Elizabeth Day: It's my 権利 to have a VPL
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Styling: Holly Elgeti. Make-up: Nicky Weir using Hourglass. Hair: Alex Szabo at Carol Hayes maAN nagement using T3. Dress, Iris & 署名／調印する. Earrings, Daisy Jewellery. Necklaces, Daisy Jewellery, Alighieri, 巡礼者?
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I recently wore a new pair of silky trousers to a party. As I was getting ready in a hotel room, my friend 吸い込むd はっきりと.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Oh dear.’
‘What?’ I replied, paranoid that I had either stained the trousers or ripped them somewhere unsavoury. I did a 徹底的な check. But they seemed 罰金. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
My friend looked at my outfit askance, unable to 会合，会う my 注目する，もくろむ. ‘You’ve got…’ she whispered in the style of someone who has to break terrible news, ‘a VPL.’
I shrieked. Of all the fashion faux pas, a VPL ? 明白な panty line ? is seen as one of the most egregious. I knew this. My friend knew this. I was embarrassed and flustered, but there was nothing to be done. I had no other knickers to 手渡す. I 簡単に had to go to the party and run the 危険 of 存在 a fashion pariah-削除する-laughing 在庫／株.
Of course, when I got th ere, no one fainted with shock or asked me to get changed. I assume most of the guests had better things to do than 星／主役にする 批判的に at my 底（に届く）. In short: no one cared.
But the realisation that both my friend and I had been so worried got me thinking about the ridiculous beauty 基準s women are 推定する／予想するd to 支持する. It is a truth almost universally 定評のある that most people will be wearing some 肉親，親類d of underwear at an evening 機能（する）／行事. But women are 推定する／予想するd to hide this fact, as though it’s somehow shameful to 収容する／認める さもなければ.
Why? Are we supposed to saunter around in uncomfortable thongs or 主張する on going 特殊部隊員 underneath our 着せる／賦与するs so as not to 感情を害する／違反する innocent bystanders with our VPL? Surely it’s far more risqu? to appear naked than not? And who made the 支配するs anyway? I’m pretty 確かな it wasn’t a woman who 法令d knickers should appear nonexistent.
I rather 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う this is yet another unnecessary 責任／義務 foisted upon us by the 伝統的な straight male gaze, which would prefer women to be readily sexually 利用できる at all times. We’re so used to がまんするing by this idea that we forget to question where the messaging （機の）カム from.?
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It’s the same 圧力 that 主張するs we squeeze into 制限する, torturous shapewear so that our natural 団体／死体s 適合する as much as possible to some unobtainable ideal of what it means to be 女性（の）. (And it goes without 説 that shapewear, too, must be seamless so as to give the impression to the outside world that we are natural and 要求する no 成果／努力 to be this way.)
As women, we are not 許すd to have real 団体／死体s that 存在する just as they are. We have to tweak, zip, 強化する and contort ourselves into what someone else has decided is the 許容できる form. Then we have to pretend that the 衣料品s 要求するd to 達成する this look do not, in fact, 存在する.
The same 基準s do not 適用する to men. I’ve never once heard a man worrying about whether his boxer short lines are 明白な. I’ve never seen male shapewear on sale in 着せる／賦与するing shops. A man is not 要求するd to 戦う／戦い his way into a pair of Spanx ーするために flatten his beer belly or 含む／封じ込める the spread of his thighs. Men can turn up to a party in a jumper and tucked-in shirt and be 拍手喝采する for looking nice, while women are 一般に 推定する／予想するd to ‘make an 成果／努力’. Worse: they are then 推定する／予想するd to make the 成果／努力 appear effortless.
But it’s an outdated message. What happened when I wore silk trousers which showed the 輪郭（を描く） of my knickers? 絶対 nothing. Which is why, from this moment on, I’m 辞退するing to care. Instead of trying to be perfect, women should 埋め立てる their 権利 to be real ? and that starts with panty lines that are proud to be 明白な.
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This week I’m…
SLEEPING in bubblegum blue 有機の cotton pyjamas: a cheery way to go to bed. £85, katebarnet.com.??GETTING ORGANISED with a 2022 Soho diary. An iCal will 簡単に never be as classy. £175, smythson.com.??PACK ING this stylish in-flight 事例／患者 designed to use as a carry-on washbag. £295, anyahindmarch.com.?
SLEEPING in bubblegum blue 有機の cotton pyjamas: a cheery way to go to bed. £85, katebarnet.com.??
GETTING ORGANISED with a 2022 Soho diary. An iCal will 簡単に never be as classy. £175, smythson.com.?
?PACKING this stylish in-flight 事例／患者 designed to use as a carry-on washbag. £295, anyahindmarch.com.??
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