Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Fashionistas Unite!

You have nothing to lose but some tacky chains
By Frankie Dillard
This just in.

Trailing slowly behind race, class and sexuality, a new type of discrimination has arisen. Fashion discrimination.
Dodging a sea of sweatshirts and Birkenstocks, the Bryn Mawr “Fashionista” stands brave, yet alone. She is the victim of a sincere and very apparent disgust for women on Bryn Mawr’s campus who spend extra time on their outward appearances.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, there is a prejudice against women who are “too stylish.”

Reports of hate are on the rise.

Case# 1: One young freshman named Jessica Rizzo, 18, dresses like she walked straight off the runway. She reported walking past a classroom of her peers, and stopping to hear them laugh and snicker about the clothes she wears.

Case #2: Hadley Garretson, 19, a young woman who is known for dressing “preppy” yet takes pride in what she wears, has been asked on numerous occasions, why she doesn’t just “dress normally.”

Case #3: Many people ask Zanny Alter, 21, who exactly she is trying to impress. When she replies that she’s not really dressing up, and her style is how she normally dresses, people often reply with laughter or distorted and confused looks, and usually proceed to call her materialistic.

In order to solve the mystery, we need to answer the real question at hand.

Why are women at a school heralded for its liberal and “non-judgmental” atmosphere, judging others for something as trivial as the way they dress?

This odd discrimination, unique to Bryn Mawr's campus, was cleverly illustrated in a cartoon that sits outside Dean Chuck Heyduk’s door. The cartoon, which was featured in the New Yorker, portrays a young woman glamorously dressed standing in the middle of Merion green, while all the other women are glaring at her as if she was Chewbacca.
The title reads, “The Renascence of Rugged Individualism” and the caption reads, “The Bryn Mawr sophomore who wore a town ensemble and correct accessories on the campus.”

What’s that you say? Maybe the crimes are legitimate if they showed up in the New Yorker?

Well you’re right. Because the real question is not about who has the best clothing or the most fabulous sense of style, it’s about misperception.

Why are students passing judgments on others? Why does the fact that one girl enjoys looking her best for class matter to girl who would rather wear sweatpants? Why is a woman who is simply expressing herself through personal style taunted and accused of materialism?

Finally, why not dress nicely for class?

I mean, why should you roll out of bed looking a wild mess, hair ruffled and clothes wrinkled and go to class at a school where the tuition is well above $45,000 a year? And why should you be taunted for doing so?

Maybe it’s because in high school, the girls who were considered more fashionable were probably the school divas and “mean girls”, while the girls who dressed “normally” weren’t the most popular. There has obviously been some strange role reversal between students who choose to dress up and one’s who don’t. Aren’t the “normal” girls equally as malicious as the nicely dressed ones, now that they are the ones being discriminatory?

Again, does it really matter?

Maybe the women who dress up are simply trying to prevent the evaporation of their personal sense of couture.

At an institution so focused on academics it is very easy to lose yourself. Sometimes, looking good makes you feel good too, and some girls need that extra push.

Besides that, what’s this talk of materialism?

As far as Webster knows, materialism is a devotion to material wealth and possessions at the expense of spiritual or intellectual values.

Nowhere in the definition does it describe a woman expressing her sense of personal style, or a woman spending a little extra time on her wardrobe to boost her self confidence.

As far as I know, I haven’t seen anyone kneeling and praying at the foot of their closet, so I ould say materialism is not the problem

So, why all the hate? Help lower crimes against fashionable people. Start by complimenting your local fashionista. Tell her she looks nice.
It’ll make society a lot easier, not to mention, a little more appealing.

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