Rise: Fashion & Activism Magazine

RISE
APRIL 2019
FASHION & ACTIVISM
Image By Zoe Lawrence

IN EACH COLLECTIVE, IN EACH GROUP WE
STAND WITHIN, WE CAN DO SOMETHING.
-ADWOA ABOAH
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Image By Steph Wilson
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FASHION&
ACTIVISM:
IT’S COMPLICATED
Article By Danielle LaRose
Image By Hayley Thornton-Kennedy
Fashion’s relationship with activism is long and convoluted, so much so
that a Facebook status might say ‘it’s complicated’. On-again, off-again
with social movements, despite accusations of whitewashing, body
shaming, and cultural appropriation, the industry has hosted its share of
protests and shouts to the social conscience on everything from AIDS to
immigration. Today, in the shakiest sociopolitical climate since the 60s,
young designers and big brands are joining a long line of predecessors
using clothes to communicate and the runway to rebel.
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CLOTHES HAVE LONG BEEN
A CATALYST FOR CHANGE
For people of color, women,
members of the LGBTQ
community, immigrants,
and minorities, the election
and its aftermath saw most
questioning the stability
of their rights – as well as
how fashion could matter in a time like this.
But designers weren’t ready to be counted
out of the conversation just yet. Rather, the
best collections responded with political
commentary, staging presentations that
stood against the administration or at least
clapped back against its claims.
Calling out ignorance towards the refugee
crisis, Gypsy Sport designer Rio Uribe
preceded his AW17 collection with a plea for
showgoers to acknowledge the oft-ignored
plight of homeless refugees. Likewise, Mara
Hoffman’s AW17 show opened with a speech
by Tamika D. Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Bob
Bland, and Carmen Perez, the co-chairs
of the Women’s March on Washington.
For both designers, their collections were
catalysts for drawing attention to a greater
cause.“I was inspired to do a show and use
it as a microphone for something bigger,”
Hoffman said backstage. “These women just
pulled off the biggest human rights protest
in the history of the country. The subject
matter is a little heavy, but now’s the time to
talk about it.”
Still, most designers decided on a show-don’ttell
approach using slogan tees. While SS17
was a season of speeches for Prabal Gurung,
who reprinted the words of Susan B. Anthony
and other prominent women along silk
dresses and on knit sweaters, AW17 was far
more succinct. The designer closed his show
with a parade of models in declaratory t-shirts
reading, “I am an immigrant,” “Revolution has
no borders,” and the ever-popular “The future
is female.” In similar expressions, Creatures
of Comfort and Christian Siriano peppered
their collections with commentary: their
wearable responses to Trump respectively
read “We Are All Human Beings” and “People
are People.”
While the slogan tee rightfully saw new
life this season, using a t-shirt as political
speech is nothing new. Katharine Hamnett
pioneered sans serif on cotton as a statement
in 1983, sending anti-war rhetoric down the
runway reading “Choose Life,” “Stop Acid
Rain,” and “Education Not Missiles”. In fact,
for most designers this season these shirts
are punctuated statements in a long line of
otherwise commercial collections. For others
like Hamnett, activism is woven throughout
their careers.
Both the late Alexander McQueen and
Vivienne Westwood have repeatedly used
fame and fashion as a platform to shock,
surprise, and speak up. In 1998, McQueen
guest-edited Dazed’s Fashion-Able issue,
which showcased models with physical
disabilities and acknowledged the industry’s
relationship with ableism. And long before
the embrace of environmentalism, McQueen
staged his ‘Horn of Plenty’ collection in a
scrap heap of his old sets, commenting on
consumerism, waste, and fashion’s potential
Image By Nick Knight
role within the two. Punk’s reigning monarch,
Westwood and her anti-establishment antics
have called attention to everything from
animal rights to anti-terror laws. Most
recently, yet another collection in a handful
calling for a revolution, her SS18 Men’s
collection saw trash-stuffed stockings as
allusions to climate change.
These two spoke up before #GenerationWoke
became consumers and when activism could
hurt a brand’s commercial viability. Likewise,
when Kenneth Cole released his AIDS
awareness campaign in 1985, he challenged
the blind eye most pointed to the virus and
risked marginalizing himself and his brand.
Cole’s activism came in reaction the death of
David Brugnoli, Kenneth Cole Productions’
head of visual design, and today the designer
posits that activism still works best when
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Image Credit Press Association - Thatcher Meets Hamnett
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SAMUEL KROST
COMBINES FASHION, COMMUNITY,
AND ACTIVISM IN HIS NEW LABEL
Article By Nicky Campbell | Image By Scott Camaran
The 1960s was an era of defiance, characterized by riots and protests
by a young generation that desired change – for women’s rights,
military intervention, and civil rights. This youth-led activism serves
as the inspiration behind KROST, a luxury streetwear label that puts
community first.
Designed and produced in Los Angeles, KROST just made its New York
debut with the launch of a SoHo concept store at 357 Canal Street.
Spearheaded by founder Samuel Krost with the help of designer Scott
Camaran, the young entrepreneur is using his background in fashion
to make his mark on the industry.
With a capsule collection composed of lux hoodies and leather goods,
Krost aims to be a “vehicle for building a sense of community.”
He’s doing this by partnering with the organization March for Our
Lives, demonstrating, in his way, how fashion has a responsibility to
give back.
“March for Our Lives was born out of the devastation brought by the
shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and is the prime
example, and the brand’s biggest inspiration, of youth coming together
to support one another for a greater purpose – to propel a safer
tomorrow,” Krost said.
“We’re proud to be one of the first partnerships with the organization
within another industry, with the goal of supporting them in a
financial capacity through small capsule collections while also
bringing additional awareness to their cause through all social and
digital marketing initiatives.”
Expect more such partnerships in the label’s future. In line with the
brand’s motto “Support Your Friends,” Krost hopes to mobilize a new
generation of young creatives far and wide to take the brand to new
heights. He has a high-profile network behind him – think Gigi Hadid
and @fuckjerry – and aims to utilize this to generate real change.
As Krost put it, “We’re here to partner and collaborate with as many
creatives, artists, photographers, videographers, and other brands
in the world that can help create additional vehicles to propel this
message and build our community.”
it is genuine and personal. “Often people ask me
about getting involved in service and philanthropy,
and my first advice is: Make sure it’s real and it’s
transparent,” he told Gabriela Hearst, herself an
activist for Planned Parenthood and champion for
sustainability, in an interview for Vogue. “People are
very smart today.”
And he’s not wrong. Many consumers criticize the
fashion industry for its lack of social conscience,
or remain skeptical when it appears. Case in point:
Chanel’s SS15 preview of the Women’s March on
Washington was seen both as the most political
fashion show in recent memory and as a commercial
caricature of a social movement. Yet while many argue
the fashion industry is too exclusive to champion
social issues, they forget clothes have long been a
catalyst for change. After Paul Poiret condemned
the corset, Chanel popularized the suit and looser
silhouettes for women. And even before screenprinting
made it possible to declare oneself a feminist,
Mary Quant was an inadvertent representative of
women’s liberation. The first to put the miniskirt in
the mainstream, Quant helped normalize sexuality
and the hiked hemlines that came with it.
Nevertheless, most of the industry spent years being
silent on political issues while causing controversy
of its own, begging critics to question why now and
if the messages are genuine, or if brands are merely
after socially conscious consumers. Speaking up is
great, but many question if the occasional slogan
tee is enough; actions speak louder than words,
even if those words are worn. But despite being a
repeated antagonist of diversity, body positivity,
and politically correct appropriation, the industry
has significant leverage as an agent for change and
who are we to silence designers now that they’re
wielding it. Fashion has been and continues to
be an industry of creatives of every race, religion,
sexuality, and gender whose rights are now in
question, so the issues they’re advocating for are
viscerally felt. Whether their collections are judged
as a publicity stunt or political statement, designers
and consumers alike can’t deny that silence in this
sociopolitical climate is deadly.
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DESIGNERS &
CONSUMERS ALIKE
CAN’T DENY THAT SILENCE
IN THIS SOCIOPOLITICAL
CLIMATE IS DEADLY
Image By David Sims
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BLACK PANTHERS
In 1966, Bobby Seale and
Huey Newton formed The
Black Panther Party, an
organization, established
with the goal to ensure the
safety and welfare of people
of Afro-American origin.
Their outfits reflected the
seriousness of their ideas:
a black uniform, to make
them appear as a solid
block of unified people;
dark shades, to cover their
faces so their loved ones
would remain safe; and a
black beret, to counter the
green ones worn by the
military, but also to channel
some French revolutionary
spirit into the movement.
- Andjela Djuraskovic
Image courtesy of Bay Area News Group
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WOMEN’S MARCH
Today, there’s a diverse palette
of ways to express the urge
to fight gender inequality. In
the Western world, the pink
“pussyhat” became a symbol
of feminism after Donald
Trump became the president
of the United States. The
initial idea was to breathe a
new meaning into the word
“pussy”, making it an ally of
women in the political process.
Knitting a hat for a protest
became a way of channeling
discontent with the system
into something productive. .
- Andjela Djuraskovic
Image By Roya Ann Miller
Image By Roya Ann Miller
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Image By Erik Madigan Heck
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Stella McCartney
Shines A Spotlight On Waste With Latest
Campaign Set In A Landfill
Article By Alice Casely-Hayford
Fashion is one of the most polluting
industries in the world, yet our
insatiable hunger for new product means
overconsumption shows no signs of
abating. Thankfully, brands big and small
are working to tackle the environmental
and human damage that fast fashion
has and still is causing. One such brand
is Stella McCartney, which is steadfastly
committed to sustainability and has
just released its latest campaign for
AW17, shining a spotlight on the issues
of waste and reckless consumption.
In collaboration with artist Urs Fischer and
photographer Harley Weir, McCartney’s
AW17 collection is shot against the
backdrop of the eastern coast of Scotland,
the manmade landscapes formed from
discarded items, questioning what we
are leaving for future generations. In one
campaign image we see ‘clean waste’ on its
way to a recycling centre, juxtaposed with
the harsh reality of landfill in another.“The
idea we had with this campaign is to portray
who we want to be and how we carry
ourselves; our attitude and collective path,”
designer Stella McCartney explains. “Our
man-made constructed environments are
disconnected and unaware of other life and
the planet which is why there is waste.”
The AW17 collection, featuring head-to-toe
jersey tailoring and embroidered tulle layered
with lace, is made from innovative and
recycled materials such as organic cotton,
sustainably sourced viscose, recycled nylon
and cruelty-free ‘Skin-Free Skin’. The luxury
British fashion brand is continually trying
to lessen its impact on the environment –
53 percent of the womenswear collection
comes from sustainable materials and
the brand has never used leather, fur,
skins or feather. When it is expected that
plastic production will triple by 2050 as
the global population explodes to almost
10 billion, every brand should be making
social responsibility a priority and reevaluating
manufacturing processes.
The campaign images are accompanied
by a film featuring a song by Australian
musician Tkay Maidza. Models Birgit Kos,
Iana Godnia and Huan Zhou lip-synch
to the words as they walk around the
bleak environment, bringing a message
of hope and youthful positivity. At a time
when fashion activism is widespread
and countless brands are unconvincingly
jumping on the sustainability bandwagon,
Stella McCartney’s bold campaign is an
authentic call to action. Here’s hoping other
fashion brands are quick to follow suit.
Image By Harley Weir
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Image By Harley Weir