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by SHOWstudio .

'The Fashion(able) Body' by Olivia Marks

[blockquote]But the point here is not one of body politics but how fashion prefers one part of the body to another, or, in fact, how current attitudes towards our bodies dictate what we wear.[/blockquote]
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Today's contribution to our Fashion Body essay series comes from journalist and SHOWstudio.com Contributing Fashion Writer Olivia Marks, exploring the role fashion and fashionable attitudes play in the ever-shifting dance of erogenous zones around the human body - both the emphasis and denigration of those areas through clothing, and even in defining the body ideal itself.

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5 comments

  • someonegreat
    19:23 17 Aug 2010
    Astute, considered and thought-provoking. Just the kind of writing I want to read, especially on fashion.
  • sarahsperpich
    19:42 17 Aug 2010
    when the so called trend and "it" erogenous zone rapidly and constantly changes -it becomes problematic in phases-phase one is immediate: when a woman is unhappy with a part of her body that becomes the temporary "it" body part highlighted by designers, cuts, and media, she instantly goes into comparison mode which usually leads to self-doubt and low self esteem Phase two is the fact that the "it" body part is only "it" for a second and a season and so eventually you have all different women feeling like they have to measure up to the fashion industry standard or beauty in every way, every body part instead of simply striving for one which is a nightmare in itself. a bit of a Lose-lose situation.
  • hudson
    16:41 18 Aug 2010
    Isn't it interesting that Marks (and Armstrong) pointed to 'big breasts'going away, when they never really seem to have left us. Or at least not left men's fashion. I'd be interested to hear about the contrast between fashion and what people ACTUALLY wear, or at least what they want to look like. I suspect they're very different things these days.
  • Fox
    17:37 27 Aug 2010
    I agree with hudson, I think it's completely different when you look at fashion from a man's point of view, and then from a womans.
    Woman who dress for women tend to tap in to the no-boobs thing, but then i'm sure if a man was to decide, he'd say that 'big breasts' have always contributed to the fashion body.
  • saint
    18:18 27 Aug 2010
    No I wouldn't.