fashion: can it be more than just frivolous fun?
This week, VICE Magazine has come out with a very topical editorial taking on the Occupy movement which has been titled American Psychos. The editorial shows beautifully dressed young Wall Street types in Vivienne Westwood and Dior Homme engaging with the so-called 99% with stark contrast between them, and putting their own asshole-ish spin on the movement with reworked protest signs.
And while you could easily argue that these photos are not the making of the Most Impressive Editorial Ever™, I have to commend their guts. The Occupy movement being a special case in terms of issues to take on – not all have a direct link to finances, luxury and the elite – the VICE team have done a wonderfully ironic job with American Psychos.
This type of editorial has appeared in fashion publications worldwide, famously in Steven Meisel’s take on warzones in the September 2007 issue of Vogue Italia, Make Love Not War, and more recently in Vogue Italia’s August 2010 issue, again shot by Steven Meisel, showing Kristen McMenamy as a suffering animal (albeit in beautiful dresses) as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
And while certainly a welcome change from your stock standard “tribal” editorial set in an African village, or minimalist white-background shots of big black coats, these editorials taking on current affairs are always going to be more or less controversial. The subject is going to be fresh in people’s minds, and this combined with the knee-jerk association of fashion with nothing but superficiality, makes for editorials and the publications in which they appear being heavily criticised at the time for insensitivity, glamorisation of the issue, and plenty more. I guess what it really comes down to is how well done each editorial (or other similar format) comes out. Tastefulness, quality work and an understanding of the cause are all preferable here, and admittedly difficult to undertake and balance appropriately.
It’s very true that fashion does have a lot of barriers to expressing opinion on current affairs, global social movements and other areas of interest. Put simply, not many take political or social “comment” in fashion publications seriously. Personally I find this yet another reinforcement of fashion as a female – and thus frilly and unimportant – industry instead of being seen as the lucrative global business it is. The nature of some of the industry and its key players – which I make no pretenses to ignore – should not be seen as a reason for fashion not to have a say on pertinent issues; it should be a challenge.
Editorials such as American Psychos should be more commonplace, if only to promote awareness and encourage discussion in the fashion sphere. Fashion too has a right to record history in its own way if it sees fit.
By Katie Hryce
