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Clothing Company M.M.LaFleur To Dress Women Running For Office For Free - Forbes

NatashaArti Mayıs 16, 2021

Clothing Company M.M.LaFleur To Dress Women Running For Office For Free - Forbes

Clothing Company M.M.LaFleur To Dress Women Running For Office For Free - Forbes

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:13 AM PST

It's no secret that female political candidates and public officials face particular scrutiny on the fronts of wardrobe, hair and makeup. When word got out that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had spent $260 on a haircut and color, it made national headlines. When Rep. Ayanna Pressley stopped wearing her signature Senegalese twists, people took notice. In 2008, following a Politico report revealing the Republican National Committee spent over $150,000 on clothes and accessories for her and her family, VP hopeful Sarah Palin faced serious criticism. 

In her book, "What Happened," Hillary Clinton divulged that she spent 600 hours having her hair and makeup done during the 2016 presidential campaign. She also explained that she'd defaulted to her well-known pantsuits in hopes that the "uniform" would encourage people to pay more attention to what she was saying than what she was wearing. Similarly, 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has assumed a "uniform" of sorts telling Vogue in an interview, "I want to look nice, and I want to spend no time getting dressed. When I first ran for public office, I decided I needed a little color, but I wasn't willing to invest the time in figuring out scarves and skirts and all of that, so I stuck to the black shoes, pants, and top and figured I could put a colored blazer with that." 

Then, even with the "uniform" to turn to, women candidates need to match their look to their daily activities. Attending an outside event means sensible shoes, speaking on a stage with a blue backdrop means the blazer color needs to be a contrasting one—red, purple or perhaps pink. From there, there are hairstyle options to be weighted, accessories to be considered, lip color deliberations to be had. Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg, another 2020 presidential hopeful, wore the same outfit for 50 straight events—a white shirt, blue tie and navy blue pants, sometimes paired with a matching blue blazer. 

It's clear that for female candidates, attention to personal appearance takes up time and, frequently, serious financial investment. M.M.LaFleur, a female-founded clothing company that previously dressed Cynthia Nixon and Rep. Stephanie Murphy, is hoping to help level the playing field—at least on the wardrobe front. The company recently launched its new Ready to Run line and with it announced the offer to lend out pieces from the line for free to any woman running for public office. This includes women running at all levels—whether they're campaigning for a seat in the Oval or on their local town council. 

"The day after the 2016 election, we sent an email to our M.M. community asking how we could better support them. One of the most common themes we heard from our customers was the need to support more women running for office," recalled Sarah LaFleur, company founder and CEO. "Though we don't purport that clothes are really what make the difference here, we know that it's one small way that we can help a lot of women who potentially don't have access to these kinds of clothes or the kind of money that is required to buy new clothes," she continued. 

The immediate response to the campaign launch has been pretty huge. "So far, we've gotten over 875 emails from interested candidates across the country, and their stories are incredible. We've heard from a professional firefighter and mother of four in Oregon; a public school teacher in Florida running for state senate; a woman in Missouri, who if elected, would be the first Asian American woman to be elected into the MO State House; the first black trans-identified woman to win public office in a major US city…the list goes on," shared LaFleur.

The company is encouraging women candidates to reach out at readytorun@mmlafleur.com with their name, location, and description of the office they're running for to get their owned loaned pieces.

Dressing for the campaign trail can be tough for female candidates. M.M. LaFleur is lending free clothes to ease the burden. - The Washington Post

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:49 AM PST

More than a century later, research shows that physical appearance remains a point of intense scrutiny for female political candidates, while the looks or dress of their male peers are scarcely factored into their potential. Women running for office say they often feel pressure to look the part lest they not be taken seriously. But the expense and upkeep of a professional wardrobe can be a barrier for many. That's why workwear retailer M.M. LaFleur is offering to lend clothing to female candidates this election season.

"A lot of women can't afford to buy the kinds of clothes that people expect of candidates," said company co-founder Sarah LaFleur. "If it's in any way a hurdle for these women, it brings me such joy that we can help alleviate that problem."

In an email to customers this week, LaFleur said that interested candidates could contact the company with their credentials, including name, location and description of the office they're running for, to receive five outfits selected for them by M.M. LaFleur stylists. The company has received more than 550 responses from women in state, local and federal races and an outpouring of support from customers.

"In my day job, I'm a professional firefighter, as well as a mother of four. My dress consists of either a blue uniform and turnouts, or jeans and a T-shirt," one candidate wrote to M.M. LaFleur. "I can't even begin to tell you how stressful the 'how to dress' piece of running for office has been!"

M.M. LaFleur is leaving the onus on candidates in local or state races to ensure the donation of clothing is acceptable under their jurisdiction's campaign finance laws. To make sure candidates in federal races can take M.M. LaFleur up on the offer while not violating federal campaign finance laws, LaFleur herself will purchase the clothing and lend it to candidates as an individual, rather than the company.

Puzzling through the public's demands of what a trustworthy, professional woman ought to look like is an almost impossible task, said Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University. Standards for men's professional wardrobe have barely changed in the past century; for women, professional fashion is a moving target. They're expected to wear jackets that square their shoulders (without looking too masculine), skirts that are neither too long nor too short, unless they opt for trousers (which raise questions of formality) and blouses that are flattering without being revealing.

"There's never a set of safe choices for women because the expectations and messaging around clothing is constantly evolving," Scafidi said. "Female political candidates have an even greater challenge, needing to appear on camera in different outfits without appearing to spend too much on clothes, whatever amount that might be, and thus having their ability to balance budgets called into question."

LaFleur's company was born out of frustrations about the time and resources required for women to keep up a professional appearance. After years of working in private equity and management consulting, LaFleur said she was exhausted and annoyed by the effort required to search for sharp, appropriate work clothes. In 2011, she launched M.M. LaFleur with Miyako Nakamura — the former chief designer at Zac Posen — with the mission "to take the work out of dressing for work." The two built an online brand of unfussy, smart workwear meant to appeal to women of all ages and body types, from wrinkle-resistant suits to basic shift dresses and machine-washable work pants. Tops start at $75, and the company's best-selling pants retail for $195.

Investors were skeptical that women would pay hundreds of dollars for workwear basics, LaFleur said, and that they'd want to buy these things online instead of in traditional brick-and-mortar stores. But M.M. LaFleur's performance has proved otherwise: The first pair of pants the brand designed sold out in two hours, and one basic black wrap dress racked up a 1,600-person wait list. The company has dressed Cynthia Nixon, the "Sex and The City" star who ran for governor of New York, and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.). Now LaFleur hopes its wears will help hundreds more on the campaign trail.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) applauded M.M. LaFleur's offer on Instagram earlier this week, noting that she relied on hand-me-downs from friends before she was sworn in.

"When I was running for office (even now!), accessing clothing for the job was a challenge both logistically and financially," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "As a candidate, a large part of asking people to vote for you is helping them visualize you on the job. As a member, that professionalism helps you challenge subconscious bias."

The freshmen women of the current Congress (which features more women and people of color than ever before) have inspired discussions about red lipstick, hoop earrings and ethnic garb — topics that occasionally have overshadowed their actual platforms and ideas. Conservative critic Eddie Scarry of the Washington Examiner caused a stir when he tweeted a picture of Ocasio-Cortez in 2018, suggesting her clothes were too nice for her working-class background. He deleted it after it sparked backlash.

"If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response. "If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh and take a picture of my backside."

Shirt dresses - 23 best shirt dresses for women in the UK - cosmopolitan.com

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:17 AM PST

Meghan Markle's shirt dress

Millie belted shell maxi shirt dress, £290, Staud

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When Megan Markle wore this dress on the royal tour of South Africa, the only way to get your hands on one was by signing up to a waitlist. Now, it's available on Net-a-Porter and we reckon it's not too pricey for a royal approved-approved piece.
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