Wear your cause. Katy Perry Kisha Bari When Rebecca Lee Funk was alongside Amy Schumer protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, alongside her was a she was wearing a T-shirt that read,“We All Came from a Woman.” The shirt is part of Funk’s label The Outrage , which she started in October of 2016. “I thought we’d be a celebratory brand for the first female president,” she says. “Plot twist. Trump was elected.” The Outrage redefined itself as a cause-related company for intersectional issues, opening a Washington D.C. pop-up to raise funds for the Women’s March, and partnering with March for Our Lives and March for Science. The company has also registered thousands of voters in the last two years. Fans include Piper Perabo, Alyssa Milano, America Ferrara, Debra Messing, Sophia Bush and Rose McGowan, who collaborated on a collection that benefited the East Los Angeles Women’s Center. Funk says,“Right now our best sellers are hands down the ‘Dr. Blasey Ford is a Hero’ and ‘Anita Hill is a Hero’ t-shirts. We released them to raise money to fund travel to D.C. for people to protest the confirmation…Fashion [is] an entry point to activism and we’re here to help people get and stay engaged.” Meredith Jenks New York city-based Prinkshop’s best-seller is a shirt emblazoned with 1973, the year of the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which granted women the right to abortion across the country. With all eyes on whether Kavanaugh’s replacement of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy might overturn Roe once and for all, sales of the 1973 shirt, which benefit the National Institute for Reproductive Health, have shot through the roof. Founder Pamela Bell likes to think of her business, founded in 2016 with the “You see a girl I see a future shirt” in partnership with the U.N. GIRLUP Foundation, as an advocacy design group around the world’s most pressing issues, that happens to make clothing and accessories. She also seeks transparency in her supply chain. Her largest supplier, in Port Washington, New York, has a workforce that is 73 percent adults with autism. Tote bags made in New Hampshire are done in a factory owned by women, and so forth. The formula has attracted a starry following including Willow Smith, Tea Leoni, Jane Rosenthal, Alysia Reiner, Mark Herzlich, Sarah Sophie Flickr and Greta Gerwig, “Those wearing our clothes become advocates,” Bell says of her line, sold online and at Fred Segal and J Crew. Amanda Brinkman went to bed on Oct.19, with no intention of becoming a viral sensation. She was watching the presidential debate in October 2016 when Trump called Clinton, a “nasty woman,” and reacted by mocking up shirts, thinking she might sell “3-5 shirts total”. She woke up to 10,000 orders and her business Shrill Society was born. “Conversations can happen now due to movements like #metoo that weren’t happening on such a large scale just 2 years ago,” says Brinkman, whose customers include Katy Perry, Kristen Bell, Will Ferrell, Michelle Monaghan, […]
Artwork by Milo Matthieu We all know politics is about power and as feminist theory famously posits, the personal is political. While our clothing reflects who we are, in many ways it can also determine our ability to gain entry into influential spaces. Yet when women express an interest in fashion, it is often weaponized as a means of denying us access to political conversations—as if these interests were mutually exclusive. Teen Vogue became a target of this strain of chauvinism during our coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign and election. I quickly earned a bull’s-eye for my work covering everything from Ariana Grande’s shoes to Donald Trump’s lies—the fashion and entertainment articles were routinely used by dissenters on Twitter to call my intelligence into question and disqualify my political coverage. The most grotesque example was broadcast on national television last year when a male Fox News host abruptly ended our politically charged debate by telling me to “stick to the thigh-high boots.” Subscribe now to Teen Vogue to get Volume III: The Icons Issue + a free gift! The notion that enjoying fashion precludes the potential for critical thought espouses an absurd double standard with obvious roots in sexism. Despite what the critics may say, you are allowed to obsess over a pair of shoes while maintaining a passionate investment in the future of this country. As a woman who cares about both, I wanted to arm myself—and every young woman who reads Teen Vogue—with a new way to think about fashion’s role in the context of politics. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video WATCH Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse & KJ Apa Compete in a Compliment Battle Share Tweet Email More… EMBED URL VIDEO URL https://www.teenvogue.com/video/watch/riverdale-s-cole-sprouse-kj-apa-compete-in-a-compliment-battle/ This live video has ended. It will be available to watch shortly. See what else is new Loaded: 0%Progress: 0% UnmuteVolume 0% Back Caption Options Close Settings Language English Font Size Small Medium Large Position Auto Bottom Top Sample Caption TextCurrent Time 0:00Duration 0:00Remaining Time -0:00 Speaking with a range of designers, I find the answer unfailingly turns to personal agency and its sartorial extensions. Designer Mara Hoffman immediately sweeps my existential question into a big-picture reality, explaining that how she exists in the world as a woman is political: “Life is political…. Walking through this planet is political.” (I immediately envision clips of her simple yet profound statement plastered on one of those third-wave feminist T-shirts. We’ll get to those later.) In a world where good old boys’ clubs prevail and victim-blaming persists, the way a woman decides to adorn her body can alter the course of her life. How many times have we heard wearing a miniskirt equated with asking for it? For women navigating traditionally male fields (read: most of them), the daily practice of dressing can also be a professional and political minefield. Tory Hoen, the creative director of brand marketing for MM.LaFleur, a […]
Political dressing is fashionable right now, but is it fashion? Celebrities and stars turned up dressed in black at the 75th Golden Globes Award ceremony. Instantly the media was in frenzy over what they dubbed “ political fashion statements on the red carpet.” This is just the most recent droplet of a rainy season of purportedly political fashion. It all started with the pantsuit parties in solidarity with U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 . It then progressed with white supremacists uniformed in polos and khaki during their infamous Charlottesville demonstrations last year. As the effects of Brexit, a Donald Trump White House and the rise of so-called alt-right activism in Europe and North America ripple through the cultural waters, political dressing is trending. Protesters of all stripes — feminists, white supremacists, antifa, nationalists and social justice advocates — are outfitting themselves to match their political mindsets. Pantsuit Power flash mob in NYC, Oct. 2, 2016. Video directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall and Mia Lidofsky. Produced by Jillian Schlesinger and Liz Sargent. This type of political dressing is not the dress code of politicians. This is individuals and groups using everyday dress to express their political outlook. The problem is that often participants and commentators, reporters and scholars, quickly rush to label it fashion. But is political dressing fashion? What is fashion? The political dimension of clothing is intuitively understood from the moment individuals are born. Because essentially, human society equals dressed society. What one wears, how one wears it and when one wears it constitutes expressions of degrees of social freedoms and influences. Dress expression ranges the full political gamut from conformity to rebellion. Simply put, dress style that challenges — or is perceived as challenging, or offering an alternative to the status quo — spontaneously acquires political meaning. Hence the social power of dress and the political impact of seeing many people dressed in an agreed-upon mode. During the counter-demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., last summer, antifa protesters opposing white supremacists wore “black bloc” — an all-black uniform of sorts, meant to show a unified hard stance against anti-Black racist discourse. Simultaneously, “black bloc” dress indicated a willingness to resort to violence if necessary, much like the Black Panthers did in the 1960s and 70s. The Panthers took advantage of a loophole in the second amendment of the U.S. constitution that made it lawful to wear unconcealed firearms in public. Members of the Black Panther Party argue with a California state policeman at the Capitol in Sacramento after he disarmed them in May 1967. The armed Panthers entered the Capitol protesting a bill before the state legislature would restrict carrying firearms in public. Men in berets at centre are Panther leaders Eldridge Cleaver, left in sunglasses, and Bobby Seale. The policeman holds a weapon taken from the Panthers. Political dressing is a concerted effort by a group of individuals to call attention to a social issue. They do so by dressing in a codified style. The recipe of […]
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), dressed in white in tribute to the women’s suffrage movement, arrives for the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2019. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) When the women of the US Democratic party dressed in unanimous white at President Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union speech, they made a powerful statement that the status quo in Washington will be challenged. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained that they wanted the president to see “a wave of white” – a colour which historically has associations with the Suffrage movement and was worn by Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign. It was a striking yet simple way for the female Democrats to assert their presence as the majority force in the House and to serve warning to Trump and the Republicans that they will fight them at every opportunity. Trump may have referenced bipartisanship in his speech but the women’s adoption of white protested his brand of toxic, divisive politics and defined their mission to clean up government. The tradition of protest dressing isn’t new, but it has been revived dramatically of late, with incarnations including the appearance of women dressed as Margaret Atwood-inspired Handmaids in Washington to protest Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment, the “Pussy” hats adopted by thousands of women on marches after Trump’s election, and the wearing of black on the red carpet at the 2018 Golden Globes for the Time’s Up campaign. It seems that everything from gender inequality to racism to workplace bullying is now being protested via fashion. Social and political tensions globally have re-asserted the role of fashion as a vehicle for protest. Scandals and discord in institutions such as Hollywood, the Catholic Church, the US government and the Brexit-stricken UK House of Commons have shaken beliefs and provoked a visible reaction, particularly from women. Now choosing what to wear is no longer simply about style. Fashion is a vivid and fascinating reflection of popular culture and social trends. Our clothes are more than a modest shield from the elements – they denote social rank, status or political and class affiliations and aspirations. Every day when we get dressed we choose which identity we present to the world – now that said world is in a state of crisis, it is not surprising that people are re-assessing the messages conveyed in their clothes. From the Gilets Jaunes of Paris to the red capes of the Handmaids to the ubiquitous REPEAL jumpers, statement-making clothes have been adopted as a potent form of expression and protest. The pussyhatproject.com have stated: “The more we are seen, the more we are heard.” Adopting a bold colour, like vibrant pink to protest within a male-dominated space, is empowering because women are simultaneously making themselves more visible and subverting the traditional associations of pink with passive femininity.” Delete ‘Pretty in Pink’ as the mood board for S/S 2019 and replace with ‘Protest in Pink’ instead. Even what […]
Versace – Lead With designers flying around the world to present their pre-fall collections at this time of year, it’s about time someone brought one to New York. And Donatella Versace arrived here just in time on Sunday night with a show that had more big city callouts than a Broadway musical, starting with the set that featured an enormous, gilded rendering of the hand and torch of the Statue of Liberty. Given the state of the world today, this might have suggested Versace was making a political statement on immigration and border control, but, well, this is fashion . More likely, Versace was referencing Lady Liberty as a proud and fiercely poised woman like herself, as well as those who followed on her runway show wearing a seemingly endless array of champagne satin slip dresses, wild animal prints and faux furs, neon accents that suggested hip-hop, and gold safety pin earrings that were more punk. Bring us your glamour glasses, your logo socks, your wheelie bags, your bouffant hair. Well, it’s safe to say no one is accusing Versace of cultural appropriation. Her tribe of fabulous glamazons hardly need a passport to declare their country of origin, even when wearing an I N.Y. T-shirt like the one sported by Mica Argañaraz in the show. Whenever Versace comes to town, it’s a big production — think of her H&M collection that included a performance by Prince, or the occasional Versus show that would draw Madonna to the front row. This time, Kim and Kanye were the biggest attractions in a celeb-packed audience that also included Diane Kruger and Faith Hill . I even ran into Christopher Kane and Alexander Wang, the latter of whom had shown his fall collection in Brooklyn the evening before. While Versace showed an idealized vision of the American dream (Donatella’s energetic collection was a solid gold anthem of Versace signatures, from power babe prints to shellacked burgundy coats and faux furs that gave multiple levels of meaning to street wear), Wang’s was more of a play on American fashion tropes. He showed logos woven onto everything from socks to hair extensions to garment bags, which were offered in animal print and vinyl versions. Come to think of it, it’s weird how many parallels there were between Wang and Versace. His opening looks combined leather aprons with tweed suiting in what might amount to a campy send up of young arrivistes, but his sportswear read more sincerely cool, particularly in vertically striped rugby shirts and a pair of jackets spray painted with demented smiley faces. As it happens, these are items that have long histories in American fashion, from Bill Blass to Perry Ellis to Marc Jacobs, and I suspect Wang, in his own respectful way, was paying homage. The black tie looks that closed the show, however, were as individualistic in nature as they come. The smoking jackets and tuxedo shirting had a certain generic bravado about them, but nothing says Evening by Alexander […]
Buying clothes with political messages isn’t activism A shirt featuring Bernie Sanders’ campaign slogan in the 2016 presidential election. Photo by Shelly Prevost. As global capitalism has expanded its hold on the world, it’s become easier than ever to express oneself through clothing. Not only are high fashion knockoffs available at every price point, but you can also find a T-shirt to convey any message you want. Although T-shirts advertising political messages are not a new phenomenon, they seem to have taken on a new life recently. Along with bumper stickers and yard signs, T-shirts are an easy way to communicate political beliefs and values to the world. The particular design of a candidate’s campaign merchandise can become iconic — the mere sight of a red trucker hat is enough to send chills down my spine. And of course, whenever there is a market for a product, it is likely to be exploited for every last drop of profit. While some purveyors of political garb aim to be less wasteful and profit-hungry than the typical T-shirt vendor, it often feels insincere. For example, an online store called The Outrage , with brick-and-mortar locations in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, is “on a mission to raise $1 million for orgs like ACLU & Planned Parenthood.” Yet, there is very little information on its website about the logistics of this mission or the amount per purchase donated to these organizations. Prominently featured, however, are gift guides for the dissenters, environmentalists and resisters in your life. Similarly, ALLRIOT is a British brand that “design[s] the most ballsy political streetwear London has to offer” with a website header that offers “free shipping over $60, you cheeky rebel!” Many of the designs have an environmental bent, and even with their promise to use “ethical, sustainable manufacturing practices,” as many of their customers are “eco-activists,” it’s hard to imagine that one more cotton T-shirt is going to do the environment any good. It’s possible that these brands are preferable to those that make no offers of ethical or sustainable practices or are capitalizing on a political movement for a profit grab. But part of the issue with brands such as The Outrage and ALLRIOT is the complacency they present to their customers. The superficial assurances about ethical practices or donations to progressive organizations compound upon the complacency of wearing the products. There’s nothing wrong with showing your love for RBG through a snazzy tee. However, don’t fall prey to the rhetoric of these companies that say you’re doing the world any good by buying their products. Consider how much further your money can go when you buy from local artists or simply donate directly to the causes you believe in. This holiday season, ignore the gift guides for resisters. Nobody needs yet another T-shirt, no matter how subversive its message might seem. Demonstrate your beliefs through your actions; donate directly to your favorite cause, and the fuzzy feeling will keep you warmer than any Bernie Sanders […]
