Fashions change, but feminism stays.(NEWSWATCH)

The first and second waves of feminism brought with them a rejection of then-current women's fashions, but today some feminists are working to dress up the movement's "fashion victim" image. The aim is to attract more young women to feminism and make the point that it is okay to struggle for equal rights while looking good.

"I am passionately feminist, and I also love a good pair of shoes," said Anne Reams, co-founder of Girl360, a line of feminist books and t-shirts. Girl360's shirts hope to counter anti-feminist messages like those seen on shirts, such as "If found, please return me to my boyfriend," with its own messages like "Lipstick Feminist" and "This is what a feminist looks like."

American feminism has historically taken a dim view of fashion, according to Linda Scott, author of Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism. Early feminists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton made fashion a moral issue by dressing according to Puritan principles, but rejected suffocating corsets that were popular at the time.

In the 1920s and 30s, feminists adopted a more masculine style of dress to rebel against traditional feminine looks. Some women flattened their breasts, and/or wore tweed suits and neckties.

By the 1950s and 60s, feminists such as Betty Friedan were beginning to question the sexual implications of fashion and commercialism on the female psyche. Meanwhile, French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir was declaring that attention to appearance was ...