Rebelling Against Power Dressing : Women find that stylish business clothing still gives them a professional edge.

Sheila Ivary ruefully remembers the day several years ago when she committed a terrible fashion faux pas. Ivary, who owns her own accounting firm in Newport Beach, had gone to the office dressed in a royal blue dress and chunky crystal earrings--not her usual business attire. She had dressed for an evening at the theater and had counted on hiding in her office all day.

Instead, a prospective client called wanting to meet with her--that day and in person. Ivary had no time to change.

On the drive to her client’s office, she had agonized over the earrings. Should she wear them and risk offending this straight-laced Ivy League executive, or leave them off and appear forgetful--perhaps incompetent?

“I decided to wear them,” Ivary says. “As soon as I walked into his office, I knew I made a mistake. It just made a bad impression. I didn’t get him as a client, and I feel part of it was the earrings. Ordinarily I never would have worn them, but I got caught. I learned my lesson.”

That a business deal can hinge on something as trifling as an earring shows why many professional women have a difficult time getting dressed in the morning.

Even top female executives who call the shots in the board room can lack confidence when it comes to their own closets.

For business women, deciding what to wear is tough because they have yet to agree on a well-defined dress code. Men at least have the standard suit, which varies only superficially in cut and fabric from executive to executive. Women have no such uniform.

Many have rejected the so-called power suit with its severe styling, dull colors and bow tie as too masculine. While they can’t agree on exactly what to wear, they’re sure of one thing: They don’t want to look like men.

Every other aspect of their wardrobe remains open to each woman’s best guess: how high the hemline, how tight the skirt, how bright the colors, and yes, how big the jewelry.

In Orange County, some professional women have managed to find a happy middle ground between drab corporate garb and the frilly or sexy get-ups of the office flirt. They’re learning to express themselves through clothing while keeping within the boundaries of office decorum.

A few have abandoned the suit altogether. Others insist on suits with stylish, form-flattering cuts and strong colors.

As an entrepreneur, Ivary’s independence and freedom carries over to her wardrobe.

“I’m not a very typical accountant, and my clothing reflects that,” she says. “I’ve never been one to wear the suit with a bow tie.”

Instead of suits she favors coordinating ensembles--skirts and blouses with matching sweaters and jackets.

“I’m into elegant these days,” Ivary says. “I like fabrics that are soft. I like clothing that looks put together.”

One recent acquisition features a long cardigan sweater in navy with purple and yellow diamonds and a silk yellow blouse with navy diamonds, topping a pleated navy blue skirt with faint yellow and purple stripes.

“It’s very professional, very put together and very powerful. It shows you have the confidence to wear bright colors.”

Another outfit defines what she calls a “monochromatic look”--a short peg skirt and long, fingertip-length jacket of rayon and panels of green suede, which Ivary wears with a bright green silk blouse and green suede belt with a large blue center stone.

She pays $300 to $400 for a suit and $600 to $700 for a special ensemble and considers her wardrobe a wise investment.

“I often get compliments from clients,” she says. “I think they feel comfortable with me because my clothing is not stiff.

“I don’t want to look like an airline stewardess. I want to express my personality.”

Mary Carrington, a corporate attorney with McKittrich, Jackson, DeMarco & Peckenpaugh in Newport Beach, has found the best way to get exactly the kind of sophisticated, yet professional, look she wants is to design the clothes herself. She chooses fine fabrics during her world travels, then turns the material and design over to a tailor.

“While they are suits, they’re high fashion,” she says of her creations.

One of her more successful mergers: A short-sleeved, scoop-necked blouse and high-waisted straight skirt, both of black wool crepe with a fingertip-length jacket of a vibrant black and red animal print.

Carrington spends $400 to $600 on an outfit, expensive but far less than she would pay for a similar ensemble by one of her favorite designers like Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan or German designer Escada.

“I don’t agree with looking too cutesy or sexy, nor do I want to look like a man,” Carrington says. “I think sophisticated is the way I’d like people to describe my clothes.”

Even in formal corporate settings, women executives have found ways to exude authority without donning gray wool and pinstripes.

Barbara Jenkins, president and chief executive officer of Franklin Thrift & Loan in Orange and president of a networking group called Women in Business, favors what she calls “non-traditional suits.” They let everybody know who is boss without appearing harsh or masculine.

She prefers skirts with loose, flowing jackets or coats in bright colors and bold jewelry.

“I generally make a statement,” she says. “If someone comes into our office and I’m standing out there in the hall, they know I’m in charge of the place, and a lot of that has to do with the way I dress.”

A favorite ensemble features a long, full skirt of purple wool jersey, a matching top with leather and bead trim and a purple jacket that’s as long as the skirt. She likes designs by Marc D’Alcy for their brilliant colors, beading and year-round fabrics. A single ensemble might cost up to $600, but she has found that it pays off.

She even credits one outfit with a successful business deal.

“We had some valuable $20 gold pieces returned as collateral on a loan,” she says. “They were worth a substantial amount of money, and we’d been getting different bids” from coin brokers.

So Jenkins put on one of her favorite power outfits--a long mohair jacket adorned with gold threads that falls just above her knees, with a white straight skirt and silk blouse, large gold earrings and lots of pearls. Dressed for battle, she drove out to San Fernando Valley to meet with a coin broker.

“When I came out of the meeting, I had $7,000 more than anyone else had bid,” Jenkins says.

“I believe in that outfit. It says, ‘This lady knows what she wants. She’s a bottom-line person.’ ”

Although it is not always that obvious, many professional women see a direct correlation between their clothing and their careers.

“If you don’t look like a wallflower, you’re not going to act like one,” says Cynthia Garrett, a partner with the Newport Beach law firm of Barton, Klugman & Otting.

Garrett gave up dressing in the “gray banker’s mode” and began showing up in court in warm-colored suits. She often wears long, oversize jackets with short skirts (but no kneecaps showing) in purple and fuchsia fabrics.

“I’ve been asked by a judge off the record where I buy my clothes,” Garrett says.

Most women still swear by the suit as the best way to be taken seriously in the workplace. Look around any office, they say, and you’ll notice that the people in charge all wear suits.

“I wear suits, period,” says Mary Shebell, owner of Shebell Design in Huntington Beach, an advertising and graphic design firm. “I think I look better, more tailored, more sleek in a suit.”

She finds the suit to be an indispensable asset when making an advertising pitch to executives.

“I’ve worn casual dress to a presentation, and I can tell a subtle difference in the way I’m treated. They respect my time more if I’m in a suit. It adds to my credibility.”

Yet even Shebell won’t wear the traditional power suit.

“The plain white shirt, the bow tie, the gray suit--nobody expects that anymore,” she says.

Many of Shebell’s clients work in the fashion industry and expect her to wear creative clothing. So she buys suits with stylish cuts in bright, non-traditional colors such as red or plum. She prides herself on finding unusual blouses. One white blouse has a round collar of gold upholstery-type trim, which she matches with a black or forest green suit.

“Nobody’s going to come to me for a design if I’m in a pinstriped suit,” she says.

As controller and accounting manager for Carole Eichen Interiors Inc. in Santa Ana, Roselyn Berger wears suits of skirts and jackets exclusively. Unlike her friends at a “Big 8” accounting firm, she wears a pink suit instead of a gray one, or a white suit with a mauve blouse. Berger says that she likes outfits that express her femininity but that she would never wear a dress to work.

“My boss told me he hired me because I looked real professional,” she says. “When you look like an executive, people take you more seriously.”

The higher up a woman steps on the career ladder, the less dependent she becomes on the gray power suit, according to fashion consultant Sandra Clark, co-owner of Image Works, a “personal style development center” and women’s clothing store in Newport Beach.

Once a woman has been working awhile and gains some confidence, she is more likely to deviate from the dress-for-success look and experiment with novelty jackets and bright colors, Clark says.

“The executive really wants to separate herself,” she says. “She may be the leader in setting trends. She may go for soft suiting or opt for a coat kind of look or cardigan sweater with an incredible looking blouse.

“If anything, the look is a little softer. Women are realizing that they’ve already shown they’re dependable and reliable. As they become more confident, they can show more personality and sophistication and a little bit of gentleness.”

Clark counsels executive women against looking too tailored.

“If her whole aura is too mannish, it detracts from her image,” she says.

One client, a high-level executive, had six similar navy suits that she wore with only white blouses.

“Her old look was so tailored and precise, it pushed a lot of people away from her. Her job was in personnel, and she needed to get people to open up.”

Clark introduced her to new colors and bolder accessories. By softening her look, the woman became more approachable, Clark says.

Many busy executives don’t have the time or the fashion sense to pull together an outstanding wardrobe.

When Shebell doesn’t have time to visit her favorite boutiques or department stores, she shops for clothes through mail order companies.

Others turn to fashion consultants to help them navigate the treacherous fashion waters. Ivary, Jenkins and Garrett rely on Image Works to help them pick out power clothing.

With all their efforts, one wonders if men even notice their female co-workers’ rising and falling hemlines, their gray wool or green suede, their pinstripes or leopard prints.

“I’m more interested in what they do and getting a good product versus their appearance,” says Jim Klein, vice president and creative director of Hubbert Advertising.

“But if they’re very concerned about image, I know they’ll take some concern for the work they’re doing.”

Robert Griffith, president of the Griffith Group, an executive search company in Costa Mesa, says appearance weighs heavily in employers’ hiring decisions.

“It’s just vital that women know how to dress,” he says.

“Some women try to dress sexy. You see them at meetings in leather suits or short skirts and dark stockings. Then they find out what I do and ask if I can help them find a job. And I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know where I could send you dressed like that.’ ”

Lest anyone think men don’t pay attention to women’s clothing, listen to Griffith describe a recent client:

“She had a fine linen blouse, matinee-length pearls, a fabulous navy double-breasted jacket with a line of pink running through it.”

When he complimented her on the color of her stripes, the woman was amazed. He had noticed.

Other men might not share Griffith’s attention to detail, but they have general notions about women’s clothing. And they don’t want women looking like them, either.

“I like nice suits, nice dresses,” says Rocky Tarantello, owner of Tarantello Associates, a real estate consulting firm in Newport Beach.

“I don’t like women who dress like men. I look at a woman in a suit and a tie, and it’s neat and it’s clean. But then I go, ‘Wait a minute. I’m wearing that!’ ”