Feminist chic: How Chanel and Dior empower today’s women

Jul 13 , 2019

The late German designer Karl Lagerfeld (far right) appears with models who staged a demonstration at the end of his spring/summer 2015 women’s ready-to-wear collection for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week in September 2014. Photo: Reuters

Fashion brands are eager to incorporate feminist concepts and to dismantle gender stereotypes

After decades of over-sexualisation and gender sexism in advertising campaigns, marketers have discovered that “femvertising”, or selling empowerment, is a gold mine for an industry that has been trying to build a connection with an emancipated generation of young women.

According to Harvard Business Review, women drive around 70-80 per cent of consumer purchases, and fashion brands are eager to incorporate feminist concepts. In the era of the #MeToo movement, the luxury industry is embracing feminism.

French fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel in Paris in 1937. The visionary designer devoted her life to the emancipation of women. Photo: Condé Nast / Corbis

For Chanel’s spring 2015 collection, Karl Lagerfeld envisioned a political protest, with signs that read “Ladies First” and “History is Her Story”.

Dior presented three more designs in its recent autumn/winter 2019 show, signalling “Sisterhood is global”, “Sisterhood is powerful” and “Sisterhood is forever”.

Gabrielle Chanel clowning around with her friend, Serge Lifar, in 1937. Photo: Jean Moral © Brigitte Moral

Its spring 2017 ready-to-wear collection launched slogan T-shirts with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s words “We Should All be Feminists”.

Vivienne Westwood has been the spokeswoman for the ideology since day one, and Miuccia Prada dedicated her entire spring 2018 collection to feminism and femininity.

One might question Lagerfeld’s commitment to female empowerment given some of his past comments (such as “no one wants to see curvy women on the runway”), but it is hard to dispute Chanel’s feminist genes.