<strong>The</strong> Woman Destroyed WORDS Rachel Howard PHOTOGRAPHY Callie Marshall MODELS Tiernan & Sarah Feminism is often married with visions of women screeching down the streets, brassieres ablaze; which often leaves audiences, male and female, with shivers running rampant down their spines. Quick! Turn the page and rid yourself of this vulgarity. <strong>The</strong> tenuous relationship between fashion and feminism is explored with the influence of Simone De Beauvoir. Parisian feminist Simone De Beauvoir (1908 – 1986) played a vital role in the development of existentialism and feminism during the twentieth century. A number of her novels explored existentialist themes which “attempt to find meaning and purpose in an absurd world”, Austin Cline says in the biographical History of Existentialism. “If her functioning as a female is not enough to define a woman, if we decline also to explain her through ‘the eternal feminine’, and if nevertheless we admit, provisionally, that women do exist, then we must face the question: what is a woman?” Simone De Beauvoir says in <strong>The</strong> Second Sex. <strong>The</strong> way a woman is perceived is often due to the manner in which she dresses. Despite charming pre-existing stereotypes, not all radical feminists have arm pit hair long enough to plait nor make a serious pastime out of verbal man bashing. Women have been defined by dress in both social and cultural situations throughout history. Dress is a form of expression; it conveys the ideals, beliefs and values of any woman, therefore making dress objective. A typically oppressive garment, the corset, accentuated the waist, which may have sexually liberated many women. <strong>The</strong>refore, women may not have been destroyed by the fashions of their eras and rather, embraced the styles that appealed to their feminist ideals. Honoured member of the Zonta Organisation: Advancing the Status of Women Worldwide and author of essay, Feminist Movements: <strong>The</strong> 1960s, Polita Cameron, is an advocate for feminist rights. “Fashion is a very obvious way to communicate and express ideas about 14 FROCK. paper. scissors “If her functioning as a female is not enough to define a woman, if we decline also to explain her through ‘the eternal feminine’, and if nevertheless we admit, provisionally, that women do exist, then we must face the question: what is a woman?” Simone De Beauvoir <strong>The</strong> Second Sex how you see yourself in society, thus the connection would appear quite a strong one. Interestingly however, the one outfit could mean many different things depending on the woman wearing it and the interpreter. One outfit that to me would appear scant, showing too much flesh, looking showy and blatantly wanting attention from men could make the wearer feel empowered by showing off her sexual prowess and may see this as dominating and indeed feminist,” Cameron says. <strong>The</strong> way women have dressed in France throughout history contains notions of submissiveness, constraint, emancipation and equality. Different periods in French history represent feminism in a fashion context. Marie Antoinette represents a feminine aesthetic style that women have grappled with over centuries. Domesticity and femininity are illustrated through pastel shades, floral patterns and the accentuation of particular parts of the body through corsetry and the crinoline. Style exploded in Paris in the 1920s. Hair was cut short and women were liberated by smoking, drinking and obtaining employment. <strong>The</strong> 1940s saw a rise in ‘military’ style dress. Women were emancipated through pants and box style suiting and with the encouragement of sportswear and athleticism; the life of leisure was embraced. Today feminism is considered passé and outdated; opposed to the cultural cringe, it resembles something of a ‘social cringe’. Feminism has a distinct stigma that possesses a destructive relationship, not unlike that of incandescent pink thong meets kitten heel. Considering how expressive dress can be, it’s interesting some believe they are exempt from style and feminism, when in actual fact, the simple act of being dressed displays, each woman’s values, beliefs and feminist ideals. WX
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