What the skirt suit tells us about power dressing in 2018

Hitchcock loved them - Marlene Dietrich wore them in Stage Fright, in 1950, while Tippi Hedren was in a skirt suit when she fought off The Birds Their icon was Margaret Thatcher, a female anomaly on the political stage, negotiating the scrutiny of the public eye in pearls, that handbag, a Tory blue skirt suit and - to paraphrase Working Girl's skirt suit wearer Tess McGill - "Serious hair" "You're trying to dress a bit like a man but enough like a woman that you don't frighten the horses," she says, "Trying to look professional and also female, in a way that is acceptable to very male-dominated workplaces" Marjorie Strachan, head of inclusion at RBS, is more positive, arguing that the re-emergence of the skirt suit means women have more choice.

With only one in 10 people now wearing a suit to work, and many of the most powerful people in the world more likely to sport a grey marl hoodie than tailoring, fashion's adoption of the skirt suit makes even more sense These days perhaps a twentysomething in her Silicon Roundabout office can wear a skirt suit with a knowing smirk, rather than choosing it to negate any anxiety about how she'll fit in when walking into a boardroom full of men Today's skirt suit wearer might not wear it to work at all.

A workwear staple out of office hours? That's the 2018 skirt suit for you. . Source