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I suspect I was very wrong about something – and I am delighted about it.
For months now, I’ve been flabbergasted by how the “kids of today” dress. I know it sounds awfully Mother Grundy-ish, but I’ve been really concerned by what they’re – seemingly willingly – doing to themselves.
For those of you who don’t have access to late teens and early twenty-somethings, let me fill you in: the dress code for young women today seems to include anything under the sun – as long as it doesn’t flatter them and shows enough skin to make even the most virile man run for a towel to cover them up.
I’m talking the shortest shorts, the skinniest skinny jeans (or tights worn as pants, heaven forbid!) the most awkward dress shapes and the most hideous and terribly unforgiving tops.
See, in my day, people also wore tiny cut-off jean shorts and cropped tank tops. But those people were called Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer.
Today, mindbogglingly, even the most, how can I put it… unathletic, vertically challenged girls walk around with their thighs matter-of-factly bursting from too small shorts and their bellies casually wobbling like great, soft puddings.
At first, after many double takes, I began to think: “ag shame man. Peer pressure”. Then I began to think “ag shame man. Have they no friends?” Then I started thinking “ag shame man. Don’t they have MIRRORS?”
But then, last night, finally after months of my brain working through thousands of visual cues and information, it suddenly hit me:
Can it be that these young women know exactly what they look like and are fine with it? Can it be that this generation, who were raised by mothers who suffered severely under the yoke of body fascism are rejecting the burden of perfection? Can it be that these girls are spitting in the face of the ideal body and claiming their right to fashion, to vanity, and to sex no matter what shape they’re in?
If Lena Dunham could have the audacity to appear naked in her own show, and in her own less than perfect body, thereby offending the poor innocent viewers by not looking like a model, don’t you think it’s time we start freeing our own thoughts from the bizarre judgment we’re brainwashed into?
I hope these kids of today keep on dressing with the wild abandon they’re currently embracing. At the very least, an entire generation of young boys will grow up knowing that women come in different shapes and sizes.
Or am I wrong?
Follow Lilli and Women24 on Twitter.
Stay updated with Women24 and Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
Do you think girls should only show their best features? Tell us in the box below.
For months now, I’ve been flabbergasted by how the “kids of today” dress. I know it sounds awfully Mother Grundy-ish, but I’ve been really concerned by what they’re – seemingly willingly – doing to themselves.
For those of you who don’t have access to late teens and early twenty-somethings, let me fill you in: the dress code for young women today seems to include anything under the sun – as long as it doesn’t flatter them and shows enough skin to make even the most virile man run for a towel to cover them up.
I’m talking the shortest shorts, the skinniest skinny jeans (or tights worn as pants, heaven forbid!) the most awkward dress shapes and the most hideous and terribly unforgiving tops.
See, in my day, people also wore tiny cut-off jean shorts and cropped tank tops. But those people were called Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer.
Today, mindbogglingly, even the most, how can I put it… unathletic, vertically challenged girls walk around with their thighs matter-of-factly bursting from too small shorts and their bellies casually wobbling like great, soft puddings.
At first, after many double takes, I began to think: “ag shame man. Peer pressure”. Then I began to think “ag shame man. Have they no friends?” Then I started thinking “ag shame man. Don’t they have MIRRORS?”
But then, last night, finally after months of my brain working through thousands of visual cues and information, it suddenly hit me:
Can it be that these young women know exactly what they look like and are fine with it? Can it be that this generation, who were raised by mothers who suffered severely under the yoke of body fascism are rejecting the burden of perfection? Can it be that these girls are spitting in the face of the ideal body and claiming their right to fashion, to vanity, and to sex no matter what shape they’re in?
If Lena Dunham could have the audacity to appear naked in her own show, and in her own less than perfect body, thereby offending the poor innocent viewers by not looking like a model, don’t you think it’s time we start freeing our own thoughts from the bizarre judgment we’re brainwashed into?
I hope these kids of today keep on dressing with the wild abandon they’re currently embracing. At the very least, an entire generation of young boys will grow up knowing that women come in different shapes and sizes.
Or am I wrong?
Follow Lilli and Women24 on Twitter.
Stay updated with Women24 and Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
Do you think girls should only show their best features? Tell us in the box below.
