This series has considered the way in which dress became powerful political armour for the Suffragette cause. Influenced by the Museum of London’s Votes for Women display and the Stylist Magazine’s suffrage-inspired makeover we unstitched the seams of Suffragette clothes to rediscover their style driven methods. Combining style with substance had a unique effect and was an early form of fashion activism. During this centenary year, since women were first awarded the right to vote, we aim to consider the ways in which dressing to empower has evolved since the suffragettes.
Taking the recent #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns as prime examples, we strive to understand its relation to suffragette methods. We also wish, however, to address the negatives of these power-dressing moments as marketing stunts in which activism can be displayed with a simple ‘like’ button. At the House of Gharats, we encourage individual style and stress the importance of owning your image with meaning and beliefs. It takes an effective story to bring about substantial change and the way you dress is all part of your narrative. Power dressing is rising every day and rarely has there been a time when so much is being protested. From sexual harassment to racism to gender inequality to workplace unjust to environmental degradation, the language of protest is seeping into all sectors of society. The way we choose to dress can help us present a body of protest, yes, but it can also help us define ourselves in a society riddled with prejudice and pressures to conform. The way we dress and the way we make others feel about their dress holds the power to address the period of silence.
So what is power dressing?
Throughout history, clothes have been a silent reflection of one’s identity. Whether an indication of class, religion or political views, the way you dress has always had strong implications and has held a weight of meaning. Style is not just about fashion; it’s about how you see yourself and how you want others to see you too. Power dressing has developed to encompass this reality. Encouraging women and men to feel empowered by the language of dress has also encouraged people to wear their beliefs and passions on their sleeve, quite literally. When John Malloy created the term power dressing in the 1970s, however, it was defined by a set of rules that expected the women to protect themselves from their own sexual objectification and any masculine notions. Dressing to empower, therefore, began as a construct of limitation.
With fashion-driven mind-sets amongst the media and the short-attention-span world we live in, there is a danger of the clothes overpowering the important message they are trying to convey. The solution? – Encouraging individual style. Breaking down the hierarchy and judgement within fashion trends to encompass any style, whatever it may be, is a powerful stand against the structures society has built for us. In that way, style can become the ultimate tool to reconfigure and redefine values. It can shine the torch towards liberty and freedom. Unlike the suffragette era where wearing certain styles were made punishable by law, in 2018 we live in a developing time of acceptance, so why not embrace it?
Times Up & #MeToo
Power dressing of the 21st century, whether it is Times Up or #MeToo, resurges meaning and a story into the way we dress. But it is only one step in the right direction. Although it was a momentous achievement to present a uniform and powerful group of women fighting for the same cause, it risks undermining the fight as a marketing stunt and also risks falling into the trap that the structural limitations of fashion have set for us. Despite this, like the suffragettes over 100 years ago, any publicity is good publicity for the cause. Similarly to the suffragettes, those #MeToo campaigners that attended the Golden Globes showed allegiance by wearing a badge. At the Oscars Times Up reversed the “wear all black” campaign to encompass an array of colours and Times Up pins, in an effort to represent the movement of women everywhere. Amidst the Time’s Up pins, ACLU and classic red Aids ribbon as well as a Wear Orange to Prevent Gun Violence pin, came on to the scene. “We are not an awards show protest group… So we stand down this time. It’s really important that you know that Time’s Up is not about the red carpet. And those women you saw on the red carpet representing Time’s Up [at the Globes] are now off the red carpet working their butts off being activists,” film-maker Ava DuVernay, one of the leaders of the organisation, told CNN.
Babe Paley
Although the level of protest that swept San Francisco and then Paris in the 1968 youth uprisings is yet to be seen, we can all agree that historic revolutionary zeal has been adopted to achieve a punch of new relevance. If you take a look at Babe Paley, an American socialite who rose to fame in the 1950s with her approach to hierarchical fashion, you will see the roots of power dressing that has been embraced today. Babe mixed cheap and rich materials to show you didn’t need money to have style. When she once casually tied a colourful scarf to her handbag, she became an instant icon. When she started to grow grey hair, she was one of the first to go natural as part of her style. Making fashion her own, rather than letting it own her has made Babe Paley a cornerstone in empowering dress and has inspired the likes of Madonna in recent years.
Helena Rubinstein
Likewise, Helena Rubinstein, the legendary cosmetics entrepreneur whose approach in the 1920s heralded a modern notion of beauty, accessible to all, has continued to influence perceptions of beauty today. Her fascination with numerous cultures, and her artistic approaches that embraced all of these, redefined what was considered beautiful. Rubinstein encouraged women to define themselves as expressive individuals. Incorporating Rubenstein’s ethos into power dressing of 2018 helps produce a kaleidoscope of hope, one where everyone is welcome. Dressing for our heritage, for our identity and for the future rather than for the sake of fashion has seen the relationship between style and politics merge into one.
Christine Lagarde
A modern day example of Rubenstein and Paley is Christine Lagarde, former finance minister to French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund. Her work uniform consists of a slim suit and bold scarf. Such style resonates deeply with the House of Gharats aesthetic and has seen LaGarde landing Vanity Fair’s International Best dressed List and posing for Vogue’s September issue. Adapting the tailored suit, the epitome of professional attire, and pairing it with a fanciful scarf, a standout piece in a sea of grey, black and navy, has allowed Lagarde to bring more attention to her voice. It has made her memorable and challenged the status quo of respectability and the need to be uniform.
At the House of Gharats, it is this individual style and voice that we celebrate in what we call today’s suffragettes.
The Scarf
At the House of Gharats, we understand that the scarf is a historic accessory that throughout time has been a form of identification. It can be worn by anyone, at any time, in any way. Lately, the scarf has been identified as the “new power symbol” for women, but looking at history, particularly suffragette history, we can see this has been around for years. One of the simplest forms of adornment, the scarf, as a single piece of cloth, is versatile and allows you to make a political, religious, or practical statement through print, colour, and the way it’s worn. They are a canvas for experimentation and a voice for your message. An accessory that, in some contexts, is perceived as a symbol of the oppression of women can actually be a symbol of power when worn with pride.
In order to encourage this pride, however, we must banish the prejudices that battle with it. In a world where the scarf has been a target for abuse, we must refresh modern misconceptions and damaging judgments from spreading any further. Encouraging a reflection of the way we dress will help this. We must support and we must not doubt.
Glass Ceiling Not Glass Slipper
Recently we, House of Gharats, attended the Glass Ceiling Not Glass Slipper talk organised by Tamara Cincik; the founder of Fashion Round Table, a non-profit organisation that integrates fashion industry issues and concerns into politics at the Houses Of Parliament. One of the panellists, Amna Abdullatif, co-founder of Intersectional Feminist Foreign Policy, who shared her personal experience of the prejudices we mentioned earlier… “People like me are displayed as oppressed – just because I have a scarf on my head. These are constructs of judgements, all of these stupid things are constructs, regardless of what you wear.”
We spoke to Tamara Cincik after the talk to find out what her thoughts were. She believes that acceptance is the key to bringing about change through our dress and said …
“Legendary art director Peter Savile told me on a shoot that I was styling for Purple magazine over a decade ago, that there is nothing left to rebel against in how we dress. Whereas before we had punk, teds, mods and rockers, now in the West we have absolute freedom to wear and present ourselves as who we want and how we want.
Except, if we step away from the street style conventions of teenage expression and rebellion, we know that a veiled woman is more likely to be attacked than a woman who isn’t. A man wearing a yarmulke, or a turban, is more likely to be attacked than a man who isn’t. What we are seeing is a rise in attacks, predicated upon a judgement of who they are and their difference – their religious difference.
To be truly inclusive, intersectional feminism has to be at the heart of all 21st Century feminism – our inclusion rider. That’s absolute. Just as our mothers wore miniskirts and bikinis, our great grandmothers cut their hair and took off their corsets, we as feminists have to support all races, all classes, all of us.”
What we must do to move forward…
Developing upon Tamara’s point, we understand that when we say, “embrace your own individual style, whatever it may be” we are just brimming the surface. The environment we live in plays a huge role and it will take a huge amount of confidence for one individual to challenge structures that are ingrained into their upbringing. We must, therefore, create safe spaces for individuals to do so. And this does not require much. Starting today we encourage you to welcome and accept the people around you, to listen and reflect on your judgements, to alter your mindset. If we see people differently we will see the world differently. Only then will power dressing find the nutrients it needs to blossom.
As Shaista Aziz, the chair of the Glass Ceiling Not Glass Slipper talk said…
“I think it is far more intense today, especially for young women, than it was 20 odd years ago. This is what feminism should be about, each of us helping the other to be able to reject all of this. If you don’t want to be judged in this way, you don’t have to be. But it requires solidarity, it requires a movement, the pressures are too intense to take on your own.”
Inserting a strong sense of purpose and history into the things we dress in and celebrating those individuals who do this will pave the way for equality.
When we spoke to Jay Morton, Associate at Bell Phillips Architects, feminist campaigner, and panellist at the Glass Ceiling Not Glass Slipper talk, she explained how her work environment affects her style…
“In modern society there is the rhetoric that we can wear what we want, however looking under the surface you start to realise that this is not the case. Society, and particularly the media, is obsessed with what women wear. Too covered up, or not covered up enough. Women can’t win.
I am particularly conscious of how my dress could be interpreted. As an Architect I regularly find myself in meetings where I am the only woman surrounded by a sea of blue striped shirts and cufflinks worn by Ian, Keith, Andy, James, Chris or Dave (insert generic white man name here!) . I do not conform to this, but I do second-guess my attire to ensure I am taken as seriously as possible and to not attract unwanted attention. I opt for sharp jackets that enlarge my frame, high neck tops and always trousers never skirt. This concept of masculine = serious and professional is a societal influence.”
Dr. Seema Anand
We were very keen to hear from Dr. Seema Anand, mythologist, practicing storyteller, and Doctor of narrative practices, whose experience with dressing offers an alternative perspective to the case.
“In a world that is trying so hard to fit in I choose to stand out in a sari. It is my power-dress! When I walk into a room dressed in my sari I command attention.
My sari is the visual image of everything I stand for – confidence, scholarship, sexiness, knowledge, femininity, Indian-ness and most of all choice; I wear it because I want to. People see me exotically draped in vibrant silks and an armful of silver bracelets going up half way to the elbow – it’s an eye catching look – and they think ‘oh that’s beautiful, but she’s a storyteller – she can get away with wearing it’. Wrong! I don’t ‘get away’ with wearing it; I make the effort to put it all together. In fact, it’s more than that. Behind the scenes this exotic storyteller works in the corporate sector, going into NHS hospitals and ACCA conferences and Business houses to host workshops on Management Skills – and she works in the same sari. I have adapted the sari to suit my workday life – jumping onto tubes, walking a couple of miles between meetings, dealing with weather – the London drizzle or Swedish snow etc, the right ‘tuck’, a clever ‘pin’, a well placed ‘pleat’ without compromising the garment. Because you cannot compromise on this. These 6 yards are hand woven by craftsmen, it is a skill developed over centuries and passed down through generations. It is as sacred as the soil on which it is made. I wear it with pride and hope that it will encourage others to wear their clothes with pride as well.”
Power Dressing
It is interesting to juxtapose Jay and Seema against one another because both are incredibly independent, successful, working women who approach power dressing in different ways. It makes us wonder what can be done to ensure women, such as Jay, don’t ‘second-guess’ their attire fearing they won’t be taken seriously. Although it is refreshing to hear Seema speak of her empowering bold attire, the attention and remarks that come with it – ‘she’s a storyteller – she can get away with wearing it’ completely undermine the importance of her story and suggest it is some form of marketing tactic. Both women are victims of their attire whether they embrace it full-heartedly or not at all. We must change our mind-sets one story at a time. Reassessing our judgements of dress can help do that.
At the House of Gharats, a scarf is not just a fashion accessory it is an expression of ones style and individuality. Although power dressing may alter from place to place it still holds the same weight. It challenges conventional style and demands a deeper consideration of how we, as individuals, can become part of the narrative. Like Rubenstein and her beauty salon 100 years ago, we too must encourage the modern world to reconceive standards of taste, and understand design, art, and colour in order to express individual style and challenge the limitations society has built for us. Authenticity is at the heart of this quiet fashion revolution.
by Lily Rimmer