Leota — their dresses roll up small in your packing cubes, dry quickly, and seem to not wrinkle.

Great post. “Talismans of legitimacy” is my new favorite phrase.

I’m Indigenous and have long been involved in Tribal politics so I’ve often represented my Tribe in meetings with members of the non-Native community (politicians, business owners, university execs, nonprofit execs, etc.).

In the beginning I was frequently treated with condescension, as if I should feel lucky to be allowed into a room full of powerful rich white people inside of a building that sits on my Tribe’s homeland. I’m usually one of the youngest people in the room, so that didn’t help either.

In my professional life I work with a lot of high earning people who come from a mix of economic backgrounds. I looked at how BIPOC women executives dressed and searched for recurring themes in brands, colors, and silhouettes. I grew up working class so I didn’t know the brands at first, but if I spotted a good example out in the wild I’d make note of the logo and then google until I’d tracked down the brand.

I bought a few things off of a luxury resale site and started wearing them to meetings. I bought a few blazers, a couple designer bags, and a few pairs of shoes. With all of my purchases I eschewed bold logos and went for a stealth wealth look. My goal is that people who don’t care about this stuff see my purse and think “yep that’s a purse” but my fellow fashion nerds and the people who use stupid metrics to decide how to treat people think “Bottega Veneta.”

I also upgraded from cardigans to blazers for all meetings (business dress trends casual in my city so most women stick to cardigans or nice blouses).

It sounds so stupid and fake but I immediately saw a change in how non-Native people treated me in those meetings. I’m sure part of that came from my increased confidence, but I’ve received enough compliments on my talismans of legitimacy that I do believe they make a tangible difference. Development directors are especially good at spotting them and multiple times I’ve seen a shift in how other people in the room treat me after the development director compliments my bag or my shoes.

I’ve discussed this with other ambitious BIPOC women who operate in majority white settings and I’m definitely not the only one who strategically dresses to command old rich white people’s respect.

I don’t think I could afford to replace all my bras every six months. I try to keep three light colored, three dark colored, and three sports bras and they’re all over $60 each because of the sizing. I usually replace one of each ever year so I always have some that are less than a year old. If the oldest ones are still good, they stay in rotation for days when it matters less.

I second this recommendation. Looks nicer, simple to hand wash in a sink, and not made of microplastics.

Old Navy has a great activewear dress, about $50 on sale, lots of colors, very highly rated. It has a shelf bra that I would cut out and wear with a regular bra. Regular, petite and tall sizing.