Statement: Political Statement Essay

How can textiles and fashion be used as a political statement?

In this essay I aim to investigate the ways in which certain designers use their work as a political statement. I will be concentrating in particular on Susie Freeman, Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnett, as these textile artists all use their status in the art world to try and influence society in their own way and convey their ideas on a certain issue. I will explore how these designers use their work to get a point across and to what extent their work affects their target concern and how they have managed to achieve this.

The Sex Pistols

Vivienne Westwood first became known when, with Malcolm McLaren (who was to become the manager of the Sex Pistols) she became one of the leaders of the punk movement of the mid 1970s-

‘Her earliest and most formative association is with the subcultural fashion and youth movement known as punk.’[1]

The punk style was adopted by a large amount of youths during this decade and is still present in society today. It is popular because of how it “differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong”[2]. Young people used it as a way of rebelling against adults, a trend which has always been common for their age group, because it challenged the mass fashion presence at the time through the use of unusual, provocative and even controversial clothing.

‘The punk style incorporated BDSM fashion, bondage gear, safety pins, razor blades, bicycle or lavatory chains on clothing and spiked dog collars that were used as jewelry, as well as outrageous make-up and hair.’[3]

1970s punks

Because of her controversial and eccentric ideals, Westwood made sure she was a crucial part of the punk wave-

‘Creative and entrepreneurial people, such as Westwood, often contribute to an aesthetic that brings a subcultural style to the forefront of fashion.’[4]

Vivienne Westwood's 1974 boutique 'SEX'

She put herself at the forefront of punk fashion because of the style she created in her collections. She sold her clothes in the London boutique she opened with McLaren in 1971 when it was called ‘Let It Rock’. The name was subsequently changed to ‘Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die’ in 1972, ‘SEX’ in 1974, ‘Seditionaries – Clothes for Heroes’ in 1976 and finally ‘World’s End’ in 1979[5]. The clothing in her boutique, mostly during the ‘SEX’ years, ‘sold fetish and bondage gear as well as original fashion styles that would later become “punk”’. The style she promoted was very similar to this ‘Venus T-shirt’ below.

Venus T-shirt, Let It Rock, 1971, Vivienne Westwood, Victoria and Albert Museum

This T-shirt was made decorated using bondage gear, an ever-popular material at the time, unusually placed zips, studs and slivers of tyre rubber. The weird choice and positioning of some materials, for example the dog collars and the two zips placed flanking the chest, make this piece unconventional, which is what the designer Vivienne Westwood will have been aiming for. She produced pieces like these to make a political statement of individuality and to promote subculture in society. Westwood used her unusual fashion to allow people to be different and portray their separate personalities.

“I think it’s important to make great clothes so that people can look individual, and not a product of mass advertising.”[6]

This quote by Vivienne Westwood shows how she is against mass fashion as it destroys individuality in society, something she considers very important and is the reason for her designs being so unconventional and avant-garde. This is the reason for which her designs have always been innovative and distant from the mainstream.

“She created a new language of clothes.” John Galliano and Alexander McQueen[7]

Westwood is proof of how fashion can be used as a political statement. She uses her subversive style to influence society to be original and rebel against the ordinary.

'The results are unconventional and alluring...she has now become a part of the establishment she continues to oppose.’[8]

This description of Westwood’s clothing as ‘alluring’ is an opinion shared by many, which is one of the reasons for which she has become so famous. Her success is clear through the amount of honours she has received in her lifetime- she accepted a DBE in the 2006 New Year's Honours List "for services to fashion", won the ‘British Designer of the Year’ Award in both 1990 and 1991 and in 2007 was awarded the British Fashion Council’s Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design’[9]. Her popularity has meant more exposure for her designs, thus increasing the possibility of her work being considered by the public and making her statement more widespread. Westwood’s annual contribution to Fashion Week and involvement in the blockbuster ‘Sex and the City’ has further increased her profile.

'Vivienne Westwood proved how influential she still is in the fashion world when her designers were featured in the 2008 Sex and the City movie.’[10]

Another designer who has reached a high enough status in the fashion world to have the influence to get a point across in the world is Katharine Hamnett. She is also a fashion designer “best known for her political T-shirts and her ethical business philosophy”[11]. Her staple designs are ‘bold black-on-white message shirts’[12], with some coloured variations. They are plain, unembellished, two-colour T-shirts bearing large, block letter protest phrases such as ‘USE A CONDOM’ and ‘PEACE’.

Men’s SAVE THE WORLD organic cotton T-shirt, Katherine Hamnett

For example, the more recent ‘SAVE THE WORLD’ design consists of rigidly structured text with a sharp, hard font on a simple, regular T-shirt. The design has been screen printed onto the shirt, and its two-dimensionality is not altered by decorations or adornments. There are no patterns either, and all this is done so as to not detract any attention from the political slogan, the purpose of the shirt. This type of design is an effective way of getting a point across simply and directly and is this particular artist’s way of making a political statement, tackling present world issues through her designs being viewed and considered by the public, making society aware of these points of concern.

Hamnett studied fashion for five years from 1964 to 1969 at both Konstfackskolan in Stockholm and St Martin’s College in London[13]. This time period (the 60s) has been described as the time of ‘counter-culture and social revolution’[14]. Hamnett’s rebellious fashion started during the era in which stronger ideals began to emerge and be expressed visually like with the introduction of the peace flag in 1961. This is probably what pushed her to make bold political statements through her clothing and so have a voice in a society where was becoming increasingly important.

The peace flag

In the 1980s, Hamnett’s approach to making a statement through fashion was considered original and different.

‘UK designer Katharine Hamnett laid the groundwork for anti-fashion-fashion back in the 1980s.’[15]

Today, her designs have been widely copied, and her slogan technique is reoccuringly used in the fashion world to make a statement. For example, the 2008 ‘Ready-to-Wear’ Viktor & Rolf collection used one or two word motifs such as ‘NO’, ‘DREAM’, ‘DREAM ON’ and ‘WOW’. One design was a trench coat with the word ‘NO’ coming out from the chest in 3D. The lines were clean, the text easy to read and the coat only minimally decorated.

'NO’ Trench Coat, Ready-to-Wear collection, 2008, Viktor & Rolf

This style is a reflection of Hamnett’s, who also uses simple designs to keep the focus on the text. Viktor & Rolf also used this direct and effective technique to make a statement of their own-

"We love fashion, but it's going so fast. We wanted to say 'No' this season." Viktor & Rolf[16]

Vivienne Westwood is another designer who sometimes uses slogans as part of a protest against a certain issue. For her 2009 Red Label Collection, Westwood printed ‘Fair trial my arse’ on a pair of knickers to speak out on the problems at Guantanamo Bay prison[17]. In 2005 she also launched her ‘I AM NOT A TERRORIST, PLEASE DON’T ARREST ME’ baby T-shirts[18]. Putting the world ‘terrorist’ on a baby attracted a lot of media attention and raised the profile of the civil rights group she had teamed up with- ‘Liberty’, helping to get as much support as possible for their cause.

I AM NOT A TERRORIST PLEASE DO NOT ARREST ME T-shirt design, 2005, Vivienne Westwood

Like Vivienne Westwood, Hamnett’s respected status increases the ability of her clothes to influence society to her way of thinking. The ‘Katharine Hamnett’ label was launched in 1979, and during the 80s she immediately became successful by introducing several fashion items. Other than making the protest slogan T-shirt a “fashion, social and political staple”[19], she also claims to have invented stonewash denim, leggings, lycra and more. By being the first designer to start a particular trend, she quickly gained popularity, increasing the amount of power her fashion statement had on the world. Hamnett won the first ever ‘British Designer of the Year’ Award in 1984 after gaining popularity in the music world during the 1980s when her slogan T-shirts started being used by important figures such as Wham! and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, for whom she popularised the slogan ‘FRANKIE SAY RELAX’. Since then, a huge amount of celebrities such as Peaches Geldof, Naomi Campbell and Lily Cole have worn Hamnett T-shirts out in public[20].

Peaches Geldof wearing Women’s SAVE THE FUTURE vest by Katharine E. Hamnett

The continued appearance of Hamnett’s clothes in the A-list world has attracted a lot of media and public attention, greatly promoting her company and designs and therefore her ideals. The more exposure she gets, the more she can raise awareness about the issues she wishes to tackle and get her views noticed through the medium of statement fashion.

Apart from the obvious points of concern highlighted by her T-shirts, Katharine Hamnett is also passionate about helping the

“millions of people in the garment sector [who are] working in conditions of slavery” Katharine Hamnett[21]

Since 1989, Hamnett researched the effects of the fashion industry in the third world and was “horrified”[22] with the suffering and injustice she uncovered. She found out that conventional cotton farming resulted in “living in conditions worse than slavery”[23] and incredibly low wages.

“I knew the solution was organic cotton.” Katharine Hamnett[24]

Producing her clothing using solely organic cotton has a wide range of benefits for cotton farmers, and this decision of hers sets an example in the fashion world and promotes ethical industry to the world. The material of her products in itself is a statement promoting fair trade. It is a different type of political statement as it is not as direct as her slogans but is subtly exposing the injustice and cruelty of the fashion industry and leading what could become a movement to end it.

“I decided to raise consumer awareness of issues in the clothing industry.” Katharine Hamnett[25]

Susie Freeman, a less well-known textiles designer, also uses her work, all be it in a different way from Hamnett and Westwood’s, to make a political statement. Throughout her life she has been in contact with science orientated topics-

“Although I am a textile artist, I grew up in a household filled with talk about science-related issues because my father ran the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University.”[26]

- and she has found that health issues have often captured her interest. As a student at the Royal College of Art in London, she developed her most utilised technique, the ‘pocket knitting technique’, which she uses to “trap tiny objects in a delicate web of monofilament”[27] as a way of incorporating them into fabrics. She uses nylon yarn to do this as it is transparent and ensures the visibility of the contents enclosed, as they are the most important feature of the artwork. Often, the objects used are a large number of pills. For example, with the piece ‘Jubilee’, an unusual take on a wedding dress, Freeman trapped ‘6,300 assorted contraceptive pills’[28], the number an average woman in the UK will take from the start of her married life up until her silver wedding anniversary (25 years). From a distance, the small, multicoloured pills look like pretty, shiny decorations, creating a false attraction with the viewer as pills are widely considered negatively, especially in such large numbers, because of the insinuation of illness and overdose. They can also remind you of sweets because of the colours, shapes and sizes and the fact that both are eaten. This juxtaposition provokes thought into the consumption of both sweets and pills, how they make you feel good but at the same time jeopardise your health. This kind of thinking is what Freeman aims to create, using her work as a political statement against Britain’s excessive pharmaceutical consumption.

Jubilee

The inspiration for this unusual type of work was Freeman’s collaboration with Dr. Liz Lee, a GP. Their interest in medical concerns and her use of small, hard objects in her previous work gave birth to the integration of pills in textiles design, and subsequently lead her to

‘create interesting and potentially useful artworks that illustrate everyday medical issues.’[29]

With the population’s health in mind, Freeman transformed her work into meaningful statements aiming to raise awareness, even shockingly at times, on our generation’s often exaggerated use of pharmaceuticals.

“The work aims to encourage people to think about their own medical and pharmacological history, and to reflect on their relationship with commonly prescribed drugs.” Dr. Liz Lee[30]

Susie Freeman aims to make a statement about the unhealthy dependence of our society on pharmaceuticals, and uses textiles as a way of expressing her views, or making her messages ‘easier to read’[31] through straight forward visual interpretation by the viewer. The individual messages of each of her artworks is clear by the different forms of her pieces- for example, headwear is used with ‘Migraine Tiara’ to illustrate the relationship of people with migraine-relieving medication. This helps Freeman get her statement across effectively and directly.

Migraine Tiara

‘Fashion can engender positive change’[32]. This is a belief held by many designers, including the ones looked at in this essay. My belief is that art can be used as a medium through which issues in society can be highlighted. The more creative and original the approach to making a political statement, the more attention it will get and the more chance it will have to make an impact and perhaps stimulate action. Without exposure, fashion/textiles cannot have a significant effect on the population, which is why designers like Katherine Hamnett have been more successful in raising awareness through the use of celebrities compared to less known designers such as Susie Freeman. There is a lot of diversity in the art world when tackling points of concern as each designer/artist needs to stand out from the crowd. Some use materials in their work that directly link in with the problem addressed (Freeman), some use their eccentricity to rebel against popular culture (Westwood) and some use slogans to convey a certain view, a technique which gets straight to the point and does not leave as much room for interpretation as other methods do. The hope is that their statement will kick start a movement concerning their issue, but this is not a simple, straight forward process.

"It would get people thinking and then it would happen. But it doesn't happen that way." Katharine Hamnett on what she used to believe about issues tackled through fashion[33]

‘There is also a danger with T-shirts (and marches) that they "give people the feeling that they have done something when they haven't", she said.’[34]

The second quote shows how attempting to influence society through fashion/textiles can have disadvantages. In my opinion, political statements can effectively spotlight world issues[35] or encourage a social revolution, but only with the help of other platforms (for example when Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren used the Sex Pistols to promote the punk lifestyle) can one person’s ideas truly have an impact on the actions/tendencies of society and incite change. A designer’s work can help to raise awareness on a certain topic,

"But no T-shirt is going to save the world. It might contribute, but not on their own." Will Nutland[36]

[1] http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vivw/hd_vivw.htm - 08/10/09

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcultural - 08/10/09

[3]http://www.infomat.com/fido/getexecutive.fcn?&type=execs&searchstring=Vivienne+Westwood&id=737870EV0000689&start=1&scope=findPhrase - 08/10/09

[4] http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vivw/hd_vivw.htm - 08/10/09

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEX_(boutique) - 12/10/09

[6] Terry Jones and Susie Rushton, TASCHEN, 2005 - FASHION NOW 2, pg. 511

[7] Dr Alice Mackrell, B T Batsford, 2005 - ART AND FASHION, pg.147

[8] Terry Jones and Susie Rushton, TASCHEN, 2005 - FASHION NOW 2, pg.506

[9] http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Vi-Z/Westwood-Vivienne.html - 12/10/09

[10] http://ezinearticles.com/?Vivienne-Westwood---A-Great-British-Designer&id=1888020 - 12/10/09

[11] http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Katharine+Hamnett - 12/10/09