The word “prissy” – meaning fussy, prim, straight-laced, unnecessarily studious – is an antiquated insult. However, in the fashion world, Miss Priss has found new relevance. Geek girl has materialised on the autumn-winter 2015 catwalks in a hotchpotch of different styles.
At Orla Kiely, Miss Priss is modelled after Ali MacGraw in Love Story: grey-stockinged models with Ivy League-worthy looks: double-breasted khaki wool trench coats under high-necked sweaters, and frilly- collared blouses worn under nubby, homespun knits.
Alessandro Michele takes a different tack at Gucci, alternating fur coats, berets and pussy-bow blouses with daring sheer lace and chiffon tops. His muse has more than a whiff of the once preternaturally gifted, now terminally disillusioned Margot, the character played by Gwyneth Paltrow in Wes Anderson's 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums. Michele's geek, like Margot, is a fully fleshed figure with a ribbon of sexuality running through her restraint. The buttoned-up look, once a symbol of repression, is now an emblem of admirable restraint.
Giles Deacon has also ably rehabilitated Miss Priss’s reputation with a collection that is high on frills and low on neutered sexuality. The Giles woman is an unexpectedly gothic riff on the “sexy secretary”, a tired cliche given a rejuvenated twist by Deacon.
His models wear chin-skimming, virginal white ruffs and leg-of-mutton sleeves with high-shine skirts. Corseted Victoriana jackets are updated with patent leather, while traditional skirt suits are offset with a simple but effective beauty look: a slash of vinyl-black lipstick.
A look for everyone
The S&M look is not for general consumption, but one item from the geeky repertoire will suit everyone: the black rollneck. It is the one item of clothing that looked as good on Marilyn Monroe as it did on Audrey Hepburn, and will suit every body type and skin colour outside of that narrow frame of reference.
In between a poet and a librarian look, there’s something about a black rollneck that defers authoritarian cool on the wearer, no matter what the rest of the outfit looks like.
Indeed, a black rollneck will look just as good with a pair of jeans as it does with the bright, psychedelic dresses and coats presented by Roksanda Ilincic at her eponymous label. Ilincic pairs black rollnecks with almost every look – dresses, coats, suits – to unifying effect.
The hallmarks of the Miss Priss look may stray into caricature: comically thick spectacles for poring over important, dusty books; ancient fur coats stolen from an eccentric, probably aristocratic relative; obnoxious collegiate knits; frills to beat the band – but it is wearable away from the runway.
Scaremongering
Decades of Trinny and Susannah-style scaremongering has made legions of women afraid to wear the wrong shape or material for fear of looking like a sack of potatoes. There is no need to be scared; you can still cover up and emphasise the parts of your body that you want to emphasise with simple tailoring or, as with Roksanda, by loosely cinching with a belt. The priss look is reined-in, not strapped-in.
Being a geek or a priss has never been so cool. Global nonprofit organisations such as Women Who Code ensure that women are getting the education in IT that they are entitled to, and, while the gaps between men and women in traditionally male-dominated arenas of science and technology are still large, they are slowly closing.
Hopefully respect for the achievements of intelligent women will continue to grow. It might seem trivial, but these seismic changes in society and its attitudes towards women have a trickle-down effect. No industry is as finely attuned to those changes as fashion. On a strictly basic level, fashion is a deep absorption and a shallow reflection of the world around us. But, if fashion is any indication, the geek will soon be queen.
