The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." The authenticity of those words, famously spoken decades ago by Gloria Steinem as a rallying cry to women activists, feel especially relevant right this second, as females are getting paid 20 percent less than males, reproductive rights hang in the balance, and men get rewarded for bragging about what can patently be defined as sexual assault. Indeed, plenty of women are pissed off. And plenty are realizing that fashion—defined as what you choose to put on your body—can be a potent form of protest.
“Choosing to speak with your body is powerful,” says stylist and fashion editor Solange Franklin Reed in a video created by Brooklyn-based storytelling studio Noir Tribe in partnership with the Women's March on Washington and New York City and Glamour (which you can watch below) that examines how women and men use visual cues in the form of clothing as a means of rebellion. “We can separate ourselves and think what we wear doesn’t matter, and in many ways what you wear doesn’t matter, but in many ways we determine so many things by how somebody looks.”
Currently we're seeing literal messages in the form of protest fashion, and it’s one that's hard to ignore whether it's on the runway at labels like Dior, Public School, Prabal Gurung, and Christian Siriano, or on women going about their daily lives.
When Siriano sent out a model at his New York Fashion Week show in February wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “People are people," the buzz was instant.“With everything going on in the world, I felt a simple statement could speak volumes and remind us all that people really are just people and that in itself should be enough to celebrate one another,” Siriano told Glamour. “I think there's enough hate in the world that fashion as a whole should help highlight the beauty in everyone no matter age, size, or race. We need to be the ones to help move that idea forward; we have a voice that millions of people look up to.”For Moran Amir, the designer behind jewelry, the decision to use her collection to make a bigger point came from her own inner turmoil following Donald Trump’s presidential win. “I just couldn't open Facebook after the election. I would get heart pains,” she said.
“People are becoming more political in their day-to-day lives, not taking for granted small purchasing decisions,” Amir says. “It’s a win-win when you can relate to a piece of fashion and appreciate where the money is going.”
