How do Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Women Dress for Success?

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4 years ago

Last week, we looked at how Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Dress for Success. In case you don’t have time to read last week’s post, the key takeaway was: you need to wear a blazer. I found this, frankly, surprising; I didn’t expect such a strong affinity for blazers, given that I do not see many women wearing them in my office (in Silicon Valley). Perhaps that is how more established women dress for success…but what about people our own age?

In my conclusion from last week’s post, I hypothesized that we may see more variation and diversity of dress for success attire if we were to look at Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and/or by looking at different industries (i.e., Tech). The purpose of this post is to prove or disprove this hypothesis by applying the same methodology as employed in my post on the attire of the Most Powerful Women to Fortune’s 40 Under 40.

What do you think? Will the hypothesis will be right or wrong???

How do Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Dress for Success?

First, let’s talk about the methodology…

How did I assess the dress for success attire of the 40 Under 40?

In short, I used the same methodology as last week’s post on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, except I pulled from a different Fortune list (Fortune’s 40 Under 40). Here is the methodology in detail:

Step 1: went to Fortune’s 2018 List of 40 Under 40 and identified the top 5 most highly ranked women
Then, Step 2: in order to get a sampling of their attire, I did a Google search, and clicked on “Images”
And, Step 3: took a screenshot of the first 3 rows of images (basically one computer screen’s worth); in some cases, there weren’t too many photos so I used what I could
Lastly, Step 4: noted similarities and differences from the dress for success advice I gave in a chart below
- Notes: in terms of how I rate how my advice compares to their fashion choices, a plus sign (“+”) indicates that my guidelines align with the powerful woman’s fashion choices; similarly, a negative sign (“-“) means I am not aligned; finally, a plus and minus together (“+/-“) indicates partial alignment between Mrs. Type A’s guidance and what the powerful woman wears in the image.

Ok, Mrs. Type A, what did you find already?!

Well, there is just one more thing we need to talk about…I need to share a summary of the fashion advice I have given in order to make the comparison. Feel free to scroll ahead if you’re already familiar… Oh, you forgot? OK, here you go…here are the highlights:

There is a “uniform”: an outfit consists of 3 pieces
- For instance, avoid wearing just a top and pants; you need to add a blazer, cardigan or a sweater
For Tops, you should choose a blouse (in other words, not a button-down); neckline should be v-neck, cowl neck, or turtle neck (specifically, no boat neck) [see post on Blouses]
Buy boring pants (yes, that is actually the advice I give; the idea is that pants are not the place to differentiate yourself)
When looking for Blazer or Cardigan, purchase one in a basic solid color (therefore, nothing wild and no wild prints)
For Shoes, you should have a heel (in other words, no flats)

After that, now we are ready! Let’s take a look at how the 40 Under 40 dress for success…

Alison Atwell, 31

Voice user interface designer, Amazon

Alison = Alexa. Yes, that Alexa. The one from Amazon that runs your life and household. So, it’s safe to say Alison is a powerful and influential woman. Let’s see how she dresses…I did my best to capture images that related to her work…there were just a few…

How Alison dresses compared to the “rules” I typically follow:

#	Advice	Rating	Comments
1	3 Piece Uniform	+ / –	Blazer in ½ of the images (+) Remaining show a top with no blazer/cardigan (but they appear to be from the same event (-)
2	Blouse: Patterned, Not Boat Neck	+	Blouse instead of button down (+) Patterns instead of solids (+) No boatneck…tie neck instead (I think) (+)
3	Boring Pants	–	1 example of pants, which are red (not boring (-)
4	Blazer or Cardigan in a solid color	+/-	1 of solid, 1 pattern (+/-)

Overall, Alison adheres pretty closely to the rules I use. She also adheres to many of the standards of the Most Powerful Women, despite being considerably younger (1/2 the age!) and from the tech industry. Perhaps these dress for success rules are more pervasive amongst younger women than I thought!

Let’s see about #2 on the list…

Ankiti Bose, 27

Founder and CEO, Zilingo

Zilingo is an innovative retail platform that helps small (mainly fashion) retailers sell online. I was really excited to look at what Ankiti wears, given the Zilingo’s focus on fashion. Let’s check it out…

#	Advice	Rating	Comments
1	3 Piece Uniform	+ /-	In the images, Ankiti can be seen wearing a blazer in 3 photos (+) In others, she does not wear any 3^rd piece (-)
2	Blouse: Patterned, Not Boat Neck	+ / –	Ankiti’s images show only blouses, no button downs (+) Mostly solids (black), but there are patterns on some shirts and some nice detailing (i.e., sleeves) on another top (-) Some shirts definitely are boat neck, but not all of them (+/-)
3	Boring Pants	NA	No evidence of pants (perhaps skirt, not sure)
4	Blazer or Cardigan in a solid color	+ / –	Solids (+) and patterns (-)

Overall, Ankiti’s attire overlaps least with the rules I follow about business attire. However, “least” does not mean complete disregard. For instance, she still wears a very traditional blazer and tops in some photos. In addition, despite not aligning to the guidelines I’ve written (or what the Most Powerful Women wear), doesn’t mean that she’s making poor choices. Above all, in every photo, Ankiti conveys a sense of confidence and inspiration, which is critical to her role as a CEO.

Her attire suits her and her company perfectly!

What I think this means is that the attire is situational; there are times when a blazer and blouse are most appropriate…and times when it is not. Perhaps more so at GM than, say, a tech company. But, what I think is interesting is that even the 40 Under 40 still do adhere to some more traditional attire choices.

But we still have a few more to go…how will they dress for success?

Joy Buolamwini, 29

Founder, Algorithmic Justice League

According to Wikipedia, the Algorithmic Justice League is, “an organisation that looks to challenge bias in decision making software.” This organization – according to Fortune’s article — is linked to MIT’s Media Lab and has published studies that have resulted in changes made at Microsoft, IBM and Amazon around their facial recognition software.

So, clearly, Ms. Buolamwini is a powerful and influential force in the tech space. But, does she wear “power suits”?! Let’s see…

#	Advice	Rating	Comments
1	3 Piece Uniform	++	I see a Blazer or cardigan in every photo
2	Blouse: Patterned, Not Boat Neck	+ / –	Mostly blouses; 1 potential button down (+) Mostly solids, 1 patterned blouse (+ / -) Boat neck (-) but also vnecks and turtlenecks (+)
3	Boring Pants	N/A	No images contained pants
4	Blazer or Cardigan in a solid color	++	Blazer or cardigan in EVERY photo (except 1)

Fascinating! Joy adheres to pretty traditional facets of “power dressing” despite being very focused on technology, an industry typically more casual in terms of professional attire.

Kate Gulliver, 37

Global head of talent, Wayfair

Admit that you love Wayfair! Anything you could ever want to furnish and decorate your house…all in 1 site. Kate is responsible for HR for this large, global company. In other words, she’s a big deal.

Does she dress that way?

Let’s see….

#	Advice	Rating	Comments
1	3 Piece Uniform	+ /-	In 1 image, Kate is wearing a blazer (+) That said, there are a many in which she is not (-)
2	Blouse: Patterned, Not Boat Neck	–	Kate seems to prefer sweaters over blouses in terms of tops…looks comfy!
3	Boring Pants	N/A	No images include pants
4	Blazer or Cardigan in a solid color	+	The 1 blazer is black

So far, Kate is the most unique dresser. The focus simply no sweaters is unique amongst the women we have sampled, honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen it more!

Johanna Faries, 37

Commissioner of Call of Duty e-sports league, ActivisionBlizzard

OK, so I’m definitely a wee bit old to figure out what Johanna’s company does. Seems like it’s about video games. If so, I would assume she just wears PJs all day?!

Well, let’s find out…

#	Advice	Rating	Comments
1	3 Piece Uniform	+/-	In most images, Johanna is wearing a blazer (+), but not all images (-)
2	Blouse: Patterned, Not Boat Neck	+/-	Some images have a blouses (+), other images show a white button down (-)
3	Boring Pants	+	1 image includes pants, which are basic black (+)
4	Blazer or Cardigan in a solid color	+	Johanna wears a simple black or gray blazer

Of everyone in the 40 Under 40, Johanna most adheres to the more traditional clothing choices that I’d recommend, and to the attire worn by the Most Powerful Women. Therefore, I wouldn’t expect from someone working in the video games industry!

In conclusion, what did we learn about how to dress for success from Fortune’s 40 Under 40?

Above all, I have to say that the attire for the 40 Under 40 didn’t differ as much as I thought from the Most Powerful Women. Yes, there was more variation (i.e., more vivid colors or unique sleeves). However, the basics held true. I honestly didn’t expect to see so many button down in the 40 Under 40 crowd!!

So, in terms of the key takeaways on how to dress for success, here is what I summarize:

Above all, the importance of a (black) blazer: I was pretty surprised to see ALL of the women on the 40 Under 40 list has at least 1 image in which they are wearing a blazer). In general, the preferred color for a blazer is black, which I also didn’t expect, but there is definitely more variation in the color and pattern of the blazers amongst the 40 Under 40.
In the end, boat necks rule: Just as with the Most Powerful Women, we see a lot of boat neck blouses, albeit there does seem to be more patterns with this crowd. This is a head scratcher for me; I love v-necks in particular and am surprised we didn’t see more with the 40 Under 40. But, lesson learned.
Button downs are a staple of business attire: button downs are just as popular with the under 40 crowd as with the Most Powerful Women. This is probably the most surprising finding, mostly because I just don’t like them. They feel very “cookie cutter” and I don’t feel like I am expressing myself. Furthermore, they are tight and uncomfortable. However, they appear to be very valued in the wardrobes of powerful women and, for that, I stand corrected. I guess I know what I need to put on my Birthday list!

Anything else about how to dress for success, Mrs. Type A?

Yes, in the end, let’s not go crazy with the findings here; this isn’t a bullet proof analysis. Just like with the Most Powerful Women analysis, I have to give some caveats as this methodology has clear drawbacks. For instance, using the top Google images is not fully representative of what these women wear. In addition, we also don’t have much context on the events for which these women were photographed; the situation may not have been business related at all. There are certainly other caveats, which I outline in the Most Powerful Women Post from last week if you are interested (link above).

Well, this was a lot of fun again! I have to say the analytic side to me loves doing these comparisons. Let me know if you have an idea of another one I could do…leave ideas in the comments below….