Fashion has always taken inspiration from its surroundings. For most of us, fashion is about making a bold statement by wearing the ‘IT’ trend. But fashion has always been more; it’s about culture, about politics, and about the society. On a global level, fashion – as an industry is viewed from a perspective that’s mostly about what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’ because the unglamorous side isn’t always visible. We mostly miss out on what goes behind the biggest houses creating a movement, an ideology or even provoking a thought that later trickles into the mainstream market. But recently the change has been quite evident. The industry is trying hard to bring about social change through its campaigns, runway shows, glossy editorial shoots and social media.
The biggest design houses have talked about social issues in a language you never thought existed. But it’s never been more important than now. In a time when our Instagrams have actually become an endless inventory of clothes, when we click ‘buy’ and ‘return’ after a fleeting thought; a dressmaker talking about cultural changes through their clothes is easy to swipe left.
But slowly and steadily, the movement has gathered pace and fashion has found a cool new slang for its political innuendos. From the Rana Plaza accident in Bangladesh that led to the ‘Who Made My Clothes?’ campaign… to H&M taking a step towards sustainability with its ‘H&M Conscious’ initiative, the change is reiterating the fact that what we wear is crucial.
Even the biggest fashion houses like Dior and Chanel have made really strong statements about their political views through some of their collections. The new Creative Director, Maria Grazia Chiuri with a collection that had a mix of feminine tulle skirts paired with slogan tee, telling the world why we need feminism. A few years ago, Karl Lagerfeld flouted convention in the pursuit of change and had a ‘Chanel Revolution’ fashion show with models flashing slogans about feminism, colour, size and more.
With Rihanna taking over as Creative Director for Puma, the multi-talented artist has given the colour Pink an entirely new definition. The colour that used to stand for ‘girly’ has been completely transformed into a colour of prowess and strength. Fashion has become more powerful than ever, today and we can’t wait to see what unfolds next and how it changes the way we wear our clothes and play dress-up!
Featured Image: Chanel on Instagram
