Dress Code by Mari Grinde Arntzen

Author:Mari Grinde Arntzen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

How Fashion Creates Leaders

Hal Larson is a superficial guy. Although he is no looker himself, he has sky-high expectations of the women he dates. They have to look perfect, head to toe. In the movie Shallow Hal, a twist of fate propels Larson into an elevator. The elevator stalls, and while he and the other passenger, a life coach, wait, Hal reveals his views on women. The coach tries to help by hypnotizing him. Hypnosis makes him see people’s inner beauty instead of their outer appearance. The better the person, the more beautiful they will appear in Hal’s eyes. In this way, the hypnotized Hal ends up falling in love with Rosemary, an aid worker with weight issues. Hal sees her as thin and voluptuous when the rest of the world sees her as fat. Even though Rosemary’s G-string could be used as a skipping rope, Hal doesn’t see the truth before he is unhypnotized. The film ends on a politically correct note with Hal deciding he can’t live without Rosemary even though she is obese. Hal is cured.18 In real life, not too many people reach the same level of recognition.

The appearance of Erna Solberg, Norwegian prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, has been a running theme in Norwegian politics. During the 2009 election, a TV discussion panel actually said that Solberg ‘clearly had improved what she most needed to work on, namely her appearance and articulation’.19 As a result, they declared, she would be the election’s big winner.

A month earlier, a communications adviser had come right out and said that Erna Solberg was so fat that people would not listen to what she had to say. Her body was like signal interference. ‘One thinks: can she exercise control when she has eaten herself so fat? Her weight damages her credibility, and that can cost her votes.’20 Solberg had been pictured wearing large shapeless garments, with rather untidy hair and a somewhat haphazard appearance. However, in true Hollywood film fashion, the Conservative leader struck back. When the election finally came around, Solberg was looking pretty snazzy: she had a new arsenal of classic blue outfits, her hair looked freshly cut and combed every time she was on TV, and her skin was pristine. The Conservative Party made a good showing that autumn; though this was not down to Solberg’s new look alone, it was no disadvantage that she had dressed herself up. Female politicians must not just appear competent in order to get votes. They must also look good.21 And since the majority of the election campaign takes place on television, the politician’s image gets intertwined with their political message. Exterior appearance plays an actual role in a democracy. Within a society, dress influences power.

During the Cold War and amid the hush-hush culture of the time, fashion and design were methods by which to spread ideologies, thoughts and emotions.22 In 1932 the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini even established a separate state institution to govern the Italian fashion industry.

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