I remember being a 6th grader in middle school, riding the school bus every morning and anxiously reading Apple News for the latest on Duchess Kate's style. But after starting TTEA, I started realizing that no one is ever writing about what William is wearing. Frankly, the media doesn't care. They just care about Kate.
Which is another example of gender roles playing through the years. The media writes about what the woman is wearing, because society dictates that that's where a woman's value is. Guess who started society? Who wrote the rules? Well, that's men. Think Hugh Hefner, and Playboy. Think Victoria's Secret, Lex Wexner, and the Angels campaign.
And these writers who are monitoring what Kate wears...well, they're only allowing the problem to continue. Again, the problem isn't writing about the latest clothing trends and how Kate's wearing them...the problem is that the coverage is not equal across genders.
So, I ran a little experiment. In one week, I tried to find as many articles as I could about what Duchess - now Princess of Wales - Kate was wearing. I started this recording on November 30th, 2022 and ended on December 6th, 2022.
I think you'll be surprised:
November 30th: The Princess of Wales Wears Tartan for Her First Engagement in Boston
November 30th: Kate Middleton Arrives in Boston! Princess Kicks Off Three-Day Visit in Suit
December 1st: Kate Middleton Wore Vintage Chanel Courtside at a Celtics Game, InStyle
December 1st: Kate Middleton Wore Three Different Looks for Her First Day in Boston
December 1st: Kate Middleton Makes Statements In Visit to Boston for Earthshot Awards—Steal Her Style!
December 2nd: Princess Kate's Most Stylish Moments from Her Trip to Boston
December 2nd: Princess Kate visits Boston in high style: See all her looks
December 2nd: All of Princess Kate’s Looks From the Boston Tour
December 5th: Kate Middleton's Boston Style! See All of the Princess of Wales' Outfit Changes in the US
Annual 2022: Kate's Closet Style File
So, now realizing this - I picked the week Kate and William traveled to Boston. But, given how the royals are known for their public engagements...I don't think this week was all that different from most of Kate's weeks. And I recorded 10 articles written about her in one week! To be real, the number of articles kept going...but they were about the same topic - the Boston tour - so eventually I figured I'd call it quits once I found the gem of Kate's Closet...a website dedicated to documenting Kate's outfits for the entire year.
Kate's outfits are documented. But, when I Googled Prince William's outfits, I got outfits Princess Diana had dressed him in, or his best looks alongside Kate.
This is reinforcing gender roles from the 1900s and beyond. Which reinforces the idea that a woman's value comes from her physical appearance, which is just utterly false. Fashion doesn't give you value, but society sure makes it seem like it.
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