It’s very important to stay on top of what is and isn’t on trend. You don’t want to commit a faux pas at a party now, do you? Imagine being caught at a party wearing something that’s, actually, just soooo last season. I cannot, repeat cannot, possibly conceive of putting myself in such a shameful situation. Oh, the horror!
This is one of the reasons why people read fash-HUN bible Vogue, a publication which have found themselves in rather a lot of hot water this week over boobs.
In an article, punnily titled ‘Desperately Seeking Cleavage’ Vogueexplained that people are opting to show their shoulders (an innovative way to offer a peak of flesh), stomachs (the new erogenous zone) and legs (knees are the new nipples FYI) as opposed to their cleavage and that this is reflected in the sort of clothes currently being shown on catwalks.
'Vogue says boobs are over!!!' read the headlines as writers from news and magazine sites responded to the feature and went in on the original women's publication.
Now, don't get me wrong. The article is questionable but it wasn't quite what people made it out to be. It isn't so much about boobs going out of fashion as it is about a palpable 'decline in overt sexualisation on the catwalk.'
That said, the trend forecasting feature included some clangers such as:
‘The cleavage, those magnificent mounds pushed together to display sexual empowerment, to seduce, to inspire lust or even just show off – is over, or at least, taking a well-earned break.’
‘The t*ts will not be out for the lads. Or for anyone else, for that matter.’
‘Rejecting the stereotypes of gender has been brought sharply into focus, with the days of women as eye-candy, their sexuality positively smouldering rather than subtly played out, officially over.’
Thank God we found this out now, right? I was just about to go Christmas party-season shopping. Just so you know, and you heard it here first…elbows are really going to be terribly passé by February. Heads up. Ok. Thank me later.
The writer, Kathleen Baird-Murray, offered her take on the end of cleavage. Aside from a general shift towards gender neutrality, she posited the theory that the decision to cover cleavage up was, in part, because celebrities who do post pictures in which their cleavage is visible get ‘creepy’ comments. 'Like it or not,' she wrote, 'the amount of skin there is on show is an indication of how little power you really have.'
Unfortunately, I was actually way ahead of the 'cover up your cleavage' trend. I’ve been covering up my double Ds since about the age of 17.
Why? Not because I’m like that - ahead of the curve (pardon the pun), finger constantly on the pulse. The answer, if I take my tongue out of my cheek where it naturally rests, is twofold:
Firstly, as a young woman with big boobs I often got catcalled and, even, physically harassed in public places. At school, older boys referred to me as ‘tits’ and openly gathered around the treadmill when they spotted me in the local gym. It was before decent sports bras were sold on the cheap in Primark you see. Call me cynical, but I don’t think they were hanging about to chat politics or get exam tips, although I did often help them with their homework. I found this terribly distracting from my attempts to ‘keep my curves under control’. It was also generally rather inconvenient. It’s a terrible pain when you’re trying to get somewhere and a man you’ve never met decides to escort you there and invade your personal space. Much better to cover up and censor yourself, I thought.
Secondly, I have a small frame. I’m short, coming in at around 5 ft. I found it rather difficult to find dresses, in particular, which I could wear that wouldn’t give me a ‘boob shelf’ which I could quite literally rest things on. Fitted tops would push my breasts up towards my chin in a way that made me look nothing-short of ridiculous, or flatten them painfully.
My personal style developed to include baggy t-shirts, bias cut dresses and I haven’t worn a padded bra since 2004. I own more minimising bras than the M&S underwear department currently stocks and, to this day, when friends see me in my bra or a swimsuit they never fail to say ‘I never realised you had such big boobs’.
Towards the end of last year, as I entered into the twilight years of my twenties I took a long hard look at myself (naked) in the mirror. My poor boobs. They weren’t living. They were constantly being concealed and squashed down. I caught them from the side, they looked great. ‘They won’t always look like that’, I thought to myself, ‘you’re not a teenager anymore, if a man did approach you in the street I would feel confident enough to tell them where to go.’
And so, I picked up my phone and I opened the eBay app. I bought not one, but two low cut tops. Excitedly, I awaited their arrival. I waited for an opportunity – a lads' night out obvz – and I wore one of them.
I felt apprehensive. My cleavage was exposed for the first time in a long time, I felt unsure of myself and worried about how others would respond. Out I went regardless. In a hazy, sweaty and crowded Dalston club I shrugged off my coat and began to dance.
It. Felt. Incredible.
For years, partly because of how men responded to my body and partly because of what magazines, like Vogue, suggested I should look like, I had been ashamed of my own body. There I was, confident and comfortable, embracing my boobs for the first time as an adult woman.
The problem with cleavage being declared 'over' is that many women, having visible cleavage isn't something you opt into. Rather, it's something you have to consciously go to great efforts to opt out of. In a statement, given to Bustle, Baird-Murray implies that choosing not to display your cleavage is as simple as opting for bras with no padding in them and wearing a pussy bow blouse.
What Vogue's article about cleavage stops short of doing is this: analysing why high fashion has, historically, favoured smaller boobs and not made clothes which cater for those of us who are naturally bustier? It also doesn't unpick the move towards less overtly sexual and gendered clothing we are currently witnessing.
Our society has long-pitted women against one another based on their bra size. Big boobs are sexy but not cool, small boobs are chic but boys don’t like them – these are the ridiculous maxims by which we’ve been living our lives and making decisions about how to present ourselves accordingly. The problem is that, for some women, like myself, having cleavage is not a choice, just as a lack of cleavage is not a choice for a woman who has differently shaped and sized breasts to me.
What's interesting is that cleavage is such a politically loaded topic. The reason this debate has errupted is because boobs are a battleground, just as women's bodies more generally become the location of disucssions about sex and sexuality in general.
Western society has a very weird relationship with boobs, also known as mammary glands. They are an essential body part without which there would be no human life. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got small, big or medium sized ones, they’re your flesh and they’re literally part of who you are. Do what you want with your boobs as long as you're comfortable: hoick them up, let them hang free, show them off or wear a high neck. It should be your choice. We need to encourage women to embrace the body they have, nobody should feel that they need to make their breasts bigger or smaller, more or less visible based on the whims of the fashion industry or the attentions of the opposite sex.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
This Is Why We Need To Rethink How We Approach Sexting And Naked Selfies
Follow Vicky on Twitter @Victoria_Spratt
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.