When we saw a picture of Allison Janney wearing a satin-trimmed black gown by New York-based designer Bibhu Mohapatra, it started us thinking about the Wear Black Protest first seen at the Golden Globes and then at the BAFTAs held recently in London. We expect more black frocks on the Oscars Red Carpet on March 4th.
We are very reluctant to criticise Janney as we’re big fans. In fact, we are not criticising her at all; it is just that seeing her and a number of other actresses in black frocks made us think.
It made us think more about the Wear Black Protest in support of the #Time’sUp Campaign to protest against sexism, sexual harassment, pay inequality and other issues affecting women who work in the entertainment industry.
Our initial thought is that it is a wholly worthwhile and commendable campaign. We applaud it, and support it. And we can clearly see that making us all talk and think more about the issues is A Good Thing, and perhaps wearing a black dress achieves that.
However, we wonder if it is enough?
[su_pullquote]While a Red Carpet devoid of the usual rainbow of glamorous gowns will have caused misery to Picture-Editors, we have to ask: ‘Is it enough?’[/su_pullquote]
As well as making us all aware of the issues, the wearing of black is presumably also intended to be about actresses not being viewed as if they were pieces of meat in a meat-market. But surely, if one wished to make that point forcefully, it might be more appropriate and more powerful if all these actresses dressed modestly as well as in black (that is, that they did not put a lot of flesh on show…) By the way, we’re definitely not saying Allison Janney put too much flesh on show; merely that her dress was one of the Red Carpet frocks that made us think about the campaign.
While a Red Carpet devoid of the usual rainbow of glamorous gowns will have caused misery to Picture-Editors across the globe, we have to ask: ‘Is that enough?’
Surely if one is trying to make a serious political point, merely rejecting colour in favour of wearing black to the Golden Globes, BAFTAS and Oscars is not enough?
It seems to us that if one is dressing to raise awareness of sexual harassment, pay inequality and related issues, it’s not ideal to put yourself on show in a way that could seem pointedly designed to highlight one’s, er, ‘assets.’ One might even say it was a touch hypocritical because a body-con gown with a plunging neckline and thigh-high split is still a body-con gown with a plunging neckline and thigh-high split regardless of its colour, and will have the same impact whether rendered in black or buttercup-yellow. Arguably, it could look sexier in black…
So, what do you think about this issue? Is wearing black enough of an ‘alert’ or should actresses cover up to make the point more forcefully? Share your view, below.
[su_button url=”https://www.sosensational.co.uk/celebrity-style-steal/” target=”blank” background=”#6c20b1″ size=”7″ center=”yes” radius=”0″ icon=”icon: arrow-right” id=”https://www.sosensational.co.uk/celebrity-style-steal/”]Celebrity Style Steals [/su_button]
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