Protest Dressing: Fashion as a political statement

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There has been a resurgence in the use of fashion as a way in which we as individuals or collective movements to express their ideologies and their political viewpoints; this resurgence can particularly be seen in celebrities, I think being politically aware and an activist has been in some cases transformed in something cool and trendy as it has entered the celebrity domain and sometimes the message and cause is lost. However, a positive is that through political dressing, people are able to show solidarity and enable people who do not have a voice to protest or fight against a regime in a different way.

You may think that political dressing is something new, however, this form of protest has existed for many years if we look at many organisations or political movements dating back many years who have used fashion as a way to show their unity as well as their shared ideology.

One example of this is ‘The Black Panthers party’, The Black Panthers party were a small fraction of the large black power movement; they were fighting for the rights of African Americans and against white hegemony. The movement had set uniform to unite them and show they shared the same agenda. The movement could be identified by there black leather jackets, black pants, powder blue shirts, black Beret, afros, Dark sunglasses and African Jewellery.

Origin: Daily Mail

In modern-day contemporary society, political dressing orbits different spheres from the runway, red carpet and individuals day to day life.

Here a few examples of ways people and groups dress to express:

women in black at the 2018 'Globes Globes'

origin: Abbynews

During the 2018 Golden Globes awards ceremony, men and women wore the shade black to show their solidarity for the 'Times Up' movement (fighting against the sexual harassment and sexual assault particularly in Hollywood) as well as gender inequality and injustice within the film industry.

women of the US democratic party

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The women of the US democratic party all adorned white (a colour often worn by the suffragette movement) for the State speech giving by President Trump. The women wanted to be impactful and show the status quo in Washington will be challenged as well as showing the dominant presence of the women from the Democratic party.

'Make American great again - MAGA

A phrase intrinsically linked to President Trump and his race to the white house. Many adorn this to show where they are politically aligned as well as their support of President Trump and his values and ideologies one of them being Kanye West, who have supported trump several times publically, however, many others view this phrase and hat negatively as a symbol of hate, racism and white supremacy.

I see the future of political expression and protest involving the use of fashion especially as a way to build solidarity and create a larger global movement.

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