For some reason it has been hard to find something that catches my eye during fashion month. I might like a look or two from a collection but I begin to wonder if the props and sets are starting to be more important than the clothes as a way for designers to tell cultural stories? There were more articles about Gucci’s shrunken heads and operating room set than there were descriptions of the clothes, which the designer also put thought into. There were drones that carried handbags, and a virtual influencer avatar who is insanely popular on instagram taking selfies. Futuristic visions of women’s utopias where they take over the streets at night or become hyper glamorous robots were a response to recent events concerning women such as “me too”. Suggested as a form of virtual, futuristic escapism, because our present is too difficult to face or bear, this veering away from reality might be a momentary distraction. To me it trivializes the enormous role and impact fashion can have right now as a driver of change. The issue remains that a great deal of work needs to be done to get us to a real, and not virtual, women’s utopia. In other words the Drone needs to land and come back to earth for a dose of real before it can fly again and take the next set of photos.
That being said I am drawn to clothes right now that are comfortable, utilitarian and look like the women who are wearing them are ready to get to work. I have been thinking oversized coats, I saw a few in Milan, with big pockets so we are not encumbered by having to carry bags. I am thinking interestingly shaped knits that also keep us warm. I am thinking basics that can be stamped after purchase with a woman’s unique positionality in places where there are no categories or labels except for the ones we create for ourselves. For me the interesting question for designers is not what kinds of clothes should we be wearing to escape reality, but rather what kinds of clothes need to be created for us that will move and inspire us to take action to change it.
As we celebrate International Woman’s Day this week I will be joining conversations about how fashion can be used to empower women through aesthetics and economics. In my view for “me too” to move beyond a marketing tool or social media hashtag there needs to be significant work being done to promote women’s economic stability. This will go a long way towards protecting women on many levels. It is not enough to show pictures of strong women, we have to give them some economic muscle and bones. Social Media is an exceptionally important tool for change and we should be thinking about how to use the more productive aspects of it to communicate and engage but then come back to real so real people can take actions in response.
This week I will be working on a project that was completely fueled by creativity, collaboration and support. A project that a group of men and women participated in simply because it was important, interesting, fun and a way to support each others desire to be expressive and creative. Put together by the designer and I interweaving a web of relationships we each brought to the table, the project creates a product but also enlarges the circle as new relationships are formed by the end of the day. These sorts of collaborations within fashion can be the basis for change. Stay tuned to hear and see more.
As I continue to work through my design concept, I see something beginning to emerge from the abandoned spaces. I see clothes for these people, clothes that let them freely move both together and apart, that keep them warm and protected and can conceal identity and reveal it almost at the same time. Clothes that allow for building something that rises from ruins. I will ask myself the very question I posed to other designers. My fingers are itching to get beyond an afternoon fumbling around to just figure out thread tension! This too takes work and I don’t yet have a robot programmed to do it for me.
After viewing Fashion Month, what do you want to say to fashion designers?
If I had viewed Fashion Month, I would give each of them a copy of this post. I agree with what it says (and it says that so articulately) and will archive it for continuing inspiration in my own activism.
Please, look at the real world and at the real people living in it.
Stop ridiculise them and using them to your sometimes humiliating fantasy.
Use your talent and imagination to build real and beautiful clothes in respectful material
Love your comment about clothes needing to ‘move and inspire us to take action to change’.
LYN is being FEATURED this week on THE VINTAGECONTESSA.NET if you care to hear MORE of her STORY!
Well I think you already said it very well! Comfort, warmth, unencumbrance, involvement, personal srength and freedom to choose! Thank you for your blog! Connie
Very excited to see what you and your team concoct! I would so love to see women freed from the necessity of carrying a handbag. This, though I love the look of many now available. BUT: consider the ergonomic disaster of the colossal tote, so emblematic of our need to carry our Stuff with us everywhere. Not to mention notification to the world, "I’m carrying something very valuable right here on a thin thread, come and get it!" Theedit alternatives are complicated for a person with a small frame. Do we want big saddlebag pockets that weigh us down and diminish us? How do we edit what we carry and find ways to carry what we need with grace and confidence?
I am overwhelmed and feeling a roiling dysfunction in the environment that nips at my positive vibes! Stop it, I want to yell. Unplug it! Yet I persist too, still at my keyboard. Thinking similar thoughts as you, trying to create my own free-form space to express my power. I am very interested in what you and your team come up with.
What I want to say to the designers? – Keep pushing those envelopes. Wake us up to the undercurrents, as you do so brilliantly. But also, give me a chance to breathe. Heh. I think it was a great season but my head is still spinning, and not as a handbag, although that was freaky/cool. What’s the line between cultural critic and being part of the melee? Or is there one? Is it reflection over instigation? Anyway, keep it coming!
There’s more to "me too."
You put so many beautiful thoughts into the aspect of what clothes MEAN, I hurtfully miss the question of the ecological and social impact their production has. Why not make fashion sustainable?
Your style aesthetic and analysis is on spot. What would I say to a designer? How about some ready-to -wear in that vein that is affordable. You look like a million bucks but trying to recreate this mood/style/approach to fashion is hard on a much lower budget. Clothes that move and are utilitarian and look good are my personal dream. I might be getting older but looking and feeling hip are still a part of my dream.
Beautifully written
"what kinds of clothes need to be created for us that will move and inspire us to take action to change it." Yes. This. I am on your wavelength! ManumaStyle.com
Hi Im a first viewer Im plus size and 40 I have to say as a buyer its hard to get excited about A line skirts, pastels and fringes on Women which to be frank look nothing like me as a european size 48 .
On a plus note I just came accross you and I do belive you may be the style message I needed to kick me out of that grey area you fall in to I guess about my age where you arent young anymore and take less risk or at least feel less confident to do so.
I approach the fashion runway the same way I approach a sewing pattern. Both are merely a suggestion, a blueprint. Each gives me the freedom to create a look that excites me when I get ready for work. See a look that appeals to me and seek out fabric, thrift store finds and elsewhere to create the mood, attitude and statement I want to make. Its not difficult, its not pricey. One needs to overcome Labels.
I would be happy if we could get back to the days when women’s jeans and pants actually had usable pockets! Men still have pockets, why wouldn’t we still need them? Oh yes, because our pants are designed to be skin tight…no room for pockets. Sweaters that are more than a layer of film…men have them, I have ended up buying a men’s cardigan (with pockets) because I needed warmth and practicality. Shirts that aren’t so thin they require a layer underneath or wearing two shirts to make one of a normal thickness. Fashion can be functional, I’m not a highly fashionable person but still like to look fresh and would love to see some practicality return.
A robot is"must have" for you, so creative and competent woman living in only 24 hours system. Best regards.
"I am drawn to clothes right now that are comfortable, utilitarian and look like the women who are wearing them are ready to get to work." — YES! I am starving for clothes like this.
I am a start up blogger and came across your instagram by chance. When i have started blogging I hesitated to show my outfits but having see your blog I got sure that I do everything the best. your energy already spreaded on me dear. your looks are perfect and my respect. The best wishes.