Feminist Currents

As the 2008 presidential campaign was hitting its final months, the dressing (up) of Sarah Palin and her family dominated the blogosphere. Pundits had already had a field day poking fun at Hillary Clinton's multicolored wardrobe of pantsuits, but the revelation that Republican operators had gone on a $150,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and other upscale stores to glamorize the small town "pit-bull in lipstick" brought the scorn and ridicule directed at the fashioning of politicians, especially women in public, to new heights. Sure, Bill Clinton's and John Edwards's three-figure haircuts somehow became symbols of hypocrisy, while the price of John McCain's shoes merely reinforced his out-of-step image, and Barak Obama seemed thrifty in contrast, with his identical sets of Chicago-made Hart, Schaffner, and Marx tailored suits. Michelle Obama, in contrast, could be forgiven for her colorful displays of designer originals because first ladies are supposed to become fashionistas. We lamented the neglect of her smarts in all the attention to her body. But, as Iván Murillo observed in an e-mail response to Frontiers, "We still cover women's clothing in our social discourse. Part of the reason is that there is more variety than the traditional 'suit and tie' that we associate with our (male) politicians. Another part is that it is an easy—and accepted—entry into the subject's life and positions."

Such sartorial controversy encouraged the question for this issue's "Feminist Currents"—as did my personal and professional interest in the politics of appearance, including the interplay of cultural, social, economic, and—within such restraints—individual factors that lead to dressing the part (whatever the role). I posed the question:

Do clothes make the woman? What is your personal relationship to clothing? What constitutes feminist positions on clothing? Why is it that when we talk about women in public—especially notable women—we engage in the politics of appearance? Why did we talk about Hillary Clinton's pantsuits and Sarah Palin's designer clothes in the last election?

Replies came to Frontiers through our e-mail address (frontiers@asu.edu) and as postings to our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28584178375). During the same time, a group of feminist scholars and policy thinkers engaged in a discussion about "high heels," and some agreed to share their comments for this column. We also received messages from Minhha T. Pham and Mimi Thi Nguyen, who shared posts from their blog "threadbared" (http://threadbared.blogspot.com/), which I highly recommend for fashionable cultural criticism.

Your replies loudly showed that the old divisions persist—between girls just want to have fun and girls oppressed by the beauty industry; between the frumpy academic and the playful remaking of one's body as statement or just for the heck of it; between the slave to fashion and the enraged by fashion. NYU's Pham, assistant professor and faculty fellow in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, expresses this split as "Mind over Malls," asking in the "threadbared" entry that she shares with us, "Does Academia Hate Fashion?" But you managed also to puncture such dichotomies with personal reflections that so distinguish feminist discourse.

Some lamented how cultural constructions of womanhood through clothing hide who we really are, but that available styles and objects restrain our choices. This position came through powerfully in a poem, "Images of Myself," that women's studies independent scholar and community education specialist Karen Henninger posted to our Facebook page. (Go there to read the poem, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28584178375.) She could try out many outfits that exemplified cultural stereotypes or social roles, including Barbie, slut, and porn star; biker, hippie, and artist; or church lady, princess, and professional. Such ensembles might fit her, but they fail to express her. Instead, she offers an arresting image of breaking through such constraints, as does the sun emerging into the natural world. Elise Hendrick wrote to us on Facebook from Germany, "It has never ceased to amaze me that the fashion industry … is still around. The...