The Role of Fashion
"You're real good-looking, Anne, but that polo coat and tweed suit department has gotta go."
- Helen Lawson (92)
Throughout the novel, clothing is a major topic of discussion. Anne is the character who is most criticized for her choice of clothing; she typically wears suits and more conservative outfits. Other women, such as Helen and Adele, encourage her to dress herself up so that she will please the eyes of men. Still, the novel seems to suggest that simply wearing nice clothes doesn't make a woman desirable although it is suggested that wearing fancy and expensive clothes aided women's confidence. In addition, fashion was an outlet for expression considering it was the only aspect of a woman's appearance she had complete control over.
“She was lying on the bed, in her most beautiful dress and full stage makeup, clutching an empty bottle of sleeping pills.” (350)
“And her clothes–she still insisted things be simple and muted in color, but name designers created the well-cut suits and she had long since discarded Jennifer’s mink coat for one of her own, designed by New York’s leading furrier.” (320)
“The Wardrobe” from Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl (1962)
“Lodged in your pretty head somewhere is the image of how you’d like to appear to your public,” Brown says (186). She continues, suggesting how the right clothing can make or break a woman's image: “You should dress in a manner that preserves and strengthen it–makes it feel cozy and secure! But how about men? Shouldn’t you dress to please them? One of the best ways not to, in my opinion, is to let them get into the act. Why is it assumed just because a man is a man he knows what you should wear? Do you tell him what to look for in a car?–a subject on which he is undoubtedly more knowledgeable than you. Do you tell him how to shave? The expert, it seems to me, is the woman who has spent years (most working women) shopping for and buying women’s clothes, perusing fashion magazines and getting acquainted with her figure and what it looks nice in” (186-187).