On any given day, as the chief executive of Neiman Marcus Group, Ms. Katz is as likely to meet with a banker or a board member as with the chief executive of Balenciaga. And so, despite being known in industry circles for her finely honed sense of style, she understands that her position requires an impeccable professional polish and no fashion funny business.
She is not alone. In the toughest global economic environment in decades, internationally adept businesspeople know that the impression they create with their personal on-the-go, global style is an important aspect of professional success. The clothes they wear, the shoes they choose, the bags and briefcases they tote — all are part of the aura of cosmopolitan competence that well-appointed executives cultivate.
And so the best put-together professionals confidently tread a middle ground between business boring and fashion outré.
For instance, even though Mark Shelton, a financial executive for Credit Suisse International in London, no longer necessarily wears a tie on the trading floor, he does take care to wear a well-fitting suit — whether from a classic tailor like Anderson Sheppard or higher-fashion fare from Lanvin.
And even though Betsy Pearce, a lawyer based in Paris, favors avant garde silhouettes — a puffed sleeve, a voluminous peplum — she keeps things in check with a somber palette. Business meetings, Ms. Pearce counseled, are “not the place to wear orange.”
None of this happens by accident. Ms. Katz, for example, has mastered the art of mining seasonal trends for work-a-day wardrobe gems.
Some of her go-to brands — Dries Van Noten, Jil Sander and Alexander McQueen — are not necessarily office-friendly when they first stride down the runway. “I work through those collections to find the right dress, the right jacket,” she explained. “It absolutely needs to be edited to be work-appropriate.”
Ms. Katz almost always shops for versatile pieces, like a feather-lined vest from Brunello Cucinelli, Prada geometric-print pants or a black motorcycle jacket from The Row that can be paired with more formal pieces for the office or evenings but also worn with jeans for the weekend.
“I look fashionable every day,” Ms. Katz said. “And the pendulum swings between more, or less, edgy when I’m with bankers. But I certainly don’t dumb down the way I dress.”
And when it comes to a high-stakes business meeting attire, she has her own idea of the power suit. “It’s always a dress!” she said, favoring feminine designs by Bottega Veneta and Jason Wu.
But for some other executive women, pants after many years on the outs, are finally coming back into high fashion, led by houses like Prada and Saint Laurent Paris. For Ms. Pearce, the lawyer, they never really went out of style.
Her ensemble for a recent boardroom meeting with Goldman Sachs included Elise Overland’s black leather leggings and a sharply tailored black Balenciaga jacket.
“I could see the women in the room were overwhelmed by the boldness of what I was wearing,” Ms. Pearce recalled. “But I could also tell they thought it was cool.”
Ms. Pearce, who favors an all-black work uniform composed largely of Belgian designers she buys at the central Parisian boutique L’Éclaireur, has no use for the sea of boring beige many female lawyers swim to work in.
Bucking legal conventions is something of a sport for Ms. Pearce, who has been known to pair crisply pressed, untucked J.Crew men’s shirts with designer jackets by Comme des Garçons, Dries Van Noten or Balenciaga.
“To see a roomful of women in bad panty hose, pumps and matching suits makes me want to cry,” she said, only half laughing.
When it comes to shoes, professional women can find stylish options in sturdy packages.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/business/global/in-troubled-times-clothes-still-make-the-business-man-and-woman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss