'Dress like a woman'? What does that mean?

NEW YORK — What does it mean to “dress like a woman”?

Social media users took it upon themselves to answer that very question in response to a report that US President Trump wants women who work for him to look a certain way.

The sentiment was anonymously cited in the new newsletter Axios from Mr Mike Allen, a former Politico reporter.

In response, Twitter erupted with a stream of photos showing women dressed for the jobs they hold and the lives they lead, as firefighters, soldiers, police officers and astronauts, to name a few.

But while many of the tweets were aimed at rejecting the idea that women should be restricted to some narrow sartorial category, the “dress like a woman” phrase, co-opted as a hashtag, didn’t come directly from Mr Trump.

In his newsletter, Mr Allen attributed the phrase this way:

Mr Trump likes the women who work for him “to dress like women”, says a source who worked on Mr Trump’s campaign. “Even if you’re in jeans, you need to look neat and orderly.” We hear that women who worked in Trump’s campaign field offices — folks who spend more time knocking on doors than attending glitzy events — felt pressure to wear dresses to impress Mr Trump.

In an email on Friday afternoon, Mr Allen declined to offer any further details.

It’s clear that appearances matter to the president. Mr Trump, the former owner of the Miss Universe Organisation, has come under harsh criticism for rating women’s appearances on a scale of one to 10 and for hurling insults at female critics.

As a candidate, he readily attacked when people commented on the size of his hands or on his hair.

Like presidents past, Mr Trump will most likely have some influence over style in the West Wing. The White House does not have an official dress code, according to its Press Office, but every administration has its own norms.

For the past two decades, wardrobes have tended to be more relaxed in Democratic administrations. Under President Clinton, “aides frequently attended meetings in jeans and T-shirts,” The New York Times reported in 2001.

President George W Bush restored formality to the West Wing, but President Obama was so relaxed that he broke with protocol, foregoing a suit jacket on his first full day in the Oval Office.

If the pattern holds, dressing for work in the West Wing could become more formal under the Trump administration.

Whether that means women would be required to “dress like women” remains to be seen. THE NEW YORK TIMES