Yesterday a New York Times article (how often do my posts start out with those six words?) about the new Marni shop was trying to categorize - if that's even possible - the type of fashions one can find at Marni and went off on a tangent about the varying influences upon the way a woman dresses. Cintra said that when dressing to be appreciated by a man women try to create "a silhouette resembling Jessica Rabbit." Harsh, but mostly true. Cintra went on further to say that when dressing for other women, women will dress in a more "well-made, polished and flattering looks with less overt chicka-wah-wah" way. At that point, a mere two graphs into the article, I got lost in my thoughts trying to answer that question, "Who do you dress for?" and still feel good about myself.
So I did a little digging - or should I call it soul searching? - either way I stumbled upon a few interesting anwers to this question. And it turns out I'm not the only one wondering about this. In fact WWD asked this exact question to men and women in the fashion arena trying to find an answer. The fashion daily compiled a list of answers and published it on Dec. 15, 2008. There was no official consensus. Anne Hathaway thinks “most women dress for their most fashionable friend.” And she's not alone, a handful of the interviewees thought that women dressed for other women. A few said that women dress for men -isn't that a tiring thought (heels and push-up bras need to rest, too) ? And there were a few optimists saying women dress for themselves. Photographer Nigel Barker is of this particular thought. Here's what he said: “most women dress for themselves. Most men don’t realize what’s going on half the time. If their friend at work wears the same thing every day, they wouldn’t notice. It’s not in the gene pool.” Well put!
Nigel's remark is a perfect segue to my next point, which is that women need to realize that men usually don't notice the outfit, so that factor - and answer - should really not matter at all. Amen! The only men I would ever want to impress with my outfits are my gay friends (I have my priorities totally straight, right?) because they'll tell you if something is not flying.
Next, if women dress for women - let's say a boss or someone you want to look good for - that's a better reality. Especially in a professional setting dressing to impress someone has been an accepted norm of society. At least, it certainly seems that way. I'll be honest, when I go to my internship I want to look fashionably put together and ready to work, and I totally love it when I get compliments on my shoes or blouse. This form of dressing for other women seems healthy. But sometimes it seems like a competition - who can dress the best? - and that is not quite as healthy. And I'm not 100% for the 'women should dress for themselves' camp, only because dressing for myself turns into dressing for my mood and if I lived by that mantra, well, I might not end up going into work/my internship looking the way I want to. I think it is healthiest for women to dress first for themselves and second for other women. It's a healthy balance that keeps a woman both happy and on her toes. Happy to be doing something selfish, but careful to always be thinking fashionably.
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