In the #MeToo and #TimesUp era, girl power is ruling the runway
This season, fashion houses including Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Alexander McQueen, Max Mara and Saint Laurent set out to dismantle standardised notions of beauty for women, and instead focus on women’s empowerment
Fashion has always taken pride in its ability to make a statement and to express itself through clothes. This season, the statement was empowerment. In the age of #MeToo, there has been a cultural shift in the way we talk about women, significantly altering the dialogue around sexual abuse in fashion and other industries.
As the conversation around it keeps evolving, brands and designers have begun to take note and that was most palpable on the runways. While trends were present, there was a larger feeling of unity and empowerment, which led to designers creating new ways of commenting on social movements.
Each designer had an individual take on the issue. While some were focused on exploring the notion of “protection” and “security”, others looked to the future optimistically and brought bright colours to the fore. Elsewhere, feminism was best expressed through power dressing, leather dresses and head-to-toe animal print. Whatever the style, the message was clear: fashion should always be about making women feel good.
“Feminism isn’t a buzzword any more. It’s an important component of this industry, which was essentially built by powerful women. Movements such as #TimesUp and #MeToo have been a long time coming and this season, designers were passionate about getting this message across,” says London-based stylist Matilda Ohlsson Arnell.
Fashion can be a conversation starter, and often it is the simplest clothes that pave the way for constructive dialogue and real change.
Here we document the trends that marked this season’s biggest statement: women’s empowerment.
New York
While some designers decamped for Paris and Milan, the quintessential charm of New York style still holds together.