Bridge Project 2- Fashion + the Body

There are a lot of things expected of a women. A women in a workplace is expected to look appealing. At the same with more and more women in leading positions in workplaces women are soon closing the gender gap. They have to choose between power dressing, dressing more androgynous than dressing to look appealing for men.

Up until a couple decades ago working women were seen as an abomination. As portrayed in the play a dollʼs house by Henrik Ibsen written in 1879. Working women were not welcomed in a male dominated world. sexism in workplace has unfortunately not yet evaporated completely. Women face discrimination in terms of wage gap, double standards in terms of physical appeal. With working women acquiring leadership positions more and more the difference in dressing also becomes prevalent. Women are choosing to opt for power suits with shoulder pads and dressing more androgynously. But at the same a lot of women are faced with the dilemma of choosing to look “attractive” or make a statement with their power suit. Even today dressing androgynous is seen as more of a statement than a sense of style for women. So thus lie the choice of clothing in front of the women of today, stripe away from gender role and suit up in a shoulder padded power suit or wear an open zipper with a padded bra. Whatʼs it gonna be? and do women really need to choose? Isn’t style and dressing more of personal expression rather than a gender conforming uniform differentiating men from women and vice e virsa?

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