A Few Fun Things

Just a few nice things I found: First, these really great gloves by Jacques Fath from 1949. Also, on the front page of style.com, there's a picture of a Stella McCartney jacket and a note that says "Beth Ditto has dibs." A good example of how she's serving as a fashion example. The jacket is fun- punky and metallic.

Enjoy!

Photo by Herbert Gehr, Life Magazine, 1949.

Givhan cites an Alexander McQueen retrospective in her essay, mentioning his design talent and tailoring skills as well as many of the "misogynistic" elements of his designs. She writes, "There were many things recycled on his runway Tuesday night that one hoped never to see again: metal neck braces, metal "yashmak" or head coverings, hobbling skirts and ankle-breaking platform shoes. One doesn't have to be a graduate of a women's studies program to find these things disturbing." True. But you don't see Obama or Ditto wearing Alexander McQueen! He appeals to a different type of style icon, a punkier one who cares less about comfort and women's rights. So different types of fashions drive, and are driven by, different types of icons.

Later, Givhan writes, "But one can't put the full burden for this kind of fashion on designers. They create it because women respond. Women will do a lot of things to themselves in the name of fashion, including giving up their power, dignity and comfort." Fashion doesn't care about power, dignity and comfort, unless those things are "in vogue." The exciting thing about Obama and Ditto is that they are taking fashion and imbuing it with their power and dignity (and perhaps comfort), making those things more fashionable. That is a positive direction after many years of style icons like Paris Hilton whose priorities are pretty much antithetical to those of these women.

One last thing about the article- Givhan doesn't write about how fashion depends on money. The everyday woman is not targeted by the fashion industry not only because fashion isn't "everyday," but because the everyday woman can't afford to partake in fashion. While many women of modest means participate in fashion through creativity and personal style, the fashion industry is driven forward by designers, and designers produce expensive clothes. You don't have to be attractive to buy haute couture or high-end ready-to-wear, you simply have to have the disposable income to spend on designer clothing. Obama and Ditto do; I, for one, do not.

The beauty of it all is that fashion trickles both up and down, from icon to designer and designer to icon, from industry to the street and from the street to industry. So while I am excited at the prospect of women's power and confidence coming into fashion through icons like Obama and Ditto, and I hope to see designers that celebrate and flatter the female form gaining prominence, I don't think that fashion is ever going to be for "the anonymous face in the crowd," as Givhan writes. That is simply not what fashion is.

This anonymous face is going to continue to participate in fashion to the extent that she can, and wants to- seeking to inspire and to be inspired.

Photo of Michon Schur fashion show in 2007 by Peter Duhon, NYC.

It Girls, the Fashion Industry, and Powerful Women

The Washington Post featured a thought-provoking article by Robin Givhan, called "Fashion Loves an It Girl, but Still Doesn't Get It." The premise of the article is that while recently, the fashion industry has embraced a broad range of nontraditional style icons (Michelle Obama, singer Beth Ditto), it still refuses to produce wearable clothing for the average woman.

She mentions that today's fashion "it girls" are symbols of "power and fearlessness," women who are unafraid to show their strong personalities to the public and the media. Because Obama is 45 and African-American and Ditto is a plus-size lesbian, Givhan writes that by choosing them as icons, "The fashion industry surprised the naysayers who did not believe it had the capacity -- even when it would be to the industry's financial benefit -- to look beyond its often narrow definition of style, beauty and glamour."

One issue with this statement is that fashion doesn't one-sidedly choose its icons. To be a fashion icon, you have to be invested in fashion to begin with. Obama and Ditto would not be "it girls" if they wore Coldwater Creek (not to bash it, but not the height of fashion)- they have both consciously chosen to invest in up-and-coming designers and take risks in their attire. The fashion industry has returned the favor because they see powerful, nontraditional women who are bringing design to the public eye. While fashion icons are often women with the ideal body type of their time (and this is where Ditto and Obama are nontraditional), those that have really driven fashion throughout history are the ones at the forefront, patronizing designers that make new and fearless choices.

Givhan goes on to write. "...even as the fashion industry honors individual self-awareness and chutzpah, it continues to chip away at the dignity of women as a whole with each model that it sends down a runway. It's difficult to reconcile fashion's slobbering affection for an individual woman who is in the public eye with what they are willing to dole out to women as a group."
Here we have to remember that fashion does not encompass every piece of attire on the market. Fashion itself doesn't really deal with "women as a group"- the phenomenon of fashion (see post on the Brooklyn museum for a definition) has historically been limited to the upper classes, those with enough money to invest in frequently-changing styles and no need to wear clothes that are convenient or comfortable enough to work in. Fashions are not necessarily meant to work for the masses- they are supposed to be noticeable, and above all, new.

That being said, many great designers in the past have respected and celebrated the female form and have made clothes that were both novel and wearable. Chanel's clothes were comfortable and easy to move in, skimming the lines of the body (see this great example). Balenciaga used his mastery of construction to move away from the restrictive shapes of Dior and towards a new silhouette where clothes floated over the body in a graceful and flattering way (see here).

To be continued!

Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Mark O'Donald, USN