{
  "id": 9192856,
  "title": "Women’s work – and office fashion – has changed radically over the last 60 years. Cue couldn’t keep up",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/womens-work-and-office-fashion-has-changed-radically-over-the-last-60",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-22T20:17:21.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation AU",
    "slug": "the-conversation-au",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/womens-work-and-office-fashion-has-changed-radically-over-the-last-60-years-cue-couldnt-keep-up-292241"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Australian fashion brand Cue and its sister label Veronika Maine have entered receivership, marking a significant shift in women's workwear over the past 60 years. Founded in Sydney in 1968, Cue dressed Australian women through numerous historical changes in their working lives. From the early 1960s, when women made up approximately 30% of the paid workforce and were predominantly employed as secretaries, typists, and clerks, Cue's youthful yet polished look catered to the emerging working woman seeking both modernity and professionalism.\n\nIn the 1970s, as women began taking on minor management positions, Cue's designs evolved to reflect this shift. Women wore feminine blouses with knee-length skirts or skirt suits, often in brighter colours and prints. The 1980s saw women taking on leadership roles, leading Cue to introduce power suits characterized by broad shoulders, sharply tailored jackets, and straight skirts. These designs borrowed the male executive's visual language and tailored it for women, symbolizing their newfound authority.\n\nThroughout the 1990s and 2000s, Cue's signature shifted towards darker minimalism, with black and navy suits, slimmer silhouettes, and cleaner lines replacing the more conspicuous power dressing of the 1980s. This period was considered a golden age for Cue, with high-profile campaigns featuring German supermodel Claudia Schiffer in 1997. By the new millennium, the rules of professional attire continued to evolve, with Veronika Maine offering softer silhouettes and fluid fabrics to complement Cue's sharper tailoring.\n\nIn 2019, Cue received recognition from the Powerhouse Museum, highlighting its pivotal role in dressing Australian women. However, the pandemic accelerated a shift towards more comfortable, casual work clothing, blurring the lines between work, weekend, and social wear. Despite this, formal workwear remains essential for certain professions, yet the concept of categorical dressing, the idea that women need distinct wardrobes for different settings, has become a challenge for designers and women navigating this new landscape.",
  "summary": "For nearly 60 years, Cue dressed Australian women for changing working lives. Its troubles reveal how work, fashion and professional dress have changed.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}