WHEN YOU GOOGLE ‘FEMININITY’ YOU GET THIS DEFINITION:

The quality of being female; womanliness.

We feel that this contextual description limits us and believe it is patronising, old-fashioned and in need of updating.

We ‘celebrate’ femininity through the many and varied ways we choose to present ourselves as women, be it in high heels or hi-top trainers. But most importantly, our femininity exists beyond external appearances; it is something far deeper.

There is no single neat description of femininity, but it is vital that we discuss and dissect what the word means to each of us to move the definition on from the reductive statement above.

The question of what femininity is today is a complicated one, rich with the variety of experience, identity and difference. And so, for ELLE’s fourth feminism campaign, we asked the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, Olympic medal-winning boxer Nicola Adams, media mogul Tina Brown, Pulitzer Prize-winner Robin Givhan, along with our transgender columnist Rhyannon Styles and the Mayor of London

Sadiq Khan to write about what femininity means to them.

But sometimes words can’t express the depth of meaning, so we also asked seven fine artists to respond visually to the same question. Through photography, sculpture, painting, fashion and mixed media, these creatives explored the idea and have created unique works of art exclusively for ELLE.

As you delve into this special edition of ELLE Collective, consider your own relationship to the word ‘femininity’. It’s different for all of us, but only together can we broaden its definition for the next generation.

‘She celebrates her femininity by wearing

make-up and high heels’