HOW FASHION FUELED THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
Feminists recognized that fashion was political for many women, and even more so in the male-dominated workplace, where women had to play a passive and supportive role. While most women wore feminine dresses and pantyhose, or stylish pantsuits with womanly accents to work, feminists had a different idea of what would get women ahead in their corporate climb. Let’s explore what those wardrobe staples would have looked like, versus what women were required to wear.??
However, when the war ended in 1945, society regressed to traditional gender roles despite the rapid progression of feminism. The men returning home, paired with the downturn in demand for war materials, saw women hang up their new uniforms, and return to the traditional housewife role. Despite many women expressing their desire to keep these new roles, it seemed that society was not yet ready to embrace greater social equality.
Clothes can speak a thousand words and the fashion industry is home to many powerhouse designers using their garments to speak out against injustice. Vivienne Westwood has long championed climate change and anti-consumerism, and Maria Grazia Chiuri emblazoned her debut 2016 collection with feminist slogans, most notably Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘We Should All Be Feminists’. Of course, it’s not just designers themselves portraying political messages through clothing, so we’re taking International Women’s Day to reflect on how fashion has been side by side with the feminist movement, and how clothing helped fuel change.
Early Feminist Fashion:
The 1850s saw the creation of one of the first feminist garments to make global waves: the ‘Bloomer Dress’. The Bloomer was popularised by a group of suffragettes, including its namesake Amelia Bloomer and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who promoted the dress as a more comfortable alternative to the restrictive dresses worn by American women. “Let men be compelled to wear our dress for a while and we should soon hear them advocating a change,” said Bloomer. However, despite the statement behind bloomers, the garment was only popular for a few years, in part because many women simply didn’t find them to be flattering or attractive.
Several decades later, it was the suffragettes, this time in Britain, who once again used their clothing to make a statement, and aid the Women’s Rights movement. Knowing the power of clothing, Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the militant Women’s Social and Political Union proclaimed that “suffragettes should not be dowdy”, encouraging supporters to shop at Selfridge’s. Pankhurst also developed the suffragette colors which ran through supporters’ clothing, allowing them to be easily identifiable with the cause. The colors were purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope.
Women and the War:
Years later, the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, sent notions of traditional gender roles up in the air. As the men went off to fight, women occupied their roles back home. Women managed the household finances, learned to fix cars, and worked in factories, as well as occupied office and clerical jobs in the armed forces, freeing men to fight. The woman adopted more practical, masculine silhouettes, with many serving in uniform, both at home and abroad.
However, when the war ended in 1945, society regressed to traditional gender roles despite the rapid progression of feminism. The men returning home, paired with the downturn in demand for war materials, saw women hang up their new uniforms, and return to the traditional housewife role. Despite many women expressing their desire to keep these new roles, it seemed that society was not yet ready to embrace greater social equality.
The Impact of Coco Chanel:
It wasn’t just the suffragettes using clothing to help push for gender equality. In the early 20th century pioneering designers, such as Coco Chanel, began to reflect the shift in attitudes towards women’s rights.
“One of the most radical developments for women was the gradual acceptance of trousers, which were no longer considered either eccentric or strictly utilitarian,” wrote historians Amy de la Haye and Valerie Mendes. “Chanel did much to accelerate this move and was often photographed during the day wearing loose, sailor-style trousers, known as ‘yachting pants.” Pants represented freedom and freedom of movement, a concept paralleled by the changing attitudes toward how women lived their lives in the 20th century.
Chanel swapped superfluous designs for more androgynous silhouettes, with her business-minded signature skirt suit becoming a power symbol amongst women. Chanel’s straighter silhouette ran through the flapper culture of the 20s, which saw women rejecting the notions of stereotypical feminine dress. Restrictive corsets and long skirts were replaced with a creeping hemline which allowed women to dance more freely, while also showing their legs. Paired with a short bob haircut and often a cigarette, this new ‘flapper’ style flouted social and sexual norms. These women were ready to break away from years of rigid tradition and celebrate a new era of boldness.
Mary Quant and the Miniskirt:
It wasn’t until the '60s that we once again saw women’s wardrobes revolutionized with a daring new garment: the miniskirt. Popularised by Mary Quant, the designer declared that this new short-hemmed skirt was “a way of rebelling”. Whilst many branded the miniskirt as vulgar, its popularisation coincided with the rise of the second-wave feminist movement. With the contraceptive pill becoming commercially available in 1961, women were entering a new age of sexual liberation and the miniskirt became a symbol of this.
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However in 1968, fashion campaigns began suggesting that women replace the mini with the middle skirt, but women became riled by the abrupt change and began to question why they should have their style continuously dictated and changed by fashion bigwigs.
The Santa Maria Times summarised this shift in attitude, writing in 1969 that: “decrees issued from the inner sanctums of the world’s most prestigious fashion houses aren’t clicking. Women aren’t paying attention to sweeping generalizations in fashion. They are approaching fashion subjectively. They’re wearing clothes that suit them, not designers…For once, women are captains of their ships and designers are riding the crest of the trend.”
Feminist Fashion in the '70s '80s and '90s:
The rise in androgynous fashion in the '70s and '80s, popularised by style icons like Grace Jones, helped free women from traditional hyper-feminine styling. This ran through into the '90s with the grunge movement helping to popularise unisex wardrobe staples, like ripped jeans and flannel shirts.
The '90s also saw the rise of feminism’s third wave, spurred on by the underground feminist punk movement Riot grrrl. These female punk bands addressed issues such as domestic abuse, sexuality, patriarchy, and female empowerment, with their clothing reflecting their political stance. The musicians embraced gender-neutral garments and bold graphic messages, reclaiming feminine motifs, such as the color pink, giving them a new tougher, feminist meaning.
Men Dictacting Women’s Fashion:
But that sense of individuality didn’t extend into the male-run workplace. Women largely dressed in the way they were expected to, the rules of which were laid down by men. And it’s easy to see why they felt the need to dress within these confines: sexism was rampant.
In 1978, when the leaders of the education division of the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare were asked why all of their top staff members were male, one high official told UPI, “The jobs are very demanding. We often need people who can put in an 80-hour week and we do not want to require this of a mother.”
He also remarked he would be extremely reluctant to have a female special assistant working long hours with him because that might encourage gossip.
To work side by side with men in the workplace, women had to stay inconspicuous. But men also wanted to hold onto their status and control, so women had to be “othered” in their dress. Which was why women’s workwear was largely feminine. Looking different gave employers an excuse not to give women equal opportunities in hiring and advancement.?
21st Century Feminist Style:
Whilst we have come a long way since the 1850s in terms of gender equality, there is still a lot of work to be done so it’s unsurprising that fashion is still being used today to advocate for women’s rights.
2017 saw women across the world don ‘hot pink pussy hats’ during the global Women’s Marches which took place in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the 2018 Golden Globes red carpet was dominated by stars wearing black in support of the Times’s Up movement. Last year also saw Natalie Portman gracing the Oscars red carpet wearing a Dior dress overlaid with a cape featuring the names of snubbed female designers embroidered in gold thread. However, in terms of the fashion industry itself, we have seen many major design houses appoint their first-ever female directors in recent years. As previously mentioned Maria Grazia Chiuri made her debut for Dior in 2016, and the following year Clare Waight Keller took the reigns at Givenchy. However whilst on the surface level, fashion seems to slowly but surely be moving in a direction that favors gender equality, behind the scenes, it's a very different story.
The industry is still largely run on cheap labor, with Vogue Australia reporting that “about 80 percent of garment workers globally are women, most aged between 18 and 35.” The reality is that most of these women have children, and families, and most are barely paid.
Whilst this is something the industry needs to reflect on and change internally, as consumers there are things we can do to help. Social media and consumer culture have shifted to put pressure on brands to produce their clothing ethically, and the movement to avoid fast fashion, fuelled by Gen-Z is certainly a step in the right direction. As consumers we must research the brands that we are buying from, to ensure that the clothes and materials are being produced and sourced ethically.