Some believe that fashion and feminism are inherently incompatible. Wouldn’t women’s roles as consumers buying into the multibillion-dollar fashion industry be undermining feminism because it encourages them to focus on their appearances? I mean, this is reflected by the apparent sexualisation of women in fashion marketing communications, which seem to assign ideal roles, appearances and behaviour to women, no? Well, sort of. A more nuanced perspective towards this argument is that there is a curious contradiction between two different aspects that reflect female empowerment. On one hand, the fashion industry’s success is proof of female purchasing power and unprecedented socio-economic freedom – 85% of the luxury fashion consumer base comprises of women.[1] On the other hand, fashion communications can compromise the female body’s respectability because it is considered a prop or canvas for creative expression that may endorse its objectivity in general. Anyone remember Dolce & Gabbana’s banned 2007 campaign?
Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of this conundrum. The fashion industry arguably does reflect female empowerment because it presents women with choices over how they express or present themselves. Women with purchasing power drive the fashion industry, while collections aim to provide them with greater control over their appearances than ever before. Although some feminists express ‘fem-phobia’, which involves heaping disgust on things that are considered traditionally feminine, others argue that embracing the fashion industry is intrinsically feminist because dressing women with a sense of the practical, and the fashionable, reflects our modern interpretation of what being a woman means.[2] This perception has propelled the careers of designers from Coco Chanel to Diane von Furstenburg, who have encouraged women not to dress for their gender, but to dress in spite of it. The former eliminated the traditional conception of how women’s bodies should be clothed by replacing hourglass shapes with stylish but functional garments, while the latter’s most convincing collections reflected the 1970s when fashion was a functional adjunct to women’s pursuit of pleasure.[3] We can, to an unprecedented extent, present ourselves without being constrained by social limitations on expressing our gender identity – this is a distinct endorsement of feminism in fashion.
However, aesthetics aside, the minds that drive the business of fashion forwards remain overwhelmingly male. Across 50 major fashion brands, only 7 (14%) are run by women even though they compose 85% of the consumer base. Research suggests that this is due to the same obstacles that block women’s progress in all industries, for instance that women often choose childcare over their further career progression,[4] and men consider women to be less adept at problem solving due to gender-based stereotyping.[5] There is even a unsettling perception that women are more comfortable taking advice about how they look from men, explaining the dominance of male fashion designers.[6] Nevertheless, it is clear that more needs to be done to empower women within the industry. After all, a study conducted at Harvard Business School highlighted that women are rated higher in 12 out of 16 competencies that characterise outstanding leadership, including taking initiative and driving for results.[7]
Given that the fashion industry has a majority female customer base, is dominated by female models and is associated with iconic female fashion designers, it seems disjointed and archaic that women do not hold more senior leadership positions. LVMH has launched its EllesVMH initiative, a program to ensure that high potential women advance to senior leadership positions, but more companies must engage with this issue. Fashion may superficially reflect female empowerment, but more must be done to facilitate this in practice.
[1] http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/lvmh-boosting-women
[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/from-prada-to-c-line-the-fashion-world-joins-the-feminism-movement-in-2014-9440861.html
[3] http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/at-nyfw-different-faces-of-female-empowerment
[4] http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/women-occupy-just-a-third-of-the-top-jobs-in-fashion-1693510.html
[5] http://www.catalyst.org/media/catalyst-study-exposes-how-gender-based-stereotyping-sabotages-women-workplace
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/fashion/thursdaystyles/in-fashion-who-really-gets-ahead.html?_r=0
[7] https://hbr.org/2012/03/a-study-in-leadership-women-do
Luxuria 