When Lady Gaga took the stage at the recent MTV Video Music Awards wearing a black suit, white shirt and slicked-back short hair, she was doing more than channelling her alter-ego, Jo Calderone.
While the superstar has never been one to follow fashion dictates, her get-up that night also tapped into one of the hottest trends of the season - masculine, powerful and, in some cases, vaguely androgynous clothing.
The luminaries of the fashion world offered up lots of menswear-inspired looks on the autumn/winter 2011-2012 runways; Chanel's charcoal-grey trousers and slender blazers, Dolce & Gabbana's reimagined tuxedo jackets and floppy satin bow ties, the oversized satin-collared smoking jackets from Stella McCartney. In an extension of the boyfriend jeans and brogues sported by women in the past couple of seasons, the new masculine pitch in high-end fashion recalls the power dressing of the '80s, while still hooking into pop culture, socio-economic and political references: Kate Middleton as a new fashion force, two female potential incumbents in the White House, high-profile women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies and the fact that, according to the US Census Bureau, more women than ever are starting up businesses in the US.
Similar trends are recorded in the Asia Pacific region; a 2010 study by MasterCard Worldwide showed that 35 per cent of small and medium businesses throughout the region are now run by women, with annual average growth rates running from eight to 42 per cent depending on the country.
This masculine look 'signals a turn towards seriousness and no-nonsense professionalism, and not just at work', says Constance Dunn, author of the 2010 style book Practical Glamour. 'Women in all spheres have had to rethink and re-evaluate their lives, futures and most fundamental attitudes.' Dunn says that the lacklustre global economics of the past few years has had a lot to do with the trend; women now have to be even more conscious about their appearance when competing for jobs in a restricted market.
'The use of masculine fabrics, subdued colours and prints, classic silhouettes and few details - such as frills, bows or lace - signal a 'let's get serious' shift that is being felt by all women,' she says. 'The power dressing trend is a logical response to the need felt by women to shorten the reins and exert more control over our destinies.'