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Essay: Is fashion the route to a cultural revolution?

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  • Subject area(s): Miscellaneous essays
  • Reading time: 3 minutes
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  • Published: 21 January 2023*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 624 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 3 (approx)
  • Tags: Fashion essays

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This page of the essay has 624 words.

Introduction

  • Examples of how fashion has been used to protest before hand
  • Why fashion is important to change the world
  • What is a cultural revolution?
  • How is fashion translated into action?
  • Photographers and context

Fashion and protest have always been associated despite their recognition being insubstantial. Our history is rich with instances by which garments have presented an accessible point of demonstration and a voice to those oppressed by governmental authority; In the 1790s, after the Terror and the execution of its architect, Maximilien Robespierre, a band of Parisian youths emerged – Incroyables. These Incroyables wore fashion that distended, padded and pulled the body out of proportion, with coats cropped under the chest in front and rears almost brushing the floor; the culture re-emerged in the 80’s with a new title – ‘New Romantic’[1] .This is just one example by which fashion has been used to overcome cultural, political as social issues; Modern Britain has a robust legacy in displaying to us that fashion can aid to revolt against the ills of society and therefore, as a country, is renowned for its youth cultures that have had immense influence in changing perspectives on issues. Beginning in the 1950’s with the Teddy Boys, 60’s with Mods and the Rockers, 70’s Punks, 80’s New Romantics and 90’s Rave scene – today’s generation is missing the fundamental point of so called cultural revolution needed to carry on what has been done in generations before hand; my essay and project will thus example the effect garments can have in producing a demonstrative statement which, on a larger scale, could produce a  potential movement with the ability to change the world like it has done previously.

The term ‘Cultural Revolution’ references the dramatic and wide-reaching change in conditions, attitudes, or operation [2] towards the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society [3] – the question abounds vigorously from a literary, philosophical and socio-political perspective, whether our appearance, specifically the garments we wear, can change perspectives and opinions . Over 150 years ago, the suffragist Amelia Bloomer insisted women must chuck their long dresses and don the baggy divided skirts that came to be known, in her honor, as bloomers. These early pants functioned as protest clothing, offering a sharp rebuke to the oppressive garments of the day. The few brave souls who dared to wear bloomers were met with ridicule and worse, but think about it—without these courageous women, would you be wearing jeans at this very minute? Examples of protest fashion that has led to our individual freedom in our contemporary age are not far and few between; In 1984, British designer and activist Katharine Hamnett showed up at 10 Downing Street wearing a T-shirt that said “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING” (a reference to stationing nuclear missiles in parts of Europe) — much to the surprise of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who she was there to visit. In 1977, Vivienne Westwood designed, sold and wore a T-shirt emblazoned with swastika and an inverted image of Christ on the cross, supposedly as a protest against the establishment. “(We) were just saying to the older generation, ‘We don’t accept your values or your taboos, and you’re all fascists,'” Westwood told Time magazine in 2009. “Westwood really understood that interesting fashion statements come from the streets and from the body politic, not from the designers,” Tynan said. With her Autumn-Winter 2017 menswear collection, shown last month in London, the designer took aim at what she called the “rot in political systems” sending models onto the runway in deliberately torn garments, hinting at a dystopian future. “Bad politicians are all the same. They are the ones who always get into power. We want people power and democratic rule,” Westwood told CNN at the show [4]

Originally published 15.10.2019

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