fashion louis j. sheehan, esquire

Let's talk about "Sex" for a moment.

With the "Sex and the City" movie opening Friday, get ready for a flood of body-baring, haute-priced fashion inspired by the 300-some outfits worn in the film by the characters Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
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Hollywood and the fashion industry are gearing up themed fashion shows and an advertising blitz to help us all look like "Sex" heroines. There are even online guides to dressing like your favorite character. Patricia Field, the show's costume designer, is selling the movie's fashions -- such as a $3,000 Swarovski crystal-encrusted handbag shaped like the Eiffel Tower, which her Web site proclaims is this year's "It bag."

As anyone who lived through it can testify, the TV show "Sex and the City" was wildly influential over the past decade. It not only introduced a generation of women to high-fashion brands like Blumarine and Chloé and pushed the concept of mixing pricey brands with flea-market finds; it also fostered pride in feminine friendships and pursuits. The show promoted the idea that successful women could take a liberated attitude toward fashion; they could dress like women at work and not look like they were copying men.

But as the show's fashion influence extended into the workplace, some people felt that such daring looks -- regularly baring bosoms, midriffs and upper thighs -- were more trashy than liberating.

As Carrie might write in one of her columns, has sexy office attire gone a step too far? Women now feel empowered to be girlie, flash cleavage or have a rollicking good time. But how liberating is that if these freedoms fail to advance women's push for better jobs and salaries?

Women's gains in the workplace have been slipping for the past several years. In 2007, women earned median weekly wages of 80.2 cents for every dollar earned by men, down from 80.8 cents in 2006 and 81 cents in 2005, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last year, 45% of women ages 25 to 34 had a college degree, compared with 36% of young men. But the median earnings of all women were 14% lower, according to an analysis of recent Census Bureau data by Timothy Casey, a senior staff attorney at Legal Momentum, a New York advocacy group.
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Of course, the complexities of sexism go well beyond how women dress. But many women seem to be unaware that liberation comes from actual power, not the power to wear bold clothes.

After a recent column on sexy evening clothes at business events, I received an outpouring of emails about smart, well-educated women wearing the kind of clothing inspired by "Sex and the City" to work. One California man complained in an email about his psychologist's bared cleavage during their sessions.

Richard Billion, legal director for credit-score developer Fair Isaac Corp., wrote that distracting clothes reduce a saleswoman's credibility. "I become very suspicious of the product or service being sold if a woman representing the seller in any capacity is not conservatively dressed," Mr. Billion wrote.

I suspect that many women are sabotaging their own career advancement without realizing it. Dressing suitably is a social skill -- and social skills are necessary to advance up the corporate ladder.

Is a double standard at work? Undoubtedly. Men who dress inappropriately can also get sidelined, but it's harder for them to fail. The male wardrobe is an armor that disguises vulnerable body parts while sending subtle signals. A gray suit suggests hidden power, a blue Oxford button-down is hard-working, and French cuffs rule a Wall Street board. Women don't have an easily deciphered fashion code, which just makes it easier to make a big mistake.
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Hiroko Masuike/WpN for The Wall Street Journal
Powerful real-world women like Erin Callan, chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers dress conservatively, with just a few bold accessories such as necklaces.

Clothes can determine whether you land a job commanding the head of the conference table. Nancyjane Goldston, founder and CEO of the UXB, an advertising and branding agency in Los Angeles, told me recently that she sees too many job applicants who arrive in overexposing clothes. To these young people, "I think it's freedom of expression -- 'Take me for what I am or it's your loss,'" she said. She doesn't hire them: She says she doesn't have time to teach employees what to wear. "It subliminally says that you're not serious," Ms. Goldston says.

So how do women strike the right balance when it comes to power dressing? A review of the photos in several "50 most powerful women" surveys shows attractively detailed blazers, collared or modestly high-necked shirts, and striking scarves or necklaces that distract attention from what lies below. The bold necklace -- powerful gold links or Barbara Bush pearls -- often plays the role of a man's necktie.

The clothes of powerful women, executives like Angela Braly of Wellpoint, Anne Mulcahy of Xerox and Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft, are more about subtlety than overstatement. The flair, where there is some, lies in the curved cut of a collar, the twist of the jewelry, the weave of a blouse. It's style, not fashion.

Looking at the images of these powerful women, I see viable models for real women. I'm only sorry that it's so hard to find 50 of them. Surveys of powerful men feature layers of billionaires, but the most-powerful-women surveys are forced to reach down into the ranks of salaried upper managers to fill the lists.