If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion

“My passion for fashion can sometimes seem a shameful secret life,” wrote Princeton University English professor Elaine Showalter in 1997. And indeed, after these words appeared in Vogue, more shame was heaped on her. Surely she must have “better things to do,” said one colleague. Fashion, like so many other things associated primarily with women, [...]

Wasp Waists and Anorexia

The cover of Vogue Italy’s September issue–timed to appear during the Sept. 21-28 Italian fashion week–featured Stella Tennant, the striking 40-year-old super model and mother of three. She’s wearing a posh dress and a nose ring. But it’s not her clothing or her accessories or her arresting expression that stand out. It’s her absurdly tiny [...]

Michelle Obama’s Fashionability Has Precedents

Whether she gets it right or wrong, and who can please every eye, Michelle Obama’s taste gets noticed, written and talked about, tweeted, blogged, photographed and copied. Her style sets trends. Belts are big again–because of her penchant for a neat waist, we have her in part to thank for the cinched-in look now in [...]

Kanye’s Black Monsters, Pakistan’s Secret Lesbians and Lessons From Kermit Gosnell: Editors’ Picks, 1/16-1/22

This week brought us one of the most unabashedly stupid infographics ever to go viral, “Which Female Tech Influencer Are You?” The Frisky‘s Jessica Wakeman fires back. You can regain your faith in humanity over at feminist academic Minh-Ha T. Pham’s new blog Of Another Fashion: an amazing “alternative archive of the not-quite-hidden but too [...]

I Am Not A Sample Size: Fashion and Web 2.0

We talk a lot in the feminist blogosphere about fashion, its hyper-Photoshopped size 0 models and their influence on women’s negative image of, and relationship to, their own bodies. And we talk a lot with good reason. With that in mind, I would like to make a very bold suggestion: The fashion industry is in [...]

For the Love of Freedom and Fashion

The founder and president of Freedom and Fashion describes herself as a slave to end slavery. Constantly networking, fundraising, and sometimes sewing by hand in the dimly lit rooms of friends and family until 4am, Bonnie Kim and her board of directors work in the background to support fair trade organizations and NGOs that raise [...]

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk

At the National Eating Disorders Association conference last Saturday in New York, I had the delight of attending Susan Ringwood’s presentation [PDF] on “All Walks Beyond the Catwalk.” Susan is the chief executive of beat, the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders. As I know from serving with her on the Academy for [...]

Tavi Gevinson is Fashionable, Feminist and Just 14

Tavi Gevinson is a feminist. When I ask her if she would call herself one she wholeheartedly agrees. At 14, she has recently started high school and gave a presentation about Riot Grrrl in her favorite class. She is known in class for being “the feminist” after her presentation, but it isn’t a big deal. [...]

State Department Dining, Muslimah Style

I recently accepted an invitation to attend a dinner at the State Department hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in honor of the holy month of Ramadan. The dinner itself, which takes place on Tuesday, September 7, is a formal iftar—the meal eaten every evening after sunset when Muslims break the fast during the [...]

Five Reasons A Ms. Blogger Won’t Wear Stiletto Heels

The stiletto phenomenon has now been around long enough to have a list of reasons why I would never wear them. How about you? 1. I will start with an admission: My feet are too wide for me to wear any of the currently stylish four- to six-inch stiletto heels even if I wanted to. [...]