Global InformationFashion activism information
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Fashion activism is the practice of using fashion as a medium for social, political, and environmental change. The term has been used recurringly in the works of designers and scholars Lynda Grose, Kate Fletcher, Mathilda Tham, Kirsi Niinimäki, Anja-Lisa Hirscher, Zoe Romano, and Orsola de Castro, as they refer to systemic social and political change through the means of fashion.[1][2][3][4] It is also a term used by some fashion designers, one being Stella McCartney.[5] The spectacle of fashion activism as street protest has also been a theme in Paris Catwalk shows. The term is used by Céline Semaan, co-founder of the Slow Factory Foundation.
According to Google Ngram Viewer, the term's popularity takes off in the 1990s, even though signaling activism through the means of dress has been practiced much longer. In his book Dress-codes (2021), legal scholar Richard Thompson Ford stated that clothing has been designed and used with political intentions throughout the ages, and the documented evidence stretches at least back to the renaissance in the Western world.[6]
As with other forms of activism, the aim is to promote, impede, direct, or intervene into social arrangements of dress to lay claim to a certain political agenda as well as influence systemic change within the fashion industry. It merges popular styles of dress, from clothing and shoes, to headwear and accessories, with efforts to implement social and political change beyond the designated channels of influence offered by the local political system, such as voting.
The field of fashion activism spans practices across the boundaries of fashion commodities and the fashion system, to activate members of the public to take action in contested issues. That is, the activism includes awareness raising and civic mobilization, as well as behavior change and pushes for environmental as much as socio-political and systemic impact.[1][2][7]
Fashion activism can be used as a form of protest, whether expressing dissent or support. The term, however, can suffer from being imprecise as much dressed forms of dissent clash with both the term "fashion" and "activism." For example, the use of traditional ethnic dress as a protest against "progressive" politics (or colonialism, or Universal Human Rights, or Feminism) may not be seen as "fashion." Likewise, the discarding of such traditional ethnic dress items in favor of dress with western connotations (such as pants) may not be "fashion" either, yet a powerful form of expressing political dissent. Another ambiguous element of the term concerns cause and effect; for example, if wearing short skirts cause women's liberation, or if it is the effect of a liberation already having happened through other, more powerful, political means.
- ^ a b Fletcher, Kate, (1971- ...)., Auteur. (2014). Sustainable fashion and textiles design journeys. Earthscan from Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-64456-3. OCLC 879311916.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b von Busch, Otto (2008). Fashion-able: Hacktivism and engaged fashion design. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg.
- ^ Hirscher, A. L.; Niinimäki, K. (April 2013). ""Fashion activism through participatory design."". In Proceedings of the Crafting the Future, 10th European Academy of Design Conference.: 17–19.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Farra, Emily (August 19, 2019). "The Extinction Rebellion Activists of Stella McCartney's Campaign Advocate for "Complete Systemic Change"". Vogue.
- ^ Ford, Richard Thompson (2021). Dress codes : how the laws of fashion made history. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- ^ Fuad-Luke, Alastair (2013-06-17). Design Activism. doi:10.4324/9781849770941. ISBN 9781849770941.