What's Next for Fashion and Feminism?

Image via Instagram @Dior

While feminism has always been an important issue to many in the fashion industry there's no doubt it has recently become "trendy" again in the media as well as for major players in the fashion industry. Fashion houses have been scrambling to recruit popular female celebrity spokeswomen as the new face for their brands. Several major houses also had shake-ups with their creative directors last year and have responded to the recent revival of the feminist movement by highlighting  their appointment's of women to top leadership roles. Most recently Givenchy announced Claire Waight Keller as the next Couturier for the house but they are only the latest in a long line including Oscar de la Renta who announced Laura Kim as co-creative director last fall (which you can read about in my interview with the CEO here), David Yurman who announced Gabriella Forte as CEO, and perhaps most notably Dior whose own Maria Grazia Chiuri debuted her first collection for the house in 2016 entitled "We should all be feminists". 2016 also saw the launch of the "I am poison campaign" from Dior featuring a fiercely dressed Camille Rowe saying "I am not a girl. I am poison." in a commercial that's reminiscent of the 90s punk scene.

Image via Instagram @Dior

The runways of major fashion weeks this past year were also filled with chokers, power suits, menswear inspired silhouettes and traditionally empowering colors such as blacks and reds. Basically, we can confidently say that #girlboss style has officially made it to the big leagues. 

But, could there be another trend brewing under the surface of this feminist fashion revival? 

Image via Instagram @Dior 

Dior's We Should All Be Feminists collection is represented by the simple white t-shirt with the collections title on it in bold black print and Maria Grazia Chiuri's update to the menswear inspired barsuit from Dior but, the collection also included romantic dresses and skirts in whites and blush and her couture collection at Paris Fashion Week was even more feminine. Inspired by Dior's love for impressionism it featured soft colors, delicate tulle layering, and full skirts. 

On the retail front, despite facing a major PR disaster in February Ivanka Trump's brand of feminine businesswear for women has sales up by 33% on Amazon and 29.5% at Bloomingdale's according to this CNN Money article. 

Fashion designers and consumers are redefining what it means to be a feminist with a more inclusive view of women and femininity and they are finding inspiration from women of all walks of life. While collections from the first fashion month of 2017 have exemplified more of the same dark colors and sharp silhouettes the tide could be changing to a lighter more feminine representation of women's  empowerment.