Power dressing for a new millennium

When power dressing entered women’s consciousness in the 1970s and ’80s, it went hand in hand with the personal and professional liberation many were experiencing through the social movements of the era. Now, fashion returns to the architectural suits, pronounced shoulders and high-impact accessories that characterize this archetype amid renewed conversations about gender and equality. Designers armored women as much as they dressed them on the fall runways. This time, the aesthetic draws from both feminine and masculine strength as sharp tailoring and sleek leather share space with metallic glitz and embellishment. In 2017, powerful power-dressing women are driving the conversation in pop culture. Three-quarters of a century after her comic book debut, the world’s first female superhero made her first solo film, an $800 million world box-office summer smash. When not wearing her signature Amazonian warrior costume, even Wonder Woman saw the power in some good suiting.

Credits

Styling: Tony Bravo

Models: Laila Rachki / Look Model Agency; Adrienne Thomas / JE Model

Makeup: Victor Cembellin

Hair: Erika Taniguchi / Workgroup

Stylist assistant: Nicole Lippman

Photo assistant: Stan Pechner

Shot on location at Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael. Special thanks to Libby Garrison. 

7 things to know about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center

The Marin County Civic Center is considered a masterwork of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, whose 150th birthday earlier this year is being celebrated in San Rafael and around the world. The national- and state-designated landmark is an icon of Bay Area architecture: Docent-led tours are offered every Wednesday and Friday ($5-$10). For more information, download the building history app: www.marincounty.org.

1. Construction began on the Civic Center Administration Building in 1960, a year after Wright’s death. The building was completed in 1962.
2. The elevator, office doors and others parts of the building are painted Wright’s favorite Cherokee red hue.
3. The 1997 science-fiction film “Gattaca” starring Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke was filmed at the Civic Center. George Lucas used it as a filming location for “THX 1138” and, reportedly, as inspiration for the design of the planet Naboo in his “Star Wars” universe.
4. The roof of the building was supposed to be gold. Wright’s wife, Olgivanna, suggested blue, based on a Greek Orthodox church project Wright had done.
5. If you stood the structure on end, it would be taller than the Empire State Building.
6. Vera Schultz, the first woman elected to the Mill Valley City Council and the Marin County Board of Supervisors, was one of the most vocal advocates for the then-controversial project. Vera Schultz Drive near the Civic Center is named for her.
7. It is one of approximately eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the Bay Area, including the famous V.C. Morris Gift Shop at 140 Maiden Lane in San Francisco, which will be reopening in the fall as the Isaia boutique.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com