When the Fashion Industry becomes Feminist
Feminist today is trendy
Hence, Fashion is riding the wave, sympathizing with the metoo movement. So much so that one of Chanel's fashion shows - the Spring-Summer 2015 show, to be precise - was an ode to feminism and women's rights. Standing in front of the wardrobe there are so many things we take for granted. There are clothes that are normal to wear today, but which for a long time were forbidden and considered social taboos. It’s no secret that clothes go hand in hand with self-expression. For decades people have used fashion as a way to communicate. The clothes we wear can be used to tell a story, communicate values and ideals, or express political solidarity.
Today, although we tend to forget this, we enjoy the benefits from centuries of struggles to free the female body from its cages and superstructures dictated by a world guided by men. Several times throughout history, fashion has affirmed women's new social role and served to reaffirm their desire for emancipation and independence. From the flappers who literally made a break with the past, to the unisex who paved the way for the gender revolution.
The garçonne cut
Today, many women sport a short haircut. But until the arrival of the flappers in the 1920s, giving up one's hair would have been completely unimaginable. Hair had always been considered the supreme weapon of seduction (which is why married women always wore their hair up and their heads covered). Until the eve of the First World War, people wore their hair long and styled in swollen hairstyles. During the First World War, things change radically. There is no time to spend hours in front of the mirror, and pompous toiletries suddenly appear expensive.
It was in this context that the first flappers launched the cut à la garçonne, challenging the millennial identification of women with their long-brushed hair. Women had just won the right to vote -in the USA and England, at least- and claimed their place in society. The fragile dolls of the Belle Epoque are a thing of the past: the contemporary woman is agile, functional. Without bustiers and frills.
The pants
During the Second World War, women found themselves having to wear trousers, figuratively and literally.
While the men are busy at the front, they are the only ones left to run civilian life, to support the war effort and domestic life. Just as many girls worked in factories, and just as many in jobs hitherto considered exclusively male. Pants become a simple necessity.
When the war is over, it is true, fashion will become frivolous and pompous again. Dior will bring back wide skirts and even waist cinchers. But trousers meanwhile have won a place in women's wardrobes with the affirmation of Coco Chanel designs. Women will no longer be willing to give them up, in some cases even in defiance of the law.
The mini skirt
Can an unashamedly sexy garment also be feminine?
The answer is yes, and the miniskirt is here to prove it.
Born in London in the early 1960s, Mary Quaint's mini is the fashion version of the sexual liberation movement that flourished around '68. The freedom to do what one wants with one's body is the fil rouge that links fashion and costume.
The mini skirt is the uniform of the new generation "the baby boomers" who revolutionized society in these years. The girls entering university or the world of work, refusing to see themselves only as wives and mothers, are increasingly numerous. The mini perfectly represents these new women. Feminine, young, independent. Masters of themselves and their bodies.
The mini skirt has also been a controversial garment, which of course has only increased its fame. Since its debut, there have been countless attempts to ban it: even today you can read in the newspapers about some institutions that wants to ban it from schools. Some feminists, moreover, have condemned the miniskirt as 'chauvinist' because it would promote a sexualized image of women.
Loved or hated, the mini today still causes discussion.
The Unisex
Since the late 1960s, in fashion, the genders began to converge. In men's fashion colours and prints return.
In women's fashion, on the other hand, designers such as Yves Saint Laurent experiment with androgynous inspiration. And they dress women in pantsuits, smoking blazers, and garments stolen from his wardrobe. The masculine goes towards the feminine and vice versa: the gender boundary becomes increasingly blurred.
Workwear-inspired jumpsuits and dungarees which are the most significant garments of this trend are now back in fashion in a big way featured by designers like Harris Reed and Comme des Garçons.
Today
The fashion world is founded on prejudice and a paradox: it used to be men who decided the dress codes for women. But today the trend seems to be changing: the proof is the many names of women at the helm of Maisons such as Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, and Dior. From Maria Grazia Chiuri, who made her debut for Dior in 2016 to Clare Weight Keller that took the reins at Givenchy the following year.
On the surface level, fashion seems to slowly but surely be moving in a direction which favors gender equality, but is it really what meets the eye?
