When did fashion get so political?

Fashion is a way we connect, a way we might create a sense of belonging whilst expressing our individuality. Whether it’s a reflection of your culture, of your interests, or something much more explicit like showing your allegiance to a cause, fashion is more than just what we wear.

Beauty standards in our modern world are ever changing, often so quickly that it is impossible to keep up. Although, this is not a new phenomenon…

Age old examples of this show just how far back and deep it goes; with fabrics being reserved for the rich and women being punished for showing their ankles or wearing their hair down, working-class men ridiculed for ‘dressing above their station’ and with the later introduction of ‘pink for girls’ and ‘blue for boys’. It has been used in this way as a tool to oppress. Reinforcing these embedded ideals through the media, fashion giants, or through workplace rules around what you can and can’t wear, it is still being decided who has access and the right to look a certain way and if you do not fit the criteria… well too bad. It’s a bit like an exclusive club but reserved only for those who uphold such Eurocentric standards of beauty (Baboolall et al., 2022).

“Fashion functions as a mirror to our times, so it is inherently political,”

                                                                                                      – Andrew Bolton, (Singer, 2020).

As a result of these standards, the people who have continuously been more likely to experience this kind of discrimination are often black, often women and often from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Baboolall et al., 2022).

 Excluding people based on hair type is just one example of how fashion and beauty reinforces the power imbalance and more to the point, reflects a patriarchal and racist society. Wearing your hair ‘naturally’ is rarely something considered and when it is, the expected standard is never too far away, a little tidy here and there but not much thought any deeper than that. If this resonated with you, you’re probably white.

In 2010 Chastity Jones was offered a job as a customer service rep, with excitement she accepted. However, upon starting the job she was met with the caveat that she must cut her hair with the reason given stating, “it tends to get messy” (Griffin , 2019). This did go to court 7 years later, where it was dismissed. This is not an isolated incident. In far too many cases like Chastity’s, hiring practices and the derogatory language used to describe black women’s beauty, results in no justice and little to no consequence for the actions.

Women of colour experience an intersection of inequality, with black people being systematically left out of political discourse and often dismissed as active agents of political change, alongside femininity as a black woman overtly undermined by white ideals of beauty. Turning to alternative means of political expression doesn’t seem like much of a choice when you have been excluded from traditional means (Morris, 2021).

 Alternative political means are often misunderstood, frequently noted as rebellious or performative with no real consequence and that the vote matters more. To say that though, almost feels reductive. Who would trust a system that doesn’t reflect their experience. Protests, rallies, art, music and fashion are just some of the many ways people can be seen, heard and affect change.

An example of where fashion has been utilised to state an explicit stance on an issue was seen during 2021 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. Those who rallied together after the murder of George Floyd wore red in solidarity for the cause. In 2017, a movement was set in motion where women wore pink ‘pussyhats’ during a march for women’s rights, hand knitted and crocheted, to create a unifying symbol of solidarity and make women’s issues visible (Pussyhat Project , 2017). This type of explicit political expression through fashion can be, and often is, an expression of modern issues in society today.

Fashion doesn’t start, or end, with the consumer.

Exploitation of garment workers is another way that fashion extends itself to social injustice. Fast fashion brands decide what’s trendy and churn out far too many products for very little money whilst rarely paying their workers a fair wage or providing good working conditions (Rauturier, 2022).

Abercrombie & Fitch would rather burn their clothes then see them given away to the poor (Levinson, 2013). You would hope we have come a long way since this 2013 scandal but as recent as 2018, fashion giant Burberry acknowledged that it had destroyed its unsold stock worth almost £30 million (Rauturier, 2022). Other luxury brands have also been reported to carrying out the same practice, quite an in-your-face way of saying high class fashion is reserved for the rich.

The fashion industry should not and cannot be excluded from the conversations surrounding active participation in the political world. For an industry worth an astonishing £2.5 Trillion world-wide, it is crucial to understand how such a powerhouse industry impacts modern society (Singer, 2020). We are all aware that affecting change in society begins with identifying what needs to change. To make that happen, we need to understand the lived experience of those who are consistently ignored.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Amed, I., André, S. and Rölkens, F. (2022) The state of fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather, McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Baboolall, D. et al. (2022) Black representation in the Beauty Industry, McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/black-representation-in-the-beauty-industry (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

FashMash (2021) Exploring the active citizen, FashMash. FashMash. Available at: https://www.fashmash.co.uk/post/exploring-the-active-citizen (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Griffin , C. (2019) How natural black hair at work became a civil rights issue, JSTOR Daily . Available at: https://daily.jstor.org/how-natural-black-hair-at-work-became-a-civil-rights-issue/ (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Levinson, S. (2013) Abercrombie says it would rather burn clothes than give them to poor people, Elite Daily. Elite Daily. Available at: https://www.elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-says-it-would-rather-burn-clothes-than-give-them-to-poor-people (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Morris, A. (2021) From civil rights to black lives matter, Scientific American. Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/from-civil-rights-to-black-lives-matter1/ (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Pussyhat Project (2017) Pussyhat Project™, PUSSYHAT PROJECT™. Available at: https://www.pussyhatproject.com/ (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Rauturier, S. (2022) Why do some fashion burn unsold clothes?, Good On You. Available at: https://goodonyou.eco/fashion-brands-burn-unsold-clothes/ (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Singer, M. (2020) Can fashion be political?, Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/charting-the-influence-of-politics-on-fashion (Accessed: April 6, 2023).