Can't you be a fashion-loving feminist?

In December 1997, an article in Vogue magazine was published by Elaine Showalter, a professor who wore Prada. In this article, she speaks of her love of fashion and says that for many years she has been trying to strike a balance between her "intellectual career" and "shopping mall" so that both can coexist in their own lives, but often have to put her "femme" side behind her "feminist" side.

I love my academic work, and if I wasn't engaged in academicwork, I might be a fashion buyer.
I've worn enough clothes that a feminist is supposed to wear, and now I'll wear what I want.
- Schwart,Vogue December, 1997

She says humorously that when she sees lipsticks named after feminist figures, such as Mary Shelly, she can't help but want to buy them, and if she has her own cosmetics brand, she'll name each product Simone, Colette or her own red. Imitating Virginia Woolf's book Room of One's Own.

In fact, Schwart never mentioned his love for Prada in the article. Prada is just a code, symbolizing a choice of clothing other than a "feminist suit." To highlight their intellectuality, scourant says, feminists have long chosen to hide their bodies in "little black suits." But for her, fashion is not only not against feminism, but also interacts with her academic research.
- Shi Xiang, Stealing High Heels: A History of Fashion and Feminism, "Sex, High Heels and WuLuff"

In other words, you can read her research and analyze her feminist contributions, but it's best not to step on the blue heels on her feet, which are part of her personal, self-expression.

Why do feminists reject commodity culture?

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There are several reasons why there are cracks between fashion and feminism. The first was by Susan Brownmiller in Negative Traits (1984), who thought that skirts and high heels were "artificial things" that consistently marked the difference between men and women, that she wore only pants, and that she thought women's shoes and skirts were superficial.

The second is Naomi Wolf's "Beauty Myth", which she argues that the "beauty cult" that began in ancient Greece has become an irresistible and avoidable exploitation in a booming modern industrial development, spreading so-called images of beautiful women through mass media such as advertising, fashion magazines, fashion shows, etc., and making women increasingly inferior. Women who can't conform to the standard aesthetic may want to pay for a facelift, diet, and constantly face comments from the public sector. And because they can not become the standard beauty, women's psychological quality is frustrated, also can not be in the workplace, the public domain, so that they are trapped in the home, as a wife of the possibility.

According to Shi, she inherited Susan Brownmiller's argument that clothing was a male-female divide, and that fashion and any related objects were artificial products, unnatural, and a poison that prevented women from maintaining their "primitive bodies".

For them, fashion is a superficial, unnatural product, a bond that is imposed on women. In other words, they believe that women's bodies are real and natural. The duality of primitive body and artificial body is the core conflict between fashion and feminism. Turning to a series of controversies in the history of feminism, it is not difficult to find the same contradictions repeated.
- Shi Xiang, Stealing High Heels: A History of Fashion and Feminism, "Sex, High Heels and WuLuff"

What we can think about is, what is a natural body? Examples of traditional men's clothing for men and women, such as Little Black Suit and Pantsuit Suit, are not feminists putting clothing belonging to another biological sex on their own, in Naomi Wolf's logic? Why is this also called Power-dressing, for women to be empowered, while women wear women's clothing can not be empowered?

Lyn Slater: Modern Schwart, Fashion as the Expression of Identity

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I am a professor, a cultural influencer, a writer, a model.
- Lyn Slater

Lyn Slater , aprofessor of social work in New York , was photographed by fashion photographers at a fashion week wearing clothes designed by Yamamoto . He's over 60 years old, and he's been wearing it for decades.

She describes her love of fashion in one word: "Identity-driven Style". Through fashion, she expresses her inner state, which is age-free, not limited by trends, and changes daily. At the same time, she fought back against the public's prejudice against older women through fashion, telling everyone that older women were equally confident, beautiful, modern, and empowered to dress up.

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Unexpectedly, she described clothes and fashion as a medium in which she could be creative, such as reading novels as a child, and she would think: "How do I wear it to reflect the character's character?" And more importantly, clothes and fashion allow you to explore different selfs (selves).

In fact, she said that "identity as the basis of the style", in fact, common in the sexual minority community, such as gay men through high heels and intimate, colorful clothing, for themselves to add a feminine temperament, fight back against society to give boys the masculinity frame (e.g., men must fit and full of praise), while wearing what would otherwise belong to women's fashion singles, Yin soft gay men further fight back against stereotypes of sexual orientation in heterosexual discourse systems (e.g. men must fall in love with women before it is normal).

Learn to "take advantage" of fashion and fashion from Lyn Slater

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As a fashionable female professor, she is undoubtedly in the gray area between tradition and rebellion, and fortunately, she is popular with students and the media, as if to reverse the confessions of the then Schwart, and proves that a woman who wears Prada can be a feminist and human rights fighter, a intellectually intelligent woman.

In her visit, she said her concerns were human rights, the workforce and the sustainability of fashion. She describes these concerns as being expressed in a teaching and academic way, which is indeed dull. Lyn Slater laughs that the attention he gets on her blog and Instagram may be more appealing than the digital reading rate of his own articles at the college. She spreads her concerns through fashion and fashion, building a more equal world with a commodity culture, and so can we.

In addition, her website is a community, she regularly shares information about fashion language, attracts women to message, about her body's uneasiness, such as body shape, gender expression, etc., And Lyn Slater will respond and provide support. In fact, she started InstagramAccidental's blog because she didn't see any fashion sites about real-world women, opened Vogue or Dazed's web pages, and we'd see sky-high fashion brands on models, but there was no real-life shadow, and there was no link to women's experiences in urban life.

Merchandise culture is not necessarily active, and female consumers are not passive

Commodity culture is the supplier, with the mass dissemination of advertising images, to a certain extent will also develop a period of public aesthetics, but women as consumers, real money shopping, they are also in demand, and their consumption habits reflect the need.

Why are some brands of cosmetics criticised for being unskinned? Because the color choice is not enough, can not take care of the dark-skinned consumers, there is a suspicion of racial discrimination. So we saw rihanna's Fenty foundation in dozens of colors.

Why did Victoria's Secret share price fall and the market of yesteryear shrink? Because the brand's models are either white or too thin women, no one wants to cooperate and let them go. So we see more big girls in lingerie on Instagram and more about beauty and comfort. (Extended reading: Big size models and black female models prove: New York Fashion Week, you shouldn't just focus on beauty)

For women's clothes alone, we may be more masculine yesterday, want to wear pants, tomorrow want to wear high heels and red skirts. There is no uniform that can express people's stages, ideas and characteristics in its entirety, and although the clothes are divided into men's and women's clothes, there are many kinds of gender expressions;

Commodity culture, this should be a creative paradise, some waiting for your choice of code. (Extended reading: Atypical models that are redefining the beauty of the stretch table may be)