The muscle of the moment

Viola Davis, Angela Bassett and Michelle Yeoh

The changing mind in the changing body is the most apparent message from the 2023 Golden Globes held at Beverly Hilton, California, on Tuesday night. That the red carpet fashion was dominated by the strong arms with muscle definition in repose pushes forth a subtle power message: breasts are out. There's only one fashionable twin-flex in town, and it is the sculpted biceps.

Female-identifying celebrities embraced the super-arm moment - a visual signal to one another that they are all superwomen. Angela Bassett, the winner of Best Supporting Actress for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, flexed hers in a Pamela Roland metallic gown, and Michelle Yeoh ramped up hers in an Armani peplum dress. She won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Is it a coincidence (if you believe in the myth of coincidences) that the two powerhouse actors in their individual speeches stressed that age is just a number?

Margot Robbie, Dolly De Leon, Hilary Swank, Rihanna, A$AP, Natasha Lyonne, Claire Danes, Emma D'Arcy and Jessica Chastain

Women baring their sculpted biceps are a flashpoint in gender and not sexual politics. Not too long ago, muscular, well-defined upper arms were written off as unbecoming of femininity even as the sporty takeover of the fragile female could be traced back to the WWII poster starring Rosie The Riveter flexing her arm to show off muscle as the caption read: We Can Do It! Designed to encourage women to volunteer for the war effort while men served overseas, six million women reportedly heeded the call and entered the workforce during the war years. The Rosie illustration was originally created by Norman Rockwell and became an instant classic, and was later adopted as a metaphor for taking control of their bodies by the women's rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

The changing ideal of female beauty to a more masculine body shape is reminiscent of Linda Hamilton's right to bare arms in the early '90s, at least among the female fans of Terminator 2. Wouldn't you agree that former First Lady, Michelle Obama is like a shrine for naked arms?

Reading between the lines. Between the biceps and forearm flexors is some smart thinking about a sculptured body as the foundation of fashion. The image of actor Hilary Swank flaunting her baby bump and Prada gown with trailing black bows atop her bare shoulders reinforces an unapologetically sexy aesthetic, on one's own terms or shoulders. Claire Danes, who is also expecting her third child, raised her arm in a pink-bow décolletage, a design feature on the gown by Giambattista Valli.

Scroll through the Golden Globes coverage, and you'll find plenty of bravado and swagger of exposed arms. Margot Robbie framed hers in a slinky pink halter-neck Chanel gown with a star brooch on the neck (her gown apparently took over 750 hours to make), Jessica Chastain in Oscar de la Renta embellished spiderweb gown, and Viola Davis - our favourite arm inspo - looked super pumped-up and poised in a one-shouldered Jason Wu gown, and totally undamped by her rain-soaked hemline.

This report would be incomplete without crediting two actors for bringing home the message that a strong shoulder means toughness even when outfitted modestly. (In the toolkit of oppressing women with perfectionism, the waist represents femininity, breasts are predictably about sex while legs strangely denote class status.)

The shoulder pad went to work literally as exemplified by Natasha Lyonne in a sharp shoulder-lined Givenchy ruched gown complete with gloved sleeves and patent shoes. "Nothing says non-binary like wearing skirt and trousers simultaneously," Emma D'Arcy, aka Princess Rhaenyra from House of the Dragon, told NBC. They dialled up on the 80s powersuiting with an oversized blazer with statement lapels and just-big-enough shoulders by Acne Studios.

For every sharply-defined padded shoulders, there were sharply in-focus clavicles or collarbones. Filipino actor Dolly De Leon showed off hers in an off-shoulder leatherette corset gown and matching gloves by Norman de Vera. Trust Rihanna to skip the red carpet altogether. She was photographed inside the main event wearing a black velvet ball gown and voluminous cape by Schiaparelli, befitting her queen-sized status. She kept her makeup simple, shifting the spotlight on her nude lips and a well-chiselled clavicle. It brought to mind words famously spoken by Valerie Steele, American historian, curator and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology: "Showing off your clavicle is the opposite of showing your thong."