gender bias

I have to admit to being a little dismayed by the fact that feminism seems to be out of fashion. I’ve noticed this backlash of sorts in the last ten years or so, and realize that some of this may also be generational. Young women who didn’t live through the turbulent 60s and 70s may feel that feminism is either beside the point or irrelevant. Yet they grew up in a period when many battles had already been fought and won for them.

But when searching for the reason why Hilary Clinton’s pantsuits became a flash point of resentment, leading to negatives about her presidential campaign, it seemed like so many people—including big name journalists and pundits—were reliving the same kind of resentment that triggered the women’s rights protests of the 60s and 70s.

Hard-won freedoms should never be taken for granted. Just type the words “feminist backlash” into Google and you will see how the debate still ranges today. Since feminism and fashion are both social forces, the media loves speculating on which force will come out on top. See how academia is beginning to address the issue in Fresh lipstick: redressing fashion and feminism.

p.s. Next week’s posts will be lighthearted and frivolous. Blame it on the continuing heat and humidity…

Trousers suit, pantsuit—where did one leave off, and the other begin? Women wore trousers in the nineteenth century in special circumstances. For one example, the famous animal painter Rosa Bonheur wore pants for outdoor painting expeditions. But such clothing wasn’t acceptable for street wear. The early twentieth century couturiers started a trend for feminine slacks, limiting them for specific leisure occasions, such as beach wear or garden parties. We find illustrations of these outfits by the 1920s, with variations intermittently through the 30s and 40s. Actresses like Hepburn and Dietrich helped, but didn’t cinch the deal for social acceptance.

Which brings us to the 1960s. I think that we can look at pop culture, particularly rock n’ roll, for the genesis of feminine pants acceptance. The long Summer of Love that was the late 60s saw the advent of the unisex look, expressed best in the wearing of denim jeans. This was also the period in which militant feminism was born. The time was one of general disaffection with many things in society, and women were able to don pants as part of this protest. The men and women that led popular music in that period played an essential role in getting everyone accustomed to the sight of women in pants. Designer Tommy Hilfiger thinks so too, and you can see his endorsement of my theory in words and pictures if you peruse his Rock style: how fashion moves to music.

Yes, Marlene Dietrich was our mystery lady. While none of us who pay attention to fashion history are surprised anymore by the furor over women wearing pants, it still remains more than a little surprising how little documentation there is on that specific piece of history. I’d recommend to those teaching costume and fashion studies that they get their most promising grad students to work on this aspect of women’s dress.

As I looked through literature on the subject, I was shocked at how sketchy information is about the true origins of something like the pantsuit. The obituaries for Yves Saint Laurent labeled him as the inventor with his “Le Smoking” pantsuit in 1966, and a full-fledged “pantsuit” in 1970. Yet in a sweep of other books, I saw Andre Courrèges and British designer Tommy Nutter credited with the original invention.

The fact is, that just like searching the origins of the term “fashion victim,” researching the beginnings of the pantsuit calls for a systematic, detailed perusal of published literature, especially newspapers—along with some clever sleuthing. In the meantime, the Europeans have beaten us to basic documentation itself: the only books in our collection on the history of pants are in French and Italian!

Once upon a time, long before Hilary, there lived a woman during the Art Deco era of the 1930s. She was a famous actress like Katherine Hepburn, with a face recognized by people the world over. But this woman was exceptionally notorious. Why? She made a habit of wearing trousers in social situations at a time when women simply didn’t do so—not without causing a scandal. The outrage aroused by her actions might seem remarkable to us today, but—trust me—she generated real hostility.

And her reaction was only to do more. She appeared in a film one time in a man’s tuxedo, and later on kissed a woman on the mouth. Her run-in with French police over her public appearance in a trouser suit (the forerunner of the pantsuit) made newspaper headlines across the globe. By 1939, however, her wearing of pants in a film actually brought a sea-change in her studio executive bosses. They decided that her androgynous look was beneficial after all.

Who was this groundbreaking woman? I’ll provide the answer in the next post. Hint: we have a lot of great pictures of her in our Digital Gallery!