What do first daughter Ivanka Trump, TV journalist Megyn Kelly and a high school senior in West Milford, N.J., have in common?
They’ve all been caught in a recent crossfire of criticism for showing some skin — their shoulders.
Yep, that’s not a misprint. For a society that’s bore witness to Lil’ Kim’s sequined nipple pasty, J. Lo’s navel-grazing green Versace dress and countless sheer sheaths on (fill in the blank) Kardashian, it’s puzzling that showing some shoulder has sparked such a stir on social media and television.
Before dissecting why this is ridiculous, let’s break down “Shouldergate.”
Last week, Ms. Trump was photographed frolicking with her children on the White House’s South Lawn at the annual Congressional Picnic in a (gasp!) floral off-the-shoulder frock by the eco-friendly brand Reformation. While some coined it stunning, others said she looked half naked and called the dress “inappropriate.”
Former Fox News anchor Ms. Kelly, who now hosts “Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly” on NBC, is a repeat shoulder offender. At a recent dinner party at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, she rubbed elbows with foreign leaders — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — in a blue velvet cold-shoulder dress with spaghetti straps by Israeli designer Yigal Azrouel. (For a later televised interview with Mr. Putin, she wore a layered black-and-white top with bell sleeves and white skinny belt, paired with white pants — not the cocktail dress, like several websites misstated before the segment aired.)
Spent the day talking with Russians about their views on the US and President Trump. My @NBCNightlyNews story: https://t.co/oY2hmN1E3P
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 1, 2017
At last year’s Republican National Convention, Ms. Kelly reported from the scene in Cleveland, Ohio, in a spaghetti strap top. This prompted a flurry of questions: Was she dressed for the beach? A date? A drink at the hotel bar?
Rounding out this trio of so-called style assailants is 18-year-old Tori DiPaolo, part of the graduating class at West Milford High School in New Jersey. Like generations of young women before her, she’s pictured in her senior yearbook wearing the classic black V-neck drape or robe, which skims her shoulders — and, technically, violates the school’s own dress code. She poked fun at the irony in the quote that accompanied her photograph: “I’m sorry, did my shoulders distract you from reading this quote?”
“My school’s dress code is pretty reasonable, but they only ever enforce it on girls so I always found that unfair and I fought it a lot. I do think it’s ridiculous that people have a problem with exposed shoulders,” she told the millennial news and entertainment site EliteDaily.com. Some of the dress code is what you’d expect: no halters, half-shirts, shorts, etc. It also includes the directive that “shorts and skirts should not be a distraction.”
If you’ve stepped foot in a mall lately, chances are you’ve seen shirts or dresses with the shoulders cut out. Following a strong showing at New York Fashion Week’s spring/summer shows in September 2015, they crept into closets last summer and are back with a vengeance this season. The fact that these high-profile women wore the look shows that they’re in tune with what’s on trend. (And if they weren’t, I’d bet Ms. Kelly’s $990 Yigal Azrouel dress that they’d be scrutinized for appearing too dowdy or dated.)
It’s worth nothing that dress codes do have their place and that shoulder-baring pieces don’t belong in conservative workplaces or high school hallways. However, picnics and parties are fair game!
Lastly, and perhaps most troubling, who gets to decide what’s a distraction when it comes to a woman’s — or anyone’s — wardrobe, especially when it’s tasteful for the situation at hand? Why aren’t we spending more time analyzing how Ms. Kelly handled the Putin interview, instead of bantering about what she wore for it? And at the Congressional Picnic, White House press secretary Sean Spicer wore a navy polo shirt, a more casual option than the other men in attendance. Where’s the outcry there?
There is none, because to quote the late English art critic John Berger, too often “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”
Thankfully, women have a lot to say and, these days, more platforms than ever before to say it. Instead of just looking, let’s try listening.
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: June 26, 2017, 6:51 p.m.