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Bebe launches “workwear”, assumes “celebutante” is actual job

evil fizz

Bebe, the clothing store best known for selling skin-tight minidresses and shirts with word bebe (strictly in all lower case) in rhinestones across the bust has decided to branch out into something they’re calling workwear.

I freely concede that since I wear one of these every day, I might be less familiar with trends in work attire than others. It could also be that I just don’t understand how many professions call for five-inch gladiator platforms, fuchsia leggings, a pink, black, and yellow plaid lace up corset, and a black leather shrug. (I also love how the leggings look like they belong on an aerobics instructor.)

The real problem, though is that the biggest question is just left hanging: whose job lets them dress up like Cyndi Lauper?

Also, fingerless black leather gloves? With bows AND rhinestones? Teh Sexay, for sure.

25 thoughts on Bebe launches “workwear”, assumes “celebutante” is actual job

  1. I can’t speak to the fuchsia leggings… But I work (as a contractor) in a military HQ, and I’ve seen more than a couple of these outfits. We young things need to look hip and sexy to pick up a man at work? I can just say that it’s as common to see skirts that don’t meet the junior high “fingertip rule” as pantyhose where I work.

  2. Argh, having just started my first professional job, this stuff drives me nuts! I’ve been trying to develop a classy and professional wardrobe (that fits my 6′ skinnyass frame, covers my tattoos, and isn’t marketed primarily towards my grandmother). With all the clothes like this stuff out there, it’s no surprise that I have less than a week’s worth of outfits so far.

    It’s frustrating too that for men, “professional wear” means one thing – wear a damn suit. But for women, it can range from anything to a suit to, apparently, club clothes, and it’s painful trying to navigate that balance without having someone judge you as too dowdy/severe/inappropriate/incompetent based on your hemline.

    I know, I know, post links to whitewhine.com as replies, but it’s that much harder for women to break into the professional world when everyone’s judging what we wear over our actual work.

  3. I actually like some of the stuff, but then I’m an artist, when I’m working at a job, people expect me to dress like an “artist”, which means paint everywhere anyway so suits are not suitable.

  4. I’ve been told by people who can fit into Bebe that the brand actually makes pretty darn good suits, surprisingly enough. So I’m a bit gobsmacked that they’ve decided “workwear” is now basically their regular line.

  6. The real problem, though is that the biggest question is just left hanging: whose job lets them dress up like Cyndi Lauper?

    Well, we do usually have an 80s day during the spirit week before homecoming…

    That said, it’s a moot point since Bebe doesn’t believe in people my size.

  7. The rest of the ensembles are mostly ridiculous, granted, but I like a lot of those jackets.

  8. If you click through the whole line, some of the pieces could easily be worn in a professional environment, but probably not styled the way they have it.

    The other pieces, though, are absolutely NOT work wear. Unless your work is “pop star” in which case, enjoy!

  9. I’ve been told by people who can fit into Bebe that the brand actually makes pretty darn good suits, surprisingly enough. So I’m a bit gobsmacked that they’ve decided “workwear” is now basically their regular line.

    This is where I also get confused: if you already produce clothing that is considered business/professional and label and entirely differently line of clothing as such, are you confused or trying to change what counts as work appropriate?

    I’m still waiting for the job where fingerless black leather gloves with bows and rhinestones are considered an appropriate accessory (outside of being a performer).

  11. Meaghan:
    Argh, having just started my first professional job, this stuff drives me nuts!I’ve been trying to develop a classy and professional wardrobe (that fits my 6′ skinnyass frame, covers my tattoos, and isn’t marketed primarily towards my grandmother).With all the clothes like this stuff out there, it’s no surprise that I have less than a week’s worth of outfits so far.

    It’s frustrating too that for men, “professional wear” means one thing – wear a damn suit.But for women, it can range from anything to a suit to, apparently, club clothes, and it’s painful trying to navigate that balance without having someone judge you as too dowdy/severe/inappropriate/incompetent based on your hemline.

    I concur. That said, check out Jones New York. I’m 5′ 10″ and have had excellent luck with their suiting separates. You can even buy them at outlet stores and save some cash.

  12. @ zuzu – Yeah, I’m confused about that part too. Bebe makes pretty good actual office clothing – I have some nice skirts and jackets from there, and hey, it’s cheaper than Theory or BCBG (my other sources for suits). So it’s not that they don’t make clothing that’s genuinely office-approprirate, it’s just that some fool in marketing decided to market the casual stuff as workwear.

    This isn’t just Bebe though. On the rare occasions I pick up a ladymag I see them trying to persuade people that this kind of stuff is workwear too. Which is fine if you work at, say, a fashion magazine, but if you work in finance this will get you fired.

  13. As a young professional trying to build a work wardrobe, this kind of thing just fills me with frustration. I’ve learned to sew to get around the problem- takes a lot of effort and cursing, but I get exactly what I want, fit to my measurements, and the fabric costs less than the clothes off the rack. But I can’t figure out why it’s so hard to find flattering but conservative work clothes; someone in entertainment/fashion could wear these things to work, maybe, but not a teacher!

  14. i’m not a prude…honest to god (et al). but let’s not kid ourselves; this is fuckme wear, the uniform of a culture that is so out of whack, the tea party found seats in congress, for crying out loud. i’m a writer in los angeles, where the rest of the world thinks anything goes…but let me tell you, if i showed up at a meeting in any one of these ensembles, i would not be taken seriously.

  15. I might just be confused as to what this article is getting at, but… working as an exotic dancer / dominatrix / fetish porn actress, I get to dress like Cyndi Lauper whenever I want, and it’s awesome. I get where folks are coming from when they see 4 inch platforms and they’re like “seriously? I work in construction, and that’s just… not… gonna…” But for those of us in the entertainment / adult industries, 4 inch platforms as “work wear” works just fine, and I actually think it’s kinda cool, although I’m sure bebe didn’t mean to be subversive. But someone should find a creative way of pointing it out and punking them somehow.

  16. Also, sorry for double commenting, but… fingerless black gloves! With rhinestones and bows! I mean… am I the only one who’s like “Yeah!”?

    But then, I never saw a reason to get over the 80s… watched Labyrinth alone in my room the other night, totally sober, peeps.

  17. alexandra:

    i’m not a prude…honest to god (et al). but let’s not kid ourselves; this is fuckme wear, the uniform of a culture that is so out of whack, the tea party found seats in congress, for crying out loud. i’m a writer in los angeles, where the rest of the world thinks anything goes…but let me tell you, if i showed up at a meeting in any one of these ensembles, i would not be taken seriously.

    Isn’t that kind of sad though? I mean sure, its true. But wouldn’t it be awesome if you COULD. If it was your talent and hard work that counted rather than what you wore. Or maybe I just long for the day where I can wear my pjs to work.

  19. chava: Oh, yes. As someone who attends only classical concerts, I would have been thrilled to see her in that dress. And as the L.A. Times critic noted (once he stopped being prickly about the dress), she plays even better than she looks.

    I just saw Valentina Lisitsa for the first time, after years of admiring her on YouTube. She wore a conventional evening gown but looked, as always, gorgeous in it. If I’m shallow, shoot me, but the woman’s looks added a dimension to the experience that, as a straight male, I just wouldn’t have with, say, Emanuel Ax.

  20. Meaghan: It’s frustrating too that for men, “professional wear” means one thing – wear a damn suit. But for women, it can range from anything to a suit to, apparently, club clothes, and it’s painful trying to navigate that balance without having someone judge you as too dowdy/severe/inappropriate/incompetent based on your hemline.

    I’ve had this discussion with a few guys before. They’re jealous when I can pull off a comfy slouchy sweater, or when the company dress code lets me wear “dress” sandals when they need to wear socks and shoes. I know, it’s nice the variety of things I get to choose from as a woman, and I don’t know if I’d make it in a world where I had to wear a tie around my neck every day. (Seriously not my idea of comfort!) But I also like to assert that it can be genuinely confusing to judge whether something is conveying the right image or not. Are leggings okay with a dress? What about with a long sweater? What about with a short sweater? Is this dress too much of a “cocktail” dress for work, or can I put on a cardigan and some flats and wear it to work? Is a skirt this short acceptable if the top is not too tight or revealing, or is it a no 100% of the time? The lines are so fuzzy, some days I’d almost rather choose what shirt and tie to wear and leave it at that.

  21. Nia: I might just be confused as to what this article is getting at, but… working as an exotic dancer / dominatrix / fetish porn actress, I get to dress like Cyndi Lauper whenever I want, and it’s awesome. I get where folks are coming from when they see 4 inch platforms and they’re like “seriously? I work in construction, and that’s just… not… gonna…” But for those of us in the entertainment / adult industries, 4 inch platforms as “work wear” works just fine, and I actually think it’s kinda cool, although I’m sure bebe didn’t mean to be subversive.

    I hadn’t thought about how “work wear” seems to only apply towards certain types of careers, thank you for pointing that out. On another point, I’ve spent a lot of time working in child care before, and while I still agree that I’d never wear 4-inch stilettos, my “work wear” there was far from women’s suiting separates.

    (If you know when you get dressed in the morning that you WILL be thrown up on that day, you tend not to bother changing out of sweatpants at all…)

  22. @Ellie – dudes also get to re-wear the same effing suit all the time without people noticing. Your wardrobe better be fucking varied.

    I would happily wear ties if it meant I didn’t have to worry about my hemline or neckline or whether this dress is too tight or whether it’s not tight enough if I want to fuck that hot guy at work. (PA: ruining feminism’s progress in the workplace since a few days ago, when I got sat outside this hot guy’s office).

  23. It would indeed be great if women could turn up to most jobs in full on 80’s pop star revival gear and not have it effect how seriously they are taken and their career potential as a result (and actually I wish men could too). But that’s not where we are, and I really don’t think Bebe was aiming to subvert any paradigms with that collection. I think it’s more that their advertising director is unable to conceptualise that there are women who have jobs other than actress, model, celebutante, pop star, or sex worker. (Although one technically could do childcare in some of those outfits, the drycleaning bill would be prohibitive.) It’s not designed to challenge anything, it’s designed to support the idea that women are decorative items in an office, much like plants or a lovely fountain in the entryway.

    I spend a good part of my time doing music journalism, so not exactly the most conservative field, and no need to wear a suit. But…if I turned up in any of the linked ensembles it would definitely affect how I was perceived in a negative way. There’s no dress code that I could be sent home for violating, but it would still create lots of workplace problems for me – I actively avoid looking “too sexy” for that exact reason, even though my natural preferences lean towards the short and the flashy.

    So yeah, let’s not pretend that this is the people at Bebe cleverly challenging any paradigms. What it is is them playing right into a paradigm, the one that says that women don’t have “serious careers” in fields that require them to look “professional”.

  24. Take a look at the cocktail dresses (some very short), long flowing hair, and spike heels that the women cable anchors wear. Talk about fuckme wear! If I wore that to work, as a chemist, I would not be taken seriously nor would I expect to be. Some of the women reporters from the last generation don’t dress this way, probably because thay have enough accrued credit after 20+ years that they can’t be forced into this stuff.

    Helen Thomas we miss you!

  25. I have a BeBe jacket that I really like, and would wear to the office (if I can find it in the packing boxes) – but then, it’s black wool crepe, and is remarkable mostly because it actually fits me. I do think it’s odd that none of the actual office wear they sell made it into the “workwear” line.

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