MIUSE: ISSUE 1

Author: Tom Legg
Page 138
With London Fashion Week tweeting “who makes the gender
rules?”, the organisation is perhaps rubbing shoulders with
the world of politics once again. Although we see individual
designers often present shows containing elements of sociopolitical
activism, a move like this from the BFC begs the
question, how politicised is fashion? The answer can partly be
found on the runway, which is no stranger to fashion activism.
This especially reigns true for the shows of Autumn/Winter
2019. Over in New York, the heightened socio-political
climate in America meant the city’s 2018 Fashion Week was
rife with social commentary. Founder of Pyer Moss, Kerby
Jean-Raymond debuted a collection dedicated entirely to
the excellence of Black Americans. But although some looks
focused on “just black people doing normal things”, illustrated
by bright images of black families, this was juxtaposed with
slogans and graphic pieces referencing police brutality and
the ongoing fight against racism in America.
It’s not always the garments that function as an implicit
political statement, but the performance of the shows
themselves. Tom Ford sent his FW19 collection down the
runway accompanied with the Crowded House song “Don’t
Dream It’s Over”. With the lyrics: “They come, they come/
To build a wall between us/We know they won’t win”,
chiming a day after President Trump’s State of the Union
speech in which he ordered the southern border wall to be
built, Ford was unapologetic about his political standpoint.
However, subliminal messaging evocating political issues isn’t
the only way to get bold socio-political statements across to a
mass audience. Katharine Hamnett is perhaps best known for
meeting the UK’s then-Prime Minister Magazine Thatcher
whilst wearing her printed t-shirt that read “58% DON’T
WANT PERSHING” in scrutiny of Pershing missiles being
based in the UK.
She’s continued to enmesh her collections with political
affairs in her runway shows with catwalk models wearing
“STOP WAR, BLAIR OUT” in 2003 and releasing a
menagerie of slogan t-shirts on her website. Most recently,
Activists4Grenfell display at LFW in February of last year
was reminiscent of Hamnett’s slogan t-shirts, demanding
justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The
simplistic approach to social commentary during fashion
week is perhaps the best approach when mixing fashion
and politics. This is something that was perhaps lacking in
Vivienne Westwood’s FW19 runway, being critiqued by Sleek
fashion writer Angela Waters who suggested: “Certain issues
like wealth inequality, starvation and critiques of consumerist
culture can look a bit tone-deaf on an 80-euro t-shirt”.
Vivienne Westwood’s attempt to fill an entire collection with
an abundance of differing political statements subsequently
became overwhelming and diluted the messaging completely.
With monologues from models, criticisms of climate change,
Hollywood and politicians, she exhibited how fashion can
often become too entangled with politics. But whether
effective or not, when it comes to making any bolshie fashion
statements, the clothes and performance can only take us so
far.
It’s key to remember that although making noise is essential to
make a change, we need to follow it up with putting pressure
on those who govern our society. Fashion’s relationship with
politics doesn’t always originate from the runways, instead,
fashion is sometimes utilised by social groups as a uniform
for protest. One of the most prominent examples of protest
dressing was the punk movement of the 1960s and early
1970s. As anti-establishment views grew throughout the
1960s, so did non-conformity to mainstream fashion. The
conservative tea dresses of the 50s were replaced with leather
jackets and jeans, embellished with safety pins and other metal
modifications to mirror the angsty nature of the movement.
Around the same time as the punk movement, Huey Newton
and Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party. The
organisation patrolled neighbours to monitor and challenge
the unfair treatment of African-Americans by the Oakland
Police Department and in turn, became an influential black
movement organisation.
Distinguishable by black leather jackets, berets and afros,
the BPP’s unofficial uniform is a significant way the party
is remembered today. These uniforms still symbolise Black
Power even today, with Beyoncé paying homage to the party
and aligning it with the Black Lives Matter Movement at the
Superbowl 2016 halftime show. Though we are yet to see the
level of anarchism caused by punk fashion in recent times,
the concept of protest dressing is still present today. Probably
most recently is the Pussyhat Project, created by Jayna
Zweiman and Krista Suh. Fashioned as a response to the
deplorable comments made by Donald Trump about freely
grabbing women’s genitalia, the hat was a common sight at
the 2017 Women’s March in Washington DC.
Fashion is inherently political; from what we wear to how we
wear it. Whether it’s on the runways or in our wardrobes,
fashion has always had ties with political change and works
as a perfect ally for protest. But in reflection, the question
shouldn’t be ‘how politicised is fashion’, it should be whether
it is politicised and effective enough to orchestrate real change.