Feminism and Fashion 7

Dress for Success

This pantsuit was constructed in 1980 using Butterick pattern 3325. Pantsuits are representative of working women’s attire in the early 1980s. Suits incorporated shoulder pads which gave jackets a more masculine appearance as women competed with men in the workplace.

John T. Molloy’s book Dress for Success was published in 1977, and it became a well-known guide for women in the workplace. Women’s power and financial success in the 1980s were often linked to their attractiveness.