Gender issues in fashion

Gender issues in fashion

With reference to ethics, are there still gender issues/bias prevalent within sectors of fashion design and communication?

Gender issues and bias within the fashion industry have throughout history continually been a topic of debate, with the art versus the graphic sexualisation of both men and women in the name of fashion being a strong element. Especially in the last 10 to 15 years with the introduction of the internet and social media such as ‘Twitter’, this is allowing a person to air their views to the masses about such topics, which has paved a way for women such as Caryn Franklin to become an ambassador and a promoter of the issue of ethics in fashion. Caryn, Erin O’Connor and Debra Bourne co-founded the group ‘All walks beyond the catwalk’ which promotes diversity in the fashion industry a topic I will be delving into further within this essay. I will also be focusing on issues within the design process that have gender issues and bias associated with them such as, taking gender out of fashion design, the increase of designers using transgender models in both catwalk and campaigns such as Lea T, and Andrej Pejic and male designer dominance.

The fashion industry has always had gender specific clothing, clothes aimed and males and females, although this has remained the same many of the so called ‘rules of clothing’ has changed throughout the years such as shapes and colours associated with each gender specific item of clothing, with many of said rules intertwining at a point in history. ‘Prior to the 19th century, it was not unusual to see wealthy, fashionable men wearing stockings and heels which are now almost always marketed as for women and girls, plus its only since the 1940s that pink has been considered a ‘girly’ hue, with babies wearing dresses with no particular colour up to that point regardless of their gender’ Lorraine Smith, 2011. Fashion and Gender [Online] .In recent years there has been a sharp rise in the androgyny trend in multiple senses of the word. In Women’s fashion structured plain clothes such as suits have increased massively in colours grey, black and white, both typically being shapes and colours of men’s fashion, similarly Men’s fashion has seen an increase in bright colours, and fitted shapes that once again stereotypically would be more suited to a women. ‘Androgyny has always been a source of interest and intrigue. But as society’s boundaries have changed, so too have the masculine-feminine boundaries blurred’ Braukamper T. (2013) Androgynous fashion: Spring’s Evolution [Blog] ‘YouTube’ is a spectacular place where people can have their say, and after watching a handful of videos on the subject watching ‘VastisVoice’s’ Video ‘Breaking the gender mold’ made me delve further within the issues that may be associated with said trend. The androgyny trend stretches over to people who don’t fit in the social norms associated with gender and fashion, such as men with long hair, tomboys, transgender female and males, where do they/can they fit in within this trend? Is it insensitive to issues they face? Or is this removing gender from fashion or simply what looks good?

"http://i.huffpost.com/gen/278071/ANDREJ-PEJIC-DOSSIER.jpg"This rise in androgyny has not only been taking over the designs we see, it is beginning to be seen on the runways too. Designers such as Jean-Paul Gautier have been using transgender models such as male model Andrej Pejic for some times now. Andrej Pejic has been seen gracing the pages of high fashion magazines such as Dossier. With his Dossier cover in particular came backlash with many stores censoring his chest for being too explicit. ‘Dossier Co-Founder and Creative Director Skye Parrottwho explained that the bookstores asked for all copies of the magazine to be placed in "opaque poly bags because even though they knew Andrej was a man, he looked too much like a woman, basically, a move that she suspects will limit sales….It's a naked man on the cover of a magazine, which is done all of the time without being covered up, so I definitely don't think it merits this, but I understand what it is.. I think, is that it's playing with those ideas of gender roles. He's topless, you can see that he's a man, but if you look at his face, he looks like a woman and he's so beautiful, he's both in that picture, in a way. I think that's what's interesting about it." Huffington Post, 2011. Dossier’s Andrej Pejic cover censored. I feel that this statement is a perfect insight into the issues that are associated with gender bias within the industry, some may say gender has been removed here, others there is a crossover, but it is great though provoking image no one can argue different. I love that the industry is challenging the social norms, attempting break down a social taboo/bias within society with this being one of many outlets in doing so.

There is another gender bias within the design element of the industry; male/female dominance both on the catwalk and behind the scenes. In the 19th century Charles F. Worth was the first to sew his label into a garment, ‘Worth’s establishment was the first to be promoted in a manner somewhat akin to the modern “label” system.’ Vogue. Voguepedia. When looking at the modelling aspect of the industry, one can easily see that both females and males contribute equally, yet females are more admired and thus better paid. According to the ‘Forbes Model Rich List’ Sean O’Pry was the highest earning male model of 2013 earning £1.5 Million, whereas the top earning female model Giselle Bundchen earned £42 Million. A startling statistic for a generation where there is such a large emphasis on equality. An argument for this is that it is due to the assumption that the fashion industry is a predominantly female one, and thus causes some men with an interest in fashion to steer away from the industry on fear of being stereotyped. There is also an imbalance off the runway, with male dominance leading the design houses. It is an assumption that homosexual males have a great eye for design and fashion as a whole and are chosen ahead of women for design roles.

Bibliography

Lorraine Smith, 2011. Fashion and Gender [Online] Available at: http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2011/05/fashion_and_gender [Accessed 10th March 2014]

Braukamper T. (2013) Androgynous fashion: Spring’s Evolution [Blog] 14.03.2013 Available at: http://www.fashionising.com/trends/b--androgyny-androgynous-fashion-22284.html [Accessed 10th March 2014]

VashtisVoice, 2011 [Online Video] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBRUQoO0PQA [Accessed 10th March 2014]

Huffington Post, 2011. Dossier’s Andrej Pejic cover censored. [Online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/dossier-andrej-pejic-cover-censored_n_862424.html [Accessed 17th March 2014]

Vogue,Voguepedia – Worth.[Online] Available at: http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Worth [Accessed 17th March 2014]

Forbes, 2013. The world’s top-earning male models of 2013.[Online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/vannale/2013/10/08/the-worlds-highest-paid-male-models-2013-oprys-1-5m-still-far-from-giseles-42m/ [Accessed 18th March 2014]