There was much internal agonizing over the title of this post. I’m not in the habit of encouraging anyone to be bitchy and I’m even less enthusiastic about calling women bitchy when they’re being assertive. Or just having an opinion, for that matter. But the truth is that no other phrase captures how I think about this category of dresses as accurately as “The Bitch Dress”.

I mean dresses for the times when you need extra confidence. When you have been taking crap for something that wasn’t your fault and need to fight back. When you’re not being a bitch, but being faced with bitches at a difficult meeting. And when I say “bitches”, I definitely include both genders here. As someone wittily said on Twitter the other day: “I’ve got nothing against male bosses, as long as they leave their hormones at home.” To be totally frank, when confronting people who want to put me down, I don’t really care if I give off slightly bitchy vibes.

Not everyone turns to clothes in situations like these, but many do. And it can help. You might have your armour trouser suit or your power jacket, I usually go for a dress. While I love wearing non-boring clothes to work, I leave these for a friendly crowd. In trickier situations, the main goal is to look like I’ve got my shit together: to me, this means something that’s well cut, flattering, close to the body (somehow this feels reassuring), but without any overt sexiness going on – modest hemline, no cleavage.

The dress I’m wearing on these pictures is by Victoria Beckham and I find that quite fitting. I like and admire her a lot for what she’s done with her label. She also happens to be one of those women who hasn’t felt the need to look all fluffy and smiley when making that success happen. The dress is simple and almost conservative, but not shy – she does these understated statement dresses very well. As it isn’t a fashion look, the shoes are classic (Christian Louboutin Pigalles) and accessories are absent. You don’t need to pay crazy amounts to get the effect, of course – I’ve got Zara dresses and shoes that do the job just as well.

Fortunately, where I work I don’t really encounter many unpleasant situations – it’s stressful, but not because of the people -, so I can wear this dress simply because I like it. But it’s good to be prepared, just in case.