Conscious Fashion Brand Jakke's Twist In Power Dressing This AW23 Season

New and exciting for this year’s Autumn/Winter 23 season, the brand Jakke exhibits its first collection at London Fashion Week. A well-deserved achievement for the label as they continue going from strength to strength, embracing the confident woman in all of us yet keeping aligned with its efforts to protect the environment around us.

To start the collection with a spark, the brand’s influence on Power Dressing made a clear and direct statement to appeal to its target audience. I can only speak for myself, but when I think about power dressing, the first initial thought is powerful women that dominated our screens from TV programmes such as Dallas to Dynasty in the early 80s and how much of an influence they inspired fashion in our society and everyday life around that time as well as important figures to look out for such as Diana, The Princess of Wales and Margaret Thatcher.

This season, Jakke focus its attention by extending its RTW and accessories offering that embodies a boost of core outerwear silhouettes. As the brand is known for its sustainable outerwear, Creative Director Nina Hopkins touches on her influence behind power dressing as a trend which stemmed from the mid-1970s and evolved early 1980s with simple structured outlines and shoulder pads to show the ideal woman means business.

Her inspiration mirrored her influence from the 1996 film - The Associate with Whoopi Goldberg, also one of my personal favourites. Her character summarises a talented investment banker who knows the tricks of the trade plus facts and figures, trying to make her work recognised in a predominantly male workforce to achieve the promotion she rightly deserves. Eventually, as her male character snatches the promotion she wants from under her, she decides this is the time to set up her venture. To make her voice heard, she steps into the identity of a fabricated man to be respected by her competitors and her ideas heard.

This film is a prime example of women trying to have their voice in society and not being taken seriously. Thank heavens times have certainly changed, but Hopkins wanted to use that inspiration and put her spin on it by exploring the confident woman to dress up, show up, be ready for anything and not brush aside.

With an inspired flux of 90’s designs taking form, for this AW23 season, Jakke’s offering features extensive coats and front-buttoned shirts with the usage of soft colours like burgundy, grey, and chocolate hues, plus additional daring colours that the brand is known for from previous collections of the outerwear as their chosen palette plus whimsical prints to add character as the brand Jakke craves prints.

Featuring Jakke’s updated interpretation of power dressing, the collection presents its distinctive stamp of faux fur outerwear, the longer-length vegan leather jackets, plus the release of the new item faux fur tailored coats with a sartorial boxy/sizeable fit, a perfect sequence of Jakke’s collection of signature outerwear.

The collection explores other product offerings such as knitted tops, unveiling new skirt designs exposing their target customer to various lengths to choose from, and simple shirts accessorised with belts to secure the waist of the woman’s form. To complete the looks - accessories make a bold statement throughout the collection, featuring pieces such as the soft faux fur mittens, their long voluminous scarf, effortlessly hung loosely over the shoulder, plus two additional items introducing the cross-the-body Carrie bag, and the swivel handle Greta bag.

Power dressing will always be that renowned trend that will never go old and out of style. As we flow further into the future, the trend will continue to develop and become more adaptable over time compared to when this trend came into existence.

Embracing the strength, confidence and power within the inner woman, the brand Jakke set out to explore and celebrate the power a woman can bring to the collection when they look their best and are self-assured within themselves once they show up to do business.

To see more highlights of the collection, click here to view Jakke's Instagram page.

Words by Charlene Foreman.