FEMALE EXECUTIVES USE FASHION TO SEND A BUSINESS MESSAGE

The article by Carol Hymowitz describes the styles of modern business women today, who want to avoid a classic uniform look of a business lady and turn it into modern, successful and feminine women's attire while still looking professional. The author gives several examples of famous business women, who chose unique and colorful designer suits and dresses for work and important meetings instead of a boring traditional silhouette. Hymowitz writes, "Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's chairman and CEO, projects power and authority in black-and-tan designer pantsuits, but wore a purple suit to convey the merger of H-P (which has a blue logo) and Compaq (red logo)" (p. 237). Those women, who work in creative industries of entertainment and advertising, have even more freedom in terms of clothing selections. And, as it turns out, it is definitely possible to look serious and confident in business while wearing more contemporary and fashionable business styles.

Hymowitz, C. (2006). Female executives use fashion to send a business message. The Meanings of     
            Dress. 2nd Ed., Fairchild Publication. New York, NY.

Carol Hymowits mentions powerful women in today's workforce, who are rocking their influential positions, as well as their outfits.The author makes a good point when she says that corporate dress code is becoming less and less clear as years go by. Influential women who are CEO's of top companies like HP, Avon, and eBay are transforming the ideally traditional suits of the corporate workforce. While researching women CEO's and the way they dress, I came upon a list of the 7 best dress female CEO's. Andrea Jung (Avon, CEO) was again in the list, and along with others such as Oprah Winfrey (Oprah Winfrey Network, CEO), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook, COO), Sara Blakely (Spanx, Founder), and so on. A good quote in the article is by Marianne Spraggins ( Alic Investment Advisors, CEO) that states, "You don't have to dress like a man, but you have to look serious if you want to be taken seriously." Spraggins makes a very strong point, because this is correct in almost any environment, whether in the workforce or in your personal life. It is common to see people, especially men, judge women regularly, simply by the way they dress. IT is very stereotypical, but unfortunately it is the way men function.

The article Female Executives Use Fashion to Send a Business Message discusses how within a few years the number of women working in the business world have tremendously increased. Now a days there are more and more women obtaining higher positions such as CEO of large corporations and companies. Since the business world seems to have always been a men's world, women have always tired to gain respect to be taken seriously by fellow business mates. With this being the case there has been a contemplation about what is appropriate business attire for women. As mentioned in the article, Ms. Clarke says; "You [women] still have to dress for success and avoid anything provocative or too revealing, especially when you are surrounded by men in white shirts. So many women have been confused and stuck to the plain black/blue suit. However, with gaining popularity of women in business "the younger generation" is spicing things up with trendy styles and the use of more color. Proving that they can be professional and fashionable at the same time. Women have become more confident in expressing themselves in much more trendy, stylish and comfortable business attire.

While reading the article Carol Hymowitz mentions how women in different businesses want to express themselves with brighter colors, different styles and different styles of clothing. I think when it comes to the business world some women want to express themselves into whats more like them and not wanting to dress like every other women in the office. For instance Ms. Clarke stated,"You Still have to dress for success and avoid anything provocative or too revealing, especially when you are surrounded by men in white shirts. It is understandable to know that a women should be dressing appropriate and professionally,but then again a women can also dress fashionably and professionally in order to express her sense of style.So, getting dressed for the office does not mean to leave your personal style behind, it is always fun to add your personal style with your business attire to make it look polished.

THE PARED-DOWN PROM DRESS

Nowadays, there are more and more designers who create many revealing styles of the prom dresses. Amy Merrick, the author of the article, describes some problems girls face with when shopping for a dress. These issues include too low-cut in front, too low-cut in back, too tight, high slits on skirts, extremely low neck line, revealing "peekaboo" slits on dresses and sheer fabrics. The author states, that some schools have already applied a dress code to prevent young girls to wear provocative or sometimes even vulgar gowns (p. 202). It turns out that many designers create their styles according to some young celebrities and their fashion styles, since those looks can be notably appealing to the young audience, especially girls. Merrick writes, that a group of high-school graduating girls have even complained to customer service at Nordstrom Inc. because of inappropriate gown selections. Nordstrom organized a special meeting with students and buyers to discuss the desired styles of prom dresses to make customers happy. However, the majority of young girls want to look sexier and more appealing in their dresses, so many of them continue to purchase and wear pared-down dresses, which grow in popularity.

Merrick, A. (2006). The pared-down prom dress. Modesty and Immodesty. The meaning of dress. 2nd. Ed., Fairchild Publications, INC. New York, NY.

"Sexy Open Back Prom Dress"

Amy Merrick discusses the issue that many young girls face today when shopping for their prom gown. Many girls complain that dresses nowadays are too provocative and revealing than they should be for girls at that age. When researching for 2013 prom dress trends, many of the gowns are revealing, with very few covered up dresses. Very low and open-backs, with low cleavage are the top trends for today's prom gowns. Many of these styles are dictated by teen magazines, such as Teen Vogue and Teen People. Magazines are promoting two-piece dress that are very inappropriate for girls at that age. However, the sad reality of our society is that year after year, teens are beginning to show more and more skin. This is something that many teens are against. For example, Amy Merrick's example of the high school girls that complained about Nordstrom's dresses being too revealing. These girls had the privilege to design their own dresses, on behalf of Nordstrom. As a result, many of the styles were found to be long gowns with covered shoulders, as well as higher necklines and low to no slits. However, these types of dresses are not common among teens today, when shopping for prom dress. Therefore, designers are gearing towards more and more revealing designs, as opposed to covered up gowns.

   Modest v.s Sexy  
Throughout the years it seems that the style of prom dresses has drastically changed. It has gone from classy and elegant to sexy and revealing.Within the past few years the popularity of skimpy and daring styles has grown and many designers have tailored to this. More and more prom dresses are designed which show more skin and bare cleavage. "For young women, the prom dress marks a rite of passage out of high school to the larger world." However, this idea seems to have been taken out of portion. Instead young girls wanting to look "princess like", they are trying to embody a more older sexier look. Even Annemarie Iverson, editor-in-chief of teen magazine YM says, "Instead of looking to be Cinderella, they're looking to their star idols." On the other hand, it was also refreshing to read in the article there are still some young girls who have spoken out about the current prom dresses being too revealing, uncomfortable, and not age appropriate. They prefer a more classy yet still trendy prom dress, which is not too over the top and does not make them feel exposed. It was nice to read that there is still some innocence and modesty left in today's youth! (Merrick, 2006).




While reading "The Pared-Down Prom Dress by Amy Merrick it shows that the high school young girls are all different and they all prefer different types of prom dresses for their special night. As one of the girls a 16 year old student Annie Kershisnik said, "I feel more comfortable being a little more covered up" "But I don't want to wear a grandma dress" It seems as if most prom dresses are so revealing that young teens don't really have a choice. In my opinion I feel as if there aren't so many options and most prom dresses have less fabric over the years.  I also think that it is very inappropriate for such young girls to be wearing the most revealing dress to a school event.  Prom is the type of night that a young girl is suppose to feel like a princess and classy, yet we are seeing the opposite of a lot of skin as years go by.