A History Of Fashion Shaming
Have we really made it to a place where women are free to wear whatever they want, whenever they want? After decades and decades of women having to fight to dress how they desire – from the battle to be able to wear pants in the mid-19th century to attempting to leave bras behind in the mid-20th century to the struggle for body acceptance at the beginning of the 21st century – it’s started to feel like maybe we’re finally at a point where women are free to make their own choices about what they do (and don’t) wear: whether that’s donning dresses made of meat or showing bare skin as an act of radical self-acceptance, rather than to appeal to the male gaze. The list of women wearing whatever they want ranges from Rihanna to Emily Ratajowski, Florence Pugh to Lizzo. Yet when they do, they’re still criticized – not only by men and the media, but even by other women. It often feels like even with all of the progress that’s been made, women still can’t win in the end.
This desire to control women through what they are and aren’t ‘allowed’ to wear has been highlighted by two recent celebrity controversies. The first, was when the ‘internet’s sweetheart’ Keke Palmer was attacked online by her own boyfriend and some fans just for wearing a cute slightly-see-through dress to an Usher concert. And the second when Jonah Hill’s ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady released texts showing that he had been attempting to essentially control her entire existence, down to not wanting her – a professional surfer – to wear or post pictures of herself in a bathing suit.
So what’s really behind this drive to control how women look? And why can’t we seem to break free from it? Here’s our take on the history of fashion shaming, the strides women have made to escape it, and how we’re finally starting to see the light on the other side.
There was a point during second-wave feminism when women thought that one day, they’d be able to do whatever they wanted without judgment but as time went on, that started to feel more like a pipe dream.
Absurd Double Standards
Instead of being free of constraints, nowadays we toe a lot of lines; we’re not sexy enough if we cover up, but if we bare all, we’re slutty. It seems ridiculous – but the repercussions are real. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, feminist academics began to examine why people blamed women assaulted. Many of these studies showed that the ‘sexier’ a woman was dressed, more control groups thought she ‘deserved’ to be sexually harassed. And this dangerous attitude prevails even now: actress Maureen Lipman came under fire for the bizarre assertion that female celebrities ‘confuse men’ by dressing too provocatively, and Angela Lansbury disappointed fans when she said that women are ‘sometimes to blame’ for sexual harassment, depending on how they dress.
We can see the impossible standards set by society for what women are supposed to wear by looking at media coverage of celebrities: actresses Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Florence Pugh have all been called out for showing “too much” skin. But on the flip side of the coin, when other women - from Bella Hadid to Zendaya - wear pantsuits, they’re said to be ‘too masculine’ or ‘dressing like lesbians’ – which not only attempts to box queer women into a stereotype but is also often just an attempt to push straight women into dressing quote-unquote “hotter” for men’s benefit. And for women of color, trans women, and women with body types that don’t fit the cultural ‘ideal’, these issues are magnified, with even more double standards emerging.
On the 2015 Oscars red carpet, Zendaya wore dreadlocks, a Vivienne Westwood dress, and diamonds by Chopard. But Giuliana Rancic said she looked like she smelled of ‘patchouli oil or weed’. What’s more, at the same time, Kylie Jenner appropriated the same Black hairstyle on the cover of Teen Vogue – and received no such criticism. And it’s not just style that comes under fire. Lizzo has been a poster child for the body positivity movement, but she’s regularly attacked online for what she wears and eats. Recent research shows that fat women are more likely to be dehumanized by other people, and Lizzo has been open about her struggles with the exhausting level of commentary on her body from social media users.
Toxic media narratives attempt to maintain power over women by talking about what they’re wearing rather than their actions or achievements. When Emily Ratajowski was arrested for political protest, the media chose to comment on her clothing. But there’s an explanation for all of this. Confident women who don’t fit into the boxes we’d like to put them intend to make people uncomfortable. And maybe that’s exactly it – women who don’t care what people say about their clothing or their bodies are powerful – because that dismantles one of the strongest holds society has over women.
The Backlash To Showing Skin
There are times when it’s socially acceptable to bare all – and that’s when it benefits men. While women in the real world are told to cover up unless they want to ‘confuse’ men, women on screen, in magazines, and in video games are regularly scantily clad. It’s a double standard – and one that massively impacts women in general. Research shows that sexually objectified women are dehumanized by both men and women. In a study where adults were shown images of the same woman wearing workwear and something provocative, the subjects deemed her less capable, less strong, less determined, less intelligent, and as having less self-respect in the provocative dress. (Guhring & Chrouser, 2007)
And on top of that, these women are often attacked by both the right and left, who all claim they’re letting other women down for one reason or another. But the appetite for this kind of media is clearly there - so why should women be the ones taking the heat for it? It’s not terribly fair to punish women for earning status from the male gaze when they’re subjected to it all the time and forced to live under it to some degree for their entire lives. In an episode of Steve Harvey’s TV show, an audience member asked for advice on his wife’s dress sense. When one of the hosts responded “What did she dress like when you were dating? - Kind of the way she does now. It’s why I asked her out” he revealed that he simply wanted something different from his wife than he did his girlfriend – even though she was the same woman. This desire in men – for women to dress accordingly – is prevalent across society.
We’ve seen this pattern repeat in the recent Keke Palmer/Usher and Sarah Brady/Jonah Hill dramas, where the men felt that they should be able to dictate what their female partners wore and that her not complying made her a bad girlfriend. When a number of women pointed out that “there are plenty of women who do dress modestly, so why not date them if that’s what you’re looking for?”, it highlighted the fact that the men’s real desire wasn’t for a ‘modest woman’ but about feeling control over a woman by forcing her to change herself and bend to his will.
How Today’s Stars Are Fighting Back
The societal obsession with what women are wearing is a trap - a tired old way of reducing women to their looks. This form of scrutiny has of course been going on for centuries, but for as long as it’s been happening, women have been attempting to push back. Women through the centuries have attempted to find their own ways to make fashion their own and more focused on their own preferences and not just how they would be perceived by men. And in the modern day, women are getting more direct with calling out the problems. Like in 2014 when Cate Blanchett drew attention to it on the red carpet. As a camera panned across her body, she asked. But this simple moment – which was basically a woman voicing her discomfort at a practice she disliked – was met with a bitter outcry from the media, with writers telling her not to ‘bite the hand’ that feeds her and claiming there was ‘nothing demeaning’ about it. But many fans (and even other celebrities) loved the fact that she called out the sexism head-on because they empathized with how uncomfortable it is to be treated like an object and not a human being.
Over the years, more and more women have begun to reclaim more clothing as their own – wearing it because of how it makes them feel, rather than for anyone else. And – in the case of famous women – when the media comments on it, many of them are now unafraid to firmly shut it down. For example, when Emma Watson was called ‘anti-feminist’ by a right-wing media personality for posing topless, she responded ‘Feminism is about giving women a choice… I really don’t know what my t*ts have to do with it.’. Likewise, Jennifer Lawrence clapped back at people who claimed the plunging Versace dress she wore to promote a movie was a ‘sad’ choice, because ‘she might have been cold’. She pointed out that focusing on what she was wearing was just a ‘silly distraction’ from real issues. And Florence Pugh called out men, specifically, after wearing a sheer Valentino dress to the brand’s haute couture show, saying ‘What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see. You even do it with your job titles and work emails in your bio..?... why are you so scared of breasts?’
In making these choices - to speak up, dress how they want, or choose to wear clothing from their culture without fear - many celebrity women are actually doing important feminist work. For example, Rihanna’s brave fashion choices while pregnant have completely changed the face of maternity wear. Traditionally, many women have felt unable to express themselves through clothing when pregnant, but Rihanna’s commitment to self-expression – even when nine months pregnant – created a new dialogue around the beauty and, yes, even sexiness of a mother’s body. Vogue asked ‘Is Rihanna changing maternity style forever?’ and the answer is yes. So these changes are happening – but breakthroughs don’t always happen overnight. We have to keep wearing what speaks to us – and pushing back whenever people try to drag us down for it.
Bibliography
https://www.cosmopolitan.in/celebrity/news/g2029/30-most-scandalous-naked-dresses-history
Johnson KKP, Workman JE: Clothing and attributions concerning sexual harassment. Home Economics Research Journal. 1992, 21 (2): 160-172.
Workman JE, Freeburg EW: An examination of date rape, victim dress, and perceiver variables within the context of attribution theory. Sex Roles. 1999, 41 (3–4): 261-277.
Workman JE, Johnson KKP: The role of cosmetics in attributions about sexual harassment. Sex Roles. 1991, 24 (11–12): 759-769.
Workman J, Orr RL: Clothing, sex of subject, and rape myth acceptance as factors affecting attributions about an incident of acquaintance rape. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. 1996, 14 (4): 276-284.
Lewis L, Johnson KKP: Effect of dress, cosmetics, sex of subject, and causal inference on attribution of victim responsibility. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. 1989, 8 (1): 22-27.
Gurung RA, Chrouser CJ: Predicting objectification: do provocative clothing and observer characteristics matter?. Sex Roles. 2007, 57 (1–2): 91-99.
Ogle J, Tyner K, Schofield-Tomschin S: The role of maternity dress consumption in shaping the self and identity during the liminal transition of pregnancy. Journal of Consumer Culture. 2013, 13 (2): 119-139.
Johnson, K., Lennon, S.J. & Rudd, N. Dress, body and self: research in the social psychology of dress. Fashion and Textiles 1, 20 (2014).
Sharla D. Biefeld, Christia Spears Brown, Fat, sexy, and human? Perceptions of plus-size sexualized women and dehumanization, Body Image, Volume 42, 2022, Pages 84-97
Sources
Barber, Lynden. “Cate Blanchett, you’re great but don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” The Guardian, 22 Jan. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/cate-blanchett-youre-great-but-dont-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Biefeld, Sharla D., Brown, Christia Spears. “Fat, sexy, and human? Perceptions of plus-size sexualized women and dehumanization.” Elsevier, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S174014452200081X. Accessed 13 July 2023.
“Cate Blanchett Calls Out E!’s Glam Cam.” E! Entertainment Television, https://www.eonline.com/videos/217580/cate-blanchett-calls-out-e-s-glam-cam. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Demianyk, Graeme. “Emma Watson Responds To Anti-Feminist Claims Over Vanity Fair Photo Shoot.” The Huffington Post, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/emma-watson-responds-feminism-vanity-fair-photo-shoot_uk_58bc8246e4b0b9989418446c#:~:text=Last%20week%2C%20actress%20Emma%20Watson%20was%20criticised%20for,in%20a%20candid%20shot%20wearing%20a%20see-through%20top. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Garrido, Duarte. “Angela Lansbury on sexual harassment: ‘Women sometimes to blame’.” Sky UK, 30 Nov. 2017, https://news.sky.com/story/angela-lansbury-on-sexual-harassment-women-sometimes-to-blame-11148661. Accessed 13 July 2023.
“‘Dressing like a lesbian’ is sexy, ‘powerful’ new trend, fashion expert says.” New York Post, 15 Mar. 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/03/15/dressing-like-a-lesbian-is-fashionably-sexy-for-straight-women/. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Gurung, Regan A.R., Chrouser, Carly J. “Predicting Objectification: Do Provocative Clothing and Observer Characteristics Matter?” ResearchGate, Aug. 2007, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225966762_Predicting_Objectification_Do_Provocative_Clothing_and_Observer_Characteristics_Matter. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Issawi, Danya. “Keke Palmer Is the Internet’s Sweetheart.” The Cut, 10 July 2023, https://www.thecut.com/2023/07/cut-cover-keke-palmer-internet-meme-discourse.html. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Johnson, Kim K. P., Workman, Jane E. “Blaming the Victim: Attributions Concerning Sexual Harassment Based on Clothing, Just-World Belief, and Sex of Subject.” Wiley Online Library, June 1994, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0046777494224002. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Johnson, Kim K. P., Workman, Jane E. “Clothing and Attributions Concerning Sexual Harassment.” Wiley Online Library, Dec. 1992, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077727X9202100202. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Lewis, L., & Johnson, K. K. (1989). Effect of dress, cosmetics, sex of subject, and causal inference on attribution of victim responsibility. Clothing & Textiles Research Journal, 8(1), 22–27. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1990-14921-001. Accessed 13 July 2023.
“Lipman slams celebs for dressing like ‘prostitutes.’” RTÉ, 4 Sep. 2018, https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2018/0904/991504-lipman-slams-celebs-for-dressing-like-prostitutes/. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Mzezewa, Tariro. “Imagine Trash-Talking Keke Palmer.” The Cut, 10, July 2023, https://www.thecut.com/2023/07/keke-palmer-darius-jackson-usher.html. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Nevins, Jake. “Jennifer Lawrence responds to ‘sexist’ dress criticism: ‘It was my choice’.” The Guardian, 21 Feb. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/21/jennifer-lawrence-dress-response-red-sparrow-photos. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Rankin, Seija. “Cate Blanchett Points A Finger At Red-Carpet Sexism.” Refinery29, 22 Jan. 2014, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2014/01/61095/cate-blanchett-red-carpet-sexism. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Ruiz, Michelle. “Is Rihanna Changing Pregnancy Style Forever?” Vogue, 14 Mar. 2022, https://www.vogue.com/article/rihanna-pregnancy-style-effect. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Vaes, Jeroen, Paladino, Paola, Puvia, Elisa. Wiley Online Library, 14 June 2011, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.824. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Vagianos, Alanna. “Cate Blanchett Calls Out Subtle Sexism On Red Carpet Like The Badass She Is.” The Huffington Post, 21 Jan. 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cate-blanchett-sexism_n_4637218. Accessed 13 July 2023.
Workman, J. E., & Freeburg, E. W. (1999). An examination of date rape, victim dress, and perceiver variables within the context of attribution theory. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 41(3-4), 261–277. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-01693-007. Accessed 13 July 2023.