What’s considered appropriate business attire has changed in recent years, but the power of the suit and looking professional hasn’t diminished.
“Seven of the nine women we sent on interviews recently got the job,” says Kathy Bacon, program director of Dress for Success Denver.
In the basement of a Capitol Hill office building, Bacon has set up shop where she and volunteers clothe dozens of women a week. The women – referred from such organizations as Warren Village, Mi Casa and the Women’s Bean Project – get their pick of suits, blouses, pants, skirts, accessories, and hair and makeup products.
On a recent visit, we spotted never-worn Pendleton pantsuits, Ann Taylor and Ralph Lauren blouses, St. John suits, Dooney & Bourke handbags and Ferragamo pumps. There were even Christian Dior jackets and suits, still on their original hangers. The merchandise, attractively displayed by one of Bacon’s former Nordstrom colleagues, is all donated and ever-changing.
With volunteer fashion coordinators helping them, clients choose an interview outfit. If they get the job, they can come back and get a week’s worth of business attire.
The experience is confidence-boosting.
“We don’t have mirrors in the dressing room, so after clients try on an outfit, they have to come out and go to the three-way mirror,” Bacon says. “They’re amazed at the transformation, particularly when they’ve come to us wearing jeans or sweats.”
The mission of Dress for Success, which started 10 years ago in New York and has 75 locations in the United States and abroad, is to provide a network of support and career development tools, as well as professional clothing, to women.
The Denver chapter was dormant for four years until Bacon revived it in 2006, bringing her expertise in retailing and skills as an educator to work with referring organizations and corporate donors.
Relying on donations from the community and grants from companies such as Nordstrom, which gave $5,000, Bacon and her staff have dressed about 200 women in the past six months.
Dress for Success accepts clean, in-season business attire and accessories two Saturdays a month. They also benefit from specialty collections, such as a recent one organized by Dress Barn that netted 65 boxes of donations, and a handbag drive and breakfast hosted by Hotel Monaco. Sizes 16-26 are particularly needed, says Bacon. She’s also looking for volunteers to help clients Tuesdays through Fridays at the center.
Complete details are at dressforsuccess.org/Denver. Dress for Success Denver is at Ralph Waldo Emerson Building, 1420 Ogden St. People interested in contacting the group can call 303-832-1889 or e-mail denver@dressforsuccess.org.
