In a world that is meant to be increasingly gender-equal, is the fashion industry promoting these ‘modern’ values yet or is its core still steered by male figures? Where are the powerful women in fashion – are there any? To honourInternational Womens Day, we discuss the issue below…
“Here’s to strong women.
May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”
The mother of fashion design direction, the leader of fashion education and the bearer of an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion. Louise Wilson was a professor at the world-famous Central Saint Martin’s college and a hugely important driving force behind the late Alexander McQueen’s monumental career. After she died last year, hundreds of fashion influencers spoke out about the enormous impact she made on the fashion industry. Her harsh and steely approach to teaching turned out to be immeasurable for McQueen and fellow alumni like Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders.
Louise Wilson at Central Saint Martin’s College, London.
During Wilson’s time at Central Saint Martin’s, she typically kept herself to herself, quietly regarding the meteoric rise of her former fashion design students’ successes from a distance. If she was still alive today, the media would no doubt ask her, ‘Why did you stay so humble about your work?’ and more significantly, ‘Why do you think your most successful students were all male?’.
McQueen’s last fashion show before his death in Spring 2010.
Over the past century, male fashion designers have succeeded in getting the majority of head designer slots at major fashion houses, their designs have taken centre stage in the pages of Vogue and the fashion elite have fought for front row at their catwalk shows. Whether they’ve gone it alone or joined a prestigious fashion house, the emerging talent of male designers has shined much brighter over the last decade than their female allies. Think Olivier Rousteing at Balmain, Raf Simons at Dior and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin – not to forget the legendary Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel since 1983.
Raf Simons with Diane Kruger in Christian Dior Haute Couture.
So, why are male designers reigning in the fashion globe? Are they simply better designers or is this stemming from a certain cultural glitch? Is it that women are afraid to celebrate other women? In today’s society, men are still ideologically obliged to make women look beautiful. But what about women wanting to make other women look beautiful? Why is this being overshadowed in the fashion industry – or does it simply not exist?
Victoria Beckham denotes her ‘girl power’ mantra within her collections, claiming at the end of most shows that she designs clothes to empower women and draws creative direction from what she likes to wear herself. Diane von Furstenberg is another leading lady in fashion design, speaking out about women’s rights regularly and creating collections full of vitality and strength to honour women. Although mightily successful, female designers such as VB and DVF are on their own when it comes to shouting out about empowering women through their designs.
What will it take to get female designers to be more successful than the rest? Do they need to have status initially like pop star-WAG turned fashion designer, Victoria Beckham? It seems that perhaps, the ideology to desire male designers has become so intertwined within the industry, that breaking the mould and changing people’s perception requires endless elbow grease and sheer determination. In other words, we need to see more women designers shattering their way through the glistening ceiling of fashion with a raucous bang. So ladies, shall we get started?
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