"This is my crime scene, detective."
Pam: You know, I think there could be a lot of benefits if you could learn to get along with women.
Dwight: Look, I have no problem with women. It's businesswomen and their, their power suits and their shoulder pads. Don't lie about your shoulders!
Dwight: Look, I have no problem with women. It's businesswomen and their, their power suits and their shoulder pads. Don't lie about your shoulders!
Many important people wear suits and, unremarkably, some of them are women. They are cool, calm, and certain. Unflappable in business and lunch meetings, they will not take any man's Trash Talk. This woman is a badass just from the aura she presents, this aura radiating from her power suit. Of course, it isn't the suit that gives her power but it sure doesn't harm the image she's trying to project that she is not to be messed with. On a man's chessboard, she's captured the king.
This trope is for the powerful women demonstrating their prowess through an equally powerful suit. Bonus points if their sheer presence intimidates men of a similar position. Frequently worn by the High-Powered Career Woman.
Note that with the outdated image of actual '80s "power suits" — unflattering bulky tweed things with massive shoulder pads — the power suit referred to here will be a much more slim-lined, definitely fitted and quite modern pantsuit, maybe even erring on the side of the traditionally masculine (although a pencil skirt instead of pants remains a popular option for the more feminine-presenting). Whilst characters in the shoulder-padded suits could be examples, it is dependent on how the work presents it: as these were typical office attire for any and all women of the period, to qualify it would require the distinctly powerful woman to be wearing a power suit and for no other woman in the work to wear one.
Many examples combine this with High-Heel Power to give this outfit a more feminine touch. Compare Power Hair, likely to be paired with this.
See also Badass in a Nice Suit (which this woman could be), about kicking ass in an awesome suit.
Not to Be Confused with Samus Is a Girl, in case you're thinking of a lady wearing a literal "power" suit.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Integra Hellsing from Hellsing is in charge of a large paramilitary vampire-hunting organization, and is rarely seen wearing anything but a formal suit. She is also a Cigar Chomper and (in the English translations) prefers to be addressed with "sir".
- Kaguya-sama: Love is War: Fujiwara's diplomat mother Maho is shown wearing a suit jacket in her only onscreen appearance (it's unclear if she has pants or a skirt since she's only shown from the waist up). Most of the other mothers in the series tend to wear more feminine clothes, even if they're successful businesswomen. Fujiwara herself is also shown wearing a suit and skirt combo as an adult when she follows in her parents' footsteps as a politician, though the effect is somewhat lessened by her continuing to wear her hair bow.
Comic Strips
- Perhaps one of the earliest examples of this trope in print can be found in Nell Brinkley's 1928 comic serial Dimples' Day Dreams. Flighty Ms. Delphine (or "Dimples" to her friends) daydreams of a career in politics, fantasizing about being elected Mayor, Governor, or even President. An accompanying Imagine Spot depicts Dimples wearing an immaculately tailored double-breasted suit over a diaphanous blouse with exaggerated bell sleeves and a lacy cravat. Her fitted trousers are embellished with bell-bottom cuffs of the same gauzy fabric. The idea of a woman president in a power suit was wildly progressive (and perhaps overly optimistic) at a time when women in the United States had only won the right to vote 8 years prior.
Films — Animation
- The Bad Guys (2022): Diane Foxington has one as her usual attire while doing her job as Governor. After the failed Sunnyside heist, Mr. Wolf mocks the suit when he's venting at her.
- In Turning Red, Ming usually wears a green blazer on top of her blue and green dress.
Films — Live-Action
- Arthur's Quest: As Principal Blackheart, Morgana wears a black skirt suit with tights and high heels.
- The Big Kahuna: As part of his attempt to get his younger colleague to open up about his own preferences, Larry admits that he loves women in business suits.
- Glass Onion: Andi wears a white suit for much of her appearances on Miles' island. It's likely intended to be invoked by Helen, who is impersonating her twin sister, to make her seem more confident than she actually is in the moment, as she's terrified of being found out while simultaneously controlling righteous anger.
- Heathers: This is what Heather C. is trying to invoke by having her clique wear blazers at school. Notably, she, as the leader, is wearing the most attention-grabbing ones, and, as soon as she is killed by Veronica and JD, the others abandon the style entirely. Unusually for the trope, the Heathers abide by the padded shoulders style, as the film is from the '80s, but not strictly to the suit part, as they - being high schoolers - prefer a more youthful approach to the power suit look.
- Pacific Rim: Uprising: Liwen Shao, a no-nonsense technologist and head of Shao Industries, wears elegant white suits in her early appearances. She's initially implied to be a Corrupt Corporate Executive but becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen and a valuable ally to the main characters.
- Mace in Strange Days wears a severe black one as a bodyguard/limo driver.
Literature
- Fate/Zero's Saber, in contrast to her armored Fate/stay night look, preferred a stylish black suit when working with Kiritsugu Emiya.
- A Magical Girl Retires Zig-Zagged — Once she unlocks her Transformation Sequence, the Protagonist is pleased to discover that her Magical Girl outfit is a nice suit instead of a frilly dress or a school uniform. It's too bad she still has no clue exactly what her powers are or how to use them, and she just got dropped into a high stakes battle with the world's most powerful Dark Magical Girl (who just declared her intent to kill off every other magical girl on the scene before ending the world).
...when I looked down at myself, I was wearing a beautifully tailored black suit, the kind I had never worn before or even dared to want, or maybe I did in my heart of hearts—it was a very nice version of a suit a working person would wear. Even with the fate of humanity in my hands, I was glad that I didn't have to wear a super frilly aurora borealis princess dress like Roa's.
- Shimoneta: Sophia Nishikinomiya is an influential politician and is always seen in her purple pantsuit. She and her husband, Matsukage, are the primary antagonists who lobbied for the increasing censorship laws that have prohibited all manner of obscenity in Japan for the last 16 years.
- Worm: Contessa qualifies; she is typically described as a "mysterious unnaturally competent woman in a suit".
Live-Action TV
- Arrow:
- Laurel Lance was an attorney, eventual ADA, so she wore suits to her day job.
- Amanda Waller also wore suits, which helped her project a different kind of power in a job that saw her working with and against vigilantes, mercenaries, soldiers, and metahumans.
- Bosch: Grace Billets is a pantsuit-wearing lieutenant at Hollywood Station. It's noted to be a big deal in season 4 where she temporarily pulls out her old police uniform while functioning as Acting Captain to oversee the cops handling security at a planned demonstration outside the police station.
- Broad City: In "Mochalatta Chills", Ilana hires several unpaid interns to do her work for her, and in her new position as a boss she buys herself a power suit to show her authority—in all white which she calls her "white power suit".
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Amy Santiago has a large variety of pantsuits that she wears everyday, fitting her formal and professional demeanor, as well as her highly ambitious nature. She is always looking to command respect from her colleagues, as well as trying to achieve her goal of becoming captain of her own precinct one day.
- Daredevil (2015): Marci Stahl wears a fair number of pantsuits, such as an all-gray outfit when Foggy and Karen run into her during Nelson & Murdock's lawsuit against a client at Marci's firm, or a blue blazer that she wears to Father Lantom's funeral.
- Doctor Who
- "Dalek": Diana Goddard is a high-ranking member of GeoComTex who wears a black skirt suit and high heels. She begins the episode by being promoted by CEO Henry van Statten to serve as his Number Two, and ends the episode by ousting and disposing of him in the same manner he had disposed of his previous number two.
- "The Long Game": Cathica Santini Khadeni is an Intrepid Reporter who wears a black pantsuit and is instrumental in helping the Doctor defeat the Jagrafess. Downplayed in the case of Eva Saint Julienne / Suki Macrae Cantrell, who is seeing wearing a suit in a recording of her application but has more casual attire in the present.
- "Boom Town": Blon Slitheen, disguised as "Margaret Blaine", has become Lord Mayor of Cardiff and so wears a black skirt suit with mayoral bling. Downplayed in the case of Cathy Salt, a humble Intrepid Reporter who wears a brown pantsuit.
- "The Christmas Invasion": Played straight as Harriet Jones, who was last seen as a humble Member of Parliament in "World War Three", wears a black skirt suit after being elected Prime Minister, standing up to both the American President and the alien Sycorax. Subverted in the case of Sally Jacobs, a UNIT Bridge Bunny who is briefly brainwashed by the Sycorax.
- Tardisode: Played straight in Tardisode 8, where McMillen is wearing a black pantsuit as she gives Captain Walker his Mission Briefing. Subverted in "Tardisode 13, where a female newsreader wearing a black pantsuit cowers amidst the Cyberman invasion before seemingly being exterminated by a Dalek.
- "New Earth": Frau Clovis wears a black skirt suit and is the stern personal assistant to the Duke of Manhattan. When diseased patients break out, she helps set up a barricade.
- "School Reunion": Downplayed. Sarah Jane Smith wears a skirt suit in her Reestablishing Character Moment as she investigates Deffry Vale High School, only to switch to more casual wear as she teams-up with the Doctor.
- "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday": Yvonne, the director of the Torchwood Institute wears a bralass black skirt suit and seems to encourage this among her Bridge Bunnies, with both men and women wearing suits. Inverted in the case of Adeola (Freema Agyeman), who wears a brown skirt suit but only appears as a hapless victim of the Cybermen.
- Tish Jones, sister of Martha Jones (also Freema Agyeman), wears a dark blue stripped skirt suit in her role as head of PR for Lazarus Laboratories in "The Lazarus Experiment". Downplayed when she next appears in "The Sound of Drums", when she is hired as a Sexy Secretary for the new Prime Minister, Harold Saxon, actually the Master, before being arrested to spite Martha.
- Miss Dexter is a chief enforcer of Harold Saxon who appears in "42" and then in "The Sound of Drums" where she leads armed goons against the Doctor and company. She wears a black skirt suit with tights. Between her, Tish and the odd Fanservice Extra, Saxon seems to encourage this amongst his staff. His wife, Lucy, also wears skirt suits as First Lady, with alternating black and cream blazers.
- In "Reset", an episode of the Spin-Off series Torchwood, Martha Jones is reintroduced wearing a black pantsuit, revealing that she has been recruited by UNIT.
- "Partners in Crime": Miss Foster / Matron Cofelia wears a black skirt suit as head of Adipose Industries and encourages a formal dress code among staff, as seen with Clare Pope. Invoked by Donna, who wears a black skirt suit with tights and high heels to pass herself off as a Health and Safety inspector. She next wears a striped trouser suit to infiltrate Adipose Industries.note Subverted in the case of Penny Carter, a would-be Intrepid Reporter who wears a grey pantsuit, only to get quickly rumbled and captured by Miss Foster.
- "The Stolen Earth": Subverted. Several Bridge Bunnies at UNIT New York wear pantsuits, Suzanne even wears the same suit as Penny from "Partners in Crime", but end up being exterminated by Daleks.
- Donna invokes the trope in "The End of Time" when she suggests that the Queen should wear trouser suits, fitting since Donna wore one in Partners in Crime.
- In the Whoniverse Spin-Off series K9, June Turner wears a sensible grey skirt suit in her capacity as an Inspector in the Department in charge of handling alien threats. In the finale, she swaps out the suit for grunt wear as a consequence of being demoted to archivist.
- "The Wedding of River Song": Amy Pond wears a black pantsuit whilst leading a Badass Army in an Alternate Timeline.
- "The Bells of Saint John": Miss Kizlet wears a black pantsuit and is head of the Spoonhead operation. She even hijacks the body of a suited television newswomannote to speak to the Doctor. Ultimately, this is downplayed when Kizlet is revealed to be a brainwashed minion of the Great Intelligence, who resets her back to her factory settings, that being a little girl.
- "Time Heist": Miss Delphox wears a black skirt suit with tights, heels and sexy glasses and manages security at the Bank of Karabraxos. Downplayed since she is revealed to be an expendable clone of Director Karabraxos, the banker's owner. Clara also wears a plum-colored pantsuit in this episode since she's going on a date, but it also proves appropriate for the Bank setting.
- Dynasty could well have the trendsetters for the intimidating power suits with big shoulder pads, Alexis the most, whenever they run the Denver oil company.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Dee wears a yellow pantsuit while serving as a youth basketball coach in an apparent attempt to look authoritative. Mac tells her she looks like Big Bird.
- Mad Men: Averted in earlier seasons where if women were wearing a suit, it'd be a traditionally feminine or fashionable style (a la Betty Draper, Mona Sterling, or Trudy Campbell, the ad wives), very couture (Rachel Menken or Bobbie Barrett), or matronly (Miss Blankenship or Mrs. Olson). However, later in the series, as they climb up the career ladder, Joan and Peggy Olson take to wearing declarative businesswear 1960s style.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show can be considered to have championed the power suit, albeit '70s style, as Mary Tyler Moore was an icon for not just women's lib, but also for emerging women in the workplace.
- Mrs. America, focusing on the activists within Women's Lib and the antifeminist counter-movement of the 1970s, has examples all over the place.
- Iron Lady Phyllis Schlafly is an experienced lobbyist and two-time Republican congressional candidate who often is seen in matching, structured two-piece suits with pointed collars and a slight A-line skirt and high collars or pussy bows. She averts the trope of being feminist-minded as Phyllis is willing to take advantage of prejudices and fears concerning the changing role of women to gain clout in the political right wing.
- Phyllis's ally Rosemary Thomson starts out the series in classic dresses and sweaters before graduating to serious suits with bows and high neckline blouses and she is becoming more power-hungry and crueler to her friends.
- Phyllis's friend Alice ends the series wearing a power suit (with pants) and with a job as a 411 operator, in stark contrast to when she started out as a sheltered suburban housewife in shirtdresses with a regressive view of what women (and by extension, she) were capable of. This is seen as a huge feat in Character Development.
- Oddly on the feminist front, the number of women wearing a power suit could be counted on one hand. As most of the feminists eschewed rules concerning feminine or even business dress, choosing to express themselves in the stylish and casual pieces of the 1970s. The few that did wear power suits were politicians like Shirley Chisholm (a middle-aged African American Congresswoman who ran for President) or political insiders like the Republican Jill Ruckelshaus.
- Odd Squad: Any female managers wear power suits such as this, such as Oprah, the most serious one of them all. It's paired with a necklace, though unlike most examples, they wear regular sneakers like all the rest of the agents. Also, they're more so girls than ladies.
- Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation, who treats her job with the utmost seriousness, is always wearing a very professional suit. The only other member of the Parks and Rec department to wear a suit regularly is Tom, but even then he is constantly dishevelled. Leslie is trying to show that she is in charge here and has things handled.
- McAfee in The Politician almost always wears masculine trouser suits, befitting her calm and "professional" appearance, despite being in high school.
- Power Rangers Lost Galaxy: In "Stolen Beauty", villainess Trakeena assumes the form of "Tracey", wearing a red skirt suit with tights and heels.
- Primeval
- In the season 1, Claudia Brown wears a mix of suits, including pantsuits plus a skirt suit with tights at one point, and more casual wear in her capacity as a civil servant from the Home Office. Jenny Lewis, the version of Claudia in the new timeline beginning in season 2, is the head of Public Relations for the Anomaly Research Center and wears a mix of glamorous dresses and somewhat saucier skirt suits with necklaces, lower necklines, shorter skirts and high heels, as seen in 2.4 and 2.7. This subverted in season 3, where Jenny downplays the glamour as she takes the Anomaly threat seriously, appearing more like Claudia. Season 3 also has Christine Johnson, the rival to James Lester and head of her own organization, who wears a mix of pantsuits and skirt suits with tights.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Qpid", Vash wears a strangely 20th century-style skirt suit with tights and heels when she attends the Federation Archaeology Council symposium aboard the Enterprise. She even tries out Captain Picard's chair.
- Shiv Roy on Succession switches to bespoke pantsuits once she decides to try her hand at becoming CEO of Waystar.
- Supergirl (2015): Alex Danvers, Kara's elder sister, swaps out her secret agent tactical gear for a fitted suit on some occasions. These are typically when presenting the public front of her secret service employer, looking both more professional than in a catsuit as well as commanding awe. The other occasions when she wears one are in situations where she is also putting herself in power, compared to when she wears a dress in occasions of letting go of control.
- Wizards vs. Aliens: Stephanie Gaunt is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who wears a black blazer over a purple dress with tights and high heels.
- The X-Files: Scully's Consistent Clothing Style, starting with some very early '90s plaid suits with shoulder pads to the more stereotypical black blazer/pencil skirt combo from season 3 onward. Such an iconic part of her character that in season 7's "Hollywood A.D.," in which a movie is made about Mulder and Scully, Tea Leoni, who plays her, can be seen sporting one, along with a red wig and exaggerated version of Scully's cross necklace. She asks Scully to teach her how to run in the high heels that naturally accompany such an outfit.
Music
- Desdinova, the female half of the titular character from Blue Öyster Cult's Imaginos, wears long-tailed suits with spangles and is incredibly dangerous and imposing.
- "Short Skirt / Long Jacket" by Cake is sung by a guy who apparently has a fetish for a High-Powered Career Woman.
Video Games
- In Control (2019), Jesse acquires one of these after completing the main story, when she accepts her role as Director of the FBC. There's another one she can acquire via an optional side quest which is the same suit except gold.
- Arlecchino the Knave of Genshin Impact is one of the eleven Fatui Harbingers, who dresses in a suit that serves to give her a more masculine and menacing air.
- Helltaker revolves around the titular protagonist acquiring a harem of demon girls in fancy suits, each of which is capable of killing him easily. The main reason the game was even made is because the creator thought there wasn't enough art of hot demon girls in fancy suits.
- League of Legends: Renata Glasc is the most successful businesswoman in all of Zaun, rivaling the economic powers of the city above, Piltover. She always wears a cleanly tailored and very angular white suit. If you keep her from her goals in any way, she will use her influence to destroy you and everything you love.
- In Pokémon Sun and Moon, a now-adult Anabel from Emerald is the leader of an International Police agency to confront the Ultra Beasts, and she wears a very nice suit.
Webcomics
- Dark Carnival: The ringmaster of the circus clearly likes to live up to an image of professional authority and taste with her fancy suit, which is warranted given the control she has over the entire establishment. However, her personality is fabricated and she's actually incredibly emotional when things don't go her way.
- Ennui GO!: Darcy's usual outfit consists of a blood-red suit jacket and skirt and she most definitely exudes power and intimidation when wearing it. That said, Darcy probably doesn't need to wear a power suit (or any clothes, considering this comic) to be generally intimidating.
- Hark! A Vagrant:
- Parodied with Businesswoman wearing a suit with enormous shoulder pads
, and having to choose in the morning between it or another suit with even larger ones. Parodied further when it turns out her pajamas also have shoulder pads.
- America is jealous of Murphy Brown's wicked shoulder pads.
- Parodied with Businesswoman wearing a suit with enormous shoulder pads
- Spacetrawler has Joyce Evans, the no-nonsense CEO of a company named after herself. She's abducted by aliens as she's leaving the office, so she's yet to change out of her business suit. And she quickly proves herself much more competent than Nogg (the alien who abducted her) and becomes the de facto leader of his crew.
- Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal (2022): Roxanne, Silly Seal's wife, is never seen without her power suit and black stiletto heels.
Western Animation
- On Daria, the titular character's mother Helen, a lawyer, wears a slightly updated version of this look (lacking shoulder pads). She onetime takes Daria shopping with her where Helen tries on a powder blue version of her usual matching bright burgundy blazer and skirt.
- Parodied on the Gravity Falls episode "Boss Mabel". When Mabel fills in for Grunkle Stan as boss of the Mystery Shack, she wears an adult-sized business suit with oversized shoulder pads.
- Hazbin Hotel: Charlie Morningstar, who is the Princess of Hell, wears some tasteful and snazzy tuxedos to emphasize that, despite her bubbly and often childish personality, she is still a woman of high authority (even if no one respects said authority).