From Prada to Céline, the fashion world joins the feminism movement in 2014 - Features - Fashion Feminism is fashionable. That's the statement we are never supposed to utter, within earshot of either feminists or fashion editors. That's because feminists understandably rail against the co-opting of their cause as a "trend", while editors, the press and some fashion designers rankle at the implication that their brave stance for womankind is viewed on a par with the ensemble cast of Sex and the City 2 performing Helen Reddy's empowering 1971 anthem "I Am Woman". But feminism is fashionable, insomuch as it is being name-checked by the fashion industry with a striking frequency. Prada spring/summer 2014 fashion show "What we did was ask, 'Does the word need rebranding?' In itself, this was the motivation for Elle to tackle the terminology head-on. Elle sought to unpick the meaning behind the word, rather than just splashing it across its front-page. Politics are often rinsed from fashionable feminism. Celine's designer, Pheobe Philo
Fashion and Politics | Centre for Sustainable Fashion Fashion can champion our identies and communities within an existing culture, photo from pearlysociety.co.uk Fashion and politics have a long and multidimensional relationship, fashion’s political voice taking on a wide variety of guises inside and outside of the pillars of state. The communicative power of fashion’s artistic practices can bring challenge to a political status quo, a brilliant exemplifier of this was drawn together through ICA’s recent offsite exhibition A Journey through London Subcultures showing work from LCF based Mark Lebon amongst others. It can also champion identity and solidarity within an existing culture or society in delightful ways – think Pearly Kings and Queens. Fashion’s business practices also have inextricable links to political ambitions and endeavours, offering a conduit for economic and societal ambitions of a state to be realized in tangible form. The discussion of fashion and durability must go much further however.
From the Archives: Political Powerhouses in Vogue As the U.S. team heads to Rio in pursuit of its sixth back-to-back gold, all eyes are on Elena Delle Donne. By the time their daughter was standing two heads above her fellow kindergartners, Elena Delle Donne’s parents knew she was an unusual child, and were not terribly surprised when, aged ten, Elena joined a basketball team and led it to place third in the national championships. Recently voted Most Valuable Player of the Women’s National Basketball Association, Elena is currently poised to lead the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team to collect its sixth consecutive gold in Rio. “She is a once-in-a generation type of player,” says NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum. “She’s a Steph Curry.” In an unlikely twist for somebody with Marvel-comic physical gifts, Elena’s life has also been shaped by extreme physical disability. The two sisters are extraordinarily close, often literally so. After lunch, mother and daughter retreat to the Delle Donnes’ 35-acre, multi-home property.
Chinese Workers at Uniqlo Supplier Go on Strike Over Firings | News & Analysis BEIJING, China — Hundreds of factory workers at a Chinese supplier to Fast Retailing Co. are striking over the dismissal of some of the employees, forcing production to shut down, a labor rights group said. All of the about 900 workers at Artigas Clothing & Leatherwear Co. in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen joined the strike after a number of them started it on June 8, Alexandra Chan, project officer of Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), said in a telephone interview. The supplier has been transferring equipment out of the factory and fired older workers as it plans to relocate the facility, Chan said, citing the workers. About 500 employees have been camping overnight at the plant to prevent more production machines being moved out, she said. Fast Retailing in China said in an e-mailed statement that the company is checking on the situation and declined to comment further. By Stephanie Wong, with assistance from Haixing Jin.
Topless protestors in New York and other countries for 'free the nipple' campaign Around 300 bare-chested demonstrators paraded in Manhattan following recent bids to get semi-nude models in Times Square bannedOther protests took place around the United States and in other countriesThe campaigners want women to be given the same rights as men when it comes to being topless in publicRachel Jessee from NYC's GoTopless group said: 'Freeing nipples and bodies frees minds as well, restoring self-image and self-esteem' By Dailymail.com Reporter Published: 22:30 GMT, 23 August 2015 | Updated: 00:41 GMT, 24 August 2015 Bare-chested protesters took to the streets of 60 cities around the world on Sunday as part of a campaign to 'free the nipple'. One of the biggest events for GoTopless Day was a semi-naked parade through New York City - where officials are debating whether topless tip-seekers should be allowed in Times Square. 'Our goal is for equal gender topless rights to be enforced worldwide, freeing women's nipples,' she said. Scroll down for video Bra-vo! Loaded: 0% Progress: 0%
Fashion’s most iconic political statements As the date of the UK election draws nearer, politicians have turned their attention to fashion and pop culture in an attempt to wrest the youth vote. David Cameron has claimed Kardashian kinship, Nick Clegg has starred in an “Uptown Funk” election anthem, and the Labour Party has channelled Katharine Hamnett with their “Hell Yes” slogan tee. These recent antics come as no surprise – fashion and politics have long been linked. Last week we paid tribute to Dame Vivienne Westwood’s best protests, one of the great masters of using fashion as a vehicle for social commentary. Now we turn our attention to other designers who have used their clothes to shine a spotlight on important issues. From men’s skirts, anti-terrorist slogans and Pussy Riot films, to penises on the catwalk, feminist runway protests and reflections on wartime hardships, here are the most memorable political statements in fashion history.
Barbour workers to go on strike in dispute over pay and working hours A clothing firm which went from making jackets for fishermen to become a fashion brand worn by royalty is locked in a bitter dispute with its workers. J Barbour and Sons Ltd - which makes the famous waxed jackets and Wellington boots loved by A-list celebrities - is facing strike action by more than 100 workers in the North East. The dispute is over what unions claim are forced changes to staff contracts, including the removal of the unsocial hours payment and the introduction of a requirement to work until 11pm. The Barbour jacket has become a mainstay in the wardrobes of the British establishment and is often worn by royalty including The Duchess of Cambridge and The Queen. The firm's workers are now threatening a strike The company's clothes, as worn by Lily Allen (left) and Billie Piper (right), have gone from being a niche product for fishermen and motorcyclists to a fashion success story which has graced the world's catwalks
Fashion, politics, and feminism: The women's magazines for a new generation "Women working at Douglas Aircraft" by Alfred T. Palmer (United States Library of Congress) In July, a Vice crew visited Umoja, a Kenyan village where no men are allowed. They were there to document the Samburu women who built Umoja to escape the strict patriarchal ways of their tribe, which include female genital mutilation as a marriage rite. “Do you want to find a husband?” The girl shakes her head no. “Me neither,” says the correspondent, and they high five. Broadly was announced in early 2015 and launched in August, joining several recent media sites for millennial women that are making some interesting moves. Earlier women’s sites like Jezebel, xoJane, and Bustle share a model inspired by the pre-2010 blogosphere: lots of confessional “It happened to me” posts, celebrity gossip, and personal takes on social issues. “It now seems patronizing to say that we’re only interested in shopping and fashion and lipstick,” says Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan.
How retailers can fashion their way through Brexit Exploring “Fashion & Politics” at the FIT The rich robes of kings and queens, their extravagant headwear and their accessories and jewels represented “status clothes”, a way to show people how powerful they were. When political propaganda didn’t formally exist, human beings used sartorial propaganda to promote themselves. Little by little as the decades and centuries passed, fashion and politics established indissoluble links one with the other. “Fashion & Politics” doesn’t actually relate to the focus on political ideologies and social values as expressed through fashion, but it has more to do with the maneuverings of participants in the political arena, the exhibition co-curators Jennifer Farley & Melissa Marra highlight. The exhibition features rare pieces from the 1800s such as reticule bags originally used as purses with embroideries spelling out the words “Guerre de Sucre” (Sugar War), a reference to France and Britain’s war against the Caribbean and West Indies over the sugar trade.
The Politics of Fashion | Leigh McAlea This blog is part of a month-long focus around sustainable fashion across HuffPost UK Style and Lifestyle. Here we aim to champion some of the emerging names in fashion and shine a light on the truth about the impact our appetite for fast fashion has around the world. Despite raised awareness of conditions in the industry through devastating events like the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, consumer desire for fast fashion - currently around £44billion pounds worth in the UK annually - trumps ethics. At the site of the Rana Plaza collapse where Rubi holds a photograph of her children who died in the factory disaster ©Leigh McAlea Why is this? The reasons are complex, but in our hyper-globalised world with extended supply chains, it is extremely difficult to relate to the workers and processes that bring clothes to our high streets and into our wardrobes. One of TRAID’s charity shops, in Dalston, London, our alternative to the high street. What would this look like?
Zendaya schools the world on cultural appropriation In a new interview Zendaya has weighed in on the heated subject of cultural appropriation. It’s a topic that keeps rearing its head, both in the media and on Twitter – whether it’s a conversation about M.I.A.’s new video or Kylie Jenner’s cornrows. Speaking with Nylon, the 18-year-old singer and actress stressed that there’s a difference between appreciating and appropriating other cultures. “You can go about it as cultural appreciation or cultural appropriation,” she said. “I urge people to take the extra step of knowledge and learn about things,” she continued. It’s not the first time Zendaya – who is of mixed heritage – has entered into the race debate. Like Zendaya, fellow actress Amandla Stenberg has also been outspoken on the subject of cultural appropriation, from calling out Kylie Jenner for wearing cornrows to making a video (aptly titled Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows) which she described as a “crash discourse on black culture”.
Dress codes: can there be a productive relationship between politics and fashion? Is Margaret Atwood a feminist? That’s what I’m trying to work out during our lamentably brief time together squished around a table in the back of a promotional booth at a comics convention in California. Obviously, you might roll your eyes, Have you read The Handmaid’s Tale? Certainly among fourth wave feminists, many of whom, in the UK at least, studied the book as part of the National Curriculum at A-level, Atwood is lionised, especially on Twitter, where she enthusiastically interacts with her 1.27 million followers on a regular basis. But what many of them forget is that Atwood, who is now 76, grew up on the cusp between first and second wave feminism, a time when women were fighting for tangible goals such control over their reproductive rights rather than the right to publish nude selfies without criticism. “I, as a female person, don’t have any trouble reading Moby Dick. “Wonder Woman was read by everybody,” she continues. Angel Catbird is out in the UK on 8 September.
I Didn't Wear Makeup To New York Fashion Week & This Is What Happened | Bustle Twice a year, sartorial enthusiasts, celebrities, celebrity-seekers, and the press join together on the streets of Manhattan for New York Fashion Week. Despite living in NYC throughout college and again as a now-working-20-something, and despite the fact that my clothes addiction is worse than my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup addiction, I've never really been into it. NYFW has always seemed like a couture-focused, beauty standard-enforcing, elitist bubble of designers, models, and guests whose outfits cost the equivalent of six months rent in Bushwick or aspiring designers, models, and guests lingering outside runway locations in their most OTT outfits waiting to get street styled. This is precisely why I — being a self-proclaimed people watcher and hater of beauty standards — decided to spend my last day of Fashion Week with me, myself, my bare naked face, and my less-than-superb selfie abilities. Personally, I rarely leave the house without makeup on. Images: Marie Southard Ospina