The End of the Pantsuit Era

The day after Sarah Palin was chosen to run with John McCain as his Vice Presidential candidate, Rush Limbaugh spent much of his show espousing her attributes. She was, he said, even able to be a strong leader without wearing pantsuits. The comment, of course, was aimed at Hillary Clinton's wardrobe, and the fashion wear that emerged in the 1970's. The fact that Palin, Clinton, and pantsuits are even on Limbaugh's mind at all is sheer testimony to how far the woman's movement has come in the past century, and how fashion can play a role in social change.

Fashion and politics didn't really blend itself together until the late 1960s. There was no particular item of clothing that was associated with the Suffragettes other than banners across their chest. The fashion change of the 1920's included the flapper wardrobe, but those fashions were not tied to any particular political movement. There is no doubt that bobbed hair and flapper dresses were worn by more forward thinking women initially, and perhaps even spilled over into sexual and social change. Even the war movement didn't spark a huge clothing shift as women moved into factory work.

The real change came as women began to push for equal pay for equal work. The pill gave them more sexual freedom and the divorce rate escalated. The double digit inflation rate of the 1970's forced women into the workforce in huge numbers. Soon married and unmarried women needed flexible clothing to fit all different types of work situations.

Enter the woman's suit, a pair of pants with a matching top. It was supposed to be like a suit for women, made so the pants and coat on top were the same color. Soon black and blue work pantsuits began to branch out into other colors, then even matching colors with varied patterns. Women began to wear them in church on Sunday, or to social functions that used to require dresses. Sportier coats could be worn at less formal functions, much like the men had the sport coat to replace their full suit.

Soon women were hammering out in subtle ways what was acceptable to wear in what situation and over the years much of it has become a standard. High end dinner parties require fancier dresses. Special days at church require a dress, skirt or very nice pantsuit. If it was cold, you wore a pantsuit, or if needed, slipped jeans under the dress to be removed once you were inside. Then that dropped out of habit as it was too cumbersome for women to be changing all of the time. Farm women were calling each other to figure out what was acceptable to wear in the barn; city women were watching each other carefully at cocktail parties to make sure their fashion sense was appropriate.

At the same time, the Equal Rights Amendment was emerging with the authors and proponents begging that the workplace pay fairly across the board. Feminists were seen wearing pantsuits, and extreme rabble-rousers were burning their bras. Women were dropping from exhaustion as they expected to have spotless houses and entertain, plus hold a job. This was Hillary's generation, who could get the high powered job, wear pants like a man, and have ambitions that could be realized. Pantsuits, especially the wash and wear polyester, were being sold by the millions during this sexual revolution.

Men, puzzled by all of the huge sociological changes, suddenly found themselves unable to keep up with the latest demands on them. They were expected to be macho like Eastwood, John Wayne, or Brando, but also sensitive like Phil Donahue and Robert Redford. They could empathize with Archie Bunker and evolved into viewers of Happy Days, longing for when times were less complicated. They found themselves helping with dishes at home, even expected to do housework even though they may have never been taught by their mothers. They married for life only to discover that sometimes their wives didn't stay, or they didn't have to either. In many ways, their roles are still changing so dramatically that most men simply can not comprehend what they should or should not be doing to be considered appropriate in today's society.

Today the pantsuit still exists, but is seen to be worn more often by women over forty-five. Polyester is still on the racks, but natural fibers are more fashionable. Polo shirts can be seen in offices and banks all over the country, though pantsuits are still used there as well. Slowly the pantsuit is being edged away, just as men's suits are no longer used in every white collar profession. Work clothes are being more mixed and matched, and the pantsuit only era is "so yesterday."

Now comes Sarah Palin, riding on the shoulders of one hundred years of women who came before her. They are the ones that fought the battles needed to change the thinking that kept women in an inferior role for centuries. The Hillarys and the Susan B. Anthonys who fought for political and sociological changes are now suddenly dinosaurs, long forgotten warriors of battles that seem insensible today. Now emerges a political candidate, wearing a dress, a moose hunter, a hockey mom, who is once again redefining the way women are to dress and act. The pantsuit may drift to the back of the closet, to gather dust, something that will get pulled out someday, with a smile of remembrance. Who knows? You know what they say about fashion: what comes around, goes around.