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Image courtesy of Condé Nast Archive
Image courtesy of Condé Nast Archive

Who decides what?

Fashion°08 The Illusion of Control

by Onelia Helene · · 5 min read

Who decides what a body should look like? Who decides how a body should be dressed? And what happens when the creative refuses to follow centuries of rules?

For as long as we’ve known, fashion has always been obsessed with a form of control despite taking risks. We control the body through the size of the garment, from the cut of a trouser, the height of a heel, and the shape of a shoulder. We divide the body into numbers: 34, 36, 38 or sizes like small, medium and large. We decide how low a waist should sit, how long a skirt should fall and how much skin is considered acceptable to be considered flattering. Even the language of fashion is filled with instructions: you find your silhouette, know your proportions and dress your body type

But who wrote these rules? (Maybe Vogue or King Louis XIV)

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