When Social Movements Merge With Style - Topic of the day 5/4/24
Throughout history, we’ve seen countless movements, in which clothing was used to symbolize something meaningful.
Think of The Black panthers, and immediately, your mind thinks of berets, black leather jackets, and Dashikis.
Think of the punk movement that started in Britian, you’ll almost always think of black boots, probably Doc Martens, and leather jackets.
Think of black-Americans fighting for liberation and freedom, like James Baldwin, Miles Davis, and countless others like them, and you’ll think of Black Ivy style.
When you read up on Palestinian resistance movements that go all the way back to the 1930s, during the British Mandate period, you think of the kufiya. Even the patterns found on the kufiya have a meaning: the fishnet symbolizes the livelihood of the Palestinian people, fishing being an integral part of the economy. The three bold lines represented the historic trade routes. The olive leaves remind us of the beloved olive trees, resistant to drought and grow in poor soil conditions—thus representing the resilience of the Palestinian people.
Today, when you think of the global activism surrounding Palestinians, you see the kufiya, and you might even think of tatreez (traditional Palestinian embroidery).
What are some of your favorite examples of styles and clothing that are linked to social movements?
This topic will run for 2 days.
16 Replies
This is a genuinely interesting topic. In the West during the 1970s-80s there were cross-country movement where clothing became both a symbol of protest and subcultures. Since then it's kinda fizzled out. In the UK you had mods & rockers, across the West you had punk and goths. Each originally had anti-establishment undertones.
Since then? Not really. They're just another type of micro-style which appears every so often in the mainstream while underneath you have some diehards.
it's interesting to note that in many cases Black Americans were wearing the same clothes as their white counterparts up to and during the Civil Rights Movement, be it to be recognized as legitimate in society or as a demonstration for the benefit of equality that should be inherent in society, and yet this was somehow viewed as controversial by White Americans at large...and yet somehow this is still present in society to a degree
similarly i found it interesting that the clothing of the Black Panther Party of America - while pulling from many of the same themes as their predecessors, like turtlenecks and 3-button jackets and leather accessories - has such different connotations due to the existence of berets or leather jackets, things which, again, were worn by their White counterparts
after the initial wave of Black Lives Matter protests i really responded to the style of BPPoA and what it symbolized to me - a sense of strength, conviction and a more active form of finding a place in society that had previously cast them out. it felt a little like "faking it until i made it" because at the time i felt none of those things, but it was one of the first instances of dressing intentionally i can pinpoint, even if the fits were kinda bricks lmao.
I dunnow. I really dig the first fit.
First things that come to mind in more modern times are the pussyhats and yellow vests in the US and France, and some women’s refusal to wear a hijab in Iran.
Also zoot suits
Mediating Faith and Style: Museums Awake to Muslim Fashions https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/arts/design/de-young-museum-contemporary-muslim-fashions.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
By Jori Finkel
The New York Times
Mediating Faith and Style: Museums Awake to Muslim Fashions (Publis...
Max Hollein’s show at the de Young brings “modest fashion” into the modern museum age.
Clothing worn by ultra-orthodox Jews comes to mind too, but I am not knowledgeable enough to explain what it all means.
Red MAGA hats
Hippies and anti-war activists wearing milsurp
Lots of interesting stuff here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_activism
Fashion activism
Fashion activism is the practice of using fashion as a medium for social, political, and environmental change. The term has been used recurringly in the works of designers and scholars Lynda Grose, Kate Fletcher, Mathilda Tham, Kirsi Niinimäki, Anja-Lisa Hirscher, Zoe Romano, and Orsola de Castro, as they refer to systemic social and political c...
This was the one that came to mind for me, and is a big influence on how I dress. Love the subversion of it.
tbh it’s out of sympathy and respect for the palestinian resistance that i want to have a (genuine) keffiyeh to wear. i’ve seen a wide berth of people saying that as long as you’re wearing it right and with respect, it’s not an issue.
i’m especially a fan of this and the subversion here because you’re dressed for the war against war
Iirc vivienne westwood moved on from her work at sex/seditionaries after becoming disenchanted with the punk movement's emphasis on style over substance. A super important step in what would later become her legendary career, but i'm sure it was a gut punch to that community at the time. Everyone enjoys an in-group with a unique style as a calling card to signify affiliation, but symbols so quickly become commodified to the point of losing all original meaning.
Correct.
yeah. it's why i feel like if i want to really, properly dress punk i have to cover my jacket or my bag in pins and patches that say "no, really, i remember what all of this is about"
In case the image never gets loaded to the post, this is what it was supposed to have:
a slightly different example of this, but i thought of the hanky code for gay and bisexual (mostly) in the 60s and 70s. unlike the others, the colored handkerchief was a functional item first and foremost (both in identifying similar queer men and also determining preferences while trying to navigate a heteronormative world), and i think that's indicative to the Gay Rights movement of the 20th century at large (less so now, where open displays of queerness are more common). my wearing of handkerchiefs does not directly correlate to the original meanings from the leatherman's handbook but i kinda see it as a signal of my queerness in a way that's authentic to me.