Jocelyn Anderson
Art 577 M 6-10pm
Asst. Prof. Carol Lung
Spring Quarter 2013
Women, Fashion and Identity
Throughout time women and fashion have seemed to be inextricably linked. When studying costume
history, European society (arguably the root of American society) seems to have had a following of fashion as
long as there have been kings and queens. High profile people of means have always had access to the best of
fabrics, equipment and the creative minds that could turn those elements into different forms of dress for form
not function.
After tea was thrown overboard in Boston, and monarchy changed to American democracy, technology
ushered in the existence of film stars and wide spread images of celebrity. From this, popular culture was born
and fashion icons were officially birthed outside of palace walls. From Marie Antoinette to Marilyn Monroe,
these images presented glamour, unmistakable beauty and the idea of personal style to millions of women.
Today, as the average American woman spends seventeen hundred dollars a year on clothing, there is definitely
still an attraction. (www.bls.gov)
Being as getting dressed can be seen as a daily necessity and therefore a practicality, it is an interesting
turn of events that fashion, and in particular women’s fashion, holds such a fascination for women. In the article
“Building a Feminist Theory” by Ilya Parkins the author explores this. She states that, “in the process of selfpresentation dress alludes to the construction of identity as an ongoing practice”. This meaning that the way
one dresses becomes a part of their identity. However, it can be argued that a person’s identity is not stagnant.
One’s construction of identity changes over their lifetime. So as a component of identity, it would make sense
that one’s attitude towards fashion change as person’s identity changes over time.
The link of fashion and changing identity is explored in Parker’s article through the use of feminist
author Karen Barad’s theory of “agential realism”. First using “agential realism” Parker explains that we can
“elaborate upon clothing and fashion as simultaneously material and discursive phenomena that are relentlessly
interpretive and, because of their intimacy as objects with human bodies, call into question the dualism of
subject and object”. This “dualism of subject and object” relies upon Barad’s definition of “intra-action”. Intraaction is Barad’s own creation and is a play off the word interaction. Its definition is the “inseparability of objects
and agencies of observation”
Together the use of “agential realism” and “intra-action” attunes fashion studies to enactments of
identity. Parker explains that “identity formation must be understood as a material process through which
different identity categories are formed and re-formed through one another”. In other words, two separate
categories that help to form a woman’s identity in fact help to define each other in the process of working
together towards identity formation. In this case, fashion as an identity category is help defined by other parts
of a woman’s personality and life choices. Identity categories themselves are formed through “intra-actions with
the material world”. For the purposes of this paper, this translates to fashion as objects as part of the material
world and fashion’s connection to viewers in society.
Parker takes this one step further by asserting that intra-actions “recognize knowledge as negotiated
between human and non-human agents”. In terms of fashion and feminism this means that knowledge
negotiated between women and garments contribute to garments becoming more than objects to women, but
objects that have the power of emotional attachment, objects that are connected to parts of a woman’s
personality recognition, and objects that are part of a woman’s identity presentation to society.
Barad then questioned the permanence of identities stating that, “Identities reconfigure based on their
emergence and intra-actions with various others”. The idea of an inessential shifting identity then marries well
with the changing landscape of the fashion industry and it’s creation of new trends each season, as “the
situations of the viewers and wearers constantly change…as well as (fashion’s) own material landscape”.
Using this as a foundation, it is safe to say that as a woman grows older the way she sees fashion as a
form of self-presentation changes. A reasonable question would be then, how do women navigate the changing
of an older body along with changes in fashion? The answer is tricky. Women as a whole “wear their bodies
through their clothes” (Kaplan, 324) thereby using clothes as a way to “socialize their bodies”. In society one
learns things such as cultural norms. In terms of fashion, these norms are taught to all members of society in
various ways including the reaction of viewers and the selection of products offered by designers and retailers.
The most popular and powerful teacher of them all however, is the media. Coming in as the choice of sixty nine
percent of women surveyed on this subject in the year 2000, media outlets such as television, film, and
magazines are the taste makers for fashion choices that many women make. (Crane, 213) “Fashion now
occupies the centre ground in popular understandings of modern culture. It enjoys unprecedented coverage in
the western media and defines the tenor of urban life as no other medium”. (Munich, 18)
The images shown through the media ultimately affect women in a very real way by not only providing a
look at the range of options of appropriate clothing but also by offering advice on just how this clothing should
be worn on the body. Only, for women of a certain age, the choices aren’t as varied and the advice guidelines
aren’t as clear. Studies show that older women are underrepresented in film and television and all but forgotten
about in women’s magazines. Images of women over 35 largely consist of actresses over 35, and although many
are given the cover of today’s popular women’s magazines that is typically where the representation ends.
Although fashion is celebrated more openly in modern society, the images of clothing and its effects on
society have deep roots in the entertainment industry. In American film, the first film costume designs were set
against the highest end of the fashion industry, Parisian couture. By the 1930s, the scales began to tip towards
the U.S. film industry and had such a large impact that the immensely popular and respected couturiere Elsa
Schiaperelli announced, “What Hollywood designs today, you will be wearing tomorrow.” (Munich, 19)
Elsa Schiaparelli wearing the iconic “shoe hat” of her own design
It can be argued that as the film industry grew, the designs shown in film helped to define American
identity as a whole. “By the mid twentieth century, costume design developed a significant connection to the
American fashion empires” (Munich, 19) The influence only increased as the United States garnered control of
cinema distribution.
What was left out, however, was that the most modern and fashionable designs on screen were
primarily shown on young women. Hollywood has historically been a place where age and beauty seem to go
hand and hand, and this system of measurement is adopted in its strictest form when looking at women.
Historically female characters have been played by actresses that are on average eight to ten years younger than
their male counterparts. Such screen legends as Carey Grant in the acclaimed film “North by Northwest” and
Clark Gable in “Gone with the Wind” had co-stars that were twenty years and twelve years younger than them
respectively. This tradition has been such a long held one on the silver screen, and later transitioning to the
smaller screen at the invent of television, that today it seems commonplace to see a “chiseled” older man play
to a much younger female love interest.
In fact, a 2002 study on the effects of aging in Hollywood shows that only twenty percent of all female
roles in film and television show women over the age of 35; this in contrast to thirty five percent of older male
roles shown. In addition, the study further finds that, “the demand for actors diminishes as they age, especially
if they are women. In fact, the term "older" is now popularity being used to describe male actors over the age of
40 and female actors over the age of thirty.” (Lincoln, 616) The study concludes that women in Hollywood suffer
from a “double jeopardy” of being female and aging that “denounces women with special severity" (Lincoln,
616) This results of this study are still prevalent today. The top 100 grossing movies of 2012 none featured
female leads playing characters that were in their thirties. When expanded to include movies outside of the
ranks of popularity, the list equaled to a total of six, including “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”,
“Bachelorette”, “Contraband” and “Friends with Kids”.
With the average American watching three to four hours of television a day, this medium is arguably the
most pervasive of the U.S. culture. It is disheartening to learn then, that not only are women underrepresented
as a whole, but older women “portray a disproportionate number of negative characterizations, and all
compacted into fewer television roles than for male characters”. “The world of television is frozen in a timewarp of obsolete and damaging representations…portraying women today regardless of age, as it always has,
(with) a focus on the external.” (Cole, 205)
In researching the top fifty most popular television shows from the 2011 – 2012 Fall Season for
primetime television, only three have women in their thirties playing a main character, “How I Met your
Mother”, “Mike n Molly”, and “NCIS”. Taking out high ratings as a factor, the list can be expanded by two
adding, “Bones” and “The Mindy Project”.
Upon flipping through the inside of women’s magazines the images found tend to further the idea of
youth as an equal to beauty and opportunity. It is no secret that a large population of fashion images that are
shown to women, are shown on women that are under the age of 40. In fact, in today’s age where fashion icons
are gleefully labeled and openly celebrated, one would be hard pressed to find an icon that is above the age of
40. The few exceptions to women aged above twenty five listed by reputable fashion outlets, such as style.com,
seem to be chosen largely because of huge style moments they have had in their younger days – think Sarah
Jessica Parker when she played the role of Carrie in Sex and the City and Jennifer Lopez when she wore the
infamous “green dress” by Versace. In both instances, these “iconic fashion moments” occurred when the ladies
were in their early thirties.
Through research of some of 2012’s most high ranking women’s magazines, “In-Style”, “Cosmopolitan”,
“Glamour”, and “Elle”, not only do the images amidst the substantial amount of advertising that largely supports
the production of these magazines portray women that are much younger than the one who typically reads the
magazine, (of the four mentioned, the average reader is between age thirty and thirty-five), the advice on
fashion and how to wear it jumps out as a guide to women everywhere on how to interpret the fashion world.
Written in a way where it is almost begging the receiver to “read between the lines” the advice given in these
magazines are addressed to a confused and lost thirty something woman, who is scared and needs guidance on
how to avoid looking ridiculous. This leaves the discerning reader to conclude that the both the magazine
editors and its audience both know that the fashion industry does not cater to women in their age group, but
the magazines are offering a way to “stay in the game”.
Articles are largely peppered with affirmative phrases such as “you can wear” insert fashion item here,
followed by guidelines on how to translate clothes worn on the runway to a woman’s everyday wardrobe. In
fact, that is the largest theme running between all of the women’s magazines researched. Of the top five most
popular women’s magazines, each had a fashion section that focused on how to translate clothes from the
runway into different real-life scenarios.
Although the practicality in this method can be seen, the mindset behind it echoes the
underrepresentation of women in film and television. As stated in a study on gender imagery in Vogue
Magazine, “modern beauty is deeply embedded in sexual politics”. (Crane, 211) This suggests the modern view
of women is in terms of sexual prowess. The study further showed that “women in fashion layouts and clothing
advertisements were frequently presented as sexually provocative, androgynous, or homoerotic”, thus linking
women’s magazines’ view of youth and beauty to a woman’s ability to appear sexually attractive. (Crane, 211)
But if these representations are largely of women under the age thirty, where does that leave the rest of
the female population? The answer is in a sort of fashion limbo. A 2005 study and survey on Fashion and Age
from the Journal of Fashion Theory finds that, "People are expected to dress their age, and most societies have
imposed sanctions against wearing the costume of another generation" and that “age has replaced social status
as the variable that conveys prestige to the fashion innovator.” (Klepp, 324)
As modern women age, they seem to have more of an ambivalence to fashion magazines and the
industry as a whole. The ideal body type portrayed today is of a fit and slim “non-maternal” “non-adult” body.
Older woman who may have experienced child birth or hormonal changes that make this body one that is
harder to conform to are then left to feel like they are on the outskirts. They are not what the designers design
for, and ultimately are forced to look elsewhere. This attitude makes sense when paired with the advice given in
contemporary women’s magazines.
It is interesting then, that it is found that “only to a very limited extent do they rebel against the
aesthetic standards dictated by fashion.” (Klepp, 330) So, although they are not catered to by fashion designers,
aging women still look to the industry to see what is in fact fashionable. From there, these women tend to take
cues from various sources to determine what is appropriate. The location of these sources outside of the media
seem to be their peers, other women in different situations seem to have a good deal of influence in
determining an ageing woman’s wardrobe. However, the overall attitude seems to be that the main
determinant for what is appropriate is what is not appropriate.
Of what is deemed too youthful (and therefore inappropriate) has largely to do with skin exposure.
Echoing back to the studies regarding media and body image, the women surveyed seem to have picked up that
being seen in an overtly sexual way is something strictly for the young. In fact, more of an emphasis was placed
on how much skin was exposed than the actual article of clothing. “In talking about clothes that are too
youthful, the women tended to refer to others who had made a particular mistake. As a mitigating
circumstance, they might concede that "she has the body for it," but the respondent reports that she herself
would never have worn it” Additional, the women let it be known, that although an older woman may have a
youthful body, she can still wear something that is “too young for her”. (Klepp, 335)
Yet, there is a caveat. Although aging women don’t want to look too youthful, they also do not want to
look too old. These clothes were thought of as matronly and when described were clothing that looked loose
fitting, overly feminine and asexual. Women were found stating that they wanted to dress in a “slightly more
mature way” but do not want to “look like old ladies”. So there seems to be a balancing act for women over a
certain age. They want to appear attractive and in those terms, somewhat sexual, but not completely closed off.
The preference was described as a youthful body with “a little adultish” clothing.
This sentiment is definitely echoed in the media as well, with images of women in their fifties and older
shown in a very covered up and de-sexualized way. In terms of film, in the small percentage that show older
women, the clothing almost always shows a very high neckline and an emphasis on color and an overall
silhouette, even in modern films where older actresses have gotten to play the love interest. As of late, Meryl
Streep in “It’s Complicated” and Diane Keaton in “Because I Said So” are two good examples.
LEFT: Meryl Streep in “Its
Complicated” and
wardrobe stylist for the
film – Amanda Ross
RIGHT: Diane Keaton in
the film “Because I Said
So”
In television, the crop of fashion themed reality shows are very good indicators of the parameters in
modern society for acceptable dress regarding age. On the popular fashion competition show, “Project
Runway” of successful fashion designer Michael Kors’ most hurtful feedback seems to be, “it’s matronly”. Advice
shows such as “What Not to Wear” routinely give out fashion advice based on age restrictions even though the
host is over the age of forty herself. They freely “makeover” the “fashion challenged” and have a strict set of
rules in doing so, telling any woman who dares to show her legs that “you can’t wear mini-skirts over the age of
35”.
Designer Micheal Kors as a jude on Project Runway
Lastly, another show with an older woman at the helm takes joy in criticizing women who they feel
have stepped outside of the rules regarding age, “Fashion Police” with the main host Joan Rivers aged 79. The
panel consisting of men and women with ages varying between the mid-twenties and thirties often say a young
starlet can “get away” with something risqué simply because she “is young” yet they described a twenty eight
year old actress, “as a little older” and remarked that she needed to “tone it down” when she attended an event
in a short dress.
Opinions from reality television withstanding, research does show that slight variation exists in terms of
appropriateness depending on a woman’s roles in her life. Factors such as how fashion conscious the woman is,
as well as her career, whether she is married and whether she is a mother or not were all listed as factors that
affected their determination of appropriate dress. In addition, there is a growing market for single women over
the age of thirty. Representing 32% of the total American population, the single woman is thought to be more
fashion savvy and a potential big spender on clothing, more so than their married counterparts. Overall
regardless of their roles in life, it was found that while it is bad to dress too young, it is even worse to dress too
old. Women who have aged out of their twenties should opt for clothing that is described as, “cool, elegant,
fashionable and classic”. The author points out that all of these elements are devoid of femininity and are at
best, bisexual. (Klepp, 338)
An additional study showed that the idea of clothing appropriateness linked to age grade is universal
and those who did not subscribe to this idea were thought of as “not knowing how to dress”. So, as women age
“it appears that the decisive factor determining whether a garment or an outfit is "right" for a given age is the
way in which it refers to the person wearing it as a sexual individual.” (Klepp, 338)
Works Cited
Andreeva, Nellie. Full 2011-2012 TV Series Season Rankings. Deadline.com, np, nd. Web. 5/21/2013
Crane, Diana. Fashion and its Social Agendas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print
Cole, Ellen and Daniel, Jessica Henderson. Featuring Females: Feminist Analyses of Media. Washington:
American Psychological Association, 2005. Print
Hellmich, Nancy. Film Study: Men Talk and Women Show Skin. USA Today, np, nd. Web. 5/21/2013
Klepp, Grimstand Ingun. “Reading Fashion as Age: Teenage Girls and Grown Women’s Accounts of
Clothing as Body and Social Status.” Fashion Theory 9.3 (2005): Print.
Lincoln, Anne E. “Double Jeopardy in Hollywood: Age and Gender in the Careers of Film Actors, 19261999.” Sociological Forum 19.4 (2004): Print.
Mckay, Shannon. Popular Women’s Fashion Magazines. Knoji.com, np,nd. Web. 5/202013
Munich, Adrienne. Fashion in Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011. Print
Bio. Wikipedia.com np,nd. Web. 6/1/3013