Interview: Caroline Cox, Fashion historian professor

Published on Friday 14 August 2009 13:14

For too long the style agenda has been dominated by super-skinny models, but a leading fashion historian argues that glamour can be redefined for modern women – with a little help from the golden gals of Hollywood.

THERE is no such thing as an ugly woman. There are only those who have not realised their full potential," said 1950s film star Arlene Dahl. Fashion historian professor Caroline Cox is quoting the star as part of her campaign to wrestle the fashion agenda from the bony embrace of the body fascists and put a little old-fashioned glamour back into our lives, whatever our shape.

"Glamour is not about having the right shoes, handbag or shade of lipstick. It's about having personality too," says Cox, whose subversive How to be Adored: A Girl's Guide to Hollywood Glamour would get her arrested by the style police.

With 30 years' research under her corset – she was formerly head of cultural studies at the London College of Fashion before becoming international trends consultant at Vidal Sassoon's Advanced Academy in London – as well as commenting on fashion trends, Cox has an honourary professorship at the University of Arts, London and is a visiting professor at the London College of Fashion. In a bid to prove there's a little bit of Hollywood glamour in all of us, Cox's manifesto takes us back to the golden age of Hollywood. A time when women of all shapes and sizes graced the silver screen and ordinary women of similar shapes and sizes in factories and shops up and down the land were able to emulate their style. Whether it was a slick of Bette Davis's "whorehouse red" lipstick, pencilled-in eyebrows la Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow and Lana Turner, or running up a pair of Audrey Hepburn-style capri pants, women could take inspiration from their movie stars. Today, film stars all come from the same mould (super skinny) and your average woman can never expect to replicate their look.

"Being a fashion historian, I was interested in women from the past who could teach us about glamour, and how we could learn from their modern equivalents," says Cox.

She argues that if women were appreciated for their natural beauty in the past, they should be again; that our individuality should be celebrated. Cox regales us with tales of fabulous women who were more than capable of fighting their corner: Mae West refusing to disclose her vital statistics, Marilyn Monroe refusing to wear underwear and the legendary Tallulah Bankhead, whose idea of flirtation was the knickerless cartwheel right up until she died unrepentant at 66, her last words being: "Codeine! Bourbon!"

"The women I discuss show it's about not being fearful and not caring what others think."

So why has the agenda shifted and who is controlling the way we look? Is it the male-dominated media or propagandist stylists? And whatever happened to feminism? Why was it okay in the 1930s and 1940s to be different and celebrate your individuality, whereas in the 21st century, after decades of feminism, we find only one type of female role model being presented: a lollipop-headed, pneumatic-breasted, vacuous dolly?

"The stance the radical feminists took was anti-fashion. For sound reasons they chose to ignore and reject fashion, but when my generation came along in the punk era we wanted to use it in a hopeful way, to be individual and creative," says Cox.

However, after the anarchy of punk and new wave, where recession gave birth to creativity, the economic boom meant that radicalism went out of fashion. The kids that rebelled under Thatcherism gave birth to a generation of conformists.

"If your mother's a feminist punk, you're going to rebel against her by conforming and looking like a glamour model," says Cox. "Not only that, but the intellectualism has gone out of fashion. It's very conservative and has become all about brands. There was a brief flicker with the Girl Power moment in the 1990s when you could dress up sexily and also be a woman in control, but that was quickly subverted into dressing up like glamour models to get a footballer. A whole generation of girls gave up on being individual and we have Katie Price as a figurehead. How horrible is that? We need to convince them there's another way that's much more fun," says Cox. "My agenda is to show them different types of femininity."

Cox's theory is that the reason the fashion impetus was lost and women became so terrified of wearing anything different, that we've turned into an army of skinny-jeaned, Ugg-booted, GHD-wielding automatons who wouldn't know style if it bit us on the bum, is fear.

"Women are being filled with fear – about weight and body and the idea that if you didn't look at yourself every day with a critical eye things might get out of control, an eyebrow out of shape or a couple of extra pounds. Even Kate Moss is being constantly surveyed for signs of ageing, we're looking for her decrepitude.

"The backlash against women started with weight, then went on to wrinkles. At first it was the over 40s who had to worry. Now we're being told we have to buy the anti-ageing products in our 20s. Fear is a way of marketing and it shifts a lot of products," she says.

"The idea that youth is everything, being young and skinny are prized, and the result is we have a generation of beautiful women who have disfigured themselves in order to conform to a warped view of beauty, to look like Madonna or Victoria Beckham, who have the bodies of battery chickens and the smooth faces of 18-month-old babies. Why isn't anybody saying anything? It's because people's ideas of beauty are so skew-whiff."

So who does the pressure to conform come from? Why does Charlotte Church complain: "When I try to get work in the US all they say is that I need to lose weight – I bet they never said that to Mae West."

While Cox blames the manufacturers and the press, in particular the style mags with their 'Sack the Stylist', 'Wha

t Were They Thinking?', 'Circle of Shame' features, she doesn't lay the whole blame at the feet of the male-dominated press and beauty industries.

"It's women doing it to themselves. We self-police. Men aren't particularly drawn to Victoria Beckham or Madonna. They may be drawn to Jordan's glamour model look – long hair, boobs, porn-star mouth – but that's to have sex with, not a relationship. But there were beautiful, glamorous women before her who were more successful and also more rounded human beings. Look at Liz Taylor – she was interesting and entertaining, but never got her boobs out.

"Every age had its beautiful bodies but there used to be more variety. Our age has a fashionable stereotype of being really thin with big boobs; that's impossible to emulate without plastic surgery. In our culture of overabundance, where food is readily available, the hardest shape to attain is the one that's about rigid control and not eating. That shape is about status, having your own gym, trainer, chef and eight-hour workouts."

In her book, Cox advocates getting back to a situation where women are not scared to live life to the full and be smart, not worrying whether they have a wrinkle or should have pudding, making the most of whatever shape they are.

But isn't there some light at the end of the tunnel with Beth Ditto, newly Karl Lagerfeld-clad, the darling of Paris fashion week and designing for Evans?

"I think it's a shame. It's awful she has to be sidelined into Evans. In an ideal world there would be no Evans; every shop would have up to size 30. What teenage girl is going to go into Evans? Why can't she go into Topshop? The answer is she can, there are loads of options in there. It's not true that you can't get decent clothes if you're bigger. Ignore the sizes – you can fit into things because of the way they drape. Look on eBay, make your own. Can't sew? Go and do an evening class," she says.

If salvation isn't going to come from celebrities with a bit of backbone, it's going to come from the streets, where Cox already sees signs of a fashion rebellion, fuelled by the current recession.

"The credit crunch is a good thing because we're forced back on our own resources. The last recession fuelled a massive upsurge in creativity, and it's beginning to happen again. You can see it in the underground culture in east London now, girls with cute cropped hair and their own style of clothes, the opposite of hair extensions and designer clothes. It's all about looking outrageous and wearing head-to-toe designer is deemed pathetic."

Cox's book, the culmination of decades of research among fashion archives, came about from her frustration with traditional "how to" style books written from a superior perspective. "I wanted to do an inclusive style guide for everybody, whatever their shape or size. I'm not a style guru so I listen to the women that knew and who looked fabulous, the make-up artists and stars themselves," she says.

"There will be some women who think my book is telling people what to do and think that telling them how to be charming detracts from being a strong woman but it's not, it's about being savvy in a more interesting way. It's about how being a woman is limitless and there are lots of ways that you could look instead of this rigid categorising, so start experimenting. We aren't all beautiful but we can be glamorous. It's not about being a Stepford Wife and all cutesy. Deitrich, Bardot and Taylor were definitely not Stepford Wives. Look at Liz Taylor, she has always looked amazing and people are drawn to her. She likes a drink, food, a bit of the how's your father, is self-deprecating and intelligent, with a lust for life."

Hugely anti-surgery, Cox counsels that women should make the most of what they were born with.

"I'm very anti-Botox, Restylane, plastic surgery and having the lips plumped up so you look like Homer Simpson. Everyone ends up looking the same – not younger, just odd. You don't need to do that. You're just as well having a decent haircut."

Or following movie star Rosalind Russell's tip for cheering your face up: two dabs of rouge on the forehead (although she cautions that too much will look as if you have been shot). Or cutting a quarter of an inch off one heel like Marilyn Monroe, to make you wiggle when you walk. Or doing your make-up then soaking in a bath to let it sink in like Bianca Jagger. Cox's point is that a lot of what we see has been created with make-up, clothes and ingenuity and that many stars insisted on keeping the looks they were born with, including Lauren Bacall, who refused to have her eyebrows plucked, hairline shaved and teeth straightened, a determination that won her stardom and Humphrey Bogart.

Given that the book is aimed at all shapes and sizes, what can the average woman do to do feel adored?

"Have the self-confidence to think about themselves as individual beings. Dressing for your body shape doesn't mean you have to be slim. Mae West wasn't, Joan Crawford wasn't. You can be really skinny, average or big and beautiful and you can always look fantastic and always look glamorous. It's about having a style that transcends fashion, like Katharine Hepburn, who had the same look from the 1930s until her death. You just need to work out what suits. You don't have to be born classically beautiful to be beautiful either. Glamour has been hijacked by the fashion industry and it's time to reclaim it," says Cox.

You heard the woman. Dress up in something fabulous and get out there to reclaim the glamour. It's time to be a rebel with a corset. r

How to be Adored: A Girl's Guide to Hollywood Glamour, by Caroline Cox, is published by Quadrille Publishing (12.99)

BALLERINA

Then Audrey Hepburn (5ft 7in,

31-22-31)

Now Nicole Kidman (5ft 11in, 34-23-36), Gwyneth Paltrow

(5ft 9in, 33-25-35)

Trademark style Ballerinas are those of us who are slim, with tiny waists and small busts

and hips. This look is

about understated style: pea coats and slim jeans. Hepburn wore her LBD in the evenings, but Kidman also rocks its contemporary equivalent, the Little White Dress. All three women sport sleeveless tops to show off toned arms and shoulders, skinny jeans that stop just above the ankle and black wool turtlenecks and pencil skirts for that Funny Face 1950s beatnik chic.

Secret weapons

A V-neck worn backwards creates

a new area of erotic interest to compensate

for a lack of cleavage; white cotton shirts highlight the face.

HOURGLASS

Then Marilyn Monroe (5ft 5in, 35-22-35), Sophia Loren (5ft 8in, 38-24-38)

Now Kelly Brook (5ft 8in, 34-24-34) Nigella Lawson (5ft 7in, 38-28-38)

Trademark style This look is epitomised by matching bust and hip measurements, with the waist 10 inches smaller, creating a sexy silhouette. Go for form-fitting dresses and skirts and don't be afraid to show off your cleavage. Marilyn worked the look to perfection with a vast array of pencil skirts. Pink or black satin, strapless, skin-tight evening gowns also look fabulous, with matching elbow-length gloves a bonus. (For inspiration watch Monroe singing 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Madonna's homage, 'Material Girl', back when she had curves).

Secret weapon

A wide belt to cinch

in that waist even further.

BALCONY GIRLS

Then Dolly Parton

(5ft, 40-27-37)

Now Liz Hurley (5ft 9in,

36-23-34)

Trademark style This

slim-hipped, big-breasted look

is today's fashionable ideal, but it's a very rare body shape to come by naturally. In many cases it requires surgery, or in Liz Hurley's case, vats of watercress soup. Whether you achieved it by

the surgeon's knife or a lifetime of sacrifice, the rules for looking good are the same. If you are dressing

to impress, outfits should be

glitzy, and if you dare, slashed

to the thigh.

Secret weapon Wear sunglasses – the bigger, the better – they will help you to draw attention away from your over-sized assets.

POCKET ROCKET

Then Elizabeth Taylor (5ft 4in, 36-21-36)

Now Kylie Minogue (5ft 1in, 32-21-31)

Trademark style The pocket rocket look is small, yet perfectly formed.

Lucky pocket rockets such as Kylie Minogue and Elizabeth Taylor have hourglass measurements on a tiny frame – others are less symmetrical. Actress Natalie Portman, at 5ft 3in, is the same height as screen legend Vivien Leigh but has a much smaller bust size. The rules for looking good if you are pint-sized are the same though. Keep the silhouette smooth

and slim, and that applies to accessories too. Bows and

ruffles on those over 30 stray dangerously into the Baby

Jane territory.

Secret weapon Always wear high heels.

ATHLETE

Then Katharine Hepburn (5ft 6in, 34-22-33), Princess Diana (5ft 9in, 34-23-35)

Now Cameron Diaz (5ft 8in, 34-23-36)

Trademark style The V-shape silhouette, with broad shoulders and slim hips, used to be considered masculine but since women started power-dressing in the 1980s it

has become the shape all gym bunnies aspire to. Wear clothes

with slouch and ease that suit your body's physicality – light tailoring is a must. And if you are

feeling glam, then make like Madonna and choose outfits that show off your toned shoulders

and back.

Secret weapon Simple shapes

in deluxe fabrics.

BIG AND BEAUTIFUL

Then Mae West (5ft, 38-24-38)

Now Charlotte Church (5ft 5in,

38-27-38)

Trademark style Our culture collectively shudders when confronted by Rubenesque curves; so much so that big, beautiful, glamorous stars are now few and far between. Those that do flout convention do it in fabulous style. When Mae West first came to Hollywood she told every costume designer: "I like 'em

tight, girls." You don't necessarily need to squeeze yourself into a form-fitting gown like Mae to make an impact though. Well-tailored suits and impeccably cut dresses work really well on big women – avoid anything without structure. And don't be afraid to be inventive; if you can't find or afford the outfit you want, customise an existing garment or seek out a vintage number to work on.

Secret weapon Attitude. Slouch langourously with one hand on your hip. It worked for Mae, it'll work for you.