People should care about what’s going on in the world. They should care about politics, society, their fellow humans, the environment, but in many instances, it is impossible to care about all of them at once. At some point, you are not advocating for change, you are creating noise. Vivienne Westwood’s ambitious AW19 runway berated audiences with activist messaging to the point where none of it was coherent.
The runway show, which built upon the British designer’s classic punk aesthetic, featured pieces with slogans like “Politicians R Criminals / Press R Jokers”, “I am a machine” and “We sold our soul for CONSUMPTION / PRESS -> tell us what we want to hear. -> to HELL”, while the models gave monologues on the runway, spouting catchy slogans like, “save the arctic from Shell and Putin” and “culture is the enemy of consumption”. The cast was comprised of activists including, Rose McGowan and John Sauven, the UK director of Greenpeace. The messaging was erratic, darting from critiques of Hollywood, to lecturing against advertisements, denouncing big oil companies, warning about climate change and exposing politicians. The unifying element was a “deck of cards” Westwood has created, with each card and suit designed to help change the world. Ultimately, the show was less inspirational and more overwhelming.
Photos courtesy of Vivienne Westwood
The barrage of messages and calls to action was reminiscent of the SS15 Chanel protest show where Karl Lagerfeld sent models down the runway with picket signs reading, “fashion not war” and “Tweed is better than Tweet”. Lagerfeld obviously brought a tongue-in-cheek approach to his demonstration. Whether or not it was in good taste to make light of serious issues — such as Black Lives Matter — with a fashion protest is debatable, the thesis of the presentation was digestible. Westwood, on the other hand, lessened the importance of the issues by presenting one after the other.
There is a question of whether or not politics and fashion should even mix in the first place. Certain issues like wealth inequality, starvation and critiques of consumerist culture can look a bit tone-deaf on an 80-euro t-shirt. Still, there are designers that do it well. For example, Telfar Clemens kept his messaging subtle and clear during his AW19 show in New York, where he featured white scarves in the style of abolitionists, the image of a burnt-out American flag and worn a t-shirt reading “Black Lives Matter”. Still, the fashion took centre-stage at the show.
As Pepsi learned in their ill-conceived Kendall Jenner commercial: not all protest imagery is meaningful. Some mediums lend themselves better to advocate for social change than others. There is room for social commentary during fashion week, but designer clothes are not great bullhorns for listing off all of the things that need to be fixed in the world. The best rule for sending a message with fashion might just be the old cliché: show, don’t tell.
Check out the politically-charged looks below:
Photos courtesy of Vivienne Westwood