Modesty is all over the runways this Fall. For adults, that is. But little girl designs are still racy and tawdry. WHY?
Bibhu Mohapatra, Fall 2010
Full Washington Post article here, bits below.
Disney moms, listen up: it’s time to turn off Miley and give your daughter the September edition. It seems counterintuitive, but high fashion–an art form that thrives upon pushing the boundaries of sex and skin–may actually be turning toward (gasp!) modesty.
Blame it on the recession, weather patterns, or “Mad Men” euphoria, but fall fashion is trending conservative. There are different theories why Lagerfeld, Galliano and others tamed the sex kitten this fall. But the revival of minimalism, calf-skimming skirts, thick and frumpy sweaters and full-figured-50s frocks seems to suggest that a prudish, cleavage-free season has arrived.
For Mom.
Despite these high fashion trends, we may be leaving our daughters behind.
Contrast expensive grown-up lines like Louis Vuitton and Valentino with the likes of younger, moderately priced ones that dominate department stores. Lines that target teens–Bebe, GUESS, Juicy Couture–have ignored the prude-chic vibe of fall, keeping barely-covers-the-bum shorts on the racks.
Other international style icons are garnering attention for modest style. Ivanka Trump wore a conservative wedding gown with to-the-elbow lace sleeves for her Jewish service. But even style setter Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the one-time model, dresses considerably more conservative since her marriage to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
But we’re not just reading about modesty in fall fashion reviews. The term comes up again with a promise from Bristol Palin, a young mother, that she’ll wear the appropriate “modest outfits” on her stint with “Dancing with the Stars.”
So the question remains: why are 13 year-olds bucking the modesty trend? Why should they sport sex while high fashion goes modest? If rail thin supermodels– the very ones who make teens and tweens count calories — aren’t revealing cleavage on Fifth Avenue, then why is the pep squad revealing it in fifth period?
As Louis Vuitton opens its first store in Beirut, high fashion becomes a bit more ladylike and demure. Time will tell whether new conservative markets are influencing trends long term.
But that doesn’t change our American teens that crave (and devour) the racy behavior fed to them.
The result? Stylish women will dress with discretion this fall. But material girls will buy affordable, accessible bandeau bras that barely cover their barely-developed bosoms. Shakespeare was spot on this season: a deformed thief it is.
Other also read:
The good news is, in recent months, I’ve seen more gals only, or at least mostly wear skirts and dresses. Better news, they don’t approve of other gals wearing pants or shorts. Bad news(if it can be called news), some gals don’t get it; last night, I was waiting for a train, and a gal had on a shirt saying “Girly Girl”. What’s wrong with that, you ask. This; she was wearing PANTS!
I’m not of the mindset that if it’s fashionable, it must be avoided(otherwise, I’d be a champion of frumpiness, and most people who like frumpy clothes don’t see frumpy as such), but some fashions are so bad they should be called “low fashion” for the simple fact that they are tasteless.
Even if modesty is making a comeback, that ultimate scourge on women’s clothes is still around. What I’m talking about are….PANTS!!
“Juicy”(and you know they’re not talking about how food tastes); any CLOTHING store with a name like that has to be trashy!