Political clothing is currently in fashion, but is it fashion?
Celebrities and stars performed at the 75th Golden Globes Award ceremony in black. Immediately, the media was furious with what they called "red carpet political fashion statements." This is just the latest drop in a rainy season of supposedly political fashion.
It all started with the pants suit parties, which took place in 2016 in solidarity with US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Last year, their notorious demonstrations in Charlottesville produced white supremacists in polo and khaki.
Political garb is in vogue given the effects of Brexit, the White House of Donald Trump, and the emergence of so-called alt-right activism in Europe and North America, which are moving through cultural waters. Protesters of all kinds - feminists, white supremacists, anti-feminists, nationalists and supporters of social justice - are adapting to their political ideas.
This kind of political clothing is not the dress code of politicians. These are individuals and groups who express their political views in everyday clothes. The problem is that participants and commentators, reporters and scientists are often in a hurry to call it fashion. But is political clothing fashion?
What is fashion?
The political dimension of clothing is intuitively understood from the moment of birth. For essentially, human society is the same as dressed society. What you wear, how you wear it and when you wear it is an expression of social freedom and influence.
The expression of clothing ranges from conformity to rebellion. Simply put, clothing that challenges or proves challenging or offers an alternative to the status quo spontaneously gains political significance.
Therefore, the social power of clothing and the political effect of seeing many people in an agreed clothing. During the counter-demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, last summer, the Antifa protesters wore a "black block" against the white Supremacists - a pure black uniform that was supposed to show a consistent tough attitude to the anti-war racist discourse.
The more Reforbes the better
At the same time, the "black block" dress was ready to resort to force when needed, much as the Black Panthers did in the 1960s and 1970s. The Panthers took advantage of a gap in the second amendment to the US Constitution, which allowed the wearing of unencumbered firearms in public.Political dressing is a concerted effort by a group of people to draw attention to a social problem. They do this by dressing themselves in a codified style. The recipe of political clothing contains all the ingredients of fashion, but not in the right proportions.
Fashion - as defined - arises when a society agrees to a style, an aesthetic or a cultural sensibility for a certain period of time. The great social reach and the required expiration date of fashion make them so useful as time markers.
You can see it in film, literature or social science research. Fashion means temporally coordinated changes in taste on the social level. Fashion takes place in every area of human activity, including art, music, technology, even in scientific discourse and, of course, in clothing.
The source of confusion
We could trace political dressing and fashion change to the ubiquitous and ubiquitous public presence of the contemporary fashion industry. From the 18th century, much of the industry was engaged in the manufacture of clothing, accessories, beauty treatments and products. This industry has partnered with the advertisers to form a comprehensive fashion industry.
It is not surprising, therefore, that in today's globalized world, most people automatically identify clothes with fashion. After all, they are one of the most visible results of the fashion industry. Of course, the fashion industry would do nothing to clarify this. it is in your best interest to be perceived as a source of fashion.
The same fashion industry employs a worldwide army of trend researchers to analyze historical records and a variety of current cultural sources and events. They use this data to determine what colors, styles and products people will want next season.
Even more worrying, however, is that fashion scientists contribute to public confusion about political clothing as a fashion. They use the terms dress, style, and fashion interchangeably, regardless of their basic semantic difference. There is also a cultural explanation for this. Fashion is an emerging scientific discipline, which is why it is currently very fashionable. Put the word fashion on the title of a scientific article or book, and the readership will likely follow.
The trend of political clothing
Could it be that political clothing like fashion studies is a fashion trend? Based on the number of collections that contained political statements during the 2017 fashion week, the answer would be a round yes. In several collections of the last season of the fashion weeks political statements were made.
Among the political antics on the runway were the pink pussy hats at Missoni. There were white bandanas symbolizing the inclusion in Tommy Hilfiger, Thakoon, Prabal Gurung, Phillip Lim, Dior and Diane von Furstenberg.
In the meantime, black berets à la guerilla or black panther uniforms were shown at Dior. In addition, Ashish Gupta, Public School, and Christian Siriano displayed all sorts of slogans printed or embroidered in a variety of garments interrupted by graphic underwear in the LRS collection.
However, this is not necessarily good news. The fashion industry has a solid track record of co-opting political and countercultural movements, marginalized groups and non-Western cultures, and then making a good profit from it.
There would be nothing wrong with making money this way, except that the consequences of the co-option of the fashion industry are of cultural relevance. Fashion, like other goods, must be consumed before its expiry date.
The good news is that political clothing is fashionable, but not fashion. Not even the global fashion industry can deter individuals from using their clothed bodies as an instrument for political discourse.
Pick your favorite political graphic t-shirt or wear the colors of the party of your choice. Keep in mind that this is not fashion unless most others dress up for a while. In this case you have the following options: Embrace your fashionable status or change either your outfit or your political affiliation.
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