Fashion is an subject which has been frequently criticized by feminism. Lately, I have been reading Yunia Kawamura's book titled “Fashion-ology”. The book reexamines fashion and the concept of fashion using social sciences. The chapter "Enemies of Fashion” focuses on critiques by feminists against fashion industry. "The dominant feminist view on fashion or beauty is that it originates from the desire to be beautiful, a norm created by men in a male-dominated society.”* Complying with the beauty norms designed by men and living in these norms is one of the main reasons why fashion is criticized by feminists.
While reading this chapter of the book, I started to think about today’s fashion world. Today, fashion is mostly critiqued for glorifying unrealistic body measurements and beauty norms that has been imposed on women. As we look at current fashion world, one might say these criticisms are being heard by the industry. In terms of model selections, fashion houses preferences are leaning towards individuals from different geographies and with diverse body measurements. This expansion does not stop with the model selections. Fashion design, which was once dominated by men, has actually transitioned into a predominantly female-dominated sphere. Apart from highly successful female designers who have created their own brands, the creative directors of some of the most important fashion houses in the world are now women. Both Chanel and Christian Dior are serving as important examples of this shift. Perhaps, rather than criticizing fashion as being a about men designing for women, we should also critique it in terms of its design perspective.
As part of art history course, I took in university was about 20th-century Western art movements, and a section of was about feminist art movement. At the beginning of the lecture, I was very surprised when the question "How many of you consider yourselves feminists?" was posed to the students, only 3 people (one of whom was me) raised their hands. After the lecture ended, the same question was asked again in the class and this time 10 people raised their hands, which was still a small amount but still reassuring that the opinions were chancing.
When conducting a course on feminist art movement, it’s impossible not to mention Judy Chicago. Judy Chicago (born in 1939) is one prominent figures of the first-wave feminist artists. Her most significant works is "The Dinner Party" (1974-79), a project that involved the participation of over a hundred women artists. The work consists of a triangle shape table with 39 plates on. Along with the table's resemblance to a woman's womb in its shape, each plate is painted with imagery resembling female genitalia and 39 plates also dedicated to 39 women from mythology and history. Additionally, the names of over 900 women are inscribed on the ceramic tiles placed on the floor alongside these 39 women. As Ahu Antmen puts it, "This triangular-shaped table is a kind of symbolic monument dedicated to the women's movement.” “The Dinner Party” caused a lot of discourse around how women were written out of the history. The installation was a huge success and Chicago continued to produce her works in the same discourse.
Judy Chicago, “The Dinner Party” (1974-79), wood, ceramic, fabric, metal and paint, 1463x1280x91,9 cm
Peki, moda dünyasının ve Feminist sanatının en önemli kişilerini ne bir araya getirdi?
In January 27, 2020, a white inflatable tent, approximately 14 m high resembling a womb, was erected in the garden of the Rodin Museum, Paris. The tent was designed by Judy Chicago for Christian Dior’s Spring / Summer 2020 Haute Couture Collection fashion show. The collaboration brought together feminist artist Judy Chicago and Maria Graiza Chiuri, who has been the creative director of Christian Dior since 2016. This one of the most significant event that brings the world of fashion and world of art today.
So, what brought together these prominent figures in both fashion world and art world?
Maria Grazia Chiuri, who is the first women creative director of Christian Dior, has shown her interest in feminism and women's right with her previous collections. In September 2016, for her debut collection for Dior, she paired an embroidered tulle midnight blue skirt and white sneakers with a white t-shirt “We Should All Be Feminists” written on it. The look referred to Nigerian feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book titled “Feminist Manifesto: 15 Points for the Liberation of Women”. While fashion is critiqued for unrealistic body sizes and imposing the expectation that women should always be beautiful and youthful by the feminists, Chiuri, who is important a figure in fashion industry, once again for Spring Summer 2018 collection, designs Breton blouse with “Why Have There No Great Women Artist’s” the title of Linda Nochlin’s 1971 prominent article written on it. The T-shirt was designed to drew attention to issues such as women’s rights and sexism. The politic notes of Chiuri does not end with these. For Dior’s Augtumn/Winter Couture collection she collaborated with British Surrealist artist Penny Slinger. Slinger designed both the fashion show venue and a look for the collection. The golden dollhouse-shaped dress was presented as the final look of the collection and became the most important piece.
The collaboration between Judy Chicago and Maria Grazia Chiuri begin, when Chiuri names Chicago 10 people she is influenced by at an interview. Chiuri invites Chicago to Dior Couture show in June and the two meet face to face for the first time. Chicago was impressed by models wearing flat shoes in a Couture show. This has actually been Chiuri's choice since her first collection. Later, Chiuri invites Chicago to collaborate on a collection. Chicago responds positively to this offer, but she says she wishes is to prepare a work for the Haute Couture show. The reason why Chicago prefers Haute Couture show is that, she sees Haute Couture as “high art”. With this collaboration, Chicago gets the opportunity to work in the archives of Dior and also built one of her works she created in 1970s.
This is how “The Female Devine” was born. Similar to Chicago’s “The Dinner Party”, the guests steps into a new world referencing to womb like space. In this world women are the dominant power. The posters designed by Chicago which are hanging from the celling contain varios questions: “What If Women Ruled The World?”, “Would There Be Violence?”, “Would God Be Female?”, “Would Both Women and Men be Gentle?”… In this world created by Chicago, questions how would the world look like if women were the dominant power. Chiuri’s designs shows us the archetype of women on this planet. Dress like Greek goddesses the models walk down the runway confidently in flowing chiffon dresses and caftans.
The other important aspect of this collection is the production of the posters. The posters designed by Chicago were handwoven by female students at the Chanakya School of Craft. The Chanakya School of Craft is a non-profit organisation located in India and its mission is provide education for underprivileged women. Christian Dior has been one of the supporters for the organization.
The convergence of feminist art and fashion does not end with the show. The space designed by Judy Chicago remains open to the public for a period of time after the fashion show. The posters designed by Chicago, on the other hand, can be seen at the Jeffery Deitch art gallery in New York, from November 20 as part of Chicago’s exhibition titled “What if Women Ruled the World?”. The collaboration of Chiuri and Chicago shows that when fashion and art came together they can open up new ways to discuss the relationship between art, fashion and feminizm.
*Yuniya Kawamura, “Fashion-ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies ( Dressi Body, Culture)”
**Ahu Antmen, “20. Yüzyıl Batı Sanatında Akımlar”, 2013, Sel Yayıncılık
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