Fashion was one of the first major changes in the 1960's feminist movement. The new trend of fashion showed more skin to ultimately change the view of women in the American culture. With more skin displayed, women craved to have a more attractive body. Sophia Loren from the film Millionairess (shown to the left) wears a corset to give her a waist "to die for." Skinny waists were most desirable in the 1960's.
This new sense of fashion made women feel empowered and in control of their lives and bodies. With the power in their hands, women felt freer which is promoted in the advertisement for Warner's Free Lift corset.
By applying stasis theory, we can dissect the meaning of this advertisement:
- The conjecture for this advertisement is a woman wearing a corset making her waist slimmer and curves more apparent which is what the women of the 1960's desired. The woman is holding an empty bird cage as the bird flies away to show that women who wear the corset will feel as free as a bird.
- This ad made a slimmer waist more desirable causing women to wear more corsets at a tighter setting which later became a problem later in the 1960's.
- The value of this advertisement is positive in some aspects by giving women the impression that they will be more free which they were craving in the 1960's. On the other hand, the women would be wearing a corset and not giving her body freedom which gives her body a more negative value if it's not as slim as the woman in the ad. For women who want and contain a slimmer waist, the ad is positive because they feel as though they will be free. For women who wouldn't want to wear corsets or are too large to be as slim as the woman in the ad, this has a negative value because they will feel as though they can never be free.
- The action women took was to take control over their bodies and made their own decisions whether they were to wear a corset or not and control how tight they would wear it to achieve the desired slim look. This made women freer in their appearance.
- Women and advertisement managers have the right to handle these matters. Women can take the advertisement how they please while advertisement managers have to consider how it will make women feel and if it will sell the product.
The advertisement for Warner's Free Lift corset argues that women who wear the corset will feel free as a bird which actually gives women the freedom to control the appearance of her body.
This was an awesome, in depth application of stasis theory with this ad.
ReplyDeleteI loved that you included a picture of Sophia Lauren too, it really helped me see how already beautiful women wore these corsets at such extreme degrees. I find it amazing that a literally binding piece of clothing was accompanied by a slogan using the word "free", but your analysis really showed how the two things could potentially go together.
I think you did a really great job demonstrating the new fashion trends that became popular in the 1960's, such as the corset and tiny waist appearance. I agree that the ads can be negatively interpreted by women who are unable to achieve this type of look due to a different body type, however I also think the overall message was to encourage women to be confident and show off their bodies. Fashion in the 50's involved long skirts and more coverage, so the corsets and small bikinis in the 60's inspire women to show some more skin.
ReplyDelete-Lea Marucci
You did a really great job giving a detailed description of the fashion trends of the sixties. It's really ironic that the whole ad was surrounded around the idea that corsets set you free when they're literally a tight, constricting wire around your waist. I completely agree with you that advertisement managers have to consider how their ads make women feel, but women also have to take it with a grain of salt. I agree that these ads could boost the self-esteem of slimmer women and lower the self-esteem of girls who may not look like the women in the ads but i don't necessarily think the ad will make them feel like they will never be free.
ReplyDelete-Julia Shultz
I really like how this post is organized to touch on all parts of the stasis theory, and I agree with the idea that these corsets are making women more free but less free at the same time. On the other hand, I would have to agree with Lea's comment. While right now wearing tight corsets sounds restricting, back then it was giving women confidence and telling them they didn't have to be modest all the time. I think this ad was a small step towards greater freedom over their body, not something forcing them to wear a tight restricting top.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that this was an amazing analysis of stasis theory. The bullet points clearly separated the different aspects of stasis theory. However, I would disagree on the idea that this is trying to get women to be free. They are really just offering the illusion of freedom. Trying to sell someone something, by definition, is an attempt to remove their freedom of choice in favor of whatever you are selling.
ReplyDelete-Sean
Great post! And I think that the freedom here is really fascinating. You may touch on this in your kairos post (I'll check back), but I think freedom from childbearing and the sexual revolution may have something to do with the freedom discussed here. Any thoughts on this? Great discussion of the irony of that term.
ReplyDelete