Five arguments to be a feminist without giving up fashion

Five arguments to be a feminist without giving up fashion

8-M Women's Day

The industry has promoted the empowerment of women while making it a commercial object

Feminist strike on March 8: Demonstrations in Barcelona, ​​Madrid, etc., live

Margarita PuigBarcelona

Yes. Fashion has also done a lot for feminism. And from its highest hierarchy it has promoted movements that have strongly inspired many "real" women. But there are those who doubt the honesty of so much feminist message that is being commercialized more and more rapidly, both at the hands of luxury and low cost firms. On the one hand it is perfect, since it promotes this equality and empowerment of women, but on the other hand its message is being commercialized in an excessive way?

Is that breaking your principles? Has feminism finally become just another marketing tool? Asks the psychologist Montserrat Ribot, who says yes. That in the fashion industry it is generic and lawful to take advantage of the message for its objective: to sell more. But that doesn't mean every woman can't use those tools to her advantage. She remembers that Coco Chanel, without ever declaring herself a feminist, helped a lot in the women's revolution. She supported them, in her own way, “always thinking about the functionality of her garments”. And she, in some way, helped them empower themselves to feel like “buyers” and not “objects”.

Be that as it may, what is clear is that women power is more alive than ever. While models, actresses and women from all sectors began to come out to denounce the acts of machismo suffered during their career, the industry and its firms joined the pull. Combining phrases and philosophies that, despite the controversy they may raise among those who consider feminism and fashion to be incompatible, are very powerful.

Dior says

We should be feminist

The phrase was promoted by Maria Grazia Chiuri to become a declared feminist fashion slogan. The Dior designer, the first in the entire history of the brand who for a long time only dressed women, made it very clear in her first of her shows. When she landed in 2016, she presented a collection in which she highlighted a transparent dress that many actresses later took to couché paper around the world. But what she liked the most was her message inscribed on simple cotton t-shirts. She put we should be feminist. It was imposed as a tsunami slogan that can hardly be withheld.

The example was also followed by Victoria Beckham, another strong woman with her own signature that has made the male suit her main ally. She has always said it. “Since my first day and my first collection I have only sought to empower women.”

And now, another empowered woman has just taken the reins of another great firm to turn it around. It's Louise Trotter who has just landed at Lacoste (also historically run by men) with a flawless show. At a tennis club in Paris, following the brand's codes but without giving up her own, on Tuesday she demonstrated that the crocodile signature also adds to this empowerment of women.

For now, she has decided that men's suits are for everyone. For them and for them. And also that the skirts, which she presents extra long, can also be for them, the men of this new generation who do not understand gender.

Before all of them, another essential name in the world of fashion had already given her fully feminist (and educated) vision. This is Miuccia Prada, the Italian designer who already in her spring-summer 2014 collection filled the garments with female faces. her.

Lagerfeld follows

Ladies first, History is her Story

Those were some of the phrases on the banners that Karl Lagerfeld, who has just received his last tribute in the presentation of what was also his last collection for Chanel at Paris Fashion Week, already made his parade stand up more openly feminist. The one for spring/summer 2015 with Gisele Bündchen and Cara Delevingne cheering Ladies first and History is her Story through a megaphone. With that metaphorical protest, Lagerfeld captured the spirit of Coco Chanel, creator of the brand that the lamented designer raised from her ashes when he took over the reins of her in 1983.

Large sizes

Revolution 'curvy' and 'body positive'

Making visible what was hidden for decades is the objective of this movement that emerged from the hand of women who do not want to give up fashion despite not entering the supposed canons of perfection. Changes in the sector have helped to make people understand that sexual orientation, being overweight, acne or stretch marks are human. You don't have to cover any of that up. In short, the normal is not excluded from the world of fashion where the inclusion of plus-size models is now more and more common. Or with vitiligo like Winnie Harlow. With prostheses like Chiaria Bordi… “Fashion offers more options than ever, whether you are a masculinized woman, thinner or with more curves… all of this favors women's freedom”, explains Ribot, who highlights the idea that “woman is the who has to decide if she is a buyer or a product”. She has to defend her power of choice. To know how to choose.

The voices of those who consider that her skin color has never been taken into account have also been raised. For them, Rihanna launched a cosmetic collection that covered all shades. The Barbadian singer also has her own line of lingerie which, of course, caters to all sizes. The supposedly conventional ones and also the big ones. Or extra large.

space for all

Sizes for short and skinny

We move away from fatphobia after the curvy revolution but there are already those who complain about another issue that for those who do not have curves is not minor. And what about the skinny ones? Yes, they also defend their right to participate in this world of female empowerment in which sometimes being too thin has also been punished. If in the 60s Twiggy got her space in a world where models ruled from size forty, now those who feel stigmatized by her alleged lack of weight defend themselves through movements such as #thinphobia. Short girls, fed up with having to buy clothes in children's departments, have also raised their voices. In the 21st century it should be easier for there to be clothes for everyone.

for the hippies

release your nipple

The most applauded models of the moment release a singular movement. Almost following the famous burning of bras feminism of the 60s (which in the end did not occur because it was banned), now the sisters Hadid and Kendall Jenner have decided not to wear that garment. Transparent in the cotton shirts during the day, and completely ignored in their outfits at night, they feel freer that way. Without hiding her nipples.

That attitude, which of course has served as an example and has standardized the crowd that follows them on the networks, has even sparked the debate on whether it is good or bad not to wear bras, which are no longer in Miley Cyrus' closets. , Kate Moss or Jennifer Aniston. Just like Molly Borman, creator of the Just Nips website where she sells fake nipples to help every woman who has overcome breast cancer. Or the trans communities. Those who do not wear a bra, after suffering censorship on Instagram, promoted the #Freethenipple initiative. There they defend that wearing a bra or not, like breastfeeding in public, is something personal. Nothing that can be prohibited or covered in the networks.

for the shoppers

chic feminism

Philosophy professors Josep Artés and Miquel Martínez, consider that it is necessary to go carefully. Are the feminist messages of multinational clothing a sign of the ability of capitalism to neutralize social movements?”, they recently asked in an essay that analyzed this topic. It will have to be seen. There are opinions for all tastes. But that tsunami, the one that Dior promoted with the first Maria Grazia Chiuri show, continues to advance. Some have baptized as #Feminismochic this abundance in adding fashion and feminism that so many criticize.

Montserrat Ribot believes that there is no need to fall into traps. Fashion has to be a tool in the hands of every woman (and every man). The subject is not fashion or its industry. She says that “it's every single woman. We are in a capitalist world, you have to take advantage of what it offers for your own benefit. That is the power of any person, be it a man or a woman.” That is why she returns again and again to her idea that women have to feel like “buyers” and not “products” in the face of all this, something that men know how to do much better.

She considers that “we are still very far”. Because "everything starts at home" and according to her account of her experience, there is not enough progress there. “I know too many women who are still anchored in the romantic myth. The Snow White myth is fatal. But more perverse is that of Beauty and the Beast, considers Ribot, who says that "until we stop educating women with that of 'with my love I will change it', there will be no progress possible no matter how many announcements are made and fashion with positive messages.

Is enough being done for parity between men and women?Thank you for participatingYour vote has been countedYes, we are betterNo, we are a long way offYes, we are betterNo, a lot is missingpoll_amp.error.message Poll closed.VotedPeople
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