A Revolutionary Feminist Perspective On Fashion, Hope, And Liberation
Women and femmes have long been the primary target audience for fashion, beauty, household, and several other consumer goods industries. Our purchasing power undergirds the 1.7 trillion dollar fashion industry, with more than half of that revenue coming from the women’s apparel market. Women also make up the majority of the 35 million garment workers worldwide, who are working in unsafe and poorly regulated working conditions.
What is the fashion industry’s role in our work to build a more liberatory reality for ourselves, our communities, and our planet? And how can sustainable fashion not only support women’s growth in the industry, but also create pathways for liberation for its consumers, garment workers, and our environment? As Women’s History Month winds down, we take a brief look at how fashion has been a tool in the movement and highlight the femme designers and activists who meld fashion with resistance in the garment industry and the climate struggle.
Fashion as a tool for femme liberation…
Fashion as an industry has risen from selling trends or styles to women for the benefit of male desire. Corsets and high heels are two examples that can cause pain and sometimes even chronic health issues. However, garments that are patriarchal and oppressive in some contexts are often subverted in women's liberation movements. Sexualized garments such as lingerie are reclaimed as a symbol of sexual liberation, while feminized looks can be validating for some transwomen.
Essentially, fashion is a powerful tool for collective liberation. It is an artistic practice just like any other. It allows us to express ourselves, our identities, and our values, and validate our gender expression along the way. We have managed to work around patriarchal influence to make fashion instrumental to our liberation. But, the fashion industry itself still functions as an oppressive confluence of racial capitalism and patriarchy.
Why do we need femmes on top (of the fashion industry)?
Without women and femmes, there would be no fashion industry, and therein lies our power. With more femme leadership, we can move toward creating an industry that represents both its consumers and its laborers. However, the (predominantly white) women currently at the top are not guaranteed allies, and this is where sustainable fashion can make a huge difference.
For fashion to truly be sustainable, it has to minimize its supply chain and production process. Downsizing to something more local and more lateral, working communally, relying on resources already at hand, and making space for more voices at the table are derived from the eco-feminist theory that argues women’s liberation is essential to a sustainable future (and is connected to collective liberation).
Sustainable fashion leaders recognize that it is essential to downsize the production of garments to maintain a sustainable product. In keeping with sustainability, labels must also improve the conditions for garment workers by eliminating fast fashion practices and paying garment workers living wages with benefits.
Femme designers also carve new space for looks that are gender-defying, gender-expansive, and prioritize body diversity in their sizing and styling. When we reject hierarchy and prioritize lateral business models, we invite more representation and validation.
Who’s making the sustainable difference?
Femme designers are already advocating for this change in the sustainable fashion world. As noted, we need these voices to make positive and impactful changes in the sustainable fashion world, reclaim fashion for the collective, and heal from individualistic expression. Follow these leaders who are making that change happen:
Designers
Activists
Who are your favorite femmes transforming the world of fashion for good?