Feminism and fashion have always had a rocky relationship, a point hammered home in an article in Ms. magazine’s January issue, “If The Clothes Fit: A Feminist Take On Fashion.” The piece explores the tumultuous role that fashion has historically played in gender politics—both serving as a medium for the advancement of women, and as a weapon of restraint.
It’s hard to deny the key role that fashion has played in the women’s movement. The Ms. article points to New York City women garment workers in the early 20th century who wore hats to signify that they were earning their own money, and thus financially independent. Women in the 1980s adopted a male style of dress (ties, tailored skirt suits, shoulder pads) in order to gain a foothold in the male dominated world of business. And Carol Moseley Braun, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, wore a pantsuit on the Senate floor in 1993, ending the Senate’s ban on women wearing slacks there.