Are the SlutWalk Protest Marches Influencing Fashion?
September 11th, 2011Slutwalk Protests are protests against rape victim blaming inspired by a Canadian Police Offer’s comments after a rape case that discouraged women from dressing ‘like a slut’ in order to avoid getting raped. The outrage spurred these protests, in which women dress provocatively to prove a point. The point is that even though they are dressed in scantily clad numbers, they do not ‘ask’ to be raped. While you might think that this would make the Fashion Industry pick a side, that is not necessarily true.
It would seem that fashion is on its own trajectory. At the time of this writing, there is no real evidence to support the theory that Slutwalks are influencing fashion at all. That is not to say that the fashion industry has risen up against these protests, in fact, they may even be silently nodding to this movement. There has been no definite ‘decline’ in scanty clothing from any designer, but there has not been a rise in it either.
Image by Man Alive! via Flickr
It is not because the Fashion industry doesn’t care. In fact, this would seem to be a cause that is close to the hearts of many in the industry, but so far, no one seems to have spoken up about it. The fact of the matter is: the Fashion Industry is just that – a business. A business that makes simply what sells, whether it is daisy dukes and fishnet stockings, or long A-line pencil skirts.
That is not to say that if this movement is successful, that the demand for sexier clothing won’t go up, in fact, it probably will. However, we don’t know if the movement is successful yet. There have been no purported ‘laws’ going into effect on how it’s illegal to assume consent from clothing (although that law would definitely come in handy), there is also not any laws to prevent law enforcement from ‘profiling’ based on attire. (They’re too busy with getting rid of racial profiling at the moment.) So until there is some political upheaval there, we will probably not be seeing a stark increase in sexy clothing.
The Fashion Industry itself is probably not going to say much because along with women who like to dress provocatively, it also caters to women who don’t dress provocatively. It is a business and as a whole, has to keep all sorts of tastes in mind when supplying the demand. While there is certainly a large market for skimpy, sexy attire, it is not the only market out there. It will continue to be a niche market because women are still climbing the corporate ladder.
It is rather amazing that more people in the fashion industry have not commented on this. At the time of this writing, there has not been one designer, guru, or company that has commented on this movement. One would think, with the fashion industry becoming more and more in-tune with the media, that at least one of the more famous personalities put their two cents in, or at least mention that they support or denounce the movement, but so far… no dice. Perhaps, they’re just not aware, or perhaps they are afraid of offending the rest of their market, the market that does not dress ‘slutty’.
Of course, it’s not really a surprise that designers and companies don’t want to comment on this movement. They build brands and building a brand is hard enough without having the term ‘slut’ to contend with. However, it’s amazing that none of the models have commented either. Mum’s the word on that front too. Unlike companies or designers, models are individuals and women too. It is hard to believe that everyone in the fashion industry is quiet about this, but perhaps they have their reasons. Perhaps, more people in the fashion industry would be behind this movement (or at least acknowledgement) if the term did not have ‘Slut’ in the title, but that would be defeating the purpose of the movement itself. There are not too many professional women that would want their name and that term to be in the same sentence, even if it is ultimately for a good cause. Unfortunately, society is not yet enlightened enough to hear the term ‘slutwalk’ and not immediately assume ‘streetwalker’s convention’. So it takes an extreme amount of confidence and security to speak out about such a movement when you are in a large position.
There’s also the theory that this could backfire. There were decades upon decades in which feminist’s blamed the fashion industry for over-sexualizing women and promoting a body that was not attainable to young girls. The industry could think that if they said anything now they would be undermining the years in which they fought this particular backlash. Maybe they feel it would backfire later and the feminists who spoke out about this would regard this as an admission of guilt. So they are not saying anything at all about it and keeping a ‘united’ front’ on the matter.
There is also the fact that a lot of designers are not exclusively women, in fact, a lot of them are men. While one could argue that men do not usually think about these things, it is not known if that blanket statement applies to men who design the clothing itself. However, one can safely venture the theory that no designer, male or female asks themselves the question, ‘Will my design get someone raped if they wear it out?’ before taking pencil to paper. If they did, it is doubtful that half the looks on the runway today would get made.
One could also argue that the recent ‘pin-up’ movement is to blame, because there is an increasing trend toward dressing like old Hollywood pin-up girls. There are lots of looks today geared toward the heavy make-up and more modest dress of yesteryear. However, that theory is not really proven, because as many women want to look like Betty Grable, there are twice as many who want to look like Jersey Shore, but not all the time. There’s not a woman on earth who wants to dress provocatively all of the time. Even at the slutwalks, some girls were dressed conservatively. Whatever the case, it seems that the fashion industry is not going to actually be ‘moved’ by this movement anytime soon.
