Freedom and fashion

Photo from here.

Talking about proper dressing, I once got asked: "Why can't people just wear whatever they want? It is their body. And don't rules like that just take away a woman's freedom to wear what she likes?"

Good question, no?

Let me ask a better one. Isn't freedom such a nice word? You can throw it around and use it for all the "open minded" arguments and it fits right in--how very versatile! But that's just considering freedom superficially. It's quite easy to forget that, like everything else, freedom needs standards too.

Think about this: What happens if all the drivers on the road are given the freedom to do what they like? If you put rules on the road, are you taking away a driver's freedom, or are you making it easier for the driver to reach the destination? (I think you can find the answers to those questions on your own.)

The same idea goes into appropriate dressing. There has to be rules in dressing to help the wearer come across as someone worthwhile to get to know, not just something to look at (besides, only a someone can get somewhere). In dressing, it is not simply wearing anything you like, but spotting what looks good (highlighting the face, bringing out the personality, not drawing attention to one part of the body) and then choosing to wear those pieces over things which are less flattering. That's real freedom.

Why so meticulous about the meaning of freedom? Because if you waver at the meaning of freedom, everything you can connect to it wavers, too.

• Justice: If freedom means doing whatever you like, then a person who kills another person is justified because he simply exercised his freedom.
• Duty: If freedom means doing anything you like, then duty is meaningless because you can forget the work and say you just exercised your freedom.
• Love: If freedom means doing whatever you want, then cheating is perfectly fine--you just exercised...

Anyway, that's the point: real freedom needs standards because a lot depends on it. And if you believe in truly exercising your freedom, you must live it.... Let freedom (and all the rules that come with it) ooze out of you through everything that you do--from the big things like your words, actions and works... down to the small and "trivial" things... like your hemlines.