The Fashion industry is one of the most hyper-capitalist markets. We’re all aware of fast fashion’s problematic and blatant exploitation of labour from third-world countries. However, it doesn’t end here. If we recognize that capitalism and patriarchy go hand in hand, we realize that fashion has always been at odds with women’s comfort and has never really been free of the male gaze.
The critical element of design is a balanced composure of aesthetics and functionality. Ironically, the fashion industry often, if not always, compromises on functionality for women’s clothing.
Before the industrial revolution, before fashion existed as an industry, lifestyles and trends reeked of the male gaze, not just at the cost of women’s comfort but even at the expense of their physical health.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the “ideal” woman’s silhouette resembled the letter ‘S.’ Corsets were worn by young girls, whose bodies were still developing, and women religiously. The desired outcome was an hourglass figure with tiny waists, the entire upper torso thrust forward, and hips pointed backward. Extravagant gowns, which required help from several other people to be worn, were the norm for women.
This standard took a dramatic turn following the twentieth century, where the ideal woman was as slim as one could be. Throughout history, our bodies have been subject to unrealistic beauty standards, and our bodies had to keep up with them to be desirable and simply exist with dignity. Fashion is the tool that drove these forces. Unrealistic bodies, forced into dysfunctional attires, have been our reality for far too long.
We may think that we have made progress, and women are no longer subject to such cruelty, but the reality is, in fact, the opposite. Women simply cannot be comfortable. Baggy clothes, more often than not, are associated with insecurity. Add on a hijab to that, and suddenly it’s seen as oppression. Women having to have a desirable body and only wear certain clothes that “compliment” their body type, is somehow not deemed oppressive.
Women have internalized the phrase “beauty is pain.” It is common to see a woman complain about the pain caused by wearing high heels or how uncomfortable her skin-tight dress is, but we go ahead and conform to these standards anyway. Fashion for us is simply associated with appeal, and appeal is associated with pain and discomfort. Sadly, the former is somehow more important because we have real consequences if we don’t conform.
It is also no surprise that fashion isn’t exactly inclusive either. Plus-sized women often struggle to find clothes their size, and Muslim women struggle with finding modest clothing. Moreover, women who simply don’t fit the unrealistic boxes designed for us often struggle to find clothes that “compliment” their body type.
A study conducted by two universities in Evanston and Chicago, USA, revealed that women are far more likely to wear painful, restricting, or distracting clothing and regularly monitor their bodies compared to their male counterparts. These include dresses that make it difficult to breathe and move about, as well as uncomfortable footwear.
Women’s fashion in capitalist patriarchy is much more complex than we think. They find themselves constantly struggling, trying to strike a balance between dressing “appropriately” so that they are treated with dignity but also having to show just the “right” amount of skin to seem attractive, and yet again, be treated with dignity.
We’re well aware of the gender wage gap, but a grooming gap also exists. It’s not talked about because these expectations just come along with being a woman.
Although the grooming rules are, to an extent, applicable to both women and men, in the latter case, “it’s less complex, less time-consuming, and less expensive.”
It is evident that these standards are not going away anytime soon, especially if exploitative systems that are the root cause of such inequity remain intact. Our fight for our right to exist comfortably, with dignity, for ourselves is not going to stop anytime soon, and the journey ahead of us is long; but frankly, when has any fight for us women ever been easy? Our very existence is an act of defiance, a threat even. For as long as contemporary society fails women, we will continue to swing between the pendulum of conformity and resistance for generations to come.