A grey, Parisian, cobbled street is
brimming with people holding placards with strikingly scrawled messages:
“feminist but feminine” and “ladies first”. They march, megaphones in hand,
chanting their message to the world. The runway is a stage for change, as much
as a normal street, and designer Karl Lagerfeld knows this. The women stride,
their pride and confidence showing, in beautifully designed tweed suits of
various colours and vivid, long, lingering, garments; a breath-taking display
of design. Of course, this is Chanel’s
spring/summer show for Paris Fashion Week.
In the age of democracy, the world
has bared witness to countless controversial decisions in politics. Coming from
the recent news of new president-elect Donald Trump and ‘Brexit’; the world
reels from political statements showing how the way that is assumed and how
some are led to believe, is not always the way that the world is. These
unexpected decisions show the need for individuals in society to have a voice.
Stereotyping fashion into a group in which others feel that designers,
innovators and creatives must suppress their voices because they do not have
the knowledge to comment on such things as politics, is ludicrous. More than
ever, the fashion industry makes statements showing that they have a voice in
politics, as much as the rest of us, and will use it to incite change; this is
the basis of democracy.
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| Chanel S/S 2015 Paris |
Karl Lagerfeld is not the first to
speak through his designs. The show bought together Chanel’s long history of celebrating
the independent women; founder Coco Chanel started this post- World War I with
the introduction of a defiant new female image to oppose the constricting
corset.
Many forget the power of clothing
in society. It affects not only how we see others, although many would not
admit this, but it spreads a message to people about who you are. This is the
forefront of style; how a person is dressed clearly conveys who that person is.
If I saw someone walking down the street in a ‘Metallica’ top, I would either
think they were a heavy rock fan or they just love to shop in Brandy Melville.
Alexander McQueen. A controversial
and exquisite designer, always pushing boundaries on the garments he can
create. Many of his collections caused outrage but now, he is remembered for
the politically fashion-forward collections he produced. Specifically,
‘Highland Rape’, a collection entailing the ‘rape’ of the Scottish by the
English. Stumbling down the runway, bruised and beaten models with dazed
expressions shocked the audience. Vivid tartan and lace barely clothed the
models. This collection not only raised comments about British history and
ancestry, but of femininity and ‘misogyny’. McQueen has always stated his aim
to empower women and to be scared of the women he dresses and this collection
was no different. He explained, not long after the show, that to empower women,
he was drawing awareness “to the way that society sees them”. McQueen being
intensely patriotic wanted to ensure that Scottish history would not be
forgotten, especially the “ethnic cleansing” taken place by the English in 18th
to 19th century.
McQueen always seemed to find the
beauty in everything. His guest-edited ‘Fashion-Able’ cover for Dazed magazine
in 1998, featured various models with a variety of physical disabilities. McQueen challenged society’s view of beauty
and bought alternate forms of beauty to a public platform. This idea went far
beyond what the fashion industry had been seeing on catwalks and magazine previously,
creating a touching and brave form of beauty, opening up the industry to a new
audience. Bespoke designs adorned the models and this proved that beauty is not
conventional. Fashion brings together all topics of the world and places them
in one garment. It is amazing how the concept of a volcano or a bridge can
generate vast amounts of inspiration, to create a one-of a kind garment.
The controversial, political
statement is remembered by all, and is terribly unexpected. It is this
surprising nature and openness that draws people in to the political situation.
It is designers and creatives that seem to take an issue and create art, to
draw awareness to politics. In a society where the levels of apathy in politics
is increasing, it is the duty for creatives to make people, who are not necessarily
concerned with politics, aware of the problems in our society. We are extremely
fortunate to live in a democratic culture and many have fought to have the
right to vote, therefore, we must not take advantage of this.
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| Katharine Hamnett and Margaret Thatcher |
Katharine Hamnett is the innovator
of politically bold, slogan, oversized t-shirts covering topical issues
throughout her time in the fashion industry. An incredibly famous image is that
of Hamnett meeting Margaret Thatcher after a recent poll showing statistics on
nuclear missiles being stationed in the UK. Thatcher dressed in a velvet dress
with matching suit jacket is, as all politicians do, acting calm in the public
eye despite this unexpected development and Hamnett stands proud of the loose,
politically forward shirt she wears reading “58% are opposed to Pershing”. The
political power of the slogan t-shirt has not only been utilised by Hamnett,
but by other designers including the ever-rebellious Vivienne Westwood (“I Am
Not A Terrorist” and “Climate Revolution”). Westwood, alike Lagerfeld, created
a catwalk protest with models gripping placards adorned with the words
“Fracking is a crime” and “Austerity is a crime” in 2015; even taking to the
streets of London to spread her message. The simple act of printing words onto
a t-shirt can make the slightest of difference. This combined with the world as
your stage, can be a deadly combination of opportunity for society to be made
aware of the problems that are facing them.
Fashion has even made an impact on
international matters, with a campaign based around the human rights abuses of
Russia in regards to LGBTI rights in a defiant response to coincide with the
Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. A series of SHOWstudio short films were made
showcasing a number of balaclava-clad models, designer’s, photographers and
fashion industry insiders. The balaclava being a tribute to the Russian rock
protest band ‘Pussy Riot’ who were jailed in 2012 for performing inside a
church. Each ‘Proud To Protest’ film is in black and white; a raw and rebellious
response, presenting solidarity amongst the fashion industry after
controversial decisions made to reduce the human rights of the Russian people.
Particularly, the decision by the Duma to pass anti-gay propaganda laws in
2013. This unification of the fashion industry to be defiant against a regime
that limits the freedom of its people is why it is becoming increasingly
important for people to voice the problems that are facing them.
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| Vivienne Westwood
Without the media, the acts of
these individuals would be silenced. The media plays a crucial role in
political statements and with the constant views on leading designers, models
and creatives, it is important for the media to be utilised to gain awareness
for their causes. The most controversial statements in the fashion industry go
down in history and I long for the day that designers take the events of 2016,
crafting them carefully into art.
Sometimes it just takes an idea to
change the world. In the eyes of a designer this idea is the gold dust of
opportunity to make a worthwhile change.
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*All images used are from Google images and I do not own them*
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