They actually managed to look a bit boring, despite being in the full bloom of their womanhood age-wise.
I felt a bit robbed. I thought it a waste of youth, both theirs and mine.
Shortly after I left uni, the Australian fashion designer Alannah Hill rose to prominence. She was the exact opposite, style-wise, of the campus women. She was almost improbably feminine. I was mightily impressed, having been starved of the sight of a feminine woman for so long.
Earlier this year, Alannah Hill was interviewed for The Age newspaper. True to form, she described her fashion philosophy as follows:
I spend most days designing the most romantic clothes so that girls when they wear them will evoke some gush of love from the opposite sex.
Now, I am not suggesting that Alannah Hill is a conservative role model, or that women should aim to dress in quite the full-blown feminine way that she does.
Even so, it's a refreshing change for a woman to admit to wanting to inspire love in a man, and to do so by appearing feminine and romantically attractive. It sure beats campus grunge.
Amen to that! I do think we're making some progress in moving away from the social viewpoint that women should be just like men. I agree that college-age women who dress like men are wasting their best years, and I suspect that they will look back in regret and some embarrassment at photos of themselves from that era when they dressed like dockworkers. Another trend that I hope is coming to an end is this fad of piercing and tatoos - especially those horrible "Tijuana License Plates" type of tatoos across young womens' lower back. *shudder*
ReplyDelete"..when they dressed like dockworkers."
ReplyDeleteFunny you should use this particular comparison, as it's exactly how I put the situation to myself when I was at uni.
I do agree that some progress has been made. In fact, if you were to visit my middle-class suburb of Melbourne during the warmer months you would see a host of beautifully dressed young women.
And yes, it's disappointing that women would scar their own skin with ugly tatoos. It was a fad here a few years ago, but hopefully will soon lose its mainstream appeal, just as nose rings and eyebrow piercings have fallen out of favour.