Why are we so cornered with what women are wearing?

How often do you open the news paper, or click on your online news source platform and see the headline ‘WHO WORE IT BETTER?’. The headline is usually followed closely by a collection of glamorous looking women in lavish but similar looking dresses lined up in a row with ‘1, 2 or 3?’ in the top left hand corner. Given, celebrities can wear outlandish outfits from time to time (who will ever forget Lady Gaga in her meat dress?!), but why do journalists feel the need to peg females against eachother just due to their appearance?

Cheap journalism is something thats easy to fall victim to, finding ourselves staring blankly at the 3 women in similar tight black floor length dresses thining:

Journalism surrounding females draws an endless amount of attention to their aesthetics rather than their talents and achievements. Most celebrities are famous because of their brand and devote their life to their career. Presenting women in a purely objective way through the male gaze, not only distracts from their individuality and achievements, but promotes competition between these women which just does not exist. In reality, female celebrities often support eachother hugely in their careers and applaud eachothers successes. The women didn’t dress to look better than anyone else or to enter into a confusing competiton. They woke up that day and got dressed in anticipation to achieve or celebrate her work , these are the stories that should be told and applauded on news platforms.

‘Who wore it better?’ isn’t about the outfit the woman is wearing, since it is the same. It is about how a woman with a particular body shape carries their outfit. Of course somen women are going to look better wearing something more suited to their body shape.

Body positivity and plus size models have also become hugely popular in the public eye. A good example is plus size model Ashley Graham, when she apeared on the front cover of Vogue standing alongside the likes of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, sending a positive message. However similar magazines and online news platforms contraindicate themselves by selling stories based on objectivity. Surely this can’t be having a positive effect on the female reader. Are we supposed to compare constantly? Or support eachother whatever our appearance?

It is ingrained in us to compete. From how well we did in school to how much we earn in our adult jobs. So of course low-key gossip about who wore it better is going to be the topic of our lunch breaks. Especially as it is seemingly at no ones expense.

The thing is it is potentially only at our own expense. How often do you look at your new gorgeous dress in the mirror and think oh if only I could pull off, it looked better in that dark changing room. We instill a fear within ourselves that we are being judged daily and so we strive to always look our best — it can take hours to try to find the perfect outfit.

It is extremely difficult as young women to escape the world of fashion, and to be honest, a lot of us don’t want to! But it is important to keep fashion fun and positive, and compliment your friends on their style. Besides, when was the last time you looked at two of your friends and thought who wore it better?

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