Paris Fashion Week: Fashion, feminism and a fake Kate Moss
CNN
While the event is usually the talk of the town — and of every social network — this week the French capital was preoccupied with events more notable than clothing.
Although Paris Fashion Week is usually the talk of the town — and every social network — this week the French capital was preoccupied with events more notable than clothing. In an historical vote on Monday — a few days ahead of International Women’s Day (March 8) — the French parliament enshrined the right to abortion into its constitution, the first country in the world to do so. As runway shows popped up in every neighborhood, hundreds also gathered at the city’s famed Trocadero in front of the Eiffel Tower, to follow the historic event on giant screens. Paris has been a theater of style and politics for decades, so it is intriguing to note the revival of late 60s fashion this week. Indeed, this season’s Saint Laurent show revived many aspects of the founder’s 1968 collections (which can currently be admired at the Saint Laurent Museum in the French capital) featuring thinly — but colorfully — veiled nudity. A sartorial manifestation of sexual freedom that coincided with the student revolts of May 1968 where women fought notably for reproductive rights — then, and now again. So if clothing embodies needs, desires and progress, what can be deduced from this week’s garments, shown at a time and place when sexual agency is once again taking center stage? On runways, the women conjured seemed to thrive towards new realities, possibilities and celebrations. Japanese label Undercover dedicated its collection to working mothers, as models marched with bags filled with groceries to the sound of a poem by movie director Wim Wenders, “Watching a working woman.” Balmain’s was an ode to older women, Ester Manas focused on women of all sizes, whilst Nina Ricci highlighted sexually emancipated gender roles. The Parisienne’s static archetype seemed to embrace less normative, narrow ideals towards a wider scope of lifestyles and choices. The week, all seemed possible — even living your life as a Kate Moss lookalike, as model Denise Ohnona showed when she fooled paparazzi and social media users alike as she marched down the Marine Serre runway. The sky’s the limit.