power style

A couple of Saturdays ago I saw President Obama on TV, talking about the earthquake in Chile. He came out of a door at The White House and walked toward the cameras on a curving brick sidewalk. He stayed a short time and talked to reporters. ("Made a brief statement," as they say...) and turned around and walked back, on the sidewalk, and back into The White House.

Saw that clip a couple of times and thought, "What's different?"
It was --
No tie.
The president was wearing a suit -- trousers, jacket, and shirt -- but the shirt was open at the neck, and he was not wearing a tie.

Dressed well, and right for his position, but a little less formal.
It was Saturday.

Government inspector where I work commented about a week later that the president had not been wearing a jacket, when he spoke to Congress about health care. I later saw photo from that event, N.Y. Times -- Pres. Obama was wearing a crisp-looking shirt -- and a TIE, this time, but
-- indeed -- no jacket.

The jacket was probably hanging on the back of a nearby chair.

(I hear that was a smokin' speech -- if it had gone longer, the president might have rolled up his sleeves! And then we would have to talk about that.)
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The Symbolism of What You Wear.
President Obama is of the generation that lived in blue jeans and founded Casual Fridays.
At the same time, there's a narrow and specific expectation of what a president of the U.S. wears: suit-and-tie-have-a-nice-day.
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Sometime during the O.J. trial I was called for jury duty in a local case. (Right away I thought, oh no, will I be forced to stay in a hotel for weeks on end, deadlocked, who will feed my cats...?)
Most trials are not like that.
Ours was one day. An interesting day. I experienced The Process. I thought if you're going to go to court you dress up. I wore what I would have worn for work -- a suit.

I was the only one there wearing a suit besides the judge and the two attorneys.

People here come casual for something they generally consider to be a potential pain in the neck.
I got picked; the sides made their cases; it was interesting.
When we jury members went into the room to deliberate, I was elected Foreman (a woman pointed her finger at me and said, "I nominate her.")
The judge later referred to me as foreperson.

I wondered later if that would have fallen on me if I had not been the only one who was dressed up. It wasn't even a classic "power suit." The skirt was full, sort of drapy, or flowing, and the jacket was unconstructed.
Clothes -- and how you wear them -- make some sort of statement, whether or not you intended it.

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