Fashionably feminist

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, Karl Lagerfeld among many other heavy hitters of the runway attended a faux-feminist protest themed fashion show for Chanel at the Paris Fashion Week, 2015. (Photo: AFP)

While fashion and feminism are largely perceived as antithetical concepts rather than complementary, of late we have been seeing designers and models making an attempt to break barriers and redefine status quo. Even as the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) is set to stage the first plus-size fashion show, thereby redefining the ramp-ready body type, a few feminist thinkers and fashion designers are preparing to give a talk on fashion and feminism in the city, in a bid to sensitise and change the perceptions of people. The talk has been organised by Godrej India Culture Lab. Earlier this year, in the April edition of the fashion week, Carol Gracias made headlines when she walked with a baby bump for ace designer Gaurang’s show. Then it was transgender activist Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi’s turn to do the showstopper act. As Mumbai prepares for the August installment of the fashion week, this talk aims to explore how feminism and fashion are or rather should be connected.

While many feminists and fashionistas believe the two realms to be compatible, others feel that one should have a more about having a commonsensical approach than get consumed by isms. Parmesh Sahani, head of Godrej India Culture Lab, says that this talk, which will take place on August 19, will be a great preview for the fashion week by providing an intellectual angle to a week that will otherwise focus on the glamorous aspects of fashion. “We have been collaborating with Lakme Fashion Week for the last seven seasons and we usually have pop-ups with discussions and talks on topics we feel are relevant to the current fashion scene,” explains Parmesh. “I believe that a talk on the topic of feminism as related to fashion is definitely something that is relevant to the present scenario. Personally, I am very fashionable and at the same time a committed feminist. So I see the two aspects co-exist within myself. However, it will be interesting to see what others have to say about it,” he adds.

Writer, journalist and feminist Nisha Susan, who is known for her writings on the website The Ladies Finger, also believes that fashion and feminism go hand in hand, even though they seem like an unlikely pair. “Feminism talks about women being more than just objects, or bodies, so people might think that fashion and feminism are like north pole and south pole but fashion is more than just showing off the body. It is an expression of one’s tradition, art, sexuality and personality. It can be a political statement, since wearing ethically produced clothes is something that is being talked about more and more now,” she says.

While Nisha is optimistic about the fashion and feminism being very much compatible topics, she believes that the fashion industry itself has a long way to go. “The fashion industry is a huge, global entity and like anything of that scale, it is slow to move,” she says.

Instagram sensation and dubsmash expert, Mallika Dua, remembers being asked to drop a couple of sizes if she wanted meaty roles in Bollywood movies. “While it is true that some designers have started designing for regular bodies rather than only for petite models, the fashion and movie industries are largely superficial,” she laments. Fashion designer Pria Kataria Puri, who is known for her flowy, elegant kaftans, on the other hand, believes that having fashion shows for plus size models or pregnant women is a clever marketing technique rather than a conscious effort to support any isms. “Most of the women who come to buy my designs are between the medium and large sizes. So, while I have a couple of daring designs, most of my clothes cater to the regular, healthy woman,” says the designer. “When Coco Channel first started with the idea of mannequins, they were not size zero. We had diverted from that and somehow there was a trend for thinner and more petite models. I think that this coming back to plus size fashions is simply a way of going back to our roots. It is more about reality and common sense than feminism, ”she adds.

For fashion-forward poet and feminist thinker, Sharanya Manivannan, fashion is as much a tool for expressing feminism as the pen. “Both fashion and feminism, are at the core, about the agency of free decision-making. For women, especially, the wardrobe was a way of self-expression before they became literate and began to use words to do so,” Sharanya explains. The spoken word poet also believes that the fashion industry itself has been questioning a lot of its standards over the last decade. “There is still a long way to go and I do not believe in the tokenistic approach where you say that we are having a show with dark skinned models or plus size models; I think we are ultimately aiming for a time when we do not have to declare these things. I read somewhere that before the ceiling breaks you have to keep cracking it, and that can only be done if fashion and feminism strive towards the same goal rather than remaining as opposing forces,” she concludes.