You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The way you look says a lot about you. Miuccia Prada said, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.”.
It takes only 60 seconds to create that first long-lasting impression based on your appearance. Women entrepreneurs must appear professional using their mindfulness about the dresses they choose. This will help with self-confidence in their body-language which is important to crack the deal.
Power Dressing for Women – Get into The Character
Have you ever wondered why female News Anchors always wear sheath dresses? Or the NGO workers always wear neutral colors?
Want to think big?
Whenever Barack Obama addressed a working-class crowd of Americans, he would always roll-up his sleeves and remove his blazer? You ask why? Well, this was his way to connect with the crowd by showing them that he too is a hard worker. And believe it or not, this worked just fine!
It is like how professional actors will come for practice sessions in certain clothes. It often resemble their characters so they feel more like the character that they are playing. Perhaps, it can be a torn shirt, an old pair of specs, or a color-themed team clothing that helps them achieve just the right swagger, elegance, or edge. It’s pretty amazing to realize how dressing appropriately for the occasion can lift the performance to a whole new level. And keeping in mind the male-dominant business industry, women entrepreneurs need to fulfill the demands of the character. This will help them appear more professional and trustworthy.
Power Dressing Impact Your Body Language
Of course, your dressing sense impacts your body language. A smart dressing boosts your confidence and maintains a sense of self-empowerment. As much as your styling sends a message to the onlooker, it triggers your mind too. As per a recent study, dressing professionally actually impacts how you think, behave and appear to others. It elevates creative thinking, self-confidence and gives people a broader perspective of who you are.
Breaking the Stereotypes with Power Dressing for Women
Women entrepreneurs often complain about workplace prejudices. Sexism is not a new thing but this cannot go forever. As it appears, women entrepreneurs feel that their colleagues and assistants do not take them seriously in a corporate setup because of gender biasedness. While we don’t say that power dressing may change this scenario overnight; we agree that it is a small but sincere start towards a bigger goal because we believe that your clothes not only add to your presence but also contribute to defining your body language, making you appear more boss-like.
Dressing Is Branding Yourself
You don’t go to a mall and buy the worst-looking product. Instead, you explore the whole store to find that one piece that looks beautiful. Similarly, clothes are undoubtedly an important part of you as a brand. Women seem to be enthusiastic to devote extra time to dress for success. As per a study by the market research company OnePoll Co., on average, every year, women spend about 100-hours on shopping for the choice of clothes. For men, the process is often quicker!
7 Most Influential Female Fashion Entrepreneurs
Power dressing for women is an interesting concept that can do wonders for your self esteem. To help you get some inspiration, we have presented here the list of seven most influential female fashion entrepreneurs. Their journey will surely motivate you!
- Tamara Mellon – The former Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder of the Jimmy Choo empire, Tamara has recently unveiled her ‘own’ fashion collection of leather legging boots. She is vocal about her support for women entrepreneurs. In her recent book ‘In My Shoes: A Memoir’, she has mentioned the struggles, complications, and achievements that she has faced in her professional and personal life.
- Sukhinder Singh Cassidy – She started her career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, New York. Later, in 2003, she joined Google as the first General Manager for Google Local & Maps. In 2009, she left Google to become CEO-in-Residence at venture capital firm Accel Partners. Post which she became CEO of Polyvore in 2010. The same year, she framed the idea of a new platform aimed at converging content and commerce through online video. As a result, in 2011, she founded JOYUS, a video shopping platform start-up bringing the opinions of shoppers and industry experts to life. JOYUS was one of the “Hot 100” e-retailing websites by Internet Retailer in 2012.
- Olga Vidisheva – Get access to fashion-forward designs from more than 160 nations’ classiest boutiques with Shoptiques.com, founded by Olga who was a model and a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. It all happened over a pair of shoes, she liked while strolling the roads in Paris. She stumbled upon this tiny boutique with the friendliest, most stylish owner who pointed out a pair of shoes by Phoebe Cham Pour Schu. Upon returning, all her friends wanted these shoes but unfortunately, the boutique owner insisted to visit the store. She was surprised to know that her friends weren’t able to get a pair of shoes from Paris and there she knew that she needs to change that.
- Erin Kleinberg and Stephanie Mark – The masterminds – Erin Kleinberg and Stephanie Mark gave birth to the idea of The Coveteur. It was a passion project inspired by the digital life we all live in nowadays. In Erin’s words, “The concept for The Coveteur first came to us over brunch one day—we were rehashing The Social Network, which we’d seen the night before and had us feeling inspired to do something in the digital space. We had been friends since we were 13 and had always tried to find ways to work together, as we’d both ended up working in fashion. Street style and personal blogging was huge at the time, but totally over-saturated—but going one step further and looking at the homes and closets of the people all over these blogs was something no one else was really doing.”.
- Anna Palmer and Christine Rizk – They heard of a statistic in a tax law class about $13 billion in clothing, shoes, and accessories are donated each year in the U.S. Assessing the worth of their closets, they speculated it is easier to ask others to donate clothing rather than cash for charity. That’s how Fashion Project came into existence.
- Hilary Peterson – VP of Business Development for Lyst, Hilary used to sketch dresses for her Disney princesses as a child. Lyst is a site that aggregates your favorite designer wares in one place to personalize and customize online shopping. She is always busy in meetings with she’s constantly meeting with designers, retailers, bloggers, and international brands to become the audience’s favorite platform.
- Melody McCloskey – In an interview with CNN Tech, Melody McCloskey shared that her favorite city is New York because of the energy, fashion, and scale of that city. She further added, “…NY City is incredible and I’m always filled with ideas and inspiration when I leave.” She is the founder of StyleSeat, a platform that brings together beauty and wellness professionals, allowing them to run their businesses.
To Sum Up
There are so many fashion influencer women entrepreneurs from whom you can take tips to dress well. Power dressing can help women elevate their confidence. If you are comfortable in what you are wearing and who you are then dressing well and professionally is a simple nudge to get that magic going!
