In the finale of Paris Fashion Week last week, German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld staged the Chanel fashion show to look like a feminist protest. The notorious Lagerfeld is one of many in the fashion industry hopping onto the feminism bandwagon.

With designers and magazines alike putting feminism in the spotlight, it seems that the topic is now becoming a “trend.” Feminism should not be in the same category as knee high boots or bulky coats — feminism is not an accessory.

Lagerfeld’s sudden interest in promoting feminism seems hypocritical. For decades, he has spent his career objectifying women on their looks and weight.

In October 2009 he was quoted in Focus Magazine saying, “You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly,” after a magazine in Germany decided to show curvier women in favor of typical runway models.

In 2012, Lagerfeld was quoted in the United Kingdom newspaper The Sun discussing Kate Middleton’s sister, Pippa. He said, “(Pippa) struggles. I don’t like the sister’s face. She should only show her back.”

He had also described Adele as, “a little too fat” in 2012, making his name synonymous with fat shaming. Lagerfeld is not a women’s advocate and his name should not be put anywhere near feminism.

His fashion show might have seemed like a spectacle advocating for feminism, but Lagerfeld is known to think outside the box and hold large-scale, unusual shows. This show was nothing different.

If Chanel really wanted to make a statement they should have incorporated women of different sizes and races. Instead, Chanel featured sample-size models holding posters that demonstrated conflicting ideas like, “ladies first” and “free freedom” that reflected a lack of education in gender equality.

The reasons behind feminism coming into vogue may be tangled and misguided, but it is also reaching further and wider than ever before.
This November, Elle magazine will be coming out with a feminism edition that will reach over 1.1 million Americans, according to its website. With an overwhelming amount of this audience being women, this gives women a welcoming platform to discuss a heavy topic.

However, the glossy magazine is covered in advertisements with Photoshopped models and includes articles on what women need to fix and how to improve themselves. The hypocrisy and juxtaposition of a feminist article next to only flawless-faced models is enough to confuse anyone.
Telling women to be free and independent and then telling them on the next page how to dress and how to get the perfect man contradicts feminism. Magazines are a business and the feminist movement appears to be another hot topic that will boost sales. We as consumers must demand an authentic discussion instead of a publicity stunt.

Fashion is struggling with the idea of feminism, as it often criticized for putting women in a box that only fits size zero waists. If magazines and the runways want to embrace the movement wholeheartedly, they need to incorporate women leaders and take a deeper look into what feminism stands for.

Feminism is more than just a trend piece that will go out of style next season. Being a for-profit consumer-driven market puts the fashion industry in a difficult situation. Designers, such as Lagerfeld, might think they are giving the consumer what it wants by making feminism fashionable. But that means it is up to us as consumers to demand a real conversation. Only then will the industry be forced to make real changes, instead of just putting on a show.

Julia Smith is a junior newspaper and online journalism and sociology dual major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @jcsmith711.

Published on October 7, 2014 at 12:01 am