People often tend to believe that the fashion industry is a cruel world, especially for women. Many of them opinions, I have to admit, they are right. The industry projects unrealistic standards about female body and beauty, and a lot are those who choose to follow them in order to fit in and feel safe and as a result, suffer from eating disorders, extreme plastic surgeries, or mental issues. We have examples of that in celebrity life, many models suffered from anorexia or have been victims of sexual harassment, and from the people around us that absorb every trend. We are all super affected by these world, and we should all know how fashion leave its mark on us, in a positive way.
"The future is female."
Although men still run the industry, statistics show that women's labor, ideas and dollars pop up the industry. Women also dominate the student bodies at schools (like New York's fashion institute of technology), where 85% of students enrolled were female in 2016. A study called " The Glass Runway", by Glamour magazine in partnership with Counsil of Fashion Designer in America, showed that women weren't any less ambitious coming into the industry and that they were 17% more likely than men to aspire to be a top executive. Moreover, women are often the public faces of fashion and its big customers. But for much of the female focused industry which is self promoted as liberal and inclusive, there is a lot of work to be done to get businesses in line with the values they are publicly promoting.
"The suffragette of today."
You can't fight revolution with silk gloves, but we can make an objection. There were times when a simple glove removed in a particular fashion could cause much a stir. And when women - and now men- figure it our, they didn't hesitate to use the fashion as an instrument of provocation. Personal style is now more fluid that ever. We can easily see men in tights and why not, in heels. People are free to wear whatever they want and how they want. Claire McCardell is often seen as the mother of american fashion , but while se ushered in the idea of sporty chic she also gave women a wardrobe that offered them a sense of freedom. The 80's power suit rejected the question "should a feminist adapt masculine dress or celebrate feminity?" and threw away the narrow definition of what is expected of them. The clothes they wore helped make their intentions known into the world. After all what causes society to panic isn't different hemlines, but rather women defining for themselves what it means to be a woman. So the power of dress, was an important tool that influenced their standing in society, helping them towards less oppressive gender norms with every snap, zip, and fasten.
A scion of the Prada dynasty once said "It's important that we don't lose our feminity, that we find a way to do what men do, but in a woman's why", and I believe that this line includes it all.
