Using The Devil Wears Prada as an example, Olivia Chandler points out the breadth and depth of power the fashion industry holds
A scene from The Devil Wears Prada features Andy (Anne Hathaway) chuckling at Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the Editor-in-Chief of “Runway Magazine” (a thinly-veiled allusion to Vogue), when she is trying to choose between two cerulean belts.
Miranda does not hesitate to tell her, “You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select… I don’t know… that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. That blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”
Her words are certainly true in today’s world. But while fashion has the ability to destroy a woman’s self-esteem, it can also empower her.
The relationship between feminism and fashion has been, and still is, a tumultuous one. During the second wave of feminism, the New York Radical Women’s group protested at the 1968 Miss America Pageant and tossed items associated with femininity—high heels, false eyelashes, makeup, tweezers, curlers, girdles, fashion and beauty magazines, corsets and bras—into the “Freedom Trash Can.”
It is difficult to argue against critics who say the fashion industry objectifies women and upholds beauty standards unattainable for the average woman. The industry sends messages that influence us, telling us how we should value ourselves and determine our self-worth. Instead of valuing ourselves based on our accomplishments, intelligence, and personal strengths, we are instead told that our self-worth is measured by our material possessions.
In the case of fashion, it’s what or who you are wearing. Women are continually pressured to contribute to this vicious cycle and wear the latest trends. We are told we need to own that glamorous $2,000 Chanel handbag most can’t afford.
But fashion touches the lives of women every single day. The argument of being “anti-fashion” for anyone, feminist or not, would be hard to support.
Consider this: fashion is integral to society; we make decisions about what clothes to wear every single day. A person generally wears six to 10 articles of clothing a day, not including accessories. This forces women to make a choice every day. We can either choose not to care what we look like, which some don’t, or we can choose to conform to what the industry standards are, which most of us do.
Women have the ability to use fashion to their advantage and reclaim it as a form of empowerment, and not destruction. We can use it as a form of resistance against the socially constructed norms that dictate the “proper” way to dress.
Fashion should be used creatively and as a form of self-expression. If there was no fashion industry, we would not have any diversity. We most likely would have to conform to wear the same things, and who likes conformity? How boring.
Fashion is also another form of communication; we use it to communicate our personality, mood, beliefs, social or political views, and cultures.
Ultimately, fashion is a personal choice. Feminist or not, it is a powerful tool that has yet to be used to its full potential.
But in order for women to use fashion for social change, we must first change among ourselves. We have become too critical of one another, especially when it comes to what we wear. Instead, we should rise up to encourage and support women who go against fashion norms.
Whether you love fashion or don’t, whether you love to wear sneakers or eight-inch heels, whether you like to show a little more skin or enjoy covering up, fashion should not be used as means by which women judge each other. No woman should feel as if she is setting back feminism if she loves fashion,
As Minh Ha T. Pham wrote in the January issue of Ms., a feminist magazine, “If feminists ignore fashion, we are ceding our power to influence it.”
Olivia Chandler, Contributor
