Fashioning tomorrow�s woman

Fashion is not just for the frivolous. For the professional woman of the 21st century, fashion awareness is a cultural responsibility.

Why should the serious professional woman concern herself with fashion? With so many things of substance on her mind, surely she can be allowed to don her well-cut classic suit and head to the office or the public forum, casting no more than a glance at the latest “look” dreamed up by the fashion industry for the woman who is “born to shop”.

Yet the gap implied between these two stereotypes is not one that the true professional should accept. Everyone wears clothes and, like it or not, every woman influences culture through the clothes she wears. And so, while an obsession with any good thing is dangerous, an interest in fashion is not necessarily whimsical or frivolous. At this moment in the history of women it is actually a responsibility.

This responsibility falls on women in the public eye, professionally or socially, for two reasons. In the first place women’s fashions are more interesting and complicated than those for men. There are few fashion magazines for men, and dozens for women. We have more to work with in terms of colours and variety of styles in which to express ourselves.

The second and more important reason for professional women to take an interest in today’s fashion is that women’s roles have expanded in the last fifty years. Since women are more often in prominent positions in our society, their clothes need to reflect the woman of the 21st century, and help create who she is to become.

Clothing speaks volumes

In the 1970s there was a popular sentiment among young people that was expressed something like this: “It doesn’t matter what you look like. It’s who you are that counts.” While it is true that a person’s character is much more important than her clothing, it is inevitable that her character will be assessed according to her clothes. Shakespeare used the adage, “the apparel makes the man,” and though these words are given to the stuffy character Polonius, in Hamlet, they are true. We let the world know much about who we are by how we present ourselves.

In many instances, people can be classified as to place or origin, age, marital status, economic level, or even religion by how they are dressed. We are more familiar with the Indian sari than the black cap worn by widows in European countries a hundred years ago. The burkha worn in many Islamic countries is an expression of the religion. Clothes are a symbolic language and we need to have a working knowledge of this language so we don’t inadvertently say the wrong thing about ourselves. Each of us has the opportunity to be a costume designer who can help to portray her own character in a visual way.

Along with the more amazing developments in technology, transportation, and globalisation the past century has wrought unprecedented changes in women’s fashions. A glance at some historical considerations can help us to see and understand the panorama of opportunity that lies ahead of us.

Modesty and culture

What is or is not modest in dress is determined by the culture of a particular society. We all have probably seen National Geographic photos of primitive tribesmen and women in garments, which show more of the body than we would be comfortable showing, and yet they are not immodest in terms of their society.

In western European and American society it is only in the last hundred years that skirts shorter than floor or ankle length have been worn. Trousers for women made a few false starts in the nineteenth century, but only became mainstream for women in the l920s or 30s. We are now able to choose among skirts and pants of varied lengths, and most are reasonably modest.

Although the standards shift in terms of yardage and coverage, we need to know whether our dress has become in any way suggestive. If we do not pay attention to this, we fall into danger of being admired more for our bodies than for our intellects. This would be the same in any culture.

An age of plenty

It is also enlightening to consider the way we acquire and wear clothes today compared with the past. Before 1900, clothes were usually made at home by women in the household or by a dressmaker. Now, few women sew their own clothes because it is simply not worth the time it takes. We have much simpler garments, more suited to our increased mobility, and a world full of sources for fabrics and labour to make them. We also have methods of cleaning, which, while keeping clothes fresher, shorten their life. We wear them out and buy new ones as needed.

Until the 1900s, people had very few clothes. Even people of the middle class would have only one or two sets of clothes (which we like to call “outfits”) for everyday, and one for Sundays and special occasions. It is amazing to think our ancestors would leave their two or three suits of clothing to heirs in their wills.

Our image of the clothes of the past often come from painted and photographic portraits, which lead us to believe that clothes could be made of costly fabrics with lots of expensive embellishments. These are not a fair sample of what people wore, because they were dressing in their very best clothes for the special occasion of having their likeness taken. The costly fabrics of the Renaissance were often literally worth a fortune—whether as part of a bride’s dowry, or as a gift from the husband’s family. There were “sumptuary laws” from around the 1300s well into the 1600s to regulate the wearing of clothing that was considered luxurious. One reason was to reduce the senseless spending on something that could be conceived as an occasion for vanity.

Another reason was to limit the rising middle classes. As a person’s social status was read in the cost of their clothing, a wealthy middle-class person could appear to be of the aristocracy. The upper classes wanted to save for themselves certain distinctions of dress.

In the late 19th century the rise of the fashion plate -- engravings of fashions which were printed and widely circulated -- gave birth to the idea of frequent alterations in detail. Women could see what was worn in Paris, and could alter their dresses or at least the trim on their hats to update the style. The availability of information led to a swifter change in what was fashionable. The market was eager to see something new. Finally the concept of new clothes for each new season, or at least spring and fall, developed. Obviously, those with more financial means could afford to be more up-to-date, then as now.

In our more democratic times, most people can afford to wear silk or velvet, once marks of nobility. Fabrics are plentiful, and much less expensive in relation to other things. But with the advantages of simpler, less expensive clothing, comes a danger. We can be careless about the contents of our closets in relation to our needs, which can lead to a lot of wasted time and money.

Appropriateness

Aside from the question of modesty, we have an opportunity to analyse and define what is appropriate. We dress in a more casual fashion than ever before. The old rules no longer apply, and we don’t really have new ones to replace them. Even in the early twentieth century, Emily Post in her Book of Etiquette laid down the law on when to wear a black tie, a white tie, or a tea dress. There was also a time when older women simply did not wear clothes that were considered fashionable for young women. Now, on many occasions, anything goes. This is liberating, but we should remember that we are still making a fashion statement.

We all like to be comfortable. The days of wearing white gloves while travelling are gone, but what do we say about ourselves if we go to Paris dressed in shorts and running shoes? We might well let the French think we consider their capital city a kind of Disneyland, rather than a real place. When we have a casual Friday at work, we have the challenge of finding clothes that show respect for our colleagues and clients, and yet are more comfortable and less formal than our normal workday attire.

We no longer have to look like older women when we hit 50. Along with our ability to keep away the grey hairs, we can wear youthful colours and styles. But again, to try to look 20 when one is 60 is going to make us look silly.

Good news and opportunities

Some current designers and catalogues are featuring older models and catering to a variety of figure types, so we need not feel bad if we do not look like Barbie. With the turn of the millennium, there seems to be a shift towards a new elegance, bringing back some of the best of the old, while continuing to search for the right fashion statement for the women of the present. We have abandoned the unisex pantsuit characteristic of the 70s, and can wear trousers with the elegance of the 30s. Fashion has revived every older style until now even the 90s (yes, the 1990s) can be referenced as historical. This gives us the freedom to wear many styles that could be becoming to us as individuals without being out of fashion because they are “vintage”.

There is no need to be dowdy to be modest or feminine. We can simply choose the most becoming styles, and those that we feel best represent the dignity of women as professionals and forces in society.

Women are the main consumers of fashion, and professional women in particular spend more on clothes. They have an impact through what they buy and wear, and can use their knowledge and sensitivity to the fashion statement to become the driving force behind the fashion industry. Each one can take advantage of the options provided by the variety of lengths, fabrics and historical references, to design a wardrobe suited to the part she plays in the continuing drama of the twenty-first century woman.

Sarah Phelps Smith is an art historian and critic who has taught at the University of Delaware and Swarthmore College. She lives in Ohio with family of eight children.

This is a slightly edited version of her paper on the theme of Women, Beauty, and Image at the Murray Hill Institute’s 2005 conference held in New York last month. The institute’s mission is to promote the dignity of work and help women transform culture through their work.