Tracey Spicer has recently begun weaning herself off the extreme grooming demanded throughout her TV career, which was costing her up to $200 a week. Credit:James Brickwood "Men can have a really classic, good quality suit...and ramp it up with different ties and different shirts. "The suit can pretty much be the same and nobody really does notice it in a bizarre way." Case in point: Stefanovic's cheeky experiment in which he wore a blue suit for 12 months as co-host of the Nine Network's Today program, making a not-so-subtle point about the unfair scrutiny his female colleagues are subjected to. "Women can't get away with it unfortunately ... people expect [women] to change their outfit every day," Ms Tomaro said.

A more natural Spicer. Credit:James Brickwood Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally was famously criticised for wearing the same dress … twice. A tabloid headline from her time in office that screamed: "Premier Keneally wears the same dress twice." The reporter asked "... what was [she] thinking?" and suggested that "... a fresh new frock ... could have been arranged". There has been no recent market analysis of the average amount of money men and women in Australia invest in their work attire.

Women are criticised for being over-dressed for their role, or being too decorative, but they are also criticised for under-dressing. But a 2012 survey of British women found they spent nearly 20 per cent of their income on their working wardrobe, an average of £4000 a year. Newsreader Tracey Spicer said the greater expectation of women's attire in the office was in many cases in stark contrast to the monetary value placed upon them. "Women already suffer from an 18.2 per cent gender pay gap and yet we often have to pay more for our workwear," she said. Ms Spicer recently penned an article explaining her desire to wean off extreme grooming after working for more than three decades in commercial television.

"Exactly one year ago, I began deconstructing the beauty myth," she wrote. "It was prompted by a question from my seven-year-old daughter, as she watched my elaborate [morning] ritual. 'Mum, why do women put on make-up and men don't?' she asked. 'Darling, society has unrealistic expectations about the way women look,' I replied." Ms Spicer said comments about clothes were a bugbear for women in workplaces, particularly those in the corporate and retail sectors. "Women are criticised for being over-dressed for their role, or being too decorative, but they are also criticised for under-dressing," she said. She also noted that estimates on how much women spent on their work attire often failed to take into account the cost of makeup and hair and beauty products.

Ms Tomaro said the overwhelming plethora of choice for women on store shelves contributed to the dilemma. A more androgynous dress style could be considered the answer, but Professor Amanda Sinclair from the University of Melbourne's Business School said that could be more detrimental than not. "I know that women constantly get told to wear different clothes in the office," she said. "We've done some research looking at media portrayals and there's now been quite a lot done internationally which shows that when female leaders either in business or in politics are pictured in the media, they're much more likely to be pictured with their whole body, with more of their skin exposed. "Even if men are pictured in a full body sense, they're more likely to have their hands in their pockets. They're more likely to be pictured as 'brains on a stick', as heads, rather than as bodies.

"None of those norms apply to men ... he's never skewered for looking like he takes too much interest in the cut of his suits." Professor Sinclair said women were advised, particularly those aspiring to leadership roles, not to look too ambitious. But the signals are very contradictory, she added. "If a woman dresses well and looks like she enjoys how she looks ... she's attacked. If she looks too dowdy and keeps wearing the same suit everyday, she's attacked too," she said. "Women are both subject to more scrutiny about how they come across, including very much how they dress ... but then they're also told that they mustn't look like they're worrying about it.

"It's a real double-bind for women." There is some suggestion the pendulum could be swinging in the other direction, with men's retail stores fairing better than women's in the past years, according to retailer market researcher IBISWorld. Retail revenue has declined overall in the past five years, although the womenswear sector declined $5 billion, while menswear contracted $2.8 billion. "Retailers are focusing on increasingly fashion-aware younger men," senior IBISWorld analyst Caroline Finch said. "Retailers have responded, as evidenced by the entry of international players in addition to innovation from local specialty retail chains. These include British shirting companies and the likes of Brooks Brothers, which have a large tailoring business. The Oroton group's strategy with Brooks Brothers has been to focus on the menswear market. Local retailer Country Road has also re-entered the men's suiting markets."

Ms Finch said consumers were spending a smaller share of their discretionary income on clothing in general, and more on services and entertainment. "The workforce in general is becoming more casual, with jeans and other more casual items considered appropriate in a range of workplaces. This has led to a blurring of weekend and weekday wear, and a lower spend as consumers avoid high-priced items like formal suits."