How Forbes’ Richest Women Dress for Success

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5 years ago

A few months ago, I wrote about how Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 dress for success. We learned a few things from that, including the fact that — despite the growth of business casual environments (thank you, Silicon Valley!) — wearing a blazer is a must for the most powerful women in business. A few weeks ago, Forbes announced it’s list of the Richest People in the World. Lucky them! I thought it would be interesting to see how the Richest Women in the world dress, and compare it to the Most Powerful.

How Forbes’ Richest Women Dress for Success

Before jumping in, let’s review some quick information about the methodology. Yes, I know it’s not perfect. I’m open to suggestions on how to improve, please suggest in the comments below. In the end, I think it’s still an interesting exercise.

Here are the steps I took to evaluate how the Richest Women dress…

Methodology

Step 1: went to Forbes’ List of Richest People in the World and filtered for the United States, then scrolled through and picked out the women. My first realization is how many men are on this list. Boo!
Step 2: Identify the subset of women on the list who are employed in business. Heiresses, socialites, and royals are exciting to watch (by the way, Happy Birthday, Baby Sussex!) but this blog focuses on career advice.
Then, Step 3: in order to get a sampling of their attire, I did a Google search, and clicked on “Images.” I had to weed out some women if they didn’t have enough images
And, Step 4: took a screenshot of the first 3 rows of images (basically one computer screen’s worth)

This isn’t a perfect methodology but gives us some insight into what they wear in a business setting.

When it comes to business attire, here are the questions you are fashion choices you are often struggling with:

Do I need to wear a blazer?
Should I wear a button-down? Is it ok to wear a blouse? Should the blouse or button-down be a solid, bold color or is a pattern ok?
Should I wear pants or a skirt? Or a dress?

Ok already!! How do the Richest Women dress for success?

Yes, here we go….here are the Top Richest Business Women in the US…

1. Diane Hendricks (Chairwoman of ABC Supply, $6.9B)

Does she wear a blazer? YES, nearly always wears a blazer, mostly in black; 1 example of a sweater without a blazer
Button-down or Blouse? Pattern or Solid? Some button-downs (but may be at same event). Some solid blouses with a boat neck as well
Pants or skirts? I can see 1 skirt, but mostly I can’t tell

2. Lynda Resnick (owns multiple businesses with her husband, $9B w/ husband)

Does she wear a blazer? In the images, Lynda can be seen wearing a blazer in at least 2 photos. It’s hard to tell what are professional vs. social events, but it seems like she may not always wear a blazer in a professional setting. Two blazers are solid colors (black and pink), and another looks multi-color.
Button-down or Blouse? Pattern or Solid? Mostly solid button-downs
Pants or skirts? 1 example of a skirt, which is long and black

3. Martha Ingram (Owner Ingram Industries, $4.4B)

Does she wear a blazer? In all images that appear to be professionally related, Martha is wearing a blazer. Her blazers are in solid, bright colors
Button-down or Blouse? Pattern or Solid? Martha wears a mix of white button-downs and white solid color blouses; the blouse appears to be v-neck
Pants or skirts? There are a few images of pants. Most seem to match the solid color of her blazer (so blue or green)

4. Ronda Stryker (Director of Stryker Corp [medical equipment], $4.3B)

Does she wear a blazer? Almost all professional photos show Ronda with a blazer or cardigan. The blazers are not always a solid color; some have patterns and some are very vivid solid colors (i.e., pink)
Button-down or Blouse? Pattern or Solid? Rhonda seems to prefer blouses over button-downs (though I can’t tell in the photo where she has the pink blazer). Her tops are mostly solids with a few patterns, and a mix of necklines, including boat neck
Pants or skirts? 1 example of a skirt, which is black

5. Marian Iltich (Owner of Little Caeser’s Pizza and other businesses, $3.8B)

Does she wear a blazer? In all images that look professional, Marian is wearing a blazer in a solid color, though the color varies.
Button-down or Blouse? Pattern or Solid? Marian wears a blouse in a couple of photos and they are either white or black (not patterned)
Pants or skirts? Looks like 1 skirt (or dress) and 1 pair of pants, but otherwise, I can’t tell

Bonus points for having a pizza in the photos!!

In conclusion, I think it’s safe to say that even the Richest Women in business choose to wear a blazer, even if only part of the time. That said, I think we saw some more diversity in the color of a blazer than we did with the Most Powerful Women; while the Most Powerful opted for black blazers, the Richest Women definitely showed more color and patterns. Ironically, when it came to tops, they were usually white or black. Often, the top was a button-down, which solidifies that as an important choice in business attire (much to my surprise and dismay).

Leave me your thoughts and reactions below in comments on the business attire of the Richest Women in business!!

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