UK MP Tracy Brabin's one shouldered dress in parliament sparks outrage

[StrawberryBlond 15,555]

UK Labour MP, Tracy Brabin, wore a one shouldered dress in the House Of Commons recently and it caused a big debate about what's acceptable and unacceptable to wear in parliament.

Article containing her tweet revealing all the things she was called (the wheelie bin one cracks me up, have to say):

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/04/i-am-not-a-slapper-labour-mp-tracy-brabin-defends-her-commons-attire

Tracy responding to the scandal:

 

What do you think? I don't have any issue with the top in itself but it was just the wrong time and place. Parliament, along with places like doctor's surgeries, banks, law firms, etc. have a set dress code and bare shoulders just screams "going out wear" and like it's worn to make the wearer look attractive and therefore, unprofessional. Women have struggled so much to be taken seriously in politics, so when we wear clothes that draw attention to us sexually and detracts the attention from what we're saying in political arenas, we're of course run into controversy and sexism. So, why do it at all? Of course I don't condone anything that she was called but it was too much for the occasion (it was also way too much off the shoulder, you could see her armpit and the start of her breast) and the thing is, I'm sure she knew that. But she did it to cause a conversation. I'm a woman and all for feminism but it crosses a line when we act like women don't have agency and can't be dubious in their motives.

[Eighteen 5,430]

honestly doesn't bother me

[Petie Estie 5,704]

lol I love that she's breaking stupid dress code unsaid rules in formal space like parliament. But also sis....it's just an ugly dress. 

[Guillaume Hamon 6,981]

The idea of an "outrage" over it is downright ridiculous to me.

I mean it's not serious enough when you see all the ladies MP in formal clothes and all the MP dudes not showing skin at all either in their suits...

But an outrage for that? C'mon!  

[AlexanderMagno 10,746]

I do find it too much. There is a dress code for every occasion, and a Parliament is where you want to be heard, where decisions are taken. It looks like she's subverting that concept to call for attention. This is, at best, a gala dress.

 

[shoful 13,304]

I don’t get why she needed to wear that dress. Go wear it when you’re out on a Friday night but why would you wanna show up to work like that...

I think it’s a little scandalous to wear to Parliament but I wouldn’t be “outraged”

[elijahfan 27,481]

People are literally dying all over the world, and they're choosing to get outraged over this?

Yep. A choice.

[JazzGa 14,652]

Obviously she doesn't deserve all the hate and insults thrown her way. The fact that so many people called her a slut or threatened violence against her just shows how savagely women are still judged for their clothes.   

But I don't think showing your armpit crease is appropriate for the courtroom or formal business attire either.  I think if she styled this layered over top of a button up or pussybow blouse, it might be able to work. 

IIRC, she is a former soap opera actress, so she probably has a naturally sexier sense of style than your average politician.  I love how she handled the criticism, she didn't let anyone take her power. I hope she keeps being a fashion rebel and maybe in the future we won't care so much. 

[Glamourpuss 29,080]

It wasn't a professional look at all and made her look dishevelled. It gives you the impression that she's disorganised and has no business working in politics if she can't keep herself together. 

 

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Uhm... I don't care at all

So much of professional decorum is entirely contrived nonsense, and it is incumbent upon the people who are there to work to remain focused - that is their job. Thankfully, in many places dress codes are becoming more relaxed. It is fine to have them in a workplace setting, but imo it is not okay to discriminatorily set different standards for men and women.

I do think the dress is kinda ugly though  

[StrawberryBlond 15,555]

57 minutes ago, Glamourpuss said:

It wasn't a professional look at all and made her look dishevelled. It gives you the impression that she's disorganised and has no business working in politics if she can't keep herself together.

Exactly what I was thinking. It looks as if she threw it on. If you look closely, it doesn't even look as if it's meant to be one shouldered. It looks like a dress with a slight v-neck that has been twisted round her body, pushed over to one side. Or its fallen down her shoulder because it's too big. It looks cheaply made or ill-fitting, let's put it that way. It gives the impression that she didn't bother checking herself in the mirror before she left the house to make sure everything was sitting neatly. Overall, she looks she's been dragged through a hedge backwards. How can someone who works in politics think this is appropriate attire? So, my conclusion is that she knew exactly what she was doing and wanted to make a name for herself. Kinda ironic that I'm giving her the attention for it, but I wanted to see what GGD's reaction was. You'll notice that her defence all boils down to "there are more important things to discuss than my shoulder." That's the defence of anyone who wears something clearly meant to be provocative. It's reverse psychology to then say it's us with the problem. I wonder what would've happened if we'd given her no attention for it at all?

37 minutes ago, ItsTommyBitch said:

Uhm... I don't care at all

So much of professional decorum is entirely contrived nonsense, and it is incumbent upon the people who are there to work to remain focused - that is their job. Thankfully, in many places dress codes are becoming more relaxed. It is fine to have them in a workplace setting, but imo it is not okay to discriminatorily set different standards for men and women.

I do think the dress is kinda ugly though  

It really isn't contrived nonsense, humans are innately designed to judge. It's what ensures we make good decisions and keeps us safe. How someone chooses to dress says a lot about them. If you don't care how you look in situations that require neatness and decorum, that suggests you'll be slapdash in said situation. People don't win jobs because they didn't dress correctly or bother to brush their hair. I'm shocked at the lack of personal standards so many people have now, they really think that they have a right to look slobby in public. The sense of personal pride is loosening.

And where are there different standards for men and women here? Obviously, men don't have outfit choices that bare their shoulders and generally have a much smaller range of clothing that women, so they can't be controversial with their outfit choices in parliament, women can. Men don't have cleavage to flash or shoulders to bare or legs to show because there's a set outfit for men in business - a suit, nothing more, nothing less. But women can wear much more and some get a bit carried away with that freedom and start to think flashing lots of flesh is acceptable in professional situations. And then try to defend themselves by saying their sexuality and freedom of expression shouldn't be policed. Totally ignoring the fact that men go to work with the only flesh exposed being their face, neck and hands and they seem to get by perfectly well with this apparent restriction on sexual freedom and expression.

[StarstruckIllusion 53,562]

Old white men are so generic it actually makes sense to stereotype them a lot... like chile is no one surprised? yes. does anyone outside that group care? no

[Queen Bitch 10,513]

I don't see a problem. Maybe I'm just used to politicians who aren't necessarily dressed in a formal way in parliament. In my country, some politicians don't wear suits, but instead sweatshirts and jeans. One of our politicians also has a piercing in of his ears. It's not a big deal to me.