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Why Fashion And Politics Need A Divorce

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Why Fashion And Politics Need A Divorce

    Wrote this in light of the Givenchy show and other things that have been whirring in my mind. Discuss.



    Last week marked the fourteenth anniversary of 9/11, a tragedy that radically changed the political landscape of the world. There were memorial services held in New York and across the United States.

    The Givenchy Spring/Summer 2016 show was another unlikely place where 9/11 was invoked. The show was held at pier with a view of the new Freedom Tower, and was art-directed by Marina Abramovic. The presentation was supposed to pay respects to 9/11 and celebrate the spirit of human unity. The entire thing – from having an Italian designer who works for a Parisian house preaching to New Yorkers to Givenchy offering special guests tours of the 9/11 memorial – was tone-deaf, if not insulting. There was not a shred of the political in the clothes he presented, making the show’s art direction even more jarring as mere trappings.

    The above fiasco is hardly surprising, because when fashion gets political – identity politics excepting – it usually produces cringe-worthy results.

    Last year for its Spring/Summer 2015 ready-to-wear show Chanel staged a pseudo-feminist protest. For its Grand Palais set, Lagerfeld constructed a fake Parisian street block, in homage to the venerable tradition of Parisians protesting in the street. Models, fake humans for the purposes of the show, were holding fake signs, shouting fake slogans into megaphones. The most fake thing about the show, of course, was its supposed avowal of feminism.

    “My mother was very much a feminist and I thought it was something right for the moment,” Lagerfeld told Fashionista. “I couldn’t care less if people are for or against. It’s my idea. I like the idea of feminism being something light-hearted, not a truck driver for the feminist movement.”

    And there is the rub. Feminism is not light-hearted, and neither are politics in general. These are serious issues that affect people’s lives, and fashion, by its nature, is simply in no position to address, let alone solve these issues. Moreover, by co-opting the language and symbols of political movements they create an illusion of action, of effecting change, lulling people into believing they are doing something meaningful, when in reality they are doing nothing of the sort.

    Fashion is frivolous by nature. By and large it is characterized by transience and, as Lagerfeld rightly pointed out, light-heartedness. This can be dispiriting in its pomp and circumstance, but it can also be refreshing, because it is something we can turn to when we are tired of being exposed to the constant political crises of the contemporary world that the 24-hour news cycle brings to us. In realizing our inability to do anything meaningful about these crises, we only feel guilty. And contrary to what our many moralizing societal forces maintain, no compassionate, morally conscious human being can feel guilty twenty-four hours a day. As a matter of fact, such a person needs respite precisely in order to keep her morality intact, in order not to become numb to the constant barrage of guilt. And that’s where fashion, if this is your interest, as it is mine, comes in. Its preoccupation with things that do not carry the level of seriousness politics do is a welcome diversion. This does not mean that fashion is uninteresting, but simply that its interest lies elsewhere.(continue)
    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • ian+
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2011
    • 746

    #2
    The entire thing – from having an Italian designer who works for a Parisian house preaching to New Yorkers to Givenchy offering special guests tours of the 9/11 memorial – was tone-deaf, if not insulting.
    exactly my thought, as I wrote in another post. I would add the opening of the store (which probably led to a fashion show in NYFW) just to point out how much more shameless was the whole thing.

    great article
    ...bombing the bass, blasting the beat

    Comment

    • mrbeuys
      Senior Member
      • May 2008
      • 2313

      #3
      Great article Eugene. I couldn't agree more.
      It feels like politics and culture has always provoked comments from art, but rarely (if ever) has art been an influence on the former. Fashion, for a large part, likes to draw from art as inspiration, but bridging the gap between fashion and politics just is a step too far.
      Then again, there's Vivienne's eco engagement, which doesn't feel as closely linked to her work and therefore feels more genuine.

      Seeing the Givenchy show just felt so flat and insincere and like a fancy band aid at best, or like a shameless cashing in on tragedy at worst.
      The other sad thing is Marina's involvement in all of this...
      Hi. I like your necklace. - It's actually a rape whistle, but the whistle part fell off.

      Comment

      • zamb
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2006
        • 5834

        #4
        the problem is that there are very few people ho are able to make a genuine Political statement through fashion. And those people who are people who have both the creativity and the balls to do so.

        Gautier was one of the first designers to put men in skirts and that was a political statement during its time.....now not so much

        Highland rape among several other McQueen collections that made profound political statements.

        Another was Chalayan's afterwords collection.

        Geoffrey B Small is another who is not afraid of using fashion as a means of genuine political expression

        these cheesy politically injected farce type efforts now are rather underwhelming, and we wont see any serious effort because there is too much to lose

        here is a video of Highland rape

        20 years ago and it makes so much of what is shown now look so bland and boring
        “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
        .................................................. .......................


        Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

        Comment

        • En.
          Senior Member
          • May 2015
          • 121

          #5
          Originally posted by Faust View Post
          “My mother was very much a feminist and I thought it was something right for the moment,” Lagerfeld told Fashionista. “I couldn’t care less if people are for or against. It’s my idea. I like the idea of feminism being something light-hearted, not a truck driver for the feminist movement.”
          How very insincere. Statements like that make the whole presentation seem unauthentic when the point is to actually have people support and understand your political stance rather than "Whatever, I like it."

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            #6
            Originally posted by mrbeuys View Post
            Great article Eugene. I couldn't agree more.
            It feels like politics and culture has always provoked comments from art, but rarely (if ever) has art been an influence on the former. Fashion, for a large part, likes to draw from art as inspiration, but bridging the gap between fashion and politics just is a step too far.
            Then again, there's Vivienne's eco engagement, which doesn't feel as closely linked to her work and therefore feels more genuine.

            Seeing the Givenchy show just felt so flat and insincere and like a fancy band aid at best, or like a shameless cashing in on tragedy at worst.
            The other sad thing is Marina's involvement in all of this...
            Thank you.

            Also, Zam, I was careful to point out the exception of identity politics (referring to men in skirts, etc.)
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • Arkady
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2011
              • 957

              #7
              Originally posted by En. View Post
              How very insincere. Statements like that make the whole presentation seem unauthentic when the point is to actually have people support and understand your political stance rather than "Whatever, I like it."
              Amen to that, it comes off as relativist in the worst way. Though Karl has always struck me as a bit of an edge lord.

              Comment

              • stagename
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2011
                • 497

                #8
                This was pbulsihed 2 days ago:

                Should fashion be politcally correct, by Vanessa FRiedman.

                Comment

                • SafetyKat
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2014
                  • 169

                  #9
                  If that article ends with a question, Faust's article can been seen as a fantastic response. Its fashion. Not a UN meeting or the Democratic primary.

                  Comment

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