“Consent, Consent, Consent” flashed the neon set lights at Dior’s latest ready-to-wear show in Paris.
The set, the fruit of a collaboration with artist Claire Fontaine, made a strong impact on VIP guests — including actress Sigourney Weaver and singer Carla Bruni. Some paused for thought, especially as the show was delayed, in discussions of the #MeToo era and its influence on art — one day after Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault and led off to prison in handcuffs. The designs themselves cleverly riffed off the empowerment idea at the start: Such as the Dior signature bar jacket, re-imagined as ribbed and angular, and twinned with a men’s shirt and business tie on a female model with a short pixie hairstyle. It was the show’s strongest fashion statement.
The feminist and androgynous musing sadly faded quickly in the 84-look show, suggesting that for Chiuri it was more of a marketing gimmick than a developed creative idea.
Femvertising: How brands are selling feminism? Over the past few years, feminism has become a new wave of “trendiness.” Instead of being associated with with man-hating, bra-burning radicals it’s slowly entering the mainstream, appealing to a broader audience and making it a convenient marketing tool. Prominent celebrities like Emma Watson and Beyonce are publicly aligning themselves with the movement, so, more and more brands have started flooding our social media feeds with women-empowering adverts to get in on the action. That includes viral hashtags like Always’ #LikeAGirl, Doves’ Real Beauty campaign, and Wranglers’ #MoreThanABum. In Pakistan too, brands like Generation have also launched “feminist” line for their clothes.