Fashion Plates and Instagram Accounts

            In chapter three of Sharon Marcus’ “Between Women” reading, she spends a majority of the text discussing the social principles surrounding fashion plates. Specifically, she analyzed the inherent homoeroticism found in these plates and how Victorian women viewed them. This homoeroticism did not mean that all Victorian women were suffering from repressed homosexuality, but rather it is an example of a seemingly different system of gender roles and feminine ideals than the ones we hold today. However, I think a similar concept can be found in our current society.

            After we discussed the fashion plates in class, I realized how easily this concept can be tied to the way women interact with Instagram, specifically accounts focused on fashion, beauty/make-up, and modeling. A common theme that I have heard my heterosexual female friends joke about is that they spend more time looking at women on Instagram than men; not because they identify as queer, but rather in aesthetic admiration. While this sentiment may be shared among many women, I think that Marcus’ in-depth analysis of why women interacted with fashion plates the way they did can be transferred into why women obsess over other women online.

            Just as in Victorian times, a hallmark of contemporary femininity is the admiration of other women who might represent a more “ideal” version of femininity. This is sometimes known as an innocent “girl crush” by heterosexual women, however, it is evident that there is often a gray area between wanting to be like another woman and wanting to be with another woman. Nevertheless, these “crushes” are normalized by our heteronormative society, much like how women were expected to act in Victorian times.

            Even the fact that Instagram photos are small, simple images reflects their similarity to fashion plates. Whether the focus is fashion, beauty, or the woman herself, Instagram provides a perfect opportunity to observe and admire other women from a place of anonymity. Just as fashion plates reflected this concept of voyeurism by showing images of a woman gazing at another woman without her noticing, with Instagram someone can view as many photos of a single person or many people as they want without anyone ever knowing. This anonymity is more important now than in the Victorian era, because now we have specific identities for women who exhibit what we would consider homosexual behavior.  

            In a more problematic connection, both fashion plates and Instagram photos emphasize strict regulations for female fashion. They also both exhibit the connection between fashion and social class. In Victorian times, fashion plates depicted clothes and trends that were most accessible to aristocratic women. Now, the most followed fashion/beauty/model Instagram accounts are typically upper class white women advertising the current styles and trends. In both time periods, fashion represents the “ideal”, which makes it inherently exclusionary to people who either physically or financially can’t attain the levels of beauty found in these images.

            Just as Marcus analyzed the sociocultural aspects behind fashion plates, it is possible to view Instagram photos through a similar lens that focuses on female homoeroticism, gender roles, and social codes. Through this, it can be seen that certain aspects of Victorian sexuality have not progressed as much as we think they have in contemporary society.