Feminism- more than just a fashion fad.

I'm sure all you fashionistas out there have been keeping a careful eye on Paris Fashion Week and wishing you could be there, wearing the clothes, designing them- whichever role, I'm sure you were watching it with a dream in mind! So I'm sure that it came as a surprise to everyone when well renowned designer Karl Lagerfeld hosted a display of 'protest', supporting the wrongly controversial political movement, feminism.

At first, the idea struck most as quite positive. Someone of a high status choosing a popular event to support feminism- great idea, right? 

Look a little deeper into the display and I am sure you will notice just how flawed the display was. Let's first take a look at who was used to take part in this display supporting feminism. Stick thin models, probably size 6 or less, all with the 'perfect' Westernized look and in, obviously, designer garb. These women, representing 'real' women all over the world, and yet hardly an ounce of diversity between them. What about shorter girls? Curvier girls- dare I say it, fat girls? What about people who are perceived by our twisted society as unattractive? Girls of different race? If Lagerfield really wanted to make a statement, a diverse mix would surely have been more effective...especially following his own quote "I don't see why every human being is not on the same level, especially in my business". Karl, if you really believe that, take a look at your models and create a change. Make a real statement and use girls outside of the Western idea of 'perfect'. 

Following on from what may be viewed as a 'jealous attack' on the models (I assure you it is not), let's read the placards they thrust so passionately into the air. "Make fashion not war"- a statement implying fashion, aka, looks is more important than anything. Seeing as the people holding these placards are all women this holds a deeper meaning- that the women bearing these words care more about the clothes they wear and buy than anything else. A stereotype applied by the dominant male race to all females. 

"Boys should get pregnant too!" Do I even need to analyse this one? What a ridiculous statement. Yes, women have to go through pregnancy, but I think you'll find that a lot more women than not find it a beautiful and joyous experience with a wonderful end result. And let me just state the obvious- how/why does pregnancy effect the equality of the sexes? Just because women fall pregnant doesn't mean they are weaker or lesser than men. This idiotic placard just implies that it does, and that pregnancy is a sufferance that men should endure so they feel equally as discriminated against. 

   Also, "Ladies First". No, feminism is not about ladies being first. I can never drum this into people enough. It is about the equality of the sexes- neither one being better than the other! This sign states that women should be first, more important, better. Not the case. We real feminists fight for equal rights. 

Karl Lagerfeld is also a joke. To call himself a feminist is ridiculous. This new title given to himself by the man who once claimed Coco Chanel couldn't have been a feminist because she wasn't ugly enough. The man who said that Pippa Middleton's face 'displeased' him and that she should only show her back. No feminist would say such rude, critical and just plain mean comments about women. It seems that as the number of feminists has grown, it has been viewed 'fashionable' to be viewed as one. And Lagerfeld is not the first- nor will he be the last- to jump on the bandwagon of 'feminist fashion'. Shops across the high street as well as big cartel stores online with less recognition have started to produce clothes and accessories bearing 'feminist' slogans and taglines. 

Feminism isn't there to be purely commercialised. It's not there to be worn as a fashion statement. It's there to help gain equality between genders. Every human deserves to be equal, regardless of what sex they are. Feminism isn't about women being better than men, not about men being regarded as wastes of space or 'bad'. It is about equality between men and women, on all levels. 

Love from, 

Florence Grace

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