Dress for Success wants to help valley women succeed in job interviews

A woman with taupe, plastic-framed glasses and white hair picked up a pair of tasseled, yellow flats from a table covered in shoes and bent over to try them on, struggling to keep several purses on her shoulder.

Brenda Henson, who described her age as “68 going on 29,” went to the Shop for Success clothing sale Saturday afternoon at Spring Valley High School in part because she donates clothes to the nonprofit organization hosting the event, Dress for Success Southern Nevada.

“And it’s fun,” Henson said as she moved toward another table of shoes. “I’m simply enjoying the view.”

Silver racks full of of business clothes — including pants, blouses, jackets, and skirts — lined the walls of the high school’s gymnasium. About 15 women perused the clothing, occasionally making their way to large, white tents-turned-fitting-rooms at one end of the gym.

FIT, FASHION, FUNCTION

Shop for Success, which boasted sales prices as low as $6 for blouses and slacks, aimed to clear space at Dress for Success’ boutique for its spring donations, said Paula Lawrence, the organization’s executive director.

But the semiannual sale also furthers the organization’s broader goal to help women stand out when they interview for jobs.

“We acknowledge that if a candidate is getting a job at Target she needs khakis and a red shirt, but we’re going to recommend she goes in, in a business suit,” Lawrence said.

At the Dress for Success boutique, Lawrence and her team of volunteer personal stylists help women find clothing that not only fits them well and is fashionable, but also functions according to their needs. A woman who has to take public transportation, for instance, would be fitted with comfortable flats instead of high-heeled shoes, and a woman living in a shelter wouldn’t be given dry-clean-only clothes.

“Over 50 percent of the women that come see us don’t have undergarments, so we start sometimes at the absolute basics,” Lawrence said.

Dress for Success is a free, referral-based program. More than 80 agencies in the valley — such as women’s shelters, prisons and the American Red Cross — help the organization identify job-seeking women who need help with resume writing, career coaching and job-readiness skills, including how to dress professionally.

MAKING THAT FIRST IMPRESSION

Brenda Henson said Dress for Success offers women assistance at a crucial point in their search for success.

“If we help them now, then we don’t have to help them later,” Henson said. “Most people would rather be working for themselves. If they can go back to work in the workplace, then we won’t have to worry about them being on social programs.”

It’s especially important to help women learn to dress professionally because interviewers pay more attention to what women wear than they do men, she said.

“They think that what you look like on the outside is going to be reflected on the inside,” Henson said. “And while I know that’s not true, we have to play the game to get the job.”

Henson doesn’t have to play the game anymore because she retired in 2010, she said, but she still remembers what she wore to her first job interview: a beige suit and “heels as tall as you are.” She got the job and led a successful teaching career in Southern California for 38 years.

Joanne Steffen, 67, retired from a job as a health care executive about four years ago and became a lead volunteer at Dress for Success. She went to the nonprofit’s boutique to drop off her suits and never left, she said.

“So many times I saw people judged because they weren’t dressed appropriately or professionally, and it would have made a difference,” she said.

Elizabeth, a 43-year-old woman who declined to give her last name, started a new job about six months ago. She learned about Shop for Success from a women’s group at her church and came looking for a suit jacket.

“I just recently re-entered full-time work and needed some accessories,” she said. “It’s hard to find black clothes in my size, so I’m actually going to be a Dress for Success client and go their boutique.”

Brenda Henson’s daughter, a 40-year-old executive editor at MGM Resorts, learned of the sale through a coworker and said she was excited about the shopping and the cause.

“As a woman it’s just important for me to uplift other women in my community,” Michelle Henson said. “So if I can support this organization so that they can give back to help out other women, that’s all right with me.”

Lawrence expects bigger crowds on Sunday, when a shopper can buy a bag for $25 and walk out with as many items as will fit inside.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com. Follow @lauxkimber on Twitter.