Who really owns your closet?

Who decides what you wear? Hold off on the independent woman dance for now. The other week, France made headlines for making a woman in a burkini — a two-piece swimsuit that leaves out her hands, feet and face — strip at the beach. Supervised by police officers, she was the most covered up person in that image. It turned the world into a sanctimonious stage. It was called an overreaction, embarrassing, silly. But wait.

Women like to think they dictate what they wear. That this shoe, that bag, that dress and hair are of her choosing. Yet there are such powerful undercurrents influencing her choices.

A 2014 UK study by society magazine HELLO! revealed that women are influenced as follows: 48 per cent celebrities, 31 per cent  BFFs (Best Friends Forever), 14 per cent mum, 13 per cent street style, 11 per cent TV programmes, 11 per cent  siblings, nine per cent  partner, six per cent bloggers and four per cent by advertisements. A 2015 Mintel study discovered 35 per cent of Millennial women were influenced by social media when it came to shopping. The result is clothing retailers are expected to spend $15 billion by 2018 on social media advertising alone.

Then there is culture and place of birth. Fashion is regulated by a deeply patriarchal system in Africa. Tanzania had Operation Vijana (1968), youth inexplicably cobbled together to impose morality by hunting women dressed “inappropriately” and beating them. Kamuzu Banda and Kenneth Kaunda were very clear about their loathing for miniskirts.

Zanzibar’s political party once made a long list of forbidden hairstyles and cosmetics. Tunisia banned the miniskirt in 1966. Ethiopian miniskirts sparked riots reported to have caused extensive damage to property and injuries.

A similar fate befell women here in Kenya in 2014. Ugandan women were subject to a 2013 Bill describing what they should or should not wear. . It would be naive to pretend these do not affect choice.

TOOK TO THE STREETS

Then again, rebels turn it around. In 1966, when miniskirts were fashionable, there was an attempt by certain men to force a lowering of the hemline.

Women, loving their new independence, awareness and youthful vitality, took to the streets, giving the miniskirt a new burst of life and declaring to the powers that be who was boss.

In Malawi (2012) women were attacked for wearing leggings, pants and miniskirts presumably for not following tradition.

The President, following protests, was forced to intervene. In Turkey (2015) and Netherlands (2016) men in miniskirts protested sexual violence against women. In Tunisia an Islam-inspired Facebook page demanding men keep wives and daughters in check was countered by a secular group encouraging women to express themselves through fashion.

The French burkini ban spiked sales by 200 per cent, in an apparent act of protest. In 2014, Kenyan women in miniskirts hit the streets to protest the stripping and public humiliation of women. The culprits are presently doing time.

Yet another barrier is this. We only have access to what comes through our borders and also what we can afford. The latest trends are still available online or through well-travelled contacts.

Sometimes nuanced factors are at play. World War II made fashion functional. Fabric and leather were rationed, women rolled up their sleeves and took over as men went to war, pants and shoulder pads became a natural fit.

After the war, fashion evolved from the feminine silhouette, hourglass figures, heels to a burst of colour and skirts. Mainly because the textile industry came back to life.

Designers like Chanel and Dior have also deeply altered women’s relationship with fashion from the LBD, perfumes to fit. Cultural shifts and mood generously impact fashion. Music, street culture, hip hop also do. Present day culture has celebrities to contend with. 

Oddly, despite its fumbling, the government does have a vested interest in how women dress. Not because they have a say.

Who are we kidding. Government has laws about women’s bodies. But because people automatically fall back on their value system and gleefully declare it right. Kenya’s natural law is Christianity and at time the Bible is invoked.

It results in abuse of power like pastors telling female congregants how (not) to dress, using a woman’s choice of  clothing as an excuse, bait or shaming weapon, putting down powerful women for enjoying style and judging an entire people based on the choices of a few. And it explains why women sometimes unfortunately take this to heart.

I like the idea of the government staying out of my closet, minding it’s own business.

At the same time, the government needs to be objective enough to know when and where to step in to make women feel safe, and when it should back off.