Skip to main content

aimee-grant-cumberbatch
13th February 2013

I’m too sexy for my shirt: or maybe not

Aimée Grant Cumberbatch on the relationship between two of the world’s most powerful industries.
Categories:
TLDR

Sex and fashion are inextricably linked. Forgetting their more practical purposes for a moment, clothes are of and for the body and the body is the ultimate symbol of sex. A heady mix of different kinds of attraction, the two are locked in a Cathy and Heathcliff-esque love-affair that is destructive, constructive and absolutely compelling. Every sexual revolution has a clothing counterpart: the flapper dresses of the ’20s, the mini-skirts and unprecedented popularity of the bikini in the ‘60s, to the power shoulders and we-are-here-and-so-is-our-hair attitude of the ‘80s.

Yet, over the last decade or so you’d be forgiven for thinking fashion and sex had had something of a lovers’ tiff. The admittedly slim but indisputably sexy Cindy Crawfords and Naomi Campbells of the ‘90s had given way to waifs, the size-zero debate raged and Lara Stone was, well, nobody. And yet, though it might have been banished from the catwalks with its bushy tail between its perfect pins, sex and its power to make us want never truly died. If I say David Beckham, I’m willing to bet what’s left of my January loan (not much) that at least one of the images that has popped into your head is of him in some state of undress, moodily lit, muscles most probably glistening, with or without a coil of rope.

It’s the same story elsewhere: Tom Ford’s campaigns are notorious for their nudity and Dakota Fanning’s campaign photos for Marc Jacobs’ Lola (inspired by the classic novel Lolita), came under fire for being more Vladimir Nothingon than Nabokov. And why? Because sex sells for one thing, but we knew that already. But also because at one point every single one of us has thought about what we wear in relation to sex. If you say you haven’t, well, you’re lying.

And although, accept the intimate relationship that sex and fashion shares, we must; reduce fashion to mere chocolate-wrapper status, we must never. Fashion has never lost its spark when it’s dared to distance itself from sexy. Take androgyny for example, a theme that has reappeared in various guises season after season and is only about sex in the gender sense of the word. Fashion will always be more about inspiration than perspiration (yuck). In short, fashion is about more than just sex, but much like the rest of the world, it likes a bit sometimes.


More Coverage

Having faced an onslaught of criticism over the course of her press tour, Millie Bobby Brown exemplifies the constant policing of women’s bodies and clothes
Susie Glass put together effortless looks, from her never-ending supply of matching suits to her impeccable ability to accessorise, her style never failed to reflect her strong character. Whatever business in the drug world she had to attend to, no matter who she was blackmailing that day, she looked good doing it, and with this style guide, you can too.
Fashion might not be the first place you might look for signs of a recession, but it should be
From scrambling through the streets of Manchester to talking our way into a front-row seat at London Fashion Week, this was a chaotic but unforgettable introduction to the fashion world