Fashion & Protest: How to Show Where You Stand

Women’s fashion has helped them throughout their history of protest, including their efforts over 100 years ago when they won the right to vote. (See my celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment HERE.) Age doesn’t matter when a certain color, symbol or slogan is worn by women showing their support for certain issues. Fashion is how to show where you stand and how to show your true self without having to say a word. And we need this now more than ever before!

Fashion and Protest:  The Pussy Hat Comeback Retort

Here’s an example of how fashion and protest work together.  In 2017, Jayne Zwieman, a Los Angeles-based artist created the pink pussy hat to protest incoming President Donald Trump’s derogatory comments towards women. It caught on like wild fire. From coast to coast, millions of women took to the streets in these hats as they marched against Trump. Just one month after his inauguration, designer Angela Missoni ended her Fall 2017 show with her own versions of the pussy hats.

Fashion and Protest:  The Early Days of the Suffrage Movement

Symbols and Colors

In the earliest Days of the suffrage movement, women used specific symbols and colors to get their message across.  In “Fiction Becomes Fact” by Lauren Young and Caitlyn Kelleher at Freep.com, the authors wrote about The Symbolism of Color, saying:

“American suffragists used purple, white and gold in their sashes, buttons and other pro-suffrage materials.

“Two of these colors were borrowed from the suffragists who fought for the right to vote in England. Created by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence in 1908, the British movement used purple to symbolize loyalty and dignity, white for purity and green for hope.

“The American suffragists are remembered for wearing all-white as they led marches and gave speeches. It was a way to unite the group, but (Allison K.) Lang (an assistant professor of history at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston and author of Picturing Political Power:  Images in the Women’s Suffrage Movement) said there is a more practical reason:  white dresses and white sashes ‘would stand out in black and white newspapers.’

“Of course, the symbol is still a powerful one, as displayed by the many Democratic women legislators who wore all white to the 2019 State of the Union address.”

Fashion details used in women’s protests included the following. During the long, hard fight for women’s suffrage, they used sashes that said “Votes for Women.” The official suffrage hat had a shallow crown and a wide brim with a purple, white or gold ribbon.

Respectable Dress

In the late 19th century, political cartoonists portrayed American suffragists, including Susan B. Anthony, as aggressive, masculine and just plain ugly. In the first decade of the 20th century, the suffragists worked to improve their image. They made sure they were fashionably dressed so that they would be seen as respectable.

Young and Kelleher stated,

“And make no mistake that shifting to a more ‘respectable’ dress was typically only available to wealthier white women, a purposeful distinction in a movement that often pushed women of color to the sidelines.”

Signs of Freedom

Around 1910, when the suffrage movement really heated up, hemlines began to rise up to expose ankles. As women thought in terms of gaining freedom, they freed their dress at the same time.

Years after gaining the right to vote, women embraced the right to wear pants.

Later as the women’s movement grew, mini skirts became a statement of liberation and a symbol of nonconformity.

Recently, fashion designers have been incorporating t-shirts into their presentations with various political messages. Some of these are “We should all be feminists,” “I am an immigrant,” “People are people,” “Revolution has no borders,” etc.

Actresses Say “Time’s Up!”

In 2018, Time’s Up was begun as a legal defense fund.  It was set up by women in entertainment for those who have experienced harassment, assault or abuse in the workplace. Some of the organizers included TV creator Shonda Rhimes, actresses Tessa Thompson and Laura Dern, director Ava DuVernay, producer Katie McGrath, and attorney Nina Shaw. Celebrities launched the movement on the red carpet by wearing black. This was in 2018 at both the Golden Globe Awards and the BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards.) At the 2018 Academy Awards in the US, actresses did not wear black but they did wear Time’s Up buttons. Red carpet protests are as old as the award shows.

Fashion Statements Used in Protest

In “Statement Pieces” at freep.com, reporter Lindsay Schnell quotes Vanessa Friedman, the chief fashion critic at the New York Times, who has worked in fashion criticism for more than 15 years:

“Fashion is about identity politics, period, for everybody. Designers, when they’re doing their jobs, reflect changes in the world around them and create clothes that speak to that. That’s why people buy them — most people don’t actually need new clothes.”

Have you used fashion for protest? Many of us have! Let us know your thoughts. Please leave a reply below this post.

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Fashion History, Making a Difference, Women's History, Women's Movement