Videos of Young Women Bound With Dresses on
Why meteorologists love this dress — and what it says about wardrobe challenges faced by women on TV
Angela Fritz: It's flattering, because viewers can be jerks. They'll send messages to women after broadcasts, commenting on what they wore or how they did their hair
WASHINGTON — You may have already seen it — the dress that has "gone viral" among TV meteorologists.
It is sold on Amazon and was shared in a private Facebook group for women in the business, and soon became a favourite among the ones who deliver your weather every day.
Many women meteorologists own the dress. And actually, this classically simple and inexpensive garment also says a lot about the everyday wardrobe challenges women face in the TV meteorology business.
It's universally flattering, because viewers can be jerks. They're the kind of people who will send messages to women after their broadcast, commenting on what they wore or how they did their hair, or maybe just how phenomenal they looked.
Lest you think only a few women are being heckled in this way, take the case of the bullied, pregnant meteorologist Kristi Gordon of Global News in British Columbia.
"Nowhere on North America TV have we seen a weather reader so gross as you," an anonymous viewer wrote to Gordon, who was well-along in her pregnancy this year.
"Your front-end looks like the Hindenburg and your rear-end looks like a brick (obscenity) house."
"Buy some decent clothes, and have more respect for your unborn child," another heckler wrote.
Your wardrobe is a fundamental part of your job, even though your employer does not provide a stipend or allowance for clothing
Enter: the dress. It's feminine, flattering and doesn't reveal too much — something that is becoming harder and harder to find in clothing today.
Most of all, it probably doesn't elicit quite as many inflammatory emails and messages from rude viewers.
It's cheap. This may come as a surprise, but most TV meteorologists are not rolling in dough. When they graduate from college, they will likely head to tiny markets in rural states, making little more than US$25,000 a year.
This becomes a little burdensome when your wardrobe is a fundamental part of your job, even though your employer does not provide a stipend or allowance for clothing. There's an exception for a few meteorologists in the highest markets.
Thus, cheap is a must, especially since you can't wear the same five dresses every week. Viewers notice.
It's plain. One of the first thing women are told when they enter a career in television is to stay away from patterns, which look terrible on the screen. The effect is even worse when the clothing is in front of colourful weather maps.
You probably already know a TV meteorologist's clothing cannot be green because he or she would disappear into the chroma key weather maps. But chroma keys don't have to be green, necessarily. Technically, they can be any colour, but green is used most frequently, followed by blue.
Imagine having to create a daily wardrobe that will not offend, provoke comment or clash with TV technology. It's a lot to ask, which is why many women turn to their counterparts for advice.
It may have come as a surprise a group of female TV meteorologists formed a Facebook group that could help and support other women in the business, but it was bound to happen.
Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/why-meteorologists-love-this-dress-and-what-it-says-about-wardrobe-challenges-faced-by-women-on-tv