6 political statements from New York Fashion Week
From feminist protest tees to putting a liberal spin on a familiar red cap, designers turned the semi-annual fashion show into a ready-to-protest showcase
In President Trump's America, it often seems that politics bleed into all aspects of our lives. Fashion is no exception.
Typically, New York Fashion Week is largely about designers showing off their work and setting trends for the upcoming year. But at this year's show, which just wrapped up, fashion week got awfully political.
Here are six political statements from New York Fashion Week.
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1. An all-immigrant cast of models in hijabs at designer Anniesa Hasibuan's show, in which Hasibuan "continued her sartorial protest against Islamophobic and xenophobic sentiments and policies in the U.S." said Fawnia Soo Hoo of Fashionista. Last year, Hasibuan became the first designer to present hijabs at New York Fashion Week.
2. The Council of Fashion Designers of America promoting Planned Parenthood. The industry group gave out buttons with an information card to everyone in attendance. "We know that so many people stand with Planned Parenthood — including designers and entertainers — because they and their loved ones have relied on Planned Parenthood for health care, including life-saving care like cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing, and treatment and sex education," said Tracy Reese, the CFDA board member leading the campaign, in a press statement.
3. Public School urged everyone to "Make America New York." The high fashion streetwear juggernaut of the moment said the caps were meant to promote the "wish" that "the rest of the states were like New York from an inclusivity standpoint, from a diversity standpoint, from an action standpoint."
4. Every model at Tommy Hilfiger x Gigi’s show was #tiedtogether with white bandanas. This tied in with a campaign by Business of Fashion, a leading fashion publication that caters specifically to the industry's professionals, to "make a clear statement in support of solidarity, human unity, and inclusiveness amidst growing uncertainty and a dangerous narrative peddling division."
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5. Designer Prabal Gurung put a new feminist slogan — inspired by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's shutdown of Sen. Elizabeth Warren — on a tee.
6. The founders of the Women's March opened for Mara Hoffman. They started the women's wear designer's show by forming a line and reciting the Women's March mission statement, along with a quote from Maya Angelou.
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Ricky Soberano is the social media editor at TheWeek.com. Her writing has appeared in Complex, Nylon, Gothamist, Maxim, and others. Previously she was the culture editor for The Stony Brook Press and contributing editor for The Odyssey. She has a B.A. in multidisciplinary studies in journalism and dance from Stony Brook University and an A.S. in dance from Queensborough Community College. She's lived in Brooklyn her whole life, eats too much ramen, and freelance models, and she enjoys writing about the undiscovered and underreported within the sphere of culture. Follow her on Twitter.
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