Inequality has existed in our society over time in many decades. We have heard and seen it before and back in 1969, the feminist group “Red Stocking” was a movement which brought forward the term “Equality” up for discussion as they believed that women were oppressed as a gender in a male-dominated society. But how does the word today reflect us, and, do we still see methods of activism in our today society, and how does it reflect the fashion industry in the bigger picture?
As a symbol of feminism today, “Pink Pussyhats” could be a symbol of a new wave in today’s society and could therefore together with the “Free the nipple” trend be an important to look into. The “Pink Pussyhats” is a social movement from 2016 started by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh, focused on raising awareness about women’s issues and advancing human rights. The “Pink Pussyhats” is a form of activism in the USA and was in January 2017 active in the Women’s March in Washington, where all women wore “a sea of pink hats” by making a powerful visual statement and demonstrating for women’s rights. The name “Pussyhats” originates from a protest against Donald Trump and his comments: “grab’em by the pussy”. Protests against Inequality is very important to emphasize, due to the fact that we in today’s society still have a problem, even though it has been discussed many times before. Today, it is illegal for a woman to be topless and breastfeed in 35 states across the USA. Exposing a nipple as a female can result in jail up to three years in Louisiana where the terms, however, are quite different for men.
THE “PINK PUSSY HATS” AS A TREND TO “FREE THE NIPLE”
Lina Esco – “Free the nipple” (Film)
The author Fred David believes that we through clothing can communicate some things about our persons, and at the collective level, this typically results in locating them symbolically in some structured universe of status claims and life-style attachments. This argument by Fred David, could be seen in the “Free The Nipple”, a film from 2014 by Lina Esco, as a campaign, that hopes to encourage equality. The picture from the film brings starts a trend and together with “Pink Pussy Hats” sends as a strong visual statement, which confronts sexual harassment of women and also brings up the discussion of what women are and are not allowed to wear. The “Pink Pussy hats” has been a sensational and dramatic form of activism as an equality movement., and therefore it has been filmed to show off the important position.
“FREE THE NIPPLE” TREND ON INSTAGRAM
“Free the nipple” trend has become very popular on diverse social media like Instagram. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus and the model Cara Delvinge has also become a part of the trend and activism back in 2014 to show their support by posting pictures of showing off themselves “freeing their nipples”. Today, the “#FreeTheNipple” hashtag has today over 4 million posts on Instagram, even though a woman’s nipples are still not allowed to be visible on Instagram.
HOW DOES THIS FORM FOR ACTIVISM REFLECT THE FASHION-INDUSTRY?
The runway pictures are from Spring 2020 and tells us that the movement already has trickled down into runway of the fashion industry - many more catwalks look like this today. Furthermore, fashion brands such as “Never Fully Dressed” has gotten into the debate “Free the nipple” and are selling t-shirt named “Boobs t-shirt”. This t-shirt is for example worn by model Kendall Jenner, who is also involved in this movement. Today the “Boobs t-shirt” exists in many variations in the fast-fashion industry and even with hamburgers. So how ambitious is this phenomenon still in the bigger picture? The serious activism purpose of Equality in a provocative way, might have over time changed into a more mainstream object such as a t-shirt where the original purpose might have been lost or forgotten, as we can see in fast-fashion brands such as Zara.
Clothing could to a great extent be used as a tool of communication as Fred David has emphasized. Also, it can be utilized through activism in different ways which is also seen in today’s society and on social medias. Inequality is seen in different ways, though e.g movements like “Pink pussy hats” and the trends such as “Free the nipple“. The fashion industry has also used it as a tool for communicating. The social media today likes having control and have restrictions, but not all people or celebrities chose to follow the rules. After all, the fashion runway would say to support the activism, however, the movement also seems to lack some focus within the fast-fashion industry and maybe they are just trying to take advantage of it.
By Nikoline
Source:
- Do clothes speak? By Fred Davis
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