By Denise Landveld
August 24, 2026
When stylists use the word “flattering” traditionally, they often meant “slimmer”, “taller” or “more appealing to men”. For the longest time, that was the end goal, that was what clothes can do for women. They are tools to make you look more like what society deems beautiful. I’m sorry, WHAT? Yeah, and by society, I actually mean, men. We have been dressing for the male gaze and not for ourselves. But that is changing.
I’ve been seeing posts with that phrase on my Instagram feed for a few weeks now and it instantly resonated with the way I do my job as a stylist. What does it mean for a woman, to dress for the female gaze?
I would describe it as; dressing for yourself as opposed to dressing in what you think and probably know a heterosexual man would like to see on a woman. This entails details on clothes like the following
- Baggy clothes
- Voluminous shapes
- Any type of clothing that doesn’t specifically show off your body
- Quirky/weird clothes
- “Mismatched styles”
- Outfits that take up physical space
- Or anything that is not form fitted
The reports that came out on Copenhagen fashion week SS27 demonstrated this concept very well. You can clearly see that the main focus of these outfits, is creativity, self-expression and just a lot of fun with color texture and shapes. Now, this does not mean that these kinds of outfits will never have any skin showing. It just means that when we do see this, it is done more intentionally. It is done for oneself, because it serves the outfit or because you do like that part of yourself and YOU want to show it. Not because you know that a man will like. You see, that is the difference.
And while I’m over here gushing over how dressing for the female gaze opens up a world of possibilities for us women to express ourselves, I don’t have anything against those who do like to dress for the male gaze. Everyone should have the freedom to express themselves exactly the way they want. We are feminists over here and that freedom belongs to every woman. That’s the whole point. We have arrived in an era where most women can be independent. We are educated, have our own jobs and lives and can live them without a man, if we wish. The time when you needed to dress for the male gaze in order to attract a man and safeguard your position in society, is over.
Writing this, I realize that this is not the situation worldwide and that this is very much a luxurious point of view.
Those of us, who have that choice and that freedom, now have the means to do so. There are many examples of women who dress for themselves. To name a few: Tracee Ellis Ross, Grace Jones, Princess Diana, Julia Sarr-Jamois, Zoe Kravitz and more.
I always say, “Wear whatever you feel comfortable in, no matter your style”. With this shift to decenter men in making our styling choices, we seem to be getting closer and closer to dressing for purely ourselves.
