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Indie mag Dazed and Confused today alerted us to a slightly contentious product listing on fledgling Aussie label Réalisation Par’s website. Not familiar? Realisation Par is the brand model and blogger Alexandra Spencer created with designer pal Teale Talbot in late 2015. They stake their signature on making the seasonless dresses for year-round wearability.
The dresses, slips and camis are cheerful and straightforward sexy (I own this one and can attest to its power in drawing the male gaze) and the label has attracted attention from self-styled “dream girls” like Alexa Chung and Bella Hadid. But the label has come under fire for detailing the following product description for its signature Diane dress:
“Here’s what we know. Men love sundresses. We also know this point is actually pointless because we women dress for ourselves and ourselves only. But sometimes…. just sometimes you need a get-out-of-jail-free card. Maybe you forgot to take the trash out or you scratched your dads car or maybe you were really late and you forgot do the one thing they asked you to do. Whatever the reason, The Diane dress is the solution. This is the dress that makes them forget why they were even mad at you in the first place and the only thing that really matters is: If you’re bad at being good, you better be damn good at getting out of it. Trust us. You’re welcome.”
Dazed Digital contributor Kat George called out the label claiming that despite saying “we women dress for ourselves and ourselves only,” the story actually reinforces extremely sexist notions about women.
“The thing is, it’s not playing the patriarchy at all. It’s adhering to the exact rules laid out by it,” says George. “It’s willingly making oneself the object of masculine desire in order to appease men. It’s playing into the idea that women are helpless, and that we don’t have autonomy over own our own actions, and that we must instead deal the “silly me!” card so that some burly knight in shining armour will come and clean up our mess. It’s an ugly and reductive stereotype being used to sell a pretty dress.”
Can we really deduce that the label meant to infer that the dress exudes sexiness over sweetness with its words? Does that even matter? It’s a polarising stance with many commenters supporting George’s argument and others suggesting that perhaps we shouldn’t be taking fashion so seriously. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Tell us in the comments.
Bella Hadid wears the Diane dress
Alexa Chung wears the Christy Dress
