We also went on to discuss a very vivid and deeply impactful childhood memory that I have of being bought a beautiful sailor dress sporting a peter pan collar, puff sleeves and tiered skirt, which came with matching lace gloves. Trousers are now the norm everywhere you look”. Now it looks like it’s the opposite in the corporate world - women in the workplace wearing skirts and dresses don’t seem to “represent” the ones in power. It’s funny how the style was reminiscent of masculinity with the broadness of shape, yet we were still very much expected to wear a skirt and high heels. I myself worked in an office, where it was a pre-requisite that the ladies wore skirt suits, heels, and power shoulders. We didn’t have much money, so there was never really a choice to dress you in “pretty things”, as items needed to last as long as possible. “Dressing you in trousers and leggings was mostly out of practicality reasons, skirts hinder a baby’s ability to crawl, and then later, when you were playing outside and riding a bike it was much easier for you in leggings - perhaps I made that decision for modesty reasons too. I recently had a very good heart to heart with my mother about the way she chose to dress me throughout my childhood, and how it shaped my future, not to mention the trends that were leading the change. The choices, and the trousers, that shaped me. I have a sneaking suspicion that over time, this subliminal (and not too subtle) messaging has done some of us more harm than good.
Girl Power, you see, was anything but girly.
Only Game Show Girls, Disney Princesses and Barbie wore dresses, but we (the masses) were fast moving away from anything strictly “for girls” in that time period, because… “behaving, or looking like a girly-girl = weakness”. There were exceptions to the rule in the 1990’s, but they weren’t exactly inspiring - the Spice Girls themselves donned dresses, but even they are better classified as “long t-shirts” by modern standards.
It was of course the fashion of the time, but recently I have been considering the impact that it has had, not only on my personal style, but my confidence now as a grown woman. An era that saw most women working 9-5, smashing glass ceilings, and dressing their daughters in shell suits, leggings and baggy jumpers.