Hey, Miranda Kerr: the 1950s are calling and they want their ideas back…
In a new interview with Net-a-Porter’s digital magazine The Edit, the Australian supermodel turned beauty entrepreneur has revealed her secret to a happy marriage: Miranda, who recently tied the knot with Snapchat co-founder and Silicon Valley billionaire Evan Spiegel, thinks that in order to achieve wedded bliss, you should ‘make a little effort’ for your husband by greeting him with a ‘nice dress’ and a ‘nice dinner.’ Excuse me while I roll my eyes repeatedly.
‘At work, I’m like, “We need to do this!” and “This needs to happen.” But at home, I slip into my feminine and empower Evan to be in his masculine,’ Miranda told The Edit, and when asked to expand upon that, she added: ‘Just be more in my feelings. More gentle, leaning back. It’s a nice balance.’
‘My grandma taught me that men are visual and you need to make a little effort. So when [Evan] comes home, I make sure to have a nice dress on and the candles lit,’ she continued. ‘We make time to have a nice dinner together.’
Of course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend quality time with your partner – and equally, there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to take your work ‘self’ home with you. What does feel regressive, though, is the way the model – who is herself a hugely successful businesswoman and founder of the Kora Organics skincare line – appears to see being assertive and being ‘feminine’ as mutually exclusive. It’s this line of thinking that means that female leaders are branded ‘bossy’ or ‘pushy’ rather than being commended for their ambition – and it’s particularly depressing when we hear other women espousing it.
Spare a thought, too, for Evan Spiegel, and the fragile ‘masculinity’ that his wife inadvertently paints: in 2017, a successful relationship surely shouldn’t be built upon holding yourself back or doing yourself down so that your spouse can feel more secure or ‘masculine’ in themselves…
It’s not the first time that Kerr has waxed lyrical in this vein: she gave similar comments to the same magazine back in 2013, when discussing her marriage to ex Orlando Bloom. ‘I am quite dominant in my career, so what really works for me when I come home is to relax more into the feminine side. If you’re really an alpha female, you don’t allow [your partner] to have the space to feel like the man in the relationship,’ she said. ‘Maybe I am too traditional, but men feel important when you ask for their help, instead of thinking you can do it all on your own.’
As for the dress remark, straight out of a 1950s marriage handbook for young ladies? Yes, dressing up is nice. But it’s not a foundation for a relationship, and suggesting so just implies that women are paper dolls designed to wear various male-sanctioned outfits, not, you know, humans with valid interests, ambitions and feelings. It all smacks of ‘Keeping Your Man 101’ – something that’s definitely best left in the 1950s. Miranda, I'd rather keep crystals in my bra than follow this particular nugget of relationship advice.
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