Pantsuits and pussy bows

HALLIE EPHRON: Confession, I wore my first pantsuit with a blouse that had a pussy bow. I was in college and, like everything else, we thought we invented them.

My pantsuit was pale blue, made of a stretchy material (polyester?) that retained body odor. Now that I think of it, it was actually more akin to a leisure suit than a power suit Ironically that same year I was wearing mini-dresses that barely covered my butt.
Women weren't allowed to wear pantsuits on the Senate floor until 1993. We owe it to Senator Barbara Mikulski (Senator (D) from Maryland since 1987) and Senator Carol Moseley Braun (Senator (D) from Illinois, 1993-1999) for defying that rule.

Did you wear pantsuits, and were you making a "statement" when you did?

RHYS BOWEN: First confession: I've never worn a pussy bow in my life. And now I never will. Never. Ever.

But I have always loved pantsuits. I remember my first, clearly. It was pale beige (and those of you who know me will comment that I have not become more adventurous with color over the years). I bought it at our local department store in England in 1968. After years of cold legs while standing at bus stops in skirts during the English winter I thought it was heaven. Unfortunately I don't think I have a picture of it. But I do have one of a more recent beige pant outfit.

LUCY BURDETTE: I have at least four nice pantsuits in my closet in Connecticut. The oldest vintage is black wool with thin white pin stripes--it's a three-piece, including matching vest. I can't for the life of me remember why I bought it or where I was going to wear it. But I've kept it in the event I'm invited to a gangster party...it would be perfect!

Aside from that one, my first events as a mystery author were all conducted in pantsuits. Here are two photos. 

The first was in 2005 at the fabulous, now defunct Quail Ridge Books in North Carolina. The second took place in the Scranton Library in Madison CT.

You are in that photo Hallie, along with Kristan Higgins and Maddie Dawson. I think you must have been thinking: "What is up with that outfit?"

As for pussy bows, no. Just no.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  My last pantsuit was in 1968. No, 1967. I got it on Carnaby Street.  I LOVED IT.  It was purple wool, with a sleek double breasted longish jacket and purple wool slim bellbottoms. It was AWESOME.  I wish I still had it, just to look at it, but I think I wore it so much I wore it out.

I also, ahem, had a pantsuit of lavender linen. The pants were hot pants.  It was 1970. I wore it to a wedding (very successfully!) and then somehow it disappeared. I wasn't living at home, then, or I would have accused my mother of swiping it.  For my own good. But I loved it.

But now--I haven't worn a pantsuit since then....well, I had a gorgeous one, actually maybe in the 90s? Navy blue, Ralph Lauren, very elegant. That too, is gone, I think consigned.

However. Pussycat bows. Yes, as a young reporter, they were de rigueur.  Here's a TV publicity photo of me in ...1975.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: I don't remember ever having a pantsuit when I was younger. I didn't have jobs that required a suit-y look, which probably tells you something about my income level...

I did buy a pantsuit in 2007, however, when I was invited to speak at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC. I'd just had knee surgery and was still bandaged up, so a skirt suit was not an option. Included in the book festival (which was wonderful!) was a tour of the White House. Here I am in one of the rooms in the East Wing. 

If I ever had a blouse with a pussycat bow, I have conveniently forgotten it.
 
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Finally, Hank, a place where our styles intersect. My mother bought me a hot pants pantsuit from Carnaby Street in '69. I loved that thing - I was definitely the coolest girl in 4th grade. Mom, who was much more of a sixties fashionista than you would think of an Army officer's wife, had her own cool pantsuits, at least one with a groovy maxi-vest.

Carnaby Street was my first and last venture into the field, however. When I was working at a nonprofit in DC in the early eighties, it was all about the skirt suits, and even then, due to the "more casual" nature of a museum, most of mine were mix and match rather than the same coat and skirt.

I did have several pussy bow blouses, though, with YUGE shoulder pads. I liked to tie them in an ascot, and I had a whole collection of stickpins I'd put in to hold the stock in place.

I have to say, I really liked Hillary Clinton's tunic-top-and-pants pantsuits. They were somehow both more feminine than the old style pantsuits AND more authoritative. Super pulled-together, but also comfortable. I hope we start seeing more of that style offered in stores.

HALLIE: Share your pantsuit and hot pants pantsuit memories. Did you see wearing it as making a statement, and is there a pantsuit in your future?