How successful is radical fashion towards addressing the political phenomenon? Ashini Silva
A Dissertation presented at Northumbria University for the degree of BA with Honours in Fashion Design, 2018
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Content 1) Introduction ............................................................................................3 2) Chapter 1: Introduction to radical fashion and its impact………………………….5 1.1
Radical fashion
1.2
Political relationship with fashion
1.3
Establishment of Radical Fashion with its influence on political issues
3) Chapter 2: Designers’ contribution in responding to political incidents…...10 2.1
Designers who addressed past wartime incidents making a political statement
2.2
Promoting feminism and liberation in the runway
2.3
Influencing political decisions prevailed at the time through design work.
4) Chapter 3: Relationship between radical fashion and political phenomenon ……………………………………………………………………….14 3.1
Effectiveness of voicing through radical fashion rather than just fashion
3.2
How designers convey their political message while retaining the practicality of the collection?
3.3
Cultural and social circumstances that can occur when addressing the political phenomenon of a country.
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5) Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………17 6) Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………………19
Introduction Clothes have the ability to visually communicate the lifestyle, indigenous identity, occupation and sexual orientation of the wearer. Today it has crossed the boundary of the representation of oneself and evolved into communicating world issues. It is important that fashion be exploited in order to manipulate, change and influence people’s thoughts. Hence this quality can be used for a good cause. Rather than creating catastrophic situations in a certain country against their political issues such as having riots and usage of weapons, fashion can be used as a tool to respond to political phenomenon of a country in a non-fatal manner. In my dissertation I will be looking into the effectiveness of fashion communication in terms of these political issues under governance, disputes between countries and liberation and how this artistic approach can be enforced through the fashion system. This type of creative fashion pushes past the boundaries, rituals and structure of fashion and it also functions as a representation of one’s opinion or response to some situation. This breaking of rules is known as radical fashion. “Radical fashion is not only about an expressive or visionary individualism but also, in the nature of fashion, it is a barometer of a changing world and changing ways of thinking.” (Wilcox, 2001) This type of rebellious fashion leads to the creation of new trends and deviation from the conformity of the runway. “The only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word “conformity”. Nothing’s interesting to me unless it’s got that element.” (Westwood 2004, p. 12) One might find a radical fashion collection whimsical and it creates curiosity within the spectator as it is precedent work done by the designer. This form of fashion is closely related to art as some work happen to be abstract or in other words tend to express the ideas, feelings and visions of the designer with their greatest freedom. “My most important concern about fashion is still about breaking some code, some tendency, which I do by using fashion.” (Yamamoto 2001, p.2) A radical fashionist has the ultimate freedom and pursues his/her creative flare to use their work in an attempt to represent an idea to the viewer. Radical statements are made by different elements of the garment such as its cuts, colours, graphical elements, embellishments and prints in order to voice via fashion their ideals and create a remarkable experience to the audience by enhancing the idea of a certain phenomenon. Claire Wilcox describes this in her book as follows, “These designers cut through ideas as well as fabric. Challenging
Page |4 established views, they have committed their lives to seeking evermore demanding expressions of beauty, with diverse and often provocative results.� The political statements of Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett are further discussed in order to understand the effectiveness of radical fashion in terms of its communication. Their radical creations can be against a certain incident in the past or present against countries, against a president, against a political decision or against unfair social practices. Designers have transformed fashion into a strong force to change the ideals of people with regards to the dynamic world. However, these designers achieved to capture the attention of the people not only into what can be worn in the future period of time but by giving a chance to put great thought into the serious issues that occur/red within their countries. Although many such designers expect to increase their market share through these unique collections, it is also their objective to influence the people through their creativity to perhaps change the way of thinking. They serve a customer base who also wants to make their own personal statements and deliver a message to the world. Therefore, it is important to put a great deal of consideration as to how the future designers will effectively use fashion in order to make a change or an impact on this conformed mindset of people that has continued from centuries before. This argument-based thesis is written on a theoretical approach. The complete thesis is written around the Radical Fashion theory. Information can be collected in quantitative and qualitative methods. Since the numerical information cannot be directly implied to the idea of radicalism, it was found that the more effective method would be the qualitative method. In order to demonstrate the opinions of others on this argument, case studies were taken into account as a certain point is explained within the context. It allows the reader to understand issues in depth with qualified information. As the local community lacks knowledge on this concept, online surveys wouldn’t have been effective than obtaining data from the professionals and theorists who are much aware of the subject.
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Chapter 1 Introduction to radical fashion and its impact This chapter provides an overview of the theory ‘radical fashion’ in general. Further it outlines the relationship between fashion and politics to demonstrate the extent of political issues that could be addressed by the theory for the conclusion. Joshua Miller’s opinion on fashion and democratic relationships was referenced to create the argument. The initial stage of radical fashion through subcultures has been explained within this chapter to depict the possibility of the Radical Fashion concept to address political issues based on past events and examples.
1.1) Radical fashion According to Claire Wilcox “Each designer demonstrates by their creative response what being a free radical is really about; pushing boundaries, challenging preconceptions, exceeding limitations and ultimately finding a balance between conformity and eccentricity, function and adornment.” Most of the Radical designers aren’t basing their designs mainly on fashion, it is the exploration on something else other than fashion that makes their designs more exclusive and different than the others. Some of their inspirations are futuristic while some of them are historical. However, they are all linked perhaps by their differences and by the fact that they all tend to push the structure of fashion to a whole new level. Clothes have such closeness to our body. It’s crafted around the human figure. Historically their shapes and forms are created based on tradition, culture, geography and climate. Later clothes became fashion with its change of style from time to time based on trend and the tendency to adapt and other needs. In the new millennium what we wear has come to a new level of fashion, which goes beyond its function to a more expressive piece of work. It is interesting how fashion has the ingenuity to fit the body yet in a different shape, to be complicated in its form yet accessible, to be functional yet to change the way it moves representing a spirit of time. It has the aptitude of influencing people and challenging their thoughts and ideas.
Page |6 Fashion is not always limited to a specific period of time, especially in radical fashion, designers find time as an immaterial thing. Their inspiration can come from a historical period of time, based on current contexts or futuristic visions but their output is timeless. Designer observes the changing demand and new definitions of ‘beauty’ to adjust their creations with the evolution of their ideas and inspirations leading to a timeless piece of work which goes beyond trends and fashion. Revolutionary designers, like Yohji Yamamoto has more intellectual and philosophical ideas about beauty, while Issey Miyake has a fun approach to his designs through technological implementations in his textiles. Rei Kawakubo’s subversive nature of clothes fused with technology, Junya Watanabe’s futuristic, unorthodox , luminous coloured, intricate designs incorporated with modern fabric technologies, Vivienne Westwood’s constant reference to historical times which is converted into a story line, represented by the form and proportions of her designs, Alexander McQueen’s reference to the violence of desire representing a powerful story in many of his collections, explains their radical approach and identity in fashion. It is not their ultimate goal to create a fashion line which follows trends to satisfy the customer’s needs, rather they want to denote their idealisms and individuality to make a statement through their designs surpassing the current fashion state.
1.2) Political relationship with fashion Understanding the radical fashion concept, it is important to realize the possibilities through which designers can act upon towards political phenomenon. Hence it is necessary to understand the relationship between politics and fashion first. According to Joshua Miller fashion cannot be considered as a private matter as it is a representation of oneself and since it can be seen by others which it creates a link between fashion and politics. What we wear deals with people among us. It gives a strong message to the society about the wearer and what the wearer wants to represent. This can occur through an individual or a group of people. According to Joshua Miller fashion functions as a medium is resistance in the following two methods, 1). It can inform disagreement on the dominant symbols 2). It has the ability to unite non-political people against dominant political symbols T shirts played an important role in making political statements. Initially the iconic revolutionist Che Guevara’s portrait was printed on T shirts representing the preferences towards his idealistic. Further during 80’s designers took over the place of communicating with dominant symbols through their designs. “T-shirts are some of the strongest messaging tools for consciousness raising. You can’t not read them and once you’ve read them, they stay in your brain, churning around, hopefully making you think and act.” (Hamnett 2017) In the 80’s, British designer Katherine Hamnett had a strong idea about
Page |7 slogan T-shirts which could be highly influential among the society to make political statements in big graphic letters introducing a new and an effective method to the fashion system.
Katherine Hamnett ‘Stay Alive’ T shirts 1985 (2009) < https://collection.maas.museum/object/396834>.
Clothing has the ability to unify people who have similar opinions with a feeling of pride and community. When fashion fosters relationships among groups of people or the society such relationships are called ‘democratic’. Examples for such groups are mods, hippies and punks who unified expressing dissent over political decisions. Fashion is an influential factor when we pass judgment on one another. Our opinion on other people depends on their clothing. Hence it affects the political bonds in the society. It is important that a country has such democratic political relationships to have power among citizens and to execute common actions. It is important that fashion also has the ability to stimulate dialogue on social and political issues. Democracy in terms of exploration of fashion includes freedom of expression, promoting equality and solidarity, citizen action and respect. Alison Lurie states: “Fashion is free speech, and one of the privileges, if not always one of the pleasures of a free world.” However, it is proven that it’s a goal and not realistic to have such liberation in expressing oneself based on the following example. In 1975, Vivienne Westwood and McLaren were indicted under the obscenity laws for exhibiting indecent medium to the public, for a T shirt showing two naked cowboys. Westwood states: “My job is always to confront the Establishment to try and find out where freedom lies and what you can do, the most obvious way I did that was through the porn T shirts.”
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1.3) Establishment of Radical Fashion with its influence on political issues Youth cultures such as hippies, rockers and mods are groups of young people who share similar opinions. Among them hippie youth culture tends to have a more rebellious mind set. Their values ranged from hedonistic to openly political. They created this counterculture movement by isolating themselves from the local community, establishing their own rules in America. It was their objective to create peace and freedom by seeking for happiness through pleasures that are currently known as pacifistic. These groups tend to wear similar kinds of clothes styled in revolt which aggravates the society in terms of political issues of the 60â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. They gathered up in numerous ways to establish global peace. To make themselves heard, these young activists organized Festivals, marches such as antiVietnam war March, 1968 Democratic conventions, civil rights demonstrations, dressed identical in their hippie clothing. Such items they used to wear became popular pieces of clothing in general, later taking them into new heights by designers such as, Ossie Clark who initially created hippy style clothing which was injected into the fashion system and by Yves Saint Lauren who introduced hippy-inspired clothing to Haute Couture.
Gen Fashion Group, (2012) Hippies in 1960â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s <http://genfashthegooglehippie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/examples-of-1960shippie.html>.
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Janette Beckman, Punks at Sid Vicious memorial, March, 1979 https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-601-788-view-portrait-1-profile-beckman-janette.html.
In the 1970’s the Punk subculture emerged In Britain which created a moral panic covering socioeconomic and political state prevailed during that time. The British youth who initiated this style voiced against racism, anti-globalization movement through music media and clothing they wore in their representations. However later the Punk crossed the boundaries from music to more physical spaces such as fashion, The visual arts and social spaces for instance clubs and stores. For those who were active in this subculture, it provided the base of freedom to dialogue on social and political issues with creative innovation that led to a lifestyle highly distinct from the prevailing norms. Designers such as Vivienne Westwood cooperated with her pornographic T-shirts and bondage trousers sold in her shop where the word SEX was written in huge letters established with the help of Malcolm McLaren representing the Punk look which was associated with sexuality and aggression. During the 80’s Vivienne’s work started evolving with the emergence of the new subculture called ‘New Romanticism’ as well. Her Work continued seeking the world of liberation in creating a more open-minded society. Radical fashion emerged by these groups of rebellious youth who put different items of clothing together to rebel against certain parties for freedom. Although some of the clothing came from designers itself, the whole concept of revolt and radical fashion became an inspiration for the new designers.
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Chapter 2 Designers’ contribution in responding to political incidents Most of the radical designers’ work are based on their personal history and real life experiences. This proves the fact as to why Alexander Mcqueen and Hussein Chalayan try to give a great deal of consideration towards women through their designs. This falls under the category of liberation. It’s not only limited to that. These designers create a voice to address cultural issues which were not being taken into account before as well as to make an impact on current political decisions yet to be made. It is the designer’s voice that’s becoming an influential force within the audience as some of the collections reach the extent of making the audience cry. However, their collections manage to be commercially successful in the market although some of the work are unwearable but attains an idealistic and shock value. They are being sold as they hold the fashion elements in a timely manner.
2.1) Designers who addressed past wartime incidents making a political statement Alexander McQueen was born in London and left school at the age of 16. His dad was a taxi driver and his mother helped him to start his career as a designer. Habitually drawing dresses on a daily basis his mother recognized his interests and led him to work at Anderson and Sheppard in Saville Row. Later starting to work at Gieves and Kawkes he became a professional in tailoring. However after working with a couple of designers he was offered to study Fashion design at Central Saint Martin’s as they understood his talent when he applied to teach pattern-cutting in it. Coming off with his first graduate collection ‘Highland Rape’ for autumn/winter 1995-96, he made an interesting political statement. It was based on the war incident between England and Scotland, representing how the Scottish was devastated by the war. His father being a Scottish citizen he studied about the Scottish history and the unfortunate fate of the country. It was misunderstood by some people as they thought it was women being raped as the models walked in the runway in slashed Scottish tartans, bumster pants and ripped off lace dresses. However McQueen designed the collection on a personal level with his fine tailoring techniques while depicting a very shocking message to the viewers.
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Alexander McQueen ‘Highland Rape’ collection for Autumn/Winter 1995 (2011) http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/images/McQ.152a%E2%80%93d_mcq.152.AV1.jpg.
McQueen managed to find the freedom of expressing national and cultural expressions regarding a specific incident which he wanted to address in terms of clothing. He proved that national identity is important in collectivity and in personal identity and how influential it can be in one’s professional life. Being an 8 year old who witnessed his sister getting constant attacks by her husband, he was much considerate about women and how they are treated. He stated “Everything I’ve done was for the purpose of making women look stronger.” In almost all of his collections he managed to enhance feminist statements. Hussein Chalayan is born in Cyprus in 1970. Brought up in a country where the society was divided in terms of men against women and Christian Greeks against Muslim Turks. It is only natural that his work represents his love towards women and respect towards religion. He draws inspiration through religion, oppression and isolation for his work by referencing philosophy and history. Although he studied architecture initially, he identified his preference to create objects closely connected to the human body. Getting the opportunity to study Fashion design at Central Saint Martin’s, he became a radical designer as his work was very avant-garde. Most of his shows tend to be installations and performance art than that of a catwalk presentation. Being a designer who digs into his personal history to draw inspiration for his collections, Chalayan did another collection called ‘After Words’ for Autumn/Winter 2000. The show was taken place in a stage set with a sitting room with furniture, pots and a lot of space. His models appeared in black trench coats and dresses. In the latter part of the show, models came on to the stage and transformed chair covers into dresses, chairs into suit cases and a table into a wooden skirt which were worn by them and carried off the stage leaving nothing but an empty stage. Drawing the story line by an unfortunate event that occurred in his country during 1974 where the Greeks and Turkish people were displaced, evacuated and having to hide their possessions during wartime he painted the scene in term of clothes incorporated with architecture. He represented the idea of how he provides an opportunity for the refugees to save all their possessions during the intolerable time giving the message of compassion and belonging.
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Hussein Chalayan ‘After Words’ collection for Autumn/Winter 2000, chairs and tables transformed into dresses (2016) http://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/8248/when-hussein-chalayan-turned-furnishings-into-fashion.
2.2) Promoting feminism and liberation in the runway Vivienne Westwood is known to be one of the most influential designers in the fashion scene. She was born in Derbyshire in 1941. Her mother was a cotton weaver while her father’s family were shoe makers. As a child she made her own clothes and gave much attention to the sexual aspect of clothing. After leaving school at the age of 16 she studied art at the Harrow School of Art in Northwest London. Later she sold jewelry to support herself and started teaching at a school. Her fashion journey began with Malcom McLaren who had a small clothing factory belonging to his family where he combined his radical thoughts and ideas with Vivienne’s creativity and talent. Her past experiences, artistic background, the love for clothes and partnerships influenced her radical and unorthodox creations. In 1985 she created the collection Mini Crini drawing inspiration from the ballet ‘Petrushka and the Queen’ as a child. The silhouettes emphasized hips as the masculine look of the 80’s was demolished by taking off oversized shoulders. It was more sexy and curvy making a strong statement about women. Her objective was to represent the strength of a woman through a woman’s feminine aspects rather than that of a masculine outline.
Vivienne Westwood ‘Mini Crini’ 1985 spring summer collection dress (2013) https://style-review.com/you-blog/entry/iconic-collections-from-vivienne-westwood.
P a g e | 13 Hussein Chalayan’s collection ‘Between’ for Spring/Summer 1998 happened to shock the audience. The collection bore elements of his architectural nature while representing his consideration towards religion and women. Models were covered in Chadors in different lengths, the first one being the longest till the ground as the last one hardly covered the face. It symbolized the position of women in the society while making people think about religion and body.
2.3) Influencing political decisions prevailed at the time through design work. Katherine Hamnett mostly known for her protest through T-shirts with slogans in huge letters, made obvious political statements. She was born in 1947, was educated at Central Saint Martin’s. She invented distressed, stretched and stone washed denim techniques while also introducing ethical manufacturing and stirring them up with her protest T-shirts. One of the iconic moments in her design career was in 1984, when she met Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, wearing her iconic T-shirt that said “58% don’t want pershing” at Downing Street. She was against the stationing of nuclear warheads of the U.S. in Britain. This was a direct and obvious message through which she tried to open the eyes of the politicians regarding the issue that prevailed during that time.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Katherine Hamnett, 1984 (2017) https://www.vogue.com/article/katharine-hamnett-launches-sustainable-buy-now-collection.
Vivienne had a quite direct representation of a protest through fashion in the runway in her Spring Summer collection for 2016 under Red label. It was named ‘Mirror the World’, giving food for thought for the curious audience. She emphasized on the importance of oneself and also while objectifying the parliament members and their decisions such as fracking and mass consumerism which lead to a destructive climate within the country and the extinction of humans. Her signature style managed to represent this message through the asymmetric cuts, drapes and loose shapes.
P a g e | 14 Models walked out with their military war-time inspired make up in asymmetric garments, ruched dresses, T shirts with a huge foot print, printed on them, in a more conservative style clothes. At the end of the show a protest-like march was led along with Vivienne, holding the boards that says “Austerity is Crime’ and ‘Climate Revolution’.
Chapter 3 Relationship between radical fashion and political phenomenon - how those work can be influenced In this chapter the thesis argument is contributed by further discussing on it, considering the above proven facts and examples. The importance of Radical fashion is highlighted in comparison with fashion as a whole. Further it is vital to identify the success of this fashion business in the radical framework. Therefore the designers who came across with challenges and how they overcame them are acknowledged within this context. Finally the outcome of such actions are discussed in order to develop a conclusion.
3.1) Effectiveness of voicing through radical fashion rather than just fashion Fashion is a medium of communication created with a motive to preserve the market share to survive in the industry by following trends. Hence it the process of detailing change and adaption to the level of acceptance of the general public. Fundamentally fashion represents the lifestyle, social status and the mood of the wearer. It has a broader definition since it holds all the roots that fashion has been divided into. As per the general definition and the practice of fashion, a piece of cloth in bright colors with tropical prints might be able to make a strong gesture and appearance in public as it’s aligned with the current trends and it represents the idea of beauty as well as the luxuriousness of the garment. Therefore it can be effective for the individual benefit of the wearer. It improves the self-esteem, confidence and social status of the person. Moving further into the roots of fashion, Radical fashion is identified as being more intimate and deeper than fashion alone. It’s involved with culture, nationality, beliefs, philosophy and politics. It has the ability to be more influential even more than art on canvas as it is closely related to the human body and since it is the representation of one’s individuality. Radical fashion can be called the language of avant-garde artists and rebels who harbour effortless talent and freedom to create expressive pieces of work in terms of fashion. Based on the statements that were given by influential designers such as Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan with their personal radical approach to fashion, it had been witnessed that the more controversial a collection is, the more it has been discussed upon. When their exclusive shows took place in the runway they filled the audience with curiosity and shock. Although the designers have been accused for exploitation and it took time for the audience to understand the
P a g e | 15 meaning hidden within them, they did not fall back in expressing themselves and making it their passion to generate an impact on the world. As explained by Joshua Miller fashion is capable of dividing the society as well as to unite a community with a similar mindset. However, it was identified by the youth sub cultures that when radical theory come into play within the fashion scene, clothing had an impact in connecting people with the same perceptions and notions. According to the general understanding, collective force is more effective than an individual approach to make a change or to voice a particular incident. Therefore it is clear that Radical fashion is a much more effective approach to address the political phenomenon.
3.2) How designers convey their political message while retaining the practicality of the collection? It is important that these designers preserve their market share when taking the risk of experimenting on and introducing clothes that have never been seen before. This is the problem that arises with commercialism and radicalism. It is vital that the commercial side is as successful in order to continue their creative journey. Although these designers have faced financial issues at their commencement they managed to be successful over the years to have become the founders of the most luxurious fashion brands in the world. Apparently there are customers who also want to make a statement through what their wear by dressing with meaning. Hussein Chalayan in the beginning of his business venture was longing to find a partner to expand the business, financial wise. According to his opinion it is important that the brand is open for more partnerships, technology and expansion to move further ahead. However, Chalayan being very conceptual and radical in his designs, makes sure that he combines art, tailoring and technology in a phenomenal way. His exceptional work presented in each collection tends to grab the attention of the audience by shock value which makes his brand exclusive over the years up to now. It is also important that he was able to amaze his partners with his creative vision in order to expand his business further. Alexander McQueen worked in the fashion houses of Givenchy and Christian Dior after presenting a few collections of his own. During this time his own label was under funded due to the advance nature of his work. His works are more provocative while advancing in the British tailoring attained through his roots at Savile Row. Although he was accused and dubbed as the ‘Bad boy of British fashion’ later he was called, ‘The King of British fashion’. He was supported with the guidance of his mother and the British Vogue Editor during that time, Isabella Blow, who promoted his work to the runway. However, his attention towards sexual fetishism, and introduction of a new picture of British fashion he was able to become successful in his venture. Westwood’s reference to high culture, street style, British history and youth subcultures made her become a very influential force in fashion. Especially at the beginning of her career, her designs were sold among a great mix of customers such as, prostitutes and young proto-punk shoppers at King’s Road, as it was during the period of revolt. The brand customers today are more statement-based people and also celebrities who are fond to be seen in them to create a voice. Starting off the business with the help of Malcolm McLaren as partner, who identified Westwood’s talents, created the path for her fashion venture. Westwood further went into more partnerships and expanded her business in strong financial terms establishing flagship stores in Italy, France and New York. Today in partnership with her husband, she established a new fashion line called ‘Gold Label’, creating more influential designs which criticizes or
P a g e | 16 perhaps addressed the unfair government practices. It has been successful in financial terms as well as influential terms up to now.
3.3) Cultural and social circumstances that can occur when addressing the political phenomenon of a country. It is important to understand the social, cultural and political situation of a country or the people related to it before addressing a particular political issue. When communicating a message through fashion, the designer should be aware of his/her objective and the target audience. Even after these factors are considered, designers come across advantages as well as disadvantages in term of cultural, social and political aspects. Among the disadvantages, it is inevitable that these radical designers have gone through criticism due to their own individual radical approach to design. It can be due to their exploitation, offensive and provocative political statements within their work. It is the opinion of some people that sexual representation of clothes attains a possibility to sexually arousing people and leading to the exploitation of these feelings. The solution for this condition can be solved by the designer being more descriptive about the collection and by educating the audience to be more open-minded and the identity of the brand. However the designers without falling back managed to create a positive impact and attitude towards fashion among people. Making statements through fashion regarding political decisions for an instance, can provoke the society, and can cause social disputes. Therefore, it is important to not be biased and cause any disrespect towards a person or a situation through the designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. It is not the interest of some customers to be involved in direct political issues and decisions of a country. Hence their objective is to represent themselves to earn high social respect. Therefore, the designers might not be able to attract these customers. Some of the radical designers approach their designs with highly conceptual and artistic attitude. Although these designs are in sync with their story line, theme and message the practicality of the garments can be disregarded. Therefore some of the designs become unwearable. However these garments offer a great brand value and become iconic artistic pieces in the future. Among the advantages of communicating through radical fashion, it is proved that people with the same mind set are united through fashion based on the examples of youth sub cultures. Therefore it can be used as a medium to induce unity within the society. Solidarity is one of the outcomes of fashion according to Joshua Miller. It is important for a society to be influential in terms of addressing a particular issue. Addressing a particular political decision, and opposing it, can be highly influential not only among the political symbols but also the society. It makes people think and consider the issues fashionwise. Radical fashion provides awareness to people about the contemporary prevalence or past
P a g e | 17 situations of a particular country. Fashion is an object which can be seen by everyone and it has the ability to deliver awareness. This awareness can lead to common action to officially obtain the rights and society requirements. This opens up new doors to upcoming designers and creates a strong environment of fashion for them to work in. As their work is based on strong and powerful narratives or themes which are linked to the above mentioned political phenomenon, they inspire and empower new designers to take over the future of fashion in a good sense of art and craft under the principles of radical fashion to create phenomenal way.
CONCLUSION Until recent times fashion was a representation of an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyle, wealth and mood. Initially it was a commodity which resolved the issue of nudity. With time however fashion moved to a specific framework and designers adapted to the conformed state within it. This thesis addressed on designers who wanted to employ their knowledge on breaking the rules of this conformed state of fashion. They brought revolution, extraordinary trends and controversial ideas to the runway while addressing political statements making fashion as a tool of communication to make an impact. Radical fashion has elevated fashion into a scope of unimaginable pieces of work over the years as its value was realized by few exclusive designers. Breaking the old norms and rules of clothing, inducing the conformed methods with new and exciting ideas, promoting innovation and influencing the audience are some of the circumstances of radical fashion. Such factors result in making fashion an influential force in terms of impacting cultural, social and political aspects. These visual representations are based on the designersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; personal background as well; therefore each individual collection represents their personal identities different from others but linked in their design principles. As per my knowledge it is important to support the design process by the personal experience and cultural influence in order to make it precedent and unique. Sub cultures such as rocks, mods, hippies and punks contributed to the emergence of radical fashion. Their rebellious dressing sense and visions paved the way towards a great revelation. Designers quickly observed the change and injected it to the fashion system as an inspiration. Today it has surpassed the period of ganged up youth to the conventional fashion runway representing world issues in a much more exclusive way. It is seen by the significant work of Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Vivienne Westwood over the years. Their influential approach to fashion has inspired many other designers to be more creative and to create their individual voices through fashion, to be heard. As fashion is a medium that is visible to anyone, it is used by such designers to make themselves heard with regards to the political climate of a specific country. However this has been quite an effective action rather than the catastrophic riots that takes place which causes critical damage. Radical aspect of
P a g e | 18 clothes is a supporting element added into the recipe of fashion when protesting through what is worn and seen. Based on the study it is identified that Radical pieces of clothing are given more consideration towards representing the message as it attains the value of revelation. However such work requires immense talent as well as sufficient resources due to their advance construction and innovative ideas. Therefore it is quite a challenge to explore and experiment while retaining the commercial aspect of such brands. These designers managed their prevailing resources and time with the knowledge and experience obtained from the starting of their journey. They also obtained the financial support from strong fashion industrial partners to create the base of their venture. Not only their talent, passion and support but also their motive perhaps could have been a success factor within their career. Just as they strive to explore the boundaries of fashion while addressing certain political issues to make a statement, there are customers who are willing to make a statement through what they wear. Thereby unifying people who share the same opinions and creating solidarity within the society to make collective actions towards political phenomenon of a country. This depicts the potential of fashion communication in influencing political issues such as government destructive decisions, liberation, feminism, cultural exploitation, equality, war, etc. It is proven by the designer work that it can open the eyes of the society towards making a change. The importance of such designers also lies within the work as their creativity is driven by common opinions and good morals. That is to say, their motive doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t depend only on how much money they get but also driven by change. It is important to know that radical designers in the past have been criticized for their work but they still continued their journey to communicate and express through fashion. This thesis documented on how the designers have come a long way surviving in their journey of, not only fashion but also to create voice and to change or save the world. They provide not only great ideas to the world but also great thoughts in numerous, unimaginable and exciting ways. It is interesting how their creative imaginative thinking have brought fashion into a whole new level.
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