Don’t tell mature women what to wear

On International Women’s Day we ask: Who owns the right to wear a revealing dress?

Sofia Capel

Does beauty come with a “best before” date? It seems like it, since someone over 35 apparently can’t wear a plunge neckline without getting harassed by the tabloids.

Once again it becomes evident that a woman can never do right when she has got the eyes of the world on her. She is either going to be too frumpy or too slutty, too young or too old to wear low-cut dresses. As International Women’s Day has arrived, I think we need to look into the hysteria of being young, perky and perfect in order to please our surroundings.

I’ve heard that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but I dare say that beauty is a social construction, and it is often constructed to be ageist among a lot of other things.

Who says that the party needs to be over once you turn a certain age or after you have had kids? Who has the right to tell a mature woman how to dress? When do we ever slate men for showing too much or too little?

When it comes to personal preferences, I rather rest my eyes on a cleavage showing off something natural than a pair of silicon bombs. Then again, if you pay ridiculous amounts of money on a pair of knockers you should feel free to put them on display if you want. This is the West after all and women are meant to be free to dress how they like.

And what about young women whose breasts are naturally flat and droopy? Do we have the right to criticise them too when they put on dresses they want to feel fabulous in?

I remember a time when no one I knew was able to feel free in their own bodies due this social construction. “Beauty” has the power to send young women to hell and back. It is what makes perfectly healthy and wonderful people look in the mirror only to find faults.

But luckily I have discovered that confidence comes with age. Heidi Klum and Minnie Driver do probably feel more comfortable in those necklines than Miley Cyrus has ever done. Their boobies could be up in the ceiling or down on the floor, if they feel like slinging on a little something that barely covers their nipples, they damn well will do so.

And frankly, confidence and charisma is a hundred times more beautiful than a perky pair of double Ds. 

Read the other side of the argument here