By Guest Columnist, Curtis Stimac
Dress is something that allows people to be as expressive as they want to be. At least that’s what we’d like to believe. Even with this modern ideal there are still many limitations to dress, especially when you relate it to gender. For example, women and what they wear — how can that put limitations on their professional growth, hierarchy and attitudes toward them?
Professionally, women are put in a difficult situation regarding what they can wear. Imagine a situation where one woman keeps getting promotions, but these promotions are only earned because her outfits are more provocative. This is a huge limitation. First, it limits the other women or people who might have been better for certain positions but were overlooked because of what they wear. Second, it limits the woman wearing something more provocative. What if she is the right person for the job but people don’t think so because of what she wears? Also, what if she thinks what she wears is empowering and she shouldn’t have to dress down daily? These attitudes have been developed over years of institutional focus on gender roles and what we perceive genders should do.
These limitations don’t just apply to women, but also to men and other identified genders. A limitation for male dress is the perception of not being “manly.” Things like rings, earrings and capris are all things that men could wear but are often looked upon as weird in society, especially Western society. If a male was to come to work or a leader of a country was to dress in these it would be frowned upon. Why is it a problem? Some people say this is a problem because “you don’t look professional.” But whose opinions made that barrier? These limitations weren’t always a thing. In ancient Egypt it was very normal for males to wear jewelry. In the 1700s many important people, like George Washington, wore pants that were like capris and even would wear makeup and powdered wigs to look more regal.
It wasn’t until the last 100-150 years that aspects of dress for males and females started to shift. The more these aspects shifted, the more limitations were put on the way people dress. Another major contributor to this was mass-market media, which would show what the male persona or female persona “should” be. These boundaries, promoted by the fashion industry, and the absurd standards that were put into media are still the main source of limitations in all aspects of dress.
The bright side is that in the last 10 years people have become much more aware of these boundaries and have set out to work against them. Today it is becoming more and more acceptable to wear what you want and be more expressive in your forms of dress. There have even been laws passed, and most businesses have implemented policies, that say you can’t ignore a potential employee based on their appearance (e.g., tattoos or hairstyle) or the way they dress.
Even with these strides there are still limitations that we all face daily. All we can do as people and as a society is to become more aware of our judgements and try to adjust them. What is one limitation that you face every day or notice someone else facing? How do you think you could contribute to changing that limitation?
Curtis Stimac, Student and Intern Western Michigan University
Fashion Merchandising Major, with Minor in General Business
Curtis is completing his senior year at WMU with a Fashion Merchandising degree, April 2020. After graduation Curtis will begin a career with Hormel in San Francisco California.
