"Always Dress to Impress"

[CardgamesFTW]

"Always Dress to Impress" article
I'd like to hear FWR's opinions on this!
It's not the first time I have read something like that, and while I agree that it's polite to look reasonably OK when you go out and meet someone, this stuff is always directed towards women isn't it. It seems to imply that in order to be polite, women should wear make-up even to the grocery store.

Surely its also about saying that the only way women can really impress is through their looks.

It is one of the things I like about working in a university.
Nobody gives a shit what we look like.
I find articles like this thoroughly depressing.

How depressing.

I note that the women mentioned in the article are people whose careers depended (at least partly) on their looks or what they were wearing: a fashion designer, a fashion magazine writer (x 2), an actress/singer, an accessories designer, another singer.

For women in these jobs, spending hours primping and preening before leaving the house is (at least arguably) an investment in their careers, and so may be worthwhile for that reason. But for women whose jobs don't depend on their looks/fashion sense (which ought to be most jobs) it's simply a waste of valuable time.

""I CAN'T UNDERSTAND how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little, if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny and it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny," said Coco Chanel"

Enough said, Coco Chanel made money from creating vulnerability in her consumers. No feelings of inadequacy = no sale.

Very depressing.

fixing myself up a little?

I need fixing up?

I'm not an old bloody car. I'm a human! A PERSON! I do not need 'fixing up' because I AM NOT BROKEN.

Is Annette Tapert another name for Liz Jones?

"maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny and it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny" falling off chair laughing. We all know how important destiny is, that man who provides all future happiness.

Yes, these articles remind us that we women need to self-police ourselves constantly lest we fail to achieve the (unattainable) standards set out by society at large. Bloody annoying.

I do agree with the irritating Liz Jones on one point: Doing makeup can be fun. That's a whole different thang from doing it as a duty.

New Yorkers are bigger on 'beauty' than Londoners, aren't they? Afaik, makeup is entirely optional in British workplaces.

(Except Harrods!)

I like to look smart and well-presented but I would hate to think my entire worth was being decided on that alone.

I see a mum at the schoolmgates and she is always immaculate (think, immaculate red suede ballet pumps, black slim capri pants, pressed white shirt, red Hermès scarf (knotted), beige belted trench coat, LV tote, big sunglasses, full make up, red Alice band in hair). I know she is a SAHM so it's not a work obligation and whilst part of me thinks, good for her, on a few occasions, without being bitchy, I have subconsciously found myself thinking, "she must have a very empty life to find time to get all dolled up like that."

What a miserable article.

I feel actively sorry for someone who wouldn't even step out of their front door to post a letter unless they were fully done up.

When I see a woman looking that good, Greythorne, unless it's actually her job I tend to assume she's insecure. It's an effort to control her interactions with a frightening world. Tends to backfire somewhat, ime, but is the reason why so many call it "war paint".

You see i know a mum who does the school run and always looks amazing, and she is lovely and my friend and i know she just likes to get dressed up and feel good and look good.

Really doesn't bother me.

What would bother me would be if she started on at me, saying that i should make "an effort" too. Which she doesn't, of course. That is, however, what this article is doing.

OTOH there is a woman who is always in preposterous clothing - always really overdone with massive great heels on and clothes very obviously chosen with extreme care yet she always looks like she is not very comfortable in them, and she always looks miserable as sin.

Someone like her wrote that article

I don't think we need to be disparaging about women who are interested in their looks and want to wear lipstick and stuff - just because you spend a while getting dressed doesn't mean you're insecure.

I love clothes, too skint to afford a lot of stuff but I'd hate to think that other women were thinking how insecure I must be because I've made an effort.

Saying that, I do go out very often without make-up and stuff.

Fair comment, yellow. I was projecting my own experience and my friends'. We used to really sweat it, all the time, every day. Vanity is not a sin! Hope I didn't seem to be saying it was.

garlic how true about the harrods staff, a friend of mine had an interview there a few years back which consisted of the exact line "you're thin and pretty, you have the job". Awful.

True of many high end stores.....Abercrombie and Fitch etc.

Many good points!

Minipie, yes, and it seems that they want to spread the idea that ordinary women should be paying as much attention to our looks and image as celebrities have to do. And that takes A LOT of brain space and energy and money...and to what purpose?

Those of us who are not currently up for meeting The Man Of Our Dreams (TM) would be best advised to remain as scruffy as possible, then, just in case the bugger sees us by the fruit 'n' veg aisle and gets ideas

I think it can go both ways. Attractive - bimbo, bitch, don't want her working with me. Unattractive/couldn't care less - lazy, don't want to look at her haggard face.

I want to look friendly and approachable, not 'impressive'.