Fashion, Film & Feminism
October 5, 2017. Does that date mean anything to you? No? It’s not memorable in and of itself, especially since we’ve had more intense historical dates to remember in the more recent future (March 13th, 2020, anyone?). But let me refresh your memory. To a time in the ‘before times’. For the record, it was the day the New York Times (and five days later the New Yorker ) broke heir now-Pulitzer prize winning reports on the allegations of sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein. Which, of course started the “Me-too” Movement. But four years later, in the midst of a global pandemic that has completely upended most of the world – I thought it was worth asking: What has changed since then?
The Answer? Everything, and yet nothing. In Early 2020, Harvey Weinstein was convicted of Rape. And that case spiraled and was even more horrifying than the initial reporting suggested. (Go Watch Ronan Farrow’s podcast tapes or Read his book. It will give you chills. ) Back in 2017, a few weeks after these stories began breaking, I wrote the following:
‘If you have even casually glanced at the news recently, you will be familiar with the deluge of articles and think pieces about another powerful man meeting his downfall in the form of sexual harassment allegations. And the list keeps getting longer. For any woman, anywhere, this is a good thing. But one of the most common threads of conversation in the aftermath of the deluge of these stories, is how was this allowed to happen, continually and unchecked for so long? This has been a constant refrain amongst those, me included, in the more liberal, creative industries. The short answer? The Male Gaze.’
In the years since, I’ve actually transitioned from fashion to film to writing, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about the Male Gaze. Maybe you’ve seen it on TikTok recently. Which I love, because 1) I love Tiktok and 2) TikTok definitely wasn’t around when I first wrote this piece in 2017.
For those who are unfamiliar, the term “the Male Gaze”, which refers to the idea of depicting Women in images and film from a male, heterosexual point of view, was first coined by Laura Mulvey in a 1975 essay titled “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Despite so many advances in the feminist field in Media, spurred on by Laura Mulvey’s article, the male gaze is definitely still alive and flourishing. It makes sense in Hollywood, where female directors make up 7% of directors behind the 250 highest grossing films (as of 2016). Such a lack of female filmmakers, and by extension a lack of the people who are influencing the cultural conversation, means you will see less women who are in charge of their own agency. But in the fashion industry, where I have spent most of my career, which is largely female dominated? That doesn’t make sense.
Even this paragraph feels fully dated now. We’ve seen the rise and fall (hopefully for good) of the president who absolutely helped spur the Me-too movement on. We’ve seen a global pandemic change working conditions and kill more than 700,000 Americans in eighteen months. We saw last summer bring to the forefront the much-needed conversations about racial inequalities that exist in the social and legal systems this country has been run on.
Back to 2017: Shortly after these articles began dominating the news cycle, I was at a party in a friend’s apartment in Chinatown on a Saturday Night, and I had a friend in Academia (hi Susha!) ask in light of all these allegations what my experiences had been in fashion, a largely female dominated industry. I, personally, have been very lucky that I have experienced little to no-harassment in the workplace. I’ve certainly had my fair share on the streets and in the bars and clubs of New York City. Honestly, what woman hasn’t experienced harassment or abuse of some kind? Very, very few, as we are seeing with the recent trending #metoo campaign across social media.
That’s not to say that the fashion industry doesn’t have its own problems, but I’ve certainly seen and heard less of it in my experiences within the workplace (as we have seen! Several well-known figures had their moment in the spotlight, even leading Condé Nast to implement a Code of Conduct, which was hailed as a big step forward.)
Fashion has always been deeply entrenched in the world of women and a female centric point of view. Historically, as women’s roles within society were becoming more restricted, Fashion, was the one place that women were allowed to exist in, other than in the home. It was a woman’s space. Female magazine editors were fairly common within the 19th century. As early as the 1830’s, one of the most popular ladies’ magazines, Godey’s Lady’s Book, had an all-female staff and a female editor. If you’ve ever seen any British period piece you will know that most women during this time period were expected to marry and have children. This has certainly been the expected view point continuing into modern times, said most succinctly by Amy Larocca in The Cut for New York Magazine:
“If there were elements of the fashion industry that gave me pause when I went to work at Vogue almost two decades ago, meeting so many no-nonsense, hardworking, intelligent, and admirable women put me at ease. The professionalism, and frankly the kindness, of my colleagues overwhelmed any reservations or doubts. Right before I accepted that job, I saw two of fashion publishing’s most visible and powerful positions offered to pregnant women, and I saw that no one was shocked. I appreciated that this was a world where women were expected to thrive. Fashion is far from a feminist nirvana, but it has, historically, been an industry with great career opportunities for women.”
As women’s roles began expanding as the 20th century progressed, fashion grew right along with it. And since it was already considered a woman’s business, well, women were able to run that business almost exclusively. I have interned/worked at two different major magazine publications – the staff at both was at least 80% women, sometimes more. Cherish the fact that American Vogue has only ever had female editor in chiefs – A practice that I dearly hope continues into the future. And I still believe this. But we do have to reckon with how many women of color have been in leadership positions. Many of the glossies and digital media companies have had their own reckonings with this after the murder of George Floyd last may. Some have done better than others. Some have collapsed under the weight of their biases.
Despite these numbers, much of the images produced in the fashion industry (for magazine editorial, video, and ad campaigns) are produced by men. That’s not to say there are no female photographers and directors who produce work within the fashion industry. There’s several incredibly talented ones. But they are just as underrepresented. It gets even worse as we talk about minorities in these positions. It’s getting better, but there is definitely still progress to be made. This has had a lasting influence on fashion, with a female subject for a female audience that is still being filtered through the male gaze (read: sexualized and objectified). And this is definitely what has become the prevailing theme in most Hollywood movies out there.
And it makes such a difference when you have a woman behind the lens. Take what is hands-down 2017’s best movie and summer blockbuster, Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot. There have already been more than enough worshipful think pieces about this, but compare the delight of Wonder Woman with two other chapters in the DC franchise, 2016’s Batman V. Superman: The Dawn of Justice and Justice League, out this past weekend. It’s the best example of the male vs. female gaze. Both Batman v. Superman and Justice League, have a male director and a male Costume Designer, while Wonder Woman has a (fabulous) female director and a female costume designer. 2021 has the added benefit of adding even more case studies with 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984, and the release of the ‘Snyder Cut’ of Justice League. My conclusion then, is the same as now: The difference is staggering.
Under a female eye, Gal Gadot marches on to the screen in the first installment of Wonder Woman wearing a gorgeous raspberry colored dress that looks like it could be Lanvin or Giambattista Valli, to her amazing job as a curator at the Louvre. The look is an extremely elegant, raspberry colored dress, worn with black boots. She’s covered head to toe to the point of almost extreme modesty, but it’s extremely chic, and would look at home on the runways of Paris Fashion week, even for the just finished Spring 2022 Collections.
What it tells the viewer subconsciously? That Diana is a working woman going to her amazing job at the Louvre. It works for who she is as a human, but also as a woman. It tells you so much about the character, about her. She looks like a woman. And she looks like a woman on her way to work. Confident, Sophisticated, and most importantly of all: realistic. You know how women don’t dress for work? Wearing a white blazer with no bra, with a white bandage skirt, as seen in Batman v. Superman.
A Fairly unrealistic working girl outfit. Even post-pandemic.
it doesn’t get any better with the evening wear, either. In Batman v. Superman, Diana attends the same Gala at Lex Luthor’s (Jesse Eisenberg) mansion as both Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and Clark Kent (Henry Cavill). She ‘catches’ Bruce’s eye in a silver sequined and embellished number with an extremely high slit, multiple cutouts, that is also completely backless. The dress is certainly gorgeous, and it’s a sexy look, but not it’s much of a dress. Even my views on this and my personal style have changed, but yet, the look is the same. It’s not how a real woman, one who is going about her business and worried about her period, and whether the pasta she ate at dinner is going to make her fell bloated and is she meeting with business colleagues or friends will dress. Basically, one who is real and not one who exists solely for male wish fulfillment.
Here, my beliefs pop up to argue that as a woman she has the right to wear whatever she wants, but this is a look meant to seduce. It’s meant that she is there for his viewing pleasure. Particularly, that dress is meant to subconsciously suggest to the viewer that this woman is a temptress to an older man in the form of Bruce Wayne. And it does. It totally distracts him from whatever his mission there is. But this is a dress worn for men’s fantasies. It’s not how a lot of professional working women dress too formal or gala events. But it’s a marked difference just based solely on the fact that you have a male director acting out his vision, and it being implemented by a male costume designer (Writer Note: This is by no means an attack on the costume designer, I think it has more to do with the director, and what guidance the costume designer receives, because I went a looked up his bio and he has designed a ton of other amazing films with some badass women.).
Compare that to the amazing blue evening gown she steals to gain entrance to the another Gala in Wonder Woman, while she is behind enemy lines no less. It’s not strictly period appropriate, but it’s strong, and sensual, and beautiful. It certainly takes love interest Steve Trevor’s (Chris Pine) breath away. But even so, that scene feels so different under a female treatment. You get a much better sense of who Diana is, who Wonder Woman is, as a character, but also as a woman. I will say, that the 1984 costumes were appropriately 80s, but tamer, even with Barabara (Kirsten Wiig)’s sexy makeover, they still felt like the looks were not for men. Justice League comes out in theaters this weekend (November 2017), and it reunites the same team as Batman v. Superman. It’s not hard to guess which way this one will go, especially given the recent furor over the change in the Amazon’s costumes and the current critical receptions. Spoiler Alert: I was right. And the Snyder Cut wasn’t any different.
It’s a good lesson on the vast differences between male and female gaze, and one this writer wasn’t even aware was lacking until Wonder Woman hit theaters this past June (2017 again). And Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in all three of these films is the perfect case study for these differences in the Male and Female Gaze. not only is it the same actress playing the same character, but they were released only a year apart, so you don’t have to account for differences in character by different actresses and even in the realm of societal expectations. I’d expect the Wonder Woman TV show portrayed by Lynda Carter from the early 1970s to be different that the 2017 version. But 2016 v 2017? So much has happened for women in the cultural landscape in the intervening time, particularly in regard to the recent headlines surrounding sexual harassment allegations against powerful industry men like Harvey Weinstein. But throw in the delayed release of Wonder Woman 1984 because of the covid-19 pandemic? And the social media campaign to #releasethesnydercut? The thread is woven through tightly.
So how did we actually get to this point? The 2017 Paragraph reads: Well, so much of the past 100 years of cinematic history have been through this lens of the male gaze. It has certainly helped push forward a certain patriarchal view of women, to the point that in our current image economy, we internalize so much of these views, especially as young girls. We’re used to viewing these over-sexualized images, which in turn have been subconsciously digested the idea that a women’s purpose to be an agent of male sexuality. Men are used to seeing women as sexual objects. It follows that they would act on this as well. It’s this prevalence of the male gaze that has led to what we are now seeing as good, forward thinking men who have been harassing women for years. It’s a perfect storm that has allowed for this environment to flourish. And I say we’ve had enough. It’s our turn, ladies.
I look at that now, and it’s so… optimistic. It was a call to arms. I almost want to sigh at the seeming naiveté I felt rereading that. Things are maybe better. But things are also so much worse. Maybe now, one global pandemic and multiple social upheavals later, the weariness sets in. The conversation has changed. The inclusivity has widened. And yet. And yet. There’s still a lot of work to do. A lot of ground to cover. Ironically, the fashion and film conversations have changed with the Pandemic too. If we learned anything? Is that we can never except the status quo and have to keep fighting. We have to reach back to lend a hand to those following in our footsteps to help them up, whoever they may be, because there’s never just one seat at the table.
