User:Matcha62/Fashion activism

Social Movements Influencing Fashion
Social and political movements have always been linked to fashion, as clothes provide the visual currency and message of the movements.

(maybe try) Fashion has always been linked to social and political movements. Fashion has always been deemed as a main outlet for a political or social movement's message.

=== Social Movements in History ===

The Sans-Culottes: Late 18th Century France
The French Revolution commoners, the working class of the 3rd state, were given the name "sans-culottes". It meant "without breeches" and was used to refer to the low-class populist revolutionaries due to their apparel featuring full-length trousers instead of aristocratic breeches over stockings. They used this fashion to stand up for their rights and fight against the monarchy. Their apparel choices became a symbol for the new freedoms of expression socially, politically, and economically, that the French Revolution promised.

Women's Suffrage Movements in U.S. and Britain: Early 1900s
The 1900s were the start of women standing up for their rights, first being the right to vote. In 1913, 5,000 women marched in Washington D.C. demanding the right to vote. The suffragettes used fashion as a political and campaign tool; it advocated their cause while emphasizing a female appearance. Women began wearing comfortable, streamline clothing, such as trousers, which acted as a symbol for women's new place in society. Other new items such as tailored suits with a wide skirt became popular, as it was practical and respectable. The suffragettes were identified by three main colors, that they wore to events: purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and yellow for virtue.

Second-Wave Feminist Movement: 1960s
The rise of feminist power, as well as the continuous disappointment of women for the patriarchal system (gaining the right to vote and employment discrimination) led women to push it further with shorter hemlines on skirts. The mini skirt was a form of women's liberation and was interpreted as a form of political activism. Mary Quant is credited with designing the first mini-skirt. The liberation in the 1960s, from independence and sexual freedom were all expressed through the mini skirt.

The Black Panthers Movement: 1960s-70s
The mid 1960s-70s was a time were African Americans were considered the bottom of the social hierarchy, driving them to fight these injustices and discrimination. Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton founded the Black Panthers Party in 1966, to campaign against racial discrimination. The total black look was a statement uniform of the party. It was a way to send a message about black pride and liberation. It was subtly modeled off of military attire; featuring a black leather jacket, black pants, dark sunglasses, and a black beret. By the 1970s, nearly two-thirds of the party was made up of women redefining the beauty standards for African American women. They were leaving their hair in a natural afro, to express their solidarity and protest conformist beauty standards. This type of fashion activism was a way for them to implement African elements in American society.

Anti-Vietnam War Movement and Hippies: 1970s
"Make love, not war", the philosophy of the hippie movement that was pervasive throughout the U.S. in the 1960s, helped spread the message of anti-war and counterculture. As a way of expressing their non-violent ideology, hippies dressed in colorful clothes, bell-bottoms, tie-dye apart, paisley prints, and black armbands. This became the self-identification of hippies. These garments symbolize life, love, peace, and disapproval of war, that are still known and acknowledged today. The black armbands represented the mourning of a friend, family, comrade or team member that died in the Vietnam War.

Environmental Social Movement and the Protest Logo T-Shirt: 1980s
In 1984, when British fashion designer Katharine Hamnett was invited to London Fashion Week, she showed up wearing a slogan t-shirt that read "58% don't want Pershing", as a protest of the installation of U.S. nuclear missiles in the U.K. The goal behind this was to draw the attention of the public and generate action.

(maybe try) In 1984's London Fashion Week, British's fashion designer Katherine Hamnett wore a slogan t-shirt that read "58% don't want Pershing". This protest was in response to the installation of U.S. nuclear missiles in the Unite Kingdom. This protest drew attention form the public eye and called for action.