Aren’t we supposed to be past the point where women are told what to wear by age? And really, what to wear in general, whether it’s age, weight, and so far? Well, apparently, Harper’s Bazaar hasn’t gotten with the empowerment program yet. Recently, on their Snapchat, they created a story called “8 summer style moments you can only get away with in your 20s.” Yuuuup.
A lot of women, as you can imagine, were pretty upset, most notably fashion blogger Liz Black, who wrote a piece about how ridiculous their rules are–and took pictures of outfits where she broke every rule…fabulously. She also put up an Instagram story about it, and encouraged others to use the hashtag #Bizzarrebazaarrules
It seems the original story was only published on Snapchat, meaning the original feed is gone–since that’s how Snapchat works (the stories expire after a day). But screenshots were taken. Meanwhile, the fashion magazine does notoriously have a section where they curate what women should wear by age. As someone, like countless women, who has dealt with body image issues, I find that this type of policing and rule-making does nothing but make women internalize discomfort and self-loathing for their bodies.
So why the anger? Women over 30 are basically considered old hags, according to HB, and can’t wear short shorts or crop tops or go braless. Ummm, what? When did it become 1955?
Besides that, it educates young girls to feel ashamed of being seen as fat or afraid to age (many of our writers have written about their daughters calling themselves “fat” by toddlerhood). And for men and women alike, it perpetuates the stigma that wrinkles and cellulite are something to hide, as if women should hide themselves.
Here’s some of the screenshots of the original piece:
It seems a thread on Reddit also saw the Snapchat story, tearing it to pieces (and rightfully so):
