelled and the boardrooms replaced by our makeshift domestic offices, does the concept carry any weight at all? Strung up between the relentless tick-tock of daily life and the paralysis of a world tipped upside down, as we are right now, the question of what to wear for work does initially seem somewhat redundant.

Ordinarily, the clothes we put on for work (as with anything we wear) are about participating in a dialogue with the world around us. We choose workwear that asserts ‘I’m capable!’, ‘I’m professional!’, ‘I got this!’. It’s how we show we mean business. But we hardly need to tell you that, for the moment, ‘ordinary’ is on ice.

Still, that doesn’t mean the dialogue has stopped – it’s just altered its intonation and volume. Indeed, it’s ongoing with those who share your home, with the colleagues on video call, with the friends on social media. Above all, however, it’s there with yourself.

By getting up each morning and getting dressed, you are making a personal pact to take something out of the day and to engage with the world, even when you’re behind closed doors. For now, if you are lucky enough to be working from home, the coddle of a cashmere sweater, the anarchic comfort of an elasticated waistband, the peppy energy boost of a incongruously glamorous top, are all a tonic in these most unsettling times – so go with it, and let them be the foundations of a new working wardrobe.

Perhaps, rather than power dressing, the new reality demands we embrace empower dressing instead. And making an effort for yourself, of course, is the most empowering gesture of all.