Blogging about the blue dress

What is it about the little blue dress that makes it such a powerful cultural symbol? Is it merely its historical association with the colour of royalty or is there something implicit about the wearer who imbues the image with its mixture of grace and poise, innocence and allurement? Looking at the recent media coverage surrounding the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, I was struck by the number of women's magazines eager to draw the convenient contrast between the twentieth and twenty-first century princess using the blue dress as a parallel i.e. between Kate and her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.

To me, the blue dress in popular culture shares the spotlight with its counterparts 'the little black dress' and 'little red dress' as rich and ambivalent ideological signifiers. When observing a Hollywood starlet or celebrity personality in this colour couture (in all its various shades), a number of intertextual references spring to mind: Alice in Wonderland and her little blue pinafore; the blindingly blue-white ball gown of Disney's Cinderella; the infamously tainted navy-blue dress of Monica Lewinsky.

And as I prepare for my 'virtual' attendance of the Royal Wedding on 29 April - where I'll no doubt be sporting my faux-diamante jewellery and sipping cheap champagne in front of the the television - I can't help but think that my eager anticipation of the event is as much an exercise of catharsis as it is a shameful admittance of my participation in the so-called contemporary 'princess culture'. So what? I like collecting pretty frocks, reading trash-mags and watching reality TV. That doesn't make me any less interested in promoting and engaging with feminist discourse. In fact, it makes me question my motivations and desire to interact with the cultural sites and media forms all the more.

I recently attended a 'Fairy tales Re-imagined' conference at Melbourne's ACMI which seemed to resuscitate (at least it did to me) the long-standing polarised debate between feminism(s) and 'the feminine'. Does contemporary makeover culture and its obsession with the body (and its coverings) dominate our/women's lives? This view was promoted by various, albeit subtle, attacks on the princess culture promoted by corporate culprits such as Disney: the marketing and selling of the princess, and thus 'feminine', ideal to female children. I felt the need to dust off my copy of Linda M. Scott's Fresh Lipstick (2005) to provide some academic relief:

"The continuing refusal by feminists writing on this topic to consider other viewpoints suggests that they don't believe another legitimate opinion or experience exists. Thus they claim for themselves the "view from nowhere": a philosophical position that is absolutely true and objective, the single viewpoint from which all is clear, all is known, and nothing is assailable... Instead, my proposal is more modest: I am simply suggesting that true feminists consider the possibility of a view from elsewhere." (p.330)

Too true. I hope this blog contributes to this ongoing debate and serves as a platform for thinking critically about our day-to-day experiences with film, literature, fashion and pop culture in general. My perspectives are therefore not purely feminist, nor purely feminine, but originate from a place elsewhere - in the ever-shifting space between the two.