How are tits, lips and high heels aspirational for young women?

[Bouncealot]

Just watched The Apprentice on BBC and am following Rise and Fall on C4. Why are all the women styled like this? What does it say to younger women? Is it to signal feminine power? None of the successful young women I know dress this way. The equivalent dress code for men doesn’t bear thinking about, and guess what? We don’t see young men’s chests on display in the office, or even on TV.

Lmao

That’s the point op’s making isn’t it?

Why are these tv shows about “aspiring business people” promoting the idea that the women all fit into this barbie doll image? It’s nether realistic or something to aspire to yet all the women are dressed, pumped up and made up in this way on shows like this.

I am with you OP.

It is an over-sexualised, over-made up, identikit look.

No real individuality. Very unflattering as well.

I want to be able to say ‘each to their own’
or words to that effect, but I find the whole evolution of facial modification incredibly depressing now. Just because we can pump and freeze our faces to no end, doesn’t mean we should.

When you step back and think about it - it’s just another way to make money / create an industry around us hating our natural faces as they are (and make money out of insecure people (mostly women).

Also, because the culture / politics of our time is to agree with / affirm everyone’s right to do it be ‘whatever makes them happy’ - kids are growing up thinking this is normal. That augmenting your face from a young age is normal and necessary and if anyone questions it… How dare they etc

It will flip again. In the not to distant future aspirations will be what you and help with to solve humanities problems not what you look like.

Just a trend.

It will reverse trends always do.

Agree

Apprentice contestants 2005 (top) vs 2023 (bottom). It's hard to tell because a lot of its fashions, but it's interesting how the 2005 women look far less sexualised and definitely less enhanced with what are clearly facial interventions.

Sorry here's the photo I mean

We get a false image of how people look because of so many tv progs where everyone is pumped and painted.
If I walked down the local high st I'd see no one like that.

Most amazing person is his Lordship - he looks exactly the same!

Why aren't the women wearing shirts underneath their jackets.?

I agree too. Good post. We should be aiming to make everyone feel comfortable in their own skin as they are. Much better for mental and physical health.

I would say each to their own if it was not a massive 'coincidence' that they all seem to have to same taste

The programme actually had people with a background in business back then, it's very much now an entertaining reality show rather than a reality show giving people the chance for a new career as an apprentice at his company. There's also been a huge shift because of social media and in office wear in general. I work in a corporate role and women never wear typical black/grey suits now- usually pencil skirts, dresses, trousers with colourful blouse etc whereas when I started out that would have raised eyebrows. A lot of the contestants aren't from Corp roles anyway, they own salons, bakeries etc so they probably do choose stuff that's a smarter version of what they'd usually wear rather than standard office wear.

I think a lot underestimate the impact of social media in this, to get the most out of the show posting on insta etc gets you more exposure and more brand deals or whatever else to make the most of your small platform- of course peoples insecurities and desire to follow trends (which is what this is) are heightened.

Do they though? They do have rules about what clothes to bring ie need to be colourblocks and stuff- but actually they don't seem to dress overly similar? Megan wore very much whites and blacks, one of the others always wore very very bright pinks etc- very different and just 2 examples. Make up styles varied as well between the girls- I'm not sure I'd say they were all identikit, unless you noticed the ones with filler etc more and sorting of highlighting why people do it?

🙄🙄🙄 what about SAS who dares wins? Or Come Dine with me? Or C4 News? Or Gogglebox? Or the Piano? Or Bake-off?

Many diverse programmes depicting women of all ranges/ages/looks

In any programme you'll get a percentage of women who dress like you wouldn't. But so?

These threads get so nasty and judgmental

Dd works successfully in business. She wouldn't dream of wearing stilettos to work - when they're in the office it's natural make up, smart casual with nice trainers! From what she's told me they're all similar. Maybe they just do it for the cameras?

There have been a few threads recently saying almost no one in London wears heels —except Eddie Izzard—

@Ttwinkletoes

Midlands city. Haven’t seen a woman in heels in the day since forever. Makes me think of a couple of weeks ago in Tesco when there was a woman clopping around the place in massive heels and I just knew that she wouldn’t be older than 45 and she was. I mean totally up to her it’s just that rare I noticed it.

@Ttwinkletoes

I wrote that far too quickly. I knew she would be an older lady is what I was trying to say.

It's almost as if it's a TV programme...

I was only thinking the other evening- we were out in Manchester - that the.single most liberating thing recently is the fashion for women to wear flat shoes . I know it sounds like just a minor thing but there's all the most fashionable girls in boots or trainers . They just seem so much more comfortable and on an equal footing if you'll pardon the pun! Heels are very restricting arent they there was no one in heels at all !

This. It's so uniform!

This. I'm sick of all the female Apprentice shaming I've read on Mumsnet.

This is what I was thinking. "Dowdy and frumpy" is not the opposite of "identikit Instagram hair/lips/breasts".