Our Style. Evolving.

By Erica and Karen

We are very different in our approach to style, but very much on the same page when it comes to one central idea: Style is an important extension of identity. We have always been focused on personal style, though the specifics of how we express ourselves have changed.

We were rather boring as we entered the workforce. When we started our first jobs as lawyers, we surveyed the scene and concluded the path forward required that we look, and act, like mini-men. Stylewise, that meant navy or gray suits (skirt suits, of course, pants being well beyond the pale), white shirts, often with little bows at the neck, and in Karen’s case rep ties (a holdover from Catholic school), brown or black pumps with thick heels, all pulled together with ugly brown briefcases. Exciting this was not.

After we became competent and confident, and after a few more women joined our ranks, we came out as women. We started to wear color. And higher heels. And carry tote bags. Diane von Furstenberg invented her wrap dress. (Hugs and kisses to you, Ms. von Furstenberg.) And pant suits appeared, though not for formal events, and we could not wear pants without matching jackets. Sometimes matching vests too. (Perhaps surprising that we missed wearing pocket watches!)

Our presence in the workplace was beginning to change the look of the workplace. As well as a lot of other things. Thankfully, everything kept changing. Over the years, as we continued our upward trajectory and explored different ideas about how to make our presence known, we used style as part of our professional playbook. And we had such fun doing it.

Erica went though a wild phase of very short dresses covered in primary color flowers, worn with extremely high heeled shoes, also in primary colors, and dashing totes in yellow and purple. Karen went through a similar phase, but hers never really ended.

Erica ultimately settled on extremely elegant outfits in neutrals, with sparkles around the collars or sleeves. She travelled a lot, and very early on forswore checking bags, so she developed a style that allowed her to carry on a minimal number of outfits to address all kinds of events for several days. She still wore high high heels, and often her shoes featured sparkles as well. She always looked glamorous. In a professional way.

Karen traveled as well, but she could never travel without color options. She loved coordinating colors—sunglasses, and earrings, and shoes with a suit that was conservatively cut but wildly colorful. Or one of those beloved wrap dresses. Over the years, on non-court days she evolved to elegantly cut, single color blazers with crazily patterned trousers. Or shiny metallic skirts. Her approach was accurately described by Nicole Phelps of Vogue Runway, who said in regards to some Phoebe Philo trousers: To paraphrase Flaubert, be regular and orderly in your shirting so that you may be violent and original in your trousers. Exactly.

Those styles have stayed with us post-career. Obviously, our work days are now less formal—because we are no longer practicing law, but also because of Covid, which changed dressing for the worse! But we have translated professional dressing into purposeful dressing, to signal that we remain fully engaged in the world. Same style ideas, slightly different execution. Very few suits, but same colors, sparkles whenever possible, flatter shoes but even more sparkles, and generally as vibrant a look as we can come up with.

We are pleased to hear that our cohort generally is still dressing for impact (though wearing big shoes so our bodies looks smaller is not one of our objectives):

Pariser and her cohort are “shopping more than previous generations did in retirement,” said Michael Clinton, 70, the CEO of Roar Forward, a venture that offers “business intelligence” to the over-50 set.

No-one thinks we are done.

What are your post-career style strategies?