Miuccia Prada once said, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world.” This rings especially true in today’s society, where human interactions can be short-lived and the first attribute people recognize is one’s appearance. Looking beyond the average person, fashion choices can be especially critical for women in power—the careful balance between self-expression and professionalism in a world built for men. Somewhere along the way, “feminine” became synonymous with “weak” and “unskilled,” and wardrobes have been weaponized, with a pink stiletto or a set of French tips used as justification for why a woman shouldn’t sit at the head of the table. As a result, powerful female fashion trends continue to evolve.

So, what has “power” looked like over the years? For a queen of Egypt in 51 BCE, it meant a skillful combination of wealthy Greek and Egyptian styles, nodding to both her heritage and her kingdom. Flowing robes made of fabrics like silk and linen—some in creamy whites or the occasional blue, others in her favorite Tyrian purple (a popular color in Caesarean Rome)—were often adorned with elaborate beading or gold embroidery. These were accented with jewelry of precious metals and lapis lazuli to reflect her regal status. 

For women in the Tang dynasty, including the renowned Empress Wu Zetian, silk symbolized status, as it could only be worn by the imperial family and aristocrats, with distinct colors signifying their level of wealth. Queen Elizabeth I’s elegant attire often drew attention, consisting of waist-cinching gowns with puffy sleeves, dripping in rubies or patterned with roses and dragons. Her fashion was a tool to draw attention as a strong female ruler and present her chosen self to the public. Other times, she wore outfits that would blend in perfectly with the setting or even the moment. According to Fashion History Timeline, one Scottish ambassador remarked: “The queen said she had clothes of every sort; which every day thereafter, so long as I was there, she changed. One day she had the English weed, another the French, another the Italian, and so forth.” She truly embodied the phrase “woman of many hats.”

Such stylistic trends of women in power continue into the 20th and 21st centuries, though in more subtle ways. In 1920, Coco Chanel introduced the first women’s “power suit,” a blazer with a skirt instead of trousers, making a statement that women could present themselves with the same level of sophistication as men (reinforced by the fact that women had just recently gained the right to vote). As women streamed into the corporate world in the 1980s, the YSL Pop Art collection of 1966 became even more mainstream, replacing the skirt of the female power suit with pants, making it essentially identical to a man’s outfit. From Kate Middleton’s famous fuchsia ensemble to Hillary Clinton’s iconic navy pantsuit, power suits became staples of the working woman’s wardrobe. They act as a way to block gender-based assumptions of feminine weakness or emotionality and to be viewed as equals to their male counterparts.

Hairstyles play a role as well. In ancient Greece, only slave women wore their hair short, and flowing locks were a symbol of freedom. When a woman’s hair was tied up or back, it indicated that she was married. In early Rome, hair color could be associated with social class, with blonde and red hair being associated with higher status due to the Roman obsession with Gaul and Germanic tribes. Dark hair was for commoners. Lady Godiva’s tresses cemented her as a legend, flowing down her back as she rode naked through the streets of England to lift taxes on citizens. Nowadays, very long hair can be associated with unprofessionalism, or sometimes “hippies.” The bob is the unspoken uniform among women in politics, not distracting and short enough that it isn’t “too feminine” without being “too masculine.” These conventional standards further complicate matters for Black women. A joint report from Dove and LinkedIn found that Black women’s natural hair is around three times more likely to be viewed as unprofessional compared to when it is straightened, undoubtedly due to ingrained prejudice and white supremacy. Natural curls or braids are often discarded in favor of the classic short, straightened hair with a hint of volume—similar to the silk press that Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris favored. In all, the rules for powerful women’s styles are never-ending yet constantly evolving.