I confess: I love shoes. Especially when they’re high. Until they wore out, my go-to faves were a pair of black leather ankle boots with dangerously high heels. They were actually pretty comfortable, but I would have worn them anyway because they looked damn good.
I’m also a feminist.
I bring this up because I often ponder the tension between feminism and fashion – the way fashion is often framed as a silly vanity, often driven by our need to please men, rather than ourselves. The trope popped into my noggin again this weekend, after I read a piece in Sunday’s New York Times that seemed to imply that women could be accomplished or fashionable, but rarely both.
The story cast a bemused eye on the new stylistas of Silicon Valley who were “bucking convention not only by being women in a male-dominated industry, but also by unabashedly embracing fashion.” (One interviewee was the 29-year-old founder of a travel start-up who, the reporter noted, was wearing a pair of hot pink Christian Louboutains. At which point I wondered: if you can actually afford to buy Louboutains – why wouldn’t you?)
Anyway, it got me to thinking: Are fashion and feminism ever compatible? Can you maintain professional cred in serious stilettos? And why, when you dress to impress is there the assumption that who you are aiming to please is the patriarchy?
For some food for thought, I turned to a couple of smart women, who are both rather stylish in their own right. The first is an expert on gender politics, Shira Tarrant, a California State University, Long Beach women’s studies professor whose new book “Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style” uses fashion to deconstruct the politics of race, class, gender, and sexuality. When I asked if fashionistas could be taken seriously as feminists, her answer was “absolutely”:
And feminists can be taken seriously as fashionistas. Feminists have a bad rap when it comes to fashion. We’re accused of being frumpy, unattractively braless, and inexcusably hirsute. But the fact is that feminism has always paid attention to the politics of style, and many feminists are incredibly fashionable.
Still, she says, when it comes to fashion as a lens to understanding — and changing — gender politics, consider the context:
We live in a patriarchal, capitalist culture. We can never completely separate our fashion choices from the social structures we live in. But that doesn’t mean we’re always victims of our culture, either. Fashion can be self-objectifying. At the same time, fashion can push back against a culture that keeps insisting that women hypersexualize ourselves. Fashion can be used to subvert the status quo, but the question is whether we can ever fully achieve this — especially without more sweeping economic and political change.
We’re always grappling with this tension between self-expression and self-objectification. The question is how do we remove the gendered penalties of self-expression. Our culture still encourages women to be attractive and pleasing to men. Fashion isn’t exempt from that. At the same time, fashion can be used to subvert these expectations. We can use fashion as a form of pop culture pushback.
Pushback? Fantastic! My second source, my colleague Charlotta Kratz, a lecturer in the communication department at Santa Clara University, would agree.
Through my clothes I tell people that I’m not completely what they may assume given my age or profession. For long periods of time I challenged notions of status through how I dressed. I had a pair of denim overalls that I wore in professional settings. As an recent immigrant, with an accent, I used to soften my being different by dressing plainly in jeans and t-shirts. I found that when I wore my Scandinavian designer clothes, mostly black, my California students found it harder to understand me.
I don’t think I dress for men. I think I dress to attract people who will “get” me. Some of those will be men with a possible sexual interest in me. I don’t mind that. I like men and I like innocent everyday flirting. But, some of those people will be other heterosexual women, like my colleagues or students. For them my clothes will be signals of different kinds.
Kratz points out that we communicate through our fashion choices – clothes, hair, bags, cars — to become someone in social settings:
Not washing our cars is a statement. Sporting hairstyles that are carefully created to look as if we never comb our hair says something about us too. Whoever says “I don’t care about how I look” takes a lot of pride, and puts lots of effort into that particular style.
And that’s it, isn’t it? Fashion is simply the signals we send, the way we use artifacts like clothes and shoes to represent ourselves. As Shannon wrote back when we were in the throes of writing our book (and, ironically, clad most days in scrubs) for most of us, it’s pure self-expression: Clothes, she wrote, “say something to the world about who we are. Or who we want to be perceived to be.”
In other words, it’s a choice: one that I think is more than compatible with feminism. We dress to please ourselves, to show the world who we are. Which leads back to that frame that won’t go away, that fashion is simply a tool of the patriarchy. As for me, if pleasing men were my goal, I have failed miserably, at least with one man in my life who after decades of marriage still can’t understand why I need more than three pair of shoes – sneakers, flip flops or the moral equivalent, and dress shoes – or why I never leave the house without lipstick.
Anyway, back to Tarrant. I asked her to describe her own particular style and what she said was this: “My sartorial style skews toward earth tones, black, and grey, with a radical splash of liberation.”
Done!
I had hidden myself, mainly my femininity as a result of domestic abuse – hiding behind baggy, neutral, and plain. God has been restoring my identity in such a way that in the last 4 years, I find myself choosing prints, florals, even sparkly tops, skirts, cute sandals…just to enjoy being the woman He created me to be. And I like it. And I know I am equal to every other person walking earth, and I am enjoying being a woman and allowing men to be men. Together we display God’s full image – and it’s great!
Bless you – I hope you find true peace.
To borrow from Socrates: the unexamined style is not worth wearing. You seem to be conscious and analytical concerning your choices– probably extending far beyond fashion. I think most people could take a lesson from this, not just feminists, and not just women! Thanks for the post, reblogging it. ^_^
Reblogged this on Life on the Margins and commented:
Are feminism and fashion mutually exclusive? This blogger gives some food for thought.
I am a staunch feminist who also loves fashion. I do not wear a bra (mostly for health reasons) and I have 3 pairs of Louboutins among many other designer labels in my closet. Just because you are fighting for female equality doesn’t mean you cannot like the way you look in heels. Vanity is not just a female thing,.. it’s a part of being human. Feminists, like women come in all shapes, sizes and manner of dress… there is no right or wrong here, it’s simply about the fight for equality. I remember when the feminist movement used to applaud women for embracing their sexuality. Now it seems feminism has become synonymous with frumpy, man-hating and sexless… that was never the goal. The goal initially was freedom and equality for women so they could be whatever kind of woman they CHOSE to be.
So true that everyone dresses the way they do for different reasons. Personally, I shun heels (mostly out of fear of vien problems), but several posts on WordPress have almost convinced me to buy pink shoes. I’ve also been wearing a lot of blouses lately, not so as to be a throwback to my mother’s era, but so as to have someplace to clip my name badge at work. People can and do overanalize these little choices all the time I think, both in themselves and in other people.
I remember when my wife and I were first married. I had mentioned to her that I didn’t like high heel shoes because I felt that when women wore them, they perpetuated the idea of objectifying women as sexual objects. Yet, recently I have been thinking about this exact question, I suppose. Is a woman fulfilling a role set down by a patriarchal society (is she objectifying and sexualizing herself) when she wears clothes that have been marketed as such, or is she empowering herself, claiming these objects and redefining them as she sees fit?
I suppose as long as I know that certain clothes have been designed by men, I don’t know how to approach this. When I see a woman wearing high heels because they make her feel strong, I struggle to see an empowered woman, I see a woman trying to fit a role that I think she shouldn’t. And when I see her struggle to walk because the heels are extremely high I wonder why these shoes where ever thought to be attractive and fashionable.
I don’t know, I have a lot to think about, I always will, but thank you for this post.
I think that the woman who can afford to buy Louboutains makes too much money. One pair of those shoes is more than a month’s rent for my wife and I. It is disgusting.
Jeff, I understand that it’s hard for you to see an empowered woman and think that she is dressed nicely for herself, but more often than you think, it’s true. Yes, we know that we get noticed by guys, but that’s not the reason for looking nice. Just like businessmen don’t wear suits to impress women.
As for the Louboutains – is it really any more ‘disgusting’ than a man walking down the street in an Armani suit? If you have a job that you do well and make good money while doing isn’t it your right to buy whatever clothes you want, man OR woman??
(Also, high heels are not that hard to walk in, some women just don’t know how to do it properly. And yes, those are probably the one who are only wearing them for others to notice…)
I think my comment has been misunderstood. Maybe because I didn’t write clear enough. I suppose that what is perceived to be nice and fashionable, man or woman, is something I disagree with. It seems that how we define what is good and what looks nice is based more on the object and its position within popular culture. Businessmen, or business women, wear what they wear not simply to impress the opposite sex, but to impress everyone, to express their importance or their superiority; to clearly define their class. People seem to use fashion as a way to segregate themselves. The reported had pointed out the Brand of shoes the woman was wearing as a way to show off her success, her style. She was wearing Louboutains, not JC Penney high heels. Why does it matter the brand of shoes she is wearing? Why does it matter what type of shoes she is wearing? People, man OR woman, seem to think that it does, and as long as they do I don’t see them as empowered people, I see them as people still focusing on the shadows.
And, If one has a job that one makes good money it is of course their right to buy whatever they want. As long as they feel powerful in what they wear, it doesn’t matter that those same people turn their nose’s from a beggar asking for some spare change on their way to purchase their expensive clothes that they deserve. Being successful doesn’t earn one the right to live in excess.
I see your point and I do agree with you on that. People with lots of money DO spend it on really stupid stuff (eg $1500 shoes and suits). I, for one, buy most of my clothes, shoes, etc second hand (I get more unique stuff that way) and I think I’d continue to do so even if I had gratuitous amounts of money. Some people really do define their worth simply by what’s on their label. I think it’s nuts.
I love this post! I find it sad that some people think that women only dress up to try to impress men. I work at a hardware store where I wear jeans, a denim shirt and sneakers all day every day. I look forward to my days off when I can wear dresses and high heels – it makes me feel good about myself to look nice – whether I leave the house or not. It’s not about impressing others, but rather about being confident and happy. (and really, how many of us feel strong and beautiful in a sweatshirt with stringy hair..)
I am a feminist, and I really appreciate this post because being a feminist does not mean that you have to hate fashion. I used to wear clothes that were a size too big and I was not really fashinable, but the last several years I have come to realize that fashion can be pretty fun and is a form of self-expression. Thanks for this splendid post!
I totally agree with this “We dress to please ourselves, to show the world who we are.”
I don’t hate fashion as long as a woman dresses the way SHE wants to and isn’t being seen as a sex object instead of a person. Feminism and fashion could get along as long as those two things are part of the equation.
I have always despised this notion of feminism that wants to blend men and women into one gender. I always believed that they both need the same rights but they do not need to be similar. If you are dressing to impress men and you are all happy about it then why not? If you are dressing to feel good about yourself that is good too. As long as you assume your choices.
I don’t know why feminism would consider fashion as a fad or something silly, to me it is a form of expression, I like to be fashionable but not a slave to fashion. And honestly, fashion is not what makes a woman seen as a sex object, she herself does it by the choice of what she wears. If someone dresses in skimpy clothes that show off all their assets and expect men not to look at them or to be taken seriously as a bank manager, it is a bit far fetched. We all dress based on our roles, hence we find that a lot of professions have uniforms or a special attire.
Fashion is what you make of it as long as you address it smartly, just like everything in life.
Agreed ;-D
I tried on a pair of high heels once, to see what all the fuss was about.
OMG.
Great post Barbara, with plenty of food for thought! It’s amazing that the Feminist movement really took hold in the 60’s and 70’s and here we are in the next century still fighting the same battle! Men don’t want to give up their power (just don’t tell them they already have)!
I am a 50-something with a great pair of legs. I like wearing skirts that are hemmed just above the knee, high heels, lots of jewelry, a big splash of color and my spikey short haircut with a feather. Why? Because I can. I dress to please me and if the picture I present to the world is a bit off the wall, get over it. When you dress a bit out of the norm, interesting people talk to you and the conversations are always fun. Every day, I wear an off the wall pin on, even if it’s a tee shirt and jeans. Throw in a pair of pearls and high heels and I’m happy with the way I look! Men will always see women as sex objects – there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s simply the perception of power.
As for those men who believe I should not spend my hard-earned money on high heels and give it instead to someone on the side of the street – I say mind your own business. I’ll do whatever I please with my money and if that means I have the power and you don’t, not my problem. You’re just mad because a woman has more money than you. Bless your heart! =)
Great post and loving the way you think!
Fabulous post! I definitely see myself as a feminist, but I also believe that dressing up has enormous potential to boost your self confidence. As long as you’re not dictated by a need to please anyone other than yourself, and thoughtlessly follow fashion for the sake of it. It is a good thing to feel good about yourself.
There’s no reason why fashion and feminism can’t mix, it’s just a stereotype that feminists have to be unattractive bra-burners. Anyway, fashion for men is just as prominent in today’s soceity. Half the guys I know spend more time doing their hair than I do 😀
The most empowered women I know are also beautiful in their own way. Sometimes it is not about fashion. It is about confidence and creativity.
Why shouldn’t feminism and fashion get along? I work hard, make good money and like to spend it on whatever I choose. Sometimes it is fashionable clothing and shoes. Sometimes good wine and an amazing dinner. The point is, I earn it and spend it the way I want to. If that means I buy fashionable items then so be it. What I chose to buy is about my personal style and not the whims of dictated fashion.
Thanks for the thought provoking article. 🙂
Cheers,
Laura
Having just spent the past two years in flats (painful hip, recently replaced) I am totally digging heels! I bought a pair this week — emerald suede, $25 at a consignment shop — and my husband got a huge kick out of seeing me in them. He knows how fed up I’ve been relegated to ballerina slippers and kitten heels.
Unless you work for Hooters, or some other employer forcing you into tacky and uncomfortable clothing, what women wear is our business. Feminism is about choice.
It is said that women dress to impress other women, rather than to impress men. I have found that men care very little for fashion, but love a woman who has a great sense of style. It doesn’t matter whether a woman is a feminist or not – she should wear whatever she feels and looks good in.
I used to wear heels but no due to my dodgy back I don’t. To be honest with you I missed it at first but now it doesn’t really bother me even though I’m a short arse at 5ft 3in.
Reblogged this on Fabulous Poor Girl.
Very interesting. I have a very strong sense of style and most of the time dress to impress. My boyfriend always asks me, “Why are you wearing that mini-dress?! Whose attention do you wanna grab? You wanna hook up with other guys?” to which I simply reply, “No dummy…my clothes identify me, I enjoy looking pretty.” But then again, I cannot really think of a good response. So I ask myself, “Why do I dress the way I dress? Who am I trying to impress?” I believe it’s more of a self-esteem issue, women crave to be better than other women, they love the jealous eyes of their friends when they see you’re kicking ass in some new cute outfit.
Check this out, http://innamazing.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/street-fashion/ I believe it’s topic related (a post from my blog). Love, INNA.
I absolutely love this post. It’s so simple yet so very confusing for others: women can be fashionable, sexy for themselves and for no one else. Thanks for this!
It may be the smart@$$ in me, but I find it comical that there wouldn’t ever be an article written in the Sunday New York Times about a man wearing Italian loafers or a Gucci suit not functioning successfully.
Ponderable, no? 😉
Bridgette – you are exactly right. Men wouldn’t dream of such a discussion. It’s simply another way to hold on their perceived power. 😉
Great post! Feminism, fashion, professionalism, stilettos & lipstick…. it’s all good!!
i love this. and i say…why not? why can’t fashion and feminism work in tandem? we shouldn’t have to choose!!
thank you
I dress to please myself. Beautiful clothes make life more enjoyable for me and are a means of self expression. After all, clothes are functional art. I don’t think style and feminism are incompatible at all.
I like fashion and choose clothes that is comfortable to wear on public places. I don’t dress to impress anyone but me. As much as I love to wear heels, they usually kills my feet, so most of the time, when I wear them, I have an extra flat shoes/sandals on my bag, just in case I can’t walk anymore with them on my feet. 😀
———–
colorado springs divorce lawyers
Why would you wear heels that hurt your feet? Men don’t impose pain on themselves via their fashion choices, why do women? Women have bought into this, think of what heels do-they make you taller, and they make your boobs and butt more visible. If people truly see this as equality and feminism, then I want nothing to do with it. Feminism isn’t about choice-everyone by nature in this country has the choice to do literally whatever they wish (but not without consequences). Just because you’re a woman who says they’re a feminism doesn’t mean your choices will be without evaluation or critics.
Reblogged this on holisticlivingforyp and commented:
Food for thought: Feminism and Fashion
I’ll have to agree with the comment above – there would never be an article on men choosing to wear designer loafers instead of more “practical” shoes. Really, isn’t feminism about choice and equal footing? And if so, then fashion and feminism do indeed go hand-in-hand.
I don’t know the proper etiquette for reblogging, but I love this post and would like to post it… hmm.. Great post. Thanks! -Steph
Reblogged this on A Peacock in a Robin's Nest and commented:
I ran across this post. Thought it was fantastic.
As for pleasing men, something from my past is: I have left men because they didn’t understand my interest in fashion or why it took me two hours to get ready or in the morning. Or in one case, why I showered daily (yes, really!). While some men do want a sex bomb in high heels others think it’s frivolous and want their woman to be plain Jane’s. Not all men want the same thing 😉
I also only date men who also put effort into their appearance. ‘Lack of hygiene’ or ‘lack of fashion’ sense is a deal breaker for me.
[…] New York Times story that recently caught the Kelley’s eyes was about the Ladies Who Startup. Not the Ladies Who Lunch, but the tech mavens of Silicon […]
[…] a recent blog post featured on Freshly Pressed, about whether you can be a feminist and wear high heels. How many of […]
Another good argument is this: no one dresses for themselves. What people wear for themselves is what they wear in the privacy of their homes, what’s the most comfortable in that environment. Everything else is worn for the social sphere they’re in and who they want to impress based upon their looks. It’s sort of saddening that people see heels are empowering when there’s nothing empowering about them-men dress for practicality, why is it that women limit themselves?. If we had been born into a world where heels weren’t seen as a feminine clothing item, would we still wear them?