Ah Chanel. We can always count on them to jump on the current zeitgeist and incorporate it into their show. That Karl Lagerfeld sure has a knack, doesn’t he? Last season he surprised the world press by sending models through a mock Chanel supermarket, complete with Chanel cereal.
This season? He recreated a Parisian street as a catwalk, and staged a feminist rally, with models marching down the street carrying slogan banners. He led the pack of course, leaving no doubt in any journalist’s mind that he was the mastermind behind the “protest”.
Cara Delevigne carried a megaphone while fellow models’ signs included
“History is her story”
“Ladies first”
“Make fashion not war”
Granted, they’re not groundbreakingly political, nor resoundingly feminist, but in dipping their toe into the feminism pool, Chanel is making a definite statement: Being a feminist is cool again.
For the last few decades, it’s almost as though feminism was a dirty word. Celebrities didn’t want to be associated with it. Beyonce didn’t identify herself as a feminist (even though she is all about girlpower!) and Taylor Swift actually said “I like men too much to be a feminist” not realizing that actually has nothing to do with feminism.
Now of course, those tables have turned. At the MTV Awards this year, Beyonce gave the performance of a lifetime which included the word FEMINIST flashed up behind her, enormous and unmissable, on stage. She’s finally embracing what we all knew for years: she’s a fantastic feminist role model, dominating an industry where men traditionally run the show.
Emma Watson’s recent speech at the UN was groundbreaking to say the least – not because she spoke about feminism and what it means, but because she’s a young, cool and also very smart role model for a young generation who have the opposite shoved in their face 24-7: girls gyrating in video clips, showing off their bodies because that’s generally the way to get attention. Emma Watson has climbed head and shoulders above them with great words and should be lauded for that.
Taylor Swift has also done a major turnaround on her “don’t call me a feminist” stance, coming out in support of Emma Watson:
“I wish when I was 12 years old, I had been able to watch a video of my favorite actress explaining in such an intellectual, beautiful poignant way the definition of feminism,’ the 24-year-old singer said,”because I would have understood it and then earlier on in my life I would have proudly claimed that I was a feminist.”
If jumping on the feminism bandwagon is scary, fear no more. Feminism doesn’t mean that we have to burn our bras and not wear lipstick.
Meanwhile, speaking of feminism watch Emma Watson’s groundbreaking UN speech below…
What do you think of Chanel’s feminist rally inspired show? Tell us in the comments below!
