Tottering on needlepoint stilettos and squeezed into a pair of high-waisted white Spanx with Chantilly lace shorts over the top, Kim Kardashian struts down a leafy street. To complete the look, she sports a silver PVC push-up bra. She later shares the image via Instagram. As I type, the total number of likes is nearing a comfortable 1.5m, and fellow celebrities have written exclamations of delight. Model and influencer Emily Ratajkowski comments: “This is my fave look!!!” I have to agree, Kim looks great — albeit in a rather “out there” way. But would I wear this outfit? Never.
Thanks to the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, we can see the inner lives — and specifically the wardrobes — of our pop culture icons more clearly than ever before. What has emerged from this unprecedented access is a very particular aesthetic for the female star: she is sex-positive, at times provocative, curvaceous and hyper-feminine. We can walk through Bronx-born rapper Cardi B’s wardrobe while she shows fans her lingerie collection (there’s a lot of leather); and we can join Rihanna as she films herself on Instagram sashaying down a hotel corridor in a skin-tight minidress by Versace before the launch of another product for her beauty line.
The bizarre thing is, despite the fact that my peers and I spend hours a day looking at these women, idolising their fashion, we do not aspire to dress like them. In fact, the gulf in personal style between celebrities and their followers may never have been greater. When looking at myself (right now I’m wearing wide-leg denim mom jeans from Levi’s and my favourite oversized Acne blazer) and my friends, the sight is not dissimilar to a group of androgynous Mormons. Long duster coats, midi-skirts, XXL Fair Isle knits and ugly trainers are our new unofficial uniform. Whether we are meeting for brunch or getting ready for a party, the code of dress rarely changes, it simply mutates. Jeans will shift into a long dress for evenings; knitted jumpers are swapped for long-sleeved sparkly tops. At a fashion event that I attended recently, one of my colleagues confided: “I haven’t shown my legs in public in years. I’m not sure if they still exist any more, I’ve stopped looking down.”