Australian news anchor Karl Stefanovic just jumped into the international media spotlight after revealing he wore the same exact suit for a full year on the job and no one noticed a thing. It wasn't some lazy dude thing but instead a play to support co-anchor Lisa Wilkinson after she revealed how many rude emails she'd received complaining about her on-air wardrobe (now that's a good work husband).
"Women are judged much more harshly and keenly for what they do, what they say, and what they wear. I'm judged on my interviews, my appalling sense of humor, on how I do my job, basically. Whereas women are quite often judged on what they're wearing or how their hair is," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"This was a show of support for me after I did [a] speech...a year ago and you were very much in accord with me about the issues that happen for women in television and criticism over what we wear," Lisa tells Karl, who explained to her that he was a week into the experiment before sharing it with her (and that it wasn't a full year—he took time off for a couple of trips to the dry cleaner).
The not-so-nice comments included emails like "Who the heck is Lisa's stylist? Today's outfit is particularly jarring and awful. Get some style."
"Some people call it sexism and reverse sexism, but I don't know if it's just that because can sexism be women judging mostly other women?" Karl asked Lisa on-air when he revealed his suit stunt. She confirmed that the majority of mean-spirited comments she receives about her clothes do indeed come from women.
Are you surprised no one noticed that he wore the same navy suit every day? (I'm not). What do you think would be the right term for women judging other women harshly?
PS: Lisa, I love that color-block dress you're wearing!