I am sooo busted! Seems I've been seen hosting breakfast TV wearing same blouse with "strategic cutout above the bust" just 4months apart!!! pic.twitter.com/hx1AaQw2b2
— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) April 11, 2017
Her response? To wear it again today.
Craig Seitam from Competitions Guide joins us with the do's and don't's of winning big. #9Today pic.twitter.com/2x0ASxqFnD
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) April 11, 2017
Some of her colleagues had fun with this too. Channel Nine Hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kruger took turns wearing the blouse today.
https://twitter.com/DavidCampbell73/status/851963349176692736
On Wednesdays we wear @Lisa_Wilkinson’s top… @DavidCampbell73 and @SoniaKruger are currently slaying live TV rn. https://t.co/qLoIRjBldQ pic.twitter.com/26MgYkGkjl
— Hit Entertainment (@HitTrending) April 12, 2017
A television host wearing the same top on two consecutive days shouldn’t make news and it shouldn’t be heralded as a victory, but it is.
Wilkinson has spoken publicly about the ridiculous standards thrust upon women in television. In her Andrew Olle speech in 2013 she said:
“When you’re a woman doing breakfast TV, you quickly learn the sad truth, that what you wear can sometimes generate a bigger reaction than even any political interview you ever do.”
Her longtime co-star Karl Stefanovic famously wore the same suit every single day for 12 months without a single viewer taking note.
As yesterday’s “news” story shows women in television aren’t afforded this freedom. What they wear and how they look remain front of mind.
But by wearing the same top two days in a row, Wilkinson is challenging that. And maybe that’s exactly what is needed. A respected and successful woman on television like Lisa, to determine that what she says and how she does her job is what matters far more than what she wears.
In a TedX speech that went viral, journalist and television presenter Tracey Spicer spoke about the productivity and time that women lose as a result of the elaborate make up and hair that is required for women to look TV-ready. By contrast men in tv can get away with a little concealer and powder, and thus have extra hours in which they can sleep longer, prepare more or do whatever they please.
Spicer spoke initially about women in TV but she spoke about women off tv too. She examined the lengths plenty of women go to, for ourselves, simply to feel “presentable”. And she challenged us to push back: to cut down the time we spend making ourselves “look” a certain way.
It’s worth thinking about. Lisa’s response to the Daily Mail might be small but it’s significant.