Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism

by Linda M. Scott

Fresh Lipstick shakes feminist fashion down to its Birkenstocks.

Linda M. Scott wants to put an end to the belief that American women have to wear a colorless, shapeless uniform to achieve liberation and equality.

A pointed attack on feminism's requisite style of dress, Fresh Lipstick argues that wearing high heels and using hair curlers does not deny you the right to seek advancement, empowerment, and equality. Scott asserts that judging someone on her fashion choices is as detrimental to advancement as judgments based on race, nationality, or social class. Fashion is an important mode of personal expression, not an indication of submission. She demonstrates that feminism's dogged reduction of fashion to sexual objectification has been motivated by a desire to control other women, not free them. This push for power has produced endless conflict from the movement's earliest days, hindering advances in women's rights by promoting exclusion. It is time for the "plain Jane" dress code of the revolution to be lifted, allowing all women to lead, even those wearing makeup and Manolos.

Marching through 150 years of American dress history, Scott rips down feminism's favorite positions on fashion-from the power of images to the purpose of makeup. The illustrative examples-from flappers to Twiggy to body-piercing-are often poignant, occasionally infuriating, but always illuminating and thought-provoking.

With Fresh Lipstick, Linda Scott gives women the ammunition to settle the fashion debate once and for all. She challenges feminists to move beyond appearances and to return their focus to the true mission of the movement: equality for all women everywhere.

Genres: Fashion, Feminism, Nonfiction, History

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2005

About the author

Linda M. Scott is the Emeritus DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Oxford and a Senior Consulting Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs. She founded, and is now the senior adviser to, the Global Business Coalition for Women’s Economic Empowerment and was selected as one of the top 25 Global Thinkers by Prospect in 2015. Scott works with multinational corporations, international agencies, national governments, and global NGOs designing and testing programs to better include women in the world economy. She lives in Rhode Island.

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[CRHH · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the words of Jarvis Cocker, "you got it so wrong."

[Davina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised by this book. I was looking at the question of can you be fashionable and still be a feminist? I learned a great deal of the history of women in the United States, and the early feminists. Her focus was not on the best known characters such as Susan B Anthony. We do get to learn about Anthony, particularly to understand her roots and the milieu which helped shape her ideas. Instead we meet working women from the earliest years of the United States and see how they shaped women's experiences. We also get to see the great divide which carries through to today in the women's movement. The author's critique of the anti-fashion argument fits with my own experience with those writers, that there are many assertions without sufficient historical, or even scientific basis. We even get to touch on subliminal advertising, and I learned a great deal. This is an academic work, but the writing is still clear and very readable.

[Dfordoom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is feminism so often about control rather than freedom, and why has it been so obsessed with an anti-fashion, anti-beauty anti-sex agenda? These are the questions addressed by American academic Linda M. Scott in Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism.

[Aliah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discusses the background, history, and evolution of feminism. Focuses on how feminism impacted fashion and how fashion influenced feminism. Lengthy with excellent explanations. Plays devils advocate, exposing both viewpoints in an argument. Definitely worth reading.

"Feminism and fashion are both part of the commerce of women's culture and thus are difficult to clearly separate." (127)

"The ability to control what is fashionable is a form of power women yield over each other." (127)

"The women with more...have been the ones to tell other women what they must wear in order to be liberated." (2)

"As long as feminism deems only one way of present itself as 'natural'..., then the movement is itself trying to impose a single ideal--and thereby to restrict the self-actualization of others who are different." (22)

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid research and really informative, but she kept criticizing 'feminism' and 'feminists' like they were all one big amorphous undifferentiated movement even though her book talks extensively about the work women of colour and working class women have done. Poor wording on her part, imo. She also seems to be working under the assumption that feminism has not changed since the second wave, but there's plenty of self identifying third wave feminists who have been arguing a lot of these same points: that one can be feminist and wear lipstick etc, for years in social media and blogs. I do like her explanation of how certain branches of feminism became antithetical to fashion, but the tone of the book felt really weird to me.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be completely fascinating and saw the sense in a lot of what she had to say. So basically I nodded a lot and it was like her preaching to the choir. Still, really interesting and I appreciated the different view of the women's right to vote, feminism and women's lib. Things make more sense now. *g*

[Simone Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic book! This completely changed my conception of feminism. Definitely a must-read for anyone even slightly involved with or interested in the feminist movement- or any sort of social movement for that matter. Perhaps indirectly, this book details the difference between powerful idealists in social movements and those who actually make change happen.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Shows how feminists came to be associated with no makeup or shaving. Along the way you get a fascinating history lesson about feminism from Susan B Anthony to Gloria Steinem and beyond.

[sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book - I thought the analysis was good and the topic was fascinating. Unfortunately, it's reallllly long. I wish there were a better option covering the topic (and maybe there is by now).

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um, so, I haven't read the whole thing. But I <3 Linda Scott, like, personally. And I think she makes a good point in this book.

[Kim]

A pretty good read though the author does seem to make some unfair generalizations about academics.

[Patience · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't even finish this book it was that bad. Wasn't liking the author's writing style.

[Zue Jernstedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the information I got out of this book but found it a bit dry.