Quickie Question: How Would the Industry Change?
By Twistie
(image from the Etam show, Paris Fashion Week, Fall 2011, via Posh 24.com)
After friday’s article on Olivier Green’s appalling behavior on thursday’s episode of Project Runway, reader Mallory posed an interesting question in comments:
…I’m ready for a season of PR where the female designers dominate – at least they know what DD means. I appreciate to no end the creativity of male designers, but part of me kind of resents the fact that so many men think they know what being a woman is (visually) all about. I’ve always had thoughts about what the fashion industry would be like if there was more of a female presence from the beginning of the modern fashion industry.
And now I’m curious what you all think. How would the fashion industry be different if it had been dominated more by women in the beginning? Would it be pretty much the same as it is now, or would it be something completely different from today’s industry? Would the work of the people who sew the clothes be valued more? Would fashion honor comfort as a legitimate goal? Would it be worse than ever? Would fashion ever have become the massive multi-billion dollar industry it is today, or would it be a pastime for a few restless souls? Would there be more choice or less?
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? I’d love to know what you all think on this subject.
September 19th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Hmmmm…. my guess would be there would not have been whale-bone corsets.
I could be wrong. We have the idea one must suffer for fashion. I don’t agree, and perhaps if there were more women designers at the beginning that silly idea would never have taken hold.
September 20th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Fashion would be more diverse – there would be female designers that love to play with the sexy,closely fitted looks as well as designers who play with looser, more floating looks.
I think fashion would be more about drape and fit instead of crazy gimmicks. When I look at the work of small, local, female designers, I see people who make the clothes work with the body.
I’ve had the honor of being a fit model for a designer here in the Pacific North West. You’d never seen so many body types in one space as she checked the fit of her prototypes. She was serious about making her clothes fit *every* body.
This kind of fashion plays up our best features instead of focusing on what the ‘ideal’ body looks like.
September 21st, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Ok, I think it is safe to say fashion is one thing I will never understand… what with the plastic skirt and goat?
September 21st, 2011 at 4:55 pm
@Meghann: (shrugs) The hell if I know. All the same, These Things Happen.
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:15 am
I think there would be clothes that would work on more body types. Women designers would be thinking of dressing themselves up — and their sisters, moms and friends — and not some tall skinny fantasy “woman.”