Can I Be a Feminist and Still Love Fashion?

As a 20-something girl who considers herself a feminist, I can’t assist however surprise how my trend decisions contribute to the inflexible magnificence requirements for girls. Placing on a cute outfit or a shiny lipstick appears innocent, however what about basis, contour and shapewear? By selecting to put on objects that conceal my flaws, am I upholding the unrealistic expectation that each girl has to look flawless to be able to be thought-about stunning? — Maya, Santa Rosa, Calif.

This can be a difficult query, however for me feminism is essentially about alternative: the facility for girls to make their very own decisions over their lives, our bodies and future. And to resolve who they wish to be and the way they wish to look to speak that id to the world.

Vogue thus turns into a instrument of feminism as a result of it is among the prime means now we have of self-expression. And I’m not speaking about Maria Grazia Chiuri’s famous (and famously silly) Dior T-shirt blaring the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie quote, “We Ought to All Be Feminists.”

I’m speaking about the truth that if sporting a sure outfit, even whether it is classically “female” (pink, flowery, frilly), or if utilizing make-up is your alternative, fairly than another person’s alternative that had been imposed upon you, it may be a feminist act.

The vital factor is that you simply make that call to please your self fairly than some obtained social conference. That you concentrate on why you wish to put on a garment, or a slash of pink lipstick, as an alternative of merely tossing it on: Is it about concealing your flaws or making you are feeling safe and assured sufficient to go forth and face the world? These two impulses might sound related, however between the 2 is an ocean of motivational distinction.

When individuals inform me (as they generally do, particularly males) that they by no means take into consideration trend, they are saying that as a result of they fear that fascinated by garments or make-up makes them seem frivolous. However not fascinated by these two common topics — why you make the day by day decisions you do — is definitely ceding company to typically outdated strictures. And that’s the actually nonfeminist act. There’s a cause Gloria Steinem by no means claimed she didn’t take into consideration garments.

As a substitute, she told Lena Dunham that her signature look — denims, belted on the hip, a turtleneck and a pendant — was her “energy outfit.” Alicia Keys mentioned she felt empowered when she determined to go barefaced. When Michelle Obama grew to become first woman and selected to not put on the standard brightly coloured skirt-suit or pantsuit in her public appearances, typically opting as an alternative for A-line clothes, she was making a serious assertion about what energy seemed like. She basically reclaimed these silhouettes, typically related to Fifties housewives, and gave them new context.

The purpose is that there’s no blanket rule to comply with, aside from your personal intestine. Nicely, aside from one: No matter you select, it shouldn’t trigger ache or restrict you in any approach. (Hobble skirts, for instance, are greatest left within the dustbin of historical past.) However finally, the extra particular person and diverse we glance, the extra choices accessible to everybody for the way they select to interact with the world, the extra liberated all of us might be.

So the query for you is, “Do your decisions make you are feeling sturdy and like the perfect variations of you?” As a result of in these emotions, actual magnificence lies.

Your Model Questions, Answered

Each week on Open Thread, Vanessa will reply a reader’s fashion-related query, which you’ll be able to ship to her anytime through email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.