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Fashion and Beauty

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Shaving Razor

Feminists Can't Shave

Sarah Groustra

The This is What a Feminist Looks Like campaign has inspired discussion and change around the world. The message behind it is that people of all shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities and genders can believe in gender equality. 

"Cruel Culture" by Malcolm Evans

All Dress Is Feminist, No Dress Is Feminist

Elisabeth Eigerman

Recently I found myself bombarded by a series of conflicting articles, all telling women how they should dress. Strangely, for articles that seek to police women’s behavior, each one claims that its dress prescription is the only way women can be respected from a feminist perspective. 

Clothing Hangers on a Rack

The Catwalk Or The Cafeteria?

Eliana Gayle-Schneider

Imagine it’s the first week of September. In New York City that means two things: school is starting, and midtown Manhattan is filling up with fashionistas and papparazzi; it’s Fashion Week. 

Rising Voices Fellow Rana Bickel Then and Now

Best Dressed Most Stressed

Rana Bickel

I used to wear tie-dye. A lot of it. I also used to wear awkward length skirts, brightly colored shirts, and sparkly jewelry. It was a middle school phase; everyone is entitled to one. But it was also more than a phase. It was the time before I cared what people thought of me. 

Noam Green as a Child

On Gender Expression, Elementary School Fashion Rebellion, And Ill-Fitted Polo Shirts

Noam Green

It is a general truism that in a society which prioritizes one’s physical appearance over one’s personality, dressing outside of the established norm is often a form of social self-ruin. It is also a general truism that the delicate ecosystem of Jewish private school isn’t the place most conducive to experimentation with gender expression through clothing. 

Lane Bryant / Nicolette Mason

Pioneers of Plus Size Clothing

Enabling Style at Every Size

Nicolette Mason

Body-positive blogger Nicolette Mason has become a leader in creating and celebrating fashion for women of all sizes and shapes.

Debbie Stoller

Debbie Stoller has been hailed as a pioneer of “girlie feminism” for reviving interest in traditionally feminine activities like knitting through Bust and Stitch ‘n Bitch.

Loren Galler-Rabinowitz

A champion in two very different fields, Loren Galler-Rabinowitz took home the bronze medal for ice dancing in 2004, then competed in the 2011 Miss America Pageant as Miss Massachusetts.
Yana Kozukhin Puts on Mascara

Dress to Impress Yourself

Yana Kozukhin

I set the water on my stove to boil and flicked on the kitchen radio, which was, as usual, set to NPR. The announcer was giving an update on the ebola crisis, now listing fatalities from a recent accident, now discussing the stock market—I changed the channel. I’d had a long enough day already and had no desire to sit and listen to the ongoing string of bad news. I flipped through channels until I hit a pop station that wasn’t in the middle of a commercial break. As I pulled out plates and pasta sauce, a new song played in the background.

Cotillion

Fashion, Feminism, and A Winter Formal

Rachel Landau

In my hometown, December means more than just early evenings and the optimism  of an impending winter break. It takes on significance beyond any of the holidays, concerts or changes in the weather. Instead, December means Cotillion, the prom-like event that has groups of high school students talking endlessly of dresses and limousines, pre-parties and after-parties, and definitely not the etiquette that the dance is supposed to teach. 

Corset Illustration

Corset On, Corset Off

Eliza Bayroff

For most of my life, my fashion sense has been dictated more by what I don’t want to wear than what I do want to wear. Socks with seams? Nope. Tight jeans? No way. Itchy sweaters? Out of the question! I feel almost nothing towards clothes, and when I do feel anything, it is usually frustration at tedious trips to the mall and or the seamstress shop. Sure, I enjoy looking “good.” But I have never really had any idea what “good” actually means.

Historic Fashion

Fashionably Frustrated: Confessions of a Shop-o-Phobic

Ilana Goldberg

I was leading the feminist crusade toward an era where women would be judged not by the cuteness of their clothing but the content of their character. I, clad in ill-fitting yet fully functional attire, was the ascetic monk of the religion of Not Caring What Other People Think.

Doc Martens

“ . . . So Then I Started Wearing Army Pants and Flip Flops”

Sophie Edelhart

It was sixth grade when I started to feel like a child among women. Up until that point my wardrobe had consisted mostly of gaucho pants, t-shirts, and Converse sneakers, which suited my perfectly boyish body. But the dreaded halls of middle school eventually caught up with me and walking into school the first day I was caught up in a flurry of flowery perfume, tight leggings clung to early curves, lip gloss, and straightened hair flipping over shoulders. Hormones were raging and silly crushes became relationships while“hook up” was introduced into my vocabulary.      

Miniskirt

Fashion: A Double-Edged Sword

Eliana Melmed

When I shop for clothes, I try to purchase tops that are not exceedingly cropped, low-cut, or sheer. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been excited about a cute dress or shirt, only to flip it over and find that the back is completely cut out. This is disappointing, but it also makes me question my own tendency to judge the Girl with the Crop Top. If the majority of clothes at the mall are cut out, cut-up pieces of fabric, it might not be fair to judge consumers for buying what is being sold.

Girl Playing with Barbies, 2012

Slumber Party Barbie: Always in Fashion?

Ellie Kahn

The little girl races to unwrap it and gasps when she sees what the package contains. It’s Slumber Party Barbie™ and she couldn’t be more thrilled. All of the girls in her class have the doll, and now she can’t wait to bring her new Barbie in to school to show them! With the silky haired icon comes an accessory set including a pink satin robe, hair curlers and a pajama set. But what Barbie would be complete without a matching pink scale permanently set at 110 lbs. to keep her slim and fit? Oh and better yet, Slumber Party Barbie™ comes with her very own diet book, solely containing the advice “Don’t eat!”

Bobbi Brown

Tired of the 1980s trends towards gaudy, bright lipstick and eye shadow, Bobbi Brown launched her signature makeup line featuring more natural colors.

Diane Von Furstenberg

Designer Diane von Furstenberg made her mark on the fashion world in 1974 with the invention of the wrap dress.

Edith Flagg

Edith Flagg built a multi–million–dollar fashion empire through her innovative use of polyester.

Iris Apfel / Leandra Medine

Fashion Tastemakers

Introducing Fashion to Feminism

Joyce Carpati

Advanced Style: An Interview with Joyce Carpati

Tara Metal

On his hugely popular fashion blog Advanced Style, photographer Ari Seth Cohen has introduced readers to some of the world’s most fashionable, fabulous, inspiring women, including Iris Apfel and Linda Rodin. The blog, which features stylish women over 50, has been so successful since it’s founding in 2008 that it has since produced a book and now a documentary film of the same name. Fans come to Advanced Style for the fashion and the flamboyance, but the blog’s commentary on society’s fixation on youth and beauty has been just as influential: even Vogue Italia called Advanced Style less a street-style blog than "a sociological treatise" on ageing and identity. For those readers of Advanced Style who long to know more about the subjects of Mr. Cohen’s photos, the new film is an absolute joy. It delves into the lives and backstories of seven of the blog’s most beloved subjects, including Joyce Carpati, who at 82 must be the world’s most elegant woman.

Sara Blakely

Sara Blakely’s creation and marketing of Spanx made her the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, a success she has paid forward by training aspiring female entrepreneurs.

Leandra Medine

Through her fashion blog, Man Repeller, Leandra Medine argued that fashion should be about what women find interesting and exciting to wear, not just attracting a man.

Androgynous artist Gluck is born

August 13, 1895

The artist Gluck's will to define herself by her own standards extended not only to her name, but also to every aspect of her life.

Frances Berman Sulsky

Frances Berman Sulsky, born in New York in 1910, was known for over half a century as Baltimore's leading milliner and trendsetter. She took chances in the retail world of women's fashion that distinguished her both as a merchandiser and a businesswoman.

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