We may be on the verge of electing our first female president, but sexism still lurks in the corners of every classroom, office and industry – including the fashion world. This paradox pains our hearts; after all, how can an industry by women and for women be against women?
Although inspirational ladies like Jeanne Lanvin and Coco Chanel founded the art of fashion, their leadership roles have fallen into the hands of male counterparts. Sadly, today men dominate the industry we created.
This shift has morphed fashion into something alien. For years, the runway reflected one look; skinny, tall and white. Women who didn’t fit this mold didn’t see themselves in the clothes they were conditioned to buy.
Emma Watson attacked the industry’s sexism with her HeForShe campaign. The young activist interviewed Stella McCartney and other influential fashion designers about sexism in the fashion world. McCartney recognized the responsibility of the fashion world to support women.
“I think the fashion industry has a very big role to play,” McCartney said via Vogue. “It has a huge voice to play and that voice can be adapted; it’s about time it did change. We need to give a better message to women of all ages, all sizes, [and] all nationalities. We need to allow women to feel comfortable in who they are.”
Some designers like Rick Owens and Karl Lagerfeld have used that voice to speak up for the movement, leading the way by blasting sexism through their female-empowered runway shows. Vogue Chief Critic Sarah Mower speculates that this shift in industry culture (such as Chanel’s Spring 2015 “street protest”) may inspire a new wave in fashion feminism.
“Feminist consciousness is breaching the borders of fashion shows all over the place this season,” Mower said in Vogue. “I’ve never seen fashion as anti-feminist per se, but there’s a distinct sense that designers are surrendering the notion of themselves as dictators, handing down trends and sacred inspirations to the waiting sheeplike hordes, and opening themselves up to inclusiveness and the reality that none of us wants to dress like everyone else anymore.”
Teen Vogue points out that these designers may be participating in the movement for the wrong reason, following fads and reveling in the social media fodder. Others claim that feminism in fashion raises some ethical dilemmas. Huffington Post argues feminist fashion reeks of hypocrisy – factories exploiting women often make clothes supporting the movement.
These are real issues, but they go deeper than the fashion industry. Our social system clings to trends in the news and follows the crowd on social media. Our economic system stifles the progress of women and hides behind industrialization.
We can’t denounce feminist fashion because it’s trendy and we can’t halt feminist fashion because it’s part of a larger problem. We have to embrace the problematic trend if we want a chance at change; we have to support the shift if we want a chance at being heard.
