Evolution, constant and perennial is the defining statement of fashion globally. Its intrinsic association with history, society and creativity has given the world a range of garments that testify to the genius of the designer while finding an immediate receptivity its patrons. Although gender has always served as an anchor to fashion, striving constantly to enhance and emphasize its dynamism, while exuding a subtle, often blatant sensual appeal, it character underwent a sea change and ushered in an era best described as one spawned by the cultural considerations of the course of history. A strong trend among women towards adopting garments popularly worn by men was evidenced. [Arnold.R.2001.Fashion, desire and anxiety: image and morality in the 20th century; London; I.B. Tauris &co.ltd; pages 116-125.]
With women making a foray into work fields predominantly considered male bastions, a transformation was wrought in their mode of dress in the post World War II era, which essentially became the indicator of an epochal shift in social mores while contemporary sartorial codes began addressing the need for more comfort in popular styles of dressing. Complementing the adoption and the subsequent adaptation of menswear to suit the growing demand of the swelling numbers of their female clientele, fashion houses went into an overdrive to add the glamour quotient to something as passé and everyday as the Trouser, the Trench Coat and the Safari Suit, to lend them the style statement that the fashion industry recognized as the consuming need of the hour.
By the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent, in recognition of the mounting presence of women in those areas of work which were male dominated, created a line of women’s “power suits.” that embody essentially small but feminine details, a soft bow tie, for instance, and throw it into stark relief by modeling it beside a dashing