A Fashion Analysis of Polygamy???

Oy. Yet another reason why I should stop my cnn.com addiction. This strange, strange article examines the case of the polygamist compound in Texas not from a sociological, legal, or psychological perspective but from a . . . fashion perspective?

The article begins with a comparison between these women and Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. “[S]hocking in their understatement” are the “ankle-length dresses, makeup-less faces, hauntingly uniform hair.” Although I admit that the existence of the polygamist compound brings up many interesting questions about how women are treated–and that women’s appearance can play a role–the article does not analyze the clothing in a responsible way.

For example, the article points out that women cannot cut their hair because it needs to be long enough to wash the feet of the Lord come judgment day. The control men have over women’s bodies, even over their hair, is disturbing. The fact that women’s hair cannot be cut so that it can serve as a foot-washing object not only brings up interesting questions about the impact of religion on how women view themselves (as autonomous beings or as servants), but also might cause the rest of society to take note of how we expect women to treat their hair. It is true that most women are not expected to wash people’s feet with their hair–but they are expected to keep it beautiful, to curl or blow-dry, to use “product” to keep it shiny.

But does the article look at fashion or beauty in this way? Nope. Instead, the article turns to a celebrity fashion expert to predict whether or not the modest dress of the women in the compound will catch on:

Celebrity stylist and salon owner Ted Gibson thinks it gives off a “homely” impression.

“It says ‘I don’t really care very much. I really don’t have time to worry about the way that I look, because I have 20 children,”‘ Gibson said. “‘He’s going from wife to wife to wife, so why should I look any better than the other ones?”‘

Still, it’s not outlandish to imagine the prairie look influencing today’s styles, given that trends can come from unexpected places, and Sevigny is known as a style-setter. You can already find blouses with high necks and ruffles in stores, and puffed shoulders on short and long-sleeved shirts.

Prairie skirts are in fashion this season, while dusty pastels and neutrals are being introduced to offset trendy bold colors and patterns.

Long hair is also on its way back in, preparing to replace the currently fashionable bobs, Gibson says. Buns never go completely out of style, according to Gibson — he often gives celebrities a half-up-half-down ‘do, essentially what we’re seeing in the photographs coming out of Texas.

Wow. Instead of using the opportunity to draw parallels between the fashion industry that controls women through twisted expectations and this fundamentalist sect that controls women through rhetoric about their servile nature, we get an analysis of prairie skirts. How insulting–both to the women trapped in a perverted and abusive religious sect and to anyone who reads this article.