Independent Project: Final Written Report
Rewrite
A thesis discussing how to rewrite destructive gender norms in the commercial fashion industry.
Author : Julia Därth
Supervisor : Cassandra Troyan, Matilda Plöjer Examiner : Mathilda Tham
Term : VT20
Subject : Visual Communication + Change Level : Independent Project
Course : 2DI68E
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to explore how gender norms are represented and depicted in the commercial sphere of fashion, affecting primarily females. The thesis will highlight the voices of several young females of today and their perception of how it is to be influenced and exposed to gender norms in regards to fashion. This thesis theoretical chapters consists of theories in gender norms, norm-critical design, fashion magazines, editorial design, fashion photography, norm-critical photography and intersectional feminism. Furthermore, the
method used for this paper are interviews, a total of 17 people were interviewed, whereas five of them are currently working in either the commercial fashion industry or as creatives on a global level. The interviews occurred online, through both emailing and Instagram. This thesis concludes that several aspects, primarily based on the male gaze negatively influence gender norms in the commercial sphere of fashion. However, it is also concluded that there are several change agents, working towards breaking these toxic influences. The thesis is also part of a design project, which final outcome is exhibited at the exhibition Windows Of Opportunity. An online exhibition hosted by the program Design + Change and Visual Communication + Change, at the Linnaeus University in Sweden
https://2020.designportfoliolnu.se/rewrite.
Keywords: Gender norms, Fashion, Intersectional Feminism, Male Gaze, Commercial, Norm-Critical, Fashion Magazine, Beauty
Table of content
1. Introduction...3 1.1 Background...
1.2 Aim...
1.3 Research questions...
2. Theoretical framework...5 2.1 Gender Norms/Norm Critical Design/Undisciplined design...
2.2 Fashion Magazines/Editorial design………...
2.3 Fashion photography/Norm Critical photography...
3. Methodology...14 3.1 Interviews...
4. Design Process...15 4.1 Brainstorming and developing concept...
4.2 Visual Research...
4.3 Experimentation...
4.4 Photographing...
4.5 Contacting collaborators...
4.6 Gathering answers from collaborators...
4.7 Idea development...
4.8 Visual Identity...
4.9 Final Visual Identity...
5. Conclusion...25 6. References...27 7. Appendix...30
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
Ever since mom stopped picking out outfits for my sisters and me, I have loved to experiment with styles and clothing. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I probably went through every style there is, from punk to bohemian to streetwear. And in the bin at home, one could find traces of pieces of fabric from me reconstructing clothes I was tired of, by cutting a pair of jeans into shorts or making a skirt out of an old dress.
Throughout my life, clothes have been a fundamental way of expressing myself. But growing up in an era where Victoria’s Secret models were idolized, it warped my self-image, and I became obsessed with fitting into the norm. For years, I felt like the brand determined the characteristics of femininity for millions of young girls around the globe. And, like many others, I studied what the models ate, what they wore, and how many times a day they worked out and copied that into my everyday life. I developed a destructive relationship with myself and the fashion industry, and sometimes I feel like a part of me vanished since it took away the most nourishing part of my personality, self-expression.
I decided to create a fashion zine as a tool for myself and everyone out there who fights with how to navigate within the commercial sphere of fashion, finding a way out from the
destructive gender norms. I also questioned why I have not been exposed to a commercial fashion magazine that takes responsibility in discussing how trends or norms set by the fashion industry affect its consumers. As a result, I felt a need for a more inclusive platform that moved away from the traditional magazines, and on a deeper level, discussed gender norms in regards to fashion as well as inspired me to find new and more resilient ways of how to express myself through clothing.
To make the zine a platform and a community, it will be distributed by hand. Starting with me distributing it myself to my closest girlfriends, then later distributed for others to read it.
Hence, shifting the power structures from the producers of commercial magazines, to the individual.
Diana Crane, professor of sociology as well as author states that fashion performs an essential role in the social construction of identity. It is also one of the most noticeable markers of status and gender. Crane plays an important part in unpicking the effects fashion has on sociology and how fashion affects how people interact with each other. Crane further states that for centuries individual style and fashion itself have played an essential role in how people understand their positions in social constructions. Such as religion, class, and regional identity. Additionally, throughout history, it has been viewed as controversial trying to discontinue the aforementioned structures via implementing styles from other social classes (Crane, 2000).
However, today the fashion industry is moving into a more gender-fluid sphere, where unisex clothing is as popular in stores as on the catwalk. Although it may seem as the fashion
industry is progressing in regards to gender-fluid designs, there is still a noteworthy lack of diversity in regards to models being featured in magazines, on social media and catwalks (Crane, 2000).
1.2 Aim
This essay will investigate how gender norms within the commercial fashion industry affect the everyday life of mostly young women in today’s society. Furthermore, the design aspect of the project will, through visual communication, explore new ways of constructing a fashion magazine, moving away from the traditional constructions.
Tansy Hoskins, a London based journalist working on covering the fashion industry states that the fashion magazine industry is approximately 300 years old. Hoskin’s book The Stitched Up, The Anti-Capitalist Book Of Fashion unfolds the history of the fashion
magazines and how it came to be a communication tool for the fashion industry, with a strong influence on determining what is in fashion or not. It became the way to present luxurious garments by highly respected fashion brands. The first women’s magazine, The Ladie’s Mercury, initially published in 1693, became a journal for the elitist women of that era.
Today, the fashion magazine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, primarily monopolized by fashion giants (Hoskins, 2014).
The two cash cows exist of one, the consumers, and two, the advertisers. The fashion magazines’ status as a parlor attracted advertisers and firms whom wished to draw benefit from the billion-dollar industry. As a result, publishing houses decided to scrap the idea of attracting the mass-market but instead convinced many magazines, including Vogue, to exclusively target the upper class. Still today, magazines target the middle and upper classes (Hoskins, 2014).
For this reason, moving away from the commercial and traditional construction when making the zine allows for a broader range of consumers. Furthermore, it criticizes the capitalist cycle from magazines made by wealthy producers to later on be purchased by wealthy consumers.
The alternative approach is moving away from the parlor and into a low-tech sphere.
Hence, the target group of the zine are 15 to 30 year old females, interested in fashion and finding new ways of expressing themselves. In addition, the thesis will discuss intersectional feminism, fashion, the complexity of norms, as well as change by shedding light upon the voices of young people as well as people working norm-critically within the field of fashion and design.
1.3 Research Questions
1. How does gender norms influence fashion?
2. What change agents exist in relation to gender norms in the commercial sphere of fashion?
2.0 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Gender Norms/Norm Critical Design
The European Institute for Gender Equality is part of the European Union that is working towards gender equality. The institute states that gender norms are ideals and social codes that each gender should fit into or represent, according to societal standards. Important to mention is that gender norms may differ depending on culture and society as a whole.
Furthermore, people learn to embody gender norms early in life since these are the general belief of how each gender should behave. However, this often leads to gender
stereotypes/stereotyping (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2020), (Zheng, 2015).
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin, is an American author who thoughtfully merged science-fiction and feminism, according to Jonas, (2020). She started to theorize and think in terms of gender and sexuality and which purpose it served the individual as well as society. Kroeber Le Guin wrote the novel The Left Hand Of Darkness raising the question of what is left when gender is removed. The novel is about another earth named Gethen, where the inhabitants are androgynous and dissimilar to us in regards to their sexual physiology. In the majority of each month, sexuality is not of importance for the Gethenians' everyday life. Hence, sex as a social aspect is then removed from society. However, the remaining period, sexuality fully controls them, whereas Gethenians are expected to have sex with their partners. When a Gethenian finds a partner during this period, both individuals have no power to determine which one will take on either the estrogen or testosterone dominance until a physical contact and secretion is established (Kroeber Le Guin, 1976).
Gethenians are not able to have sexual intercourse, if one part is not willing to. In contrast to our current society, where there is rape and prostitution, which is mostly regulated by money and in some situations, religion. Furthermore, no other race than the human can correspond to the rape and prostitution culture which is established in society today. Kroeber Le Guin refers to the novel as a dystopia due to the noteworthy shift in anatomy, which is not realistic and makes it difficult to serve as an alternate society. But also because the novel solely examines a heteronormative perspective, where the Gethanians’ either take on a masculine or feminine dominance during the period where the Gethanian is sexually active. However, it examines a society where there are no economical and social injustices depending on gender nor sexual exploitation of women (Kroeber Le Guin, 1976).
In today's society, there is a noteworthy distinction between the exploitation of women
according to ones ethnicity. The University Wire (2015), succeeds to highlight the issues with mainstream feminism and the importance of intersectionality. Mainstream feminism is mostly benefitting white women, which leads to a situation where feminism often creates a gap between women rather than uniting. For instance, in the U.S, during the 1600s, white women were oppressed to a certain extent. The white woman was to the majority protected from rape due to the privilege of being white and not being dehumanized by society. However, black
women were and, are yet today, sexualized and objectified by society. When a white man sexually abused black woman during the enslavement in the U.S, the white supremacy did not legally title it as abuse. The economic and social gap between white and black women remains today. Furthermore, mainstream feminism also referred to as white feminism fails to highlight, listen to and fight the issues, such as wage gaps, and racism which black women and men encounter on a daily basis (University Wire, 2015).
As a result, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, working as a lecturer at the Columbia University School of law, as well as at the University of California, initiated the concept of
intersectionality. In contrast to mainstream feminism, intersectionality tackles and
conceptualizes how different power structures and prejudicial systems interact and creates a burden and discriminates against people not benefitting from white, patriarchal supremacy.
When these systems, for example, class injustices, racism, patriarchy, gender, sexuality and ethnicity meet, it actively disempower the one affected from several discriminatory aspects.
Hence, black women do not only suffer from being forgotten from the mainstream feminist movement, but are simutaneously affected by, for example, racism and class injustices (R.
Grzanka, 2018).
Bell Hooks, an American author, political activist and feminist highlights and analyzes power as a discriminatory tool for control in the essay The Oppositional Gaze. Hooks (2014)
examines how white slave owners used to harm enslaved black people for staring at them, and as a child, Bell Hooks also used to get punished for looking. Just glancing became something rooted as bad for black people, due to a history of oppression and white supremacy. However, Hooks also describes how this has awakened a restless desire and eagerness to look, an oppositional gaze which has become a ground of resistance for black people on a global level. Power as dominance has many forms, and tends to recreate itself in various situations but with the same characteristics and systems to dominate. One gaze that dominates and is also criticised and highlighted by Hooks is the male gaze, which is
prominent in the media. (Hooks, 2014)
According to Simmons (2020), the term emerged from criticism of how the white supremacy, specifically the white heterosexual man’s viewpoint overrules the visual representation in
film theory. The male gaze objectifies and sexualizes ‘the other’, in this case the woman and simultaneously solely empowers the white man. The male gaze appears in numerous shapes, for example, when the female body solely exists to satisfy and please the male gender.
However, throughout history the white male gaze have also viewed black men as a threat, and when black men gazed at white females, white men interpreted this as a violation and
executed black men. Hence, the white, heterosexual man and his male gaze do not only oppress women, but uses the black man as a case to dominate and penalize. As a result, this system solely benefits the white man (Hooks, 2014), (Simmons, 2020).
Through norm-critical design, designers have the power to counter the male gaze and
challenge discriminatory societal structures, in this case, gender norms. Falagara (2014) sheds light on the importance of understanding the role of a designer and how designers could use their voice for change. According to Falagra, it is essential that designers who want to use the power of visual communication to make a change, collaborate as a collective, and discuss a potential society away from oppression and discrimination. The design, which is
norm-critical, has an aesthetic that moves away from the traditional way of using graphic design in media. This is also confirmed by Dunne and Raby (2020) which discusses that the purpose of it is to start conversations and debates. Additionally, norm-critical design is there to reveal presumptions, injustices and to call for action. Dunne and Raby also mention norm-critical design as an intellectual alternative to consume entertainment, such as written matters. In the industry, norm-critical design works as the oppositional gaze. As an example, Falagara mentions that it is counterproductive to add on to the conventional and pretty design when creating something critical. Instead, it needs to work against the design aspects that reproduce the male gaze and which designers are traditionally taught. Society is changing rapidly, and the traditional resolutions are no longer relevant. Hence, designers need to examine a way to help and progress (Falagra, 2014), (Dunne, Raby 2020).
Undisciplined design is an extension to norm-critical design, the concept is coined by Kaiser and Stephany (2018). Similar to norm-critical design, it is using a critical approach to graphic design, but in which, for example, speculative design is included. Undisciplined design is described as a feminist way of unwrapping the different regulations of graphic design. There is also a glossary invented in combination with the practical act of creating undisciplined
design. The glossary of undisciplined design was gathered by Kaiser and Stephany in collaboration with external actors, such as students and educators. The glossary includes different methods to approach design, for example lectures and workshops (Stephany, Kaiser 2018).
2.2 Fashion Magazines, Editorial design
In an article in Time Magazine, written by Carlisle (2020), the bold decision by Vogue
Italia’s editor in chief Emanuele Farneti which decided to replace all photos with illustrations, is discussed. The replacement occurred in the January issues of 2020, as an action against the unsustainable production of commercial fashion magazines, specifically fashion photoshoots.
Farneti reveals all the requirements and necessity of a professional fashion photoshoot, from 150 people required for everything to run smoothly, including flights for the people involved.
Also, the food waste from catering services to studio lights switched on for several hours.
When the photo shoots were banned for the January issues, Vogue Italia instead asked several artists to contribute with one cover each, starring an optional model wearing Gucci clothes.
The task resulted in several different and unique illustrations, some more influenced by graphic design and others by traditional painting. Farneti also decided that all money raised and saved by the initiative would be donated to restore the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice.
Women’s Wear Daily, also known as WWD which is a fashion journal, covering the industry claims that in 2019 Vogue Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle Magazine consisted of over 50% ads, and thus ads represent the majority of content displayed and consumed (WWD 2019).
Jean Kilbourne, activist, filmmaker, as well as a public speaker, is mostly known for her research on the image of women in advertisements. During a public speech regarding
Kilbourne’s latest documentary Killing Us Softly 4 with focus on the advertisement industry, the complexity of ads targeting women is discussed. Furthermore, Kilbourne states that the indirect message of advertisements targeting women is the importance of looks. Girls also learn from an early age to prioritize spending money and efforts on achieving the perfect look. However, according to Kilbourne, one will unavoidably fail since the ads can include
up to four different women due to altering and re-touching the image in programs like Photoshop. Hence a woman in an ad could consist of several body parts from different women. An example of a front cover of the TV Guide Magazine from 1989 where Oprah Winfrey’s head was put on Anne Margeret’s body (see in Figure 1).
Figure 1: A front page of the magazine TV Guide from 1989.
Nevertheless, also due to re-touching, the women in ads have flawless and smooth skin with no wrinkles or scars, either pores or blemishes. With this in mind, women’s bodies are objectified and turned into physical objects. For most parts, only one part of the body is focused upon; an example of this is a Gucci ad from 2003 where the woman’s pubic hair is shaved into the Gucci logo, solely showing a piece of the woman’s garment (see in Figure 2) (Kilbourne, 2010).
Figure 2: A Gucci campaign for Spring/Summer 2003. Photo by: Mario Testino
Furthermore, the dehumanization of women in ads affects not only women but society as a whole. It affects how people who identify as women look upon themselves, but also how the male gender feels toward femininity, and parts of oneself being labeled feminine. For
example, the current female clothing sizes 0 and 00 are not only physically sizing down women’s clothes, but also give the message that females should vanish. As a result, the male norm is to strive against anything labeled feminine. In fact, human characteristics have been categorized into masculine and feminine, where the characteristics being connected to the female gender is repetitively devalued. With attention to the visual language of ads targeting women, the female gender is mostly depicted as the oppressed or the victim, ads like these often occur in fashion magazines. For examples (see Figure 3,4 and 5) where the ads are playing on rape culture and domestic violence, also stereotypical tasks associated with the female gender, in this case, cleaning (Kilbourne, 2010).
Figure 3: D&G campaign for Figure 4: D&G campaign for Figure 5: Jimmy Choo campaign Spring/Summer 2007. Autumn/Winter 2010/2011. For Spring/Summer 2006.
The ads also motivate the male gender to depreciate the female but also every characteristic associated with the female gender, which are also important human qualities that each person needs such as empathy, sensitivity and compassion. As a result, men restrain these human features within themselves, at an expense to the society as a whole. Hence, the ads devalue the female gender but also allow for an interpretation of romanticizing rape and domestic violence which also motivates men to act in regards to the depiction of women in the advertisments (Kilbourne, 2010).
As previously mentioned, ads influence the way society as a whole views femininity but also and perhaps most importantly, it affects womens’ self-image. Also, ads targeting women, normalizes and shifts sexism and domestic violence from being offensive and wrong into the sphere of pop-culture. In regards to commercial fashion magazines mostly consisting of ads, this is indeed problematic (Kilbourne, 2010).
2.3 Fashion photography/ Norm Critical photography
The Contemporary College of Art in London defines fashion photography as a subcategory to photography in which clothes and trends are displayed. Furthermore, the photoshoots’ also consist of models, which wear the garments. Fashion photography as an artform has been changing throughout history and is a powerful tool to determine new trends, but also using history as inspiration. In the photoshoots the photographer has not only the power to
determine which selection of photographs could be displayed in the final outcome, but is also partly in charge of the appearance of the model (Choudhary, 2017).
On the contrary, fashion photography as an industry has a history of being non-inclusive and primarily from a white perspective. In addition, women were seldom the ones who were photographing, since the work was viewed as a high-tech job, which according to societal norms, required a man. The interview is mainly about the book Fashion Photography: The Story in 180 Pictures, which is a compilation of essential photographers which reveals the evolution of fashion photography. Through featuring in the majority white male
photographers, it becomes apparent how white-spread as well as westernized the history of fashion photography is. However, this decision was made to reveal who was considered to be the most influential within the industry as well as the lack of marginalized groups
(Butet-Roch, 2017).
Maria Ahlgren, a graphic designer and former student at Beckmans designhögskola, spent her time during the bachelor thesis to research the power structures within photography, and how women have throughout history been depicted by the male gaze. Important to mention, is that the dissertation also contains interviews of female photographers, and influencers. In these interviews, the stigmatized and complex question of how women represent and depict themselves when taking self portraits to post on their social media accounts is brought up.
Furthermore, Ahlgren dives into the subject of portrating from a gender perspective, and how the selfie has allowed people to portray oneself in regards to how one wants to be perceived by others (Ahlgren, 2017).
The thoughts of a photographer named Marguerite Seger is highlighted in the thesis. She mentions the importance of not thinking of yourself when photographing others, but to put
the actual focus on the one being photographed. And, that the photographer should respect the intimacy it evokes by being in front of the camera. Furthermore, Marguerite explains the importance of not feeding the mainstream media and its aesthetics, when it comes to
photography, and to instead move beyond and represent diversity. However, she mentions that the fashion industry is often appropriating different cultures, and takes something culturally rooted to later on make it into a westernized trend. Although there is a wider range of people featured in magazines, she feels as it is more of a trend then an actual movement and change. Marguerite gives the example of a cover of the American Vogue from 2017 where the headline on the front page is “No norm is the new norm” with a range of women, from light skinned to dark skinned, she further explains how each woman is stunningly beautiful meaning that what Vogue’s cover really meant was that black females matter, if they are light skinned and fits into the westernized beauty standards (Ahlgren, 2017).
3.0 Methodology
3.2 Interviews
As a research method, semi structured interviews were used in reaching out to potential collaborators. The people contacted were both females having fashion as an interest, and people working with fashion on a professional basis, either as fashion designers,
photographers, or editors of magazines. Furthermore, the requests were either sent out via Instagram or on email. The questions sent out to people having fashion as an interest, derive from a micro and macro perspective of being influenced or affected by norms set by the fashion giants. In regards to the people working with fashion, the questions differed in its contents based on ones profession. The answers from the interviewees can be found in the appendix.
Questions sent to people solely having fashion as an interest:
1. Introduce yourself in a few sentences.
2. Who are your biggest style icons and why?
3. Do you believe that gender norms affect the way we dress?
4. How do you experience being influenced by these norms?
5. What do you think is necessary to break the stereotypical gender norms and move toward a more gender-neutral fashion industry?
Example of questions sent to a fashion designer:
1. What motivated you to start your brand?
2. Who do you design clothes for?
3. What change do you see your brand contributing to?
4. What goes into your design process of making each garment?
4.0 Design Process
4.1 Brainstorming and developing concept
As a method for brainstorming I used mapping to research potential subjects of the project, but also previous projects conducted within the program including different approaches criticising the fashion industry. I received an overview of repeated subjects, such as fashion, gender norms, identity and LGBTQ rights. Because I had worked with analysing the fashion industry before, and fashion being an interest of mine, it helped me to come to the conclusion of merging the fashion industry with gender equality and intersectional feminism. Knowing that a crucial part of the project has to be collaboration, I also had to start brainstorming people I was aware of working within the fashion industry. But also creatives outside the fashion area, which work could add to the critical aspect of the project.
4.2 Visual Research
Figure 6: Cover of Recens Paper Figure 7: Cover of Girls Like Us Figure 8: Cover of Sleek
Throughout the process, I have been inspired by independent fashion and lifestyle magazines, which are using non-commercial aesthetics, these aesthetics include, for example,
experimental layouts and typography, unconventional ways of posing and a more inclusive range of people being featured within the magazines.
Magazines that have been a big inspiration to me are, for example, Recens Paper (see Figure 6). The independent magazine initially started as a youth-driven platform as a celebration of youth culture. Recens tackles subjects like gender, androgyny, individuality, and subcultures and is currently working toward breaking down stereotypes like gender norms within the fashion industry. Furthermore, the magazine is also challenging the standards of a
commercial/high-end magazine’s aesthetics (Recens Paper, n.d.).
(GLU) Magazine (see Figure 7) is created by people within the queer community. And is an independent magazine that highlights the growing international community of women and more or less females, in the area of arts and activism. Through including personal stories, articles, and photography, GLU Magazine is mixing political and entertainment by shedding light upon feminist voices in arts and writing. (Girls Like Us, n.d.)
Lastly, Sleek magazine (see Figure 8) is an independent art and culture magazine. It consists of fashion editorials, photography, and interviews. The magazine is rasing subjects like upcycling masculinity, anti-runway shows, and highlighting queer photographers.
Furthermore, the design is a mixture of contemporary and explorative design, which also translates into its artistic photos and text layout. It has a combination of contemporary and explorative design, in line with the avant-garde aesthetics (Sleek Magazine, n.d.).
4.3 Experimentation
An important moment for the development of my project was during a workshop in Växjö together with the artist Marie O’Connor. The workshop was aimed for us students to unpick our project, to further see patterns or interesting parts that we could develop further. The process was important for me to thoroughly understand the fashion magazine as an artefact.
In essence, Marie asked me to document the content of each page of an Elle Magazine I had brought with me. I came to the realization that the majority of the pages consisted of beauty ads. And the actual content was a mixture of interviews with successful women within the media field, models, and the latest trends of what to wear in the spring and summer of 2020.
The magazine did not speak to me as I thought it would, since I have a great interest in fashion. In contrast, it felt generic and sometimes it could be several pages after each other only consisting of ads, which had me lose interest in the actual content and storyline.
However, I understood the power of the fashion magazine, since it mostly consists of ads whose main goal is to increase consumerism. And, the ads did not only sell a product but an entire idea of how to improve ones life. At the end of the day, I had a good overview of what I would try to move away from in regards to fashion magazines, but also content that
empowers women instead of the opposite. The result is displayed in (Figure 9).
Figure 9: collage and documentation of Elle Magazine, March issue 2020.
4.4 Photographing
It was important for me to use my interest in photography and challenge the gender norms I had researched. By including it, I bought a disposable camera and an analog camera to set up small photoshoots with people in my surroundings but also to let myself be photographed. To further challenge the power structures between the cameraman and the model. The usage of the analog camera forced me to be resourceful with the limited amount of exposures on a film roll. But, when I developed my first film, I realized that the entire photoshoot had occurred with a backlight (see Figure 10) that made it difficult seeing the clothes and facial expression of the models. However, this made me aware to double check the light prior to each
photoshoot that followed. Throughout the progress of the project, the photography became a central part, since it was a way to add my voice to the conversation. Due to the situation of the Corona pandemic and a move to a new city with a reduced amount of contacts, the best way to include my approach to fashion photography was to take self portraits (see Figure 11).
These were also later on the photos used in the final zine (see Figure 12).
Figure 10: Photo with backlight Figure 11: Self Portrait for the zine Figure 12: Self Portrait for the zine
4.5 Contacting collaborators
When deciding on contacting collaborators, the most appropriate way of reaching out was through either Instagram, since it is a platform where many of the potential collaborators operate or via email. Since many collaborators had their email address on either their
webshops or portfolios. Both of the chosen methods worked, and I recieved answers via both instagram and in the inbox. I decided to reach out to people working diversively within the fashion industry for the zine to be more multi-layered. The fashion brands I reached out to were Elise1993 and ThisIsSweden but also the stylist Rami Hanna and the youtuber Dex Black. The fashion photographers I reached out to were Leah Ley Clay, Angelica Bergenwall and Tomas Gunnarsson. Furthermore, fashion designers I reached out to were Sam Nowell, Ida Klamborn and Hana Holquist and lastly, I contacted Sara Kaaman, editor and designer of Girls Like Us Magazine. The email consisted of me introducing my project but also an explanation of why I’m specifically reaching out to each person, in the end of the message I attached a link to my portfolio to increase my credibility. As an example, I have attached the email sent to Hana Holquist. (see in Figure 13).
Figure 13: A screenshot of an email sent to Hana Holquist, fashion designer based in New York.
4.6 Gathering answers from collaborators
The method of reaching out via email resulted in a larger receivement of answers from the potential collaborators. The ones who answered and were interested in collaborating were Sam Nowell, Ida Klamborn, Hana Holquist, Tomas Gunnarsson and Sara Kaaman.
Sam Nowell works as an up-cycle fashion designer in London, England (Sam Nowell, n.d.).
Ida Klamborn is a female fashion designer based in Stockholm, Sweden (Ida Klamborn, 2020). Hana Holquist is a fashion designer, basing her style on her feminist fantasy, working in New York, U.S (Hana Holquist, n.d.). Tomas Gunnarsson is a photographer challenging the commercial stereotypical gender norms, based in Stockholm, Sweden (Gunnarsson, 2020). Sara Kaaman is working with the editorials and design at the queer, feminist magazine Girls Like Us (Kaaman, n.d.)
After receiving their agreements, I sent out questions regarding their work and
accomplishments. We have stayed in contact throughout the project, and they have been helpful and also acted as resources for the project as a whole, including exchanging tips for literature and critical design organizations. Through their answers I have also learned a lot about the commercial fashion industry and gained a larger interest in continuing the fight for destructive gender norms.
4.7 Idea development
The project as a zine and subject emerged from my great interest in fashion. But, it was not until I was as a young teenager when I understood how central the body is in regards to the commercial sphere of fashion. Unknowingly how to challenge the established gender norms, I interpreted that the only way was to fit into the norms. As a result, I have longed for a platform where I, as a woman, can feel free, and be empowered, yet be inspired by fashion, in a way that does not diminish my body. Instead, reveals the effects of living in a society, where women are dehumanized through the male gaze.
In the beginning, I struggled with finding a specific direction to the subject. However, I was determined that the project should evoke a closeness, wanting the target group being able to relate to it. Some subjects which I dwelled upon were the direction of ageism and gender norms.
However, I got interested in unisex clothing and how it manifests in society, and the issue of queering heterosexual models on the catwalks. According to Dhillon (2017) this is a way for big fashion houses to act diverse, when they are in reality using queerness as an appearance on binary models. This has happened throughout fashion weeks, all over the world, from Paris to New York and by brands such as Prada, Gucci and Vetements (Dhillon, 2017).
The idea was to create a magazine and space for the queer community, including their voices.
However, it was difficult to continue the aforementioned idea, not being part of the queer community. And, I had to look back at my initial thoughts regarding the subject, which were to highlight destructive gender norms and its effects within the area of commercial fashion.
As a starting point I was thinking of Rewrite as a neat magazine, and that it had to reproduce the aesthetic of commercial fashion magazines for others to consider reading it. However, I got the feedback from tutors to consider creating a zine, for the practical aspect but also as a tool for activism. According to The Bindery (2020) zines are independent printed matters, which are not mass produced, and have a history of DIY aesthetic. The purpose of the zine has throughout history been to challenge the traditional design and to be efficiently
distributed. It also acts as an unharmin place, where marginalized groups can express their
feelings, without being worried about adding onto discriminatory, capitalist structures (The Bindery, 2020). After researching and understanding the zine and its characteristics, I decided to use it as the format for Rewrite. After deciding the format, I started to explore different sizes and expressions of the zine (see Figure 14)and created mood boards on my instagram account, which inspired me to create a personal expression of the zine, not only in regards to the photographs, but also for the visual identity as a whole.
Figure 14: screenshot from my moodboard
4.8 Visual Identity
In the beginning, I had a difficulty in moving away from the neat and commercial design of today’s fashion magazines, and finding a way to be more direct and transgressive in the visual language. To move away from the traditional design, I had to stop working digitally for a while and create analog mock-ups (see Figure 15), this made me curious about what other materials than paper could be explored, and I came up with the idea to use transparent paper.
The first attempt to print the zine with transparent paper went well, and added an interesting layer to the design. It allowed the process to be more creative, in terms of thinking how the transparent paper could work in relation to the traditional copy paper. As an example, when using ink on the transparent paper, it could block the viewer from seeing what is happening on the next page, or if only using text on the transparent paper, it could add to a conversation when laying it on top of another page. Furthermore, the transparent paper also became a part of the activism of the zine, demanding more transparency and diversity within the
commercial sphere of fashion.
Figure 15: One of the first tryouts I did with transparent papers.
4.9 Final Visual Identity
The size of the transparent papers were A4 format, which limited the size to either do the zine in an A5 format or to stick with the original size. And, it was convenient to stick with the A4 format since I experienced that the transparent papers were fragile and had a tendency to curl up after printing. However, it was also a way to allow for the zine to be easily reproduced.
After some tryouts with the transparent paper, I realized that I was not fond of the white spreads.
According to Cain (2017) white as a color is the global standard of displaying art, and was firstly initiated in Germany in the beginning of 1930’s. However, in other countries it was not established until the end of the Second World War and one could argue that it was the Nazi movement which thorougly established the white color for museums and commercial art galleries. During this time, the Nazi movement had also spread connotations such as purity to white as a color (Cain, 2017). Similar to the white walls as a standardization for displaying art, I experienced when looking through high-end fashion magazines that the standard color on spreads is mostly white. Hence, I wanted to work with color and I got inspired by
Pantone's yearly Fashion Color Trend Report. According to Pressman (2020) the color report is based on an analysis of the seasonal fashion weeks in, for example, Milan, New York and London (Pressman, 2020)
Initially, I thought that this was a way to reclaim the colors and use them for a more
substantial purpose, but also for it to speak to people interested in fashion. However, I could not support that design decision for long since the color choices, then would indirectly support the commercial fashion industry, in which I directed my criticism towards. Instead, I used colors (see Figure 16) which I found through inspiration on platforms such as Behance, and which made me happy. The color scheme also allowed me to section the different
interviews, for the reader to easily find a specific interview one is interested in reading (Cain, 2017), (Pressman, 2020).
The body text used for the zine is Triplex Sans OT, which is according to Triplex Sans OT |
Adobe Fonts (n.d.) created by a female type designer named Zuzanna Licko. The font is one of her most characteristic fonts, and is created with rationality and geometry in mind. It is also suggested as a friendlier alternative to Helvetica. Important to mention is also that the choice of the body text is an homage to the feminist magazine Bang. Falagara (2014) states that the magazine is using the font Mrs. Eaves as body text, also created by Licko. For the logo and the headlines, the font Moret is used. I made a conscious decision to warp the font to strive away from the neatness of the font, but also to amplify the playfulness of the zine format. I further decided to print the finalized pages at my friend’s house and bind (see
Figure 17) the zine with a stitching technique called Japanese bookbinding (Triplex Sans OT |
Adobe Fonts, n.d.), (Falagara 2014).
Figure 16: An example of the chosen color scheme. Figure 17: The cover of the final zine, showing Japanese Bookbinding.
5.0 Conclusion
To conclude, white supremacy has dictated the gender norms for the commercial sphere of fashion and society as a whole throughout history. Primarily the white male gaze has
determined how bodies should be prioritized, as well as perceived by others. In regards to the white gaze, it has also affected human rights movements, such as the mainstream feminist movement to become an unsafe and discriminatory place for people of color. Instead of highlighting intersectionality and the correlation of discriminatory structures which creates heavier burdens for people of color. These aspects fail to be mentioned by white feminists. It is not a coincidence that the fashion photography industry has been shaped by white males, and are still shaping the industry today, amplifying the destructive gender norms.
In regards to the previously mentioned issues, there are several change agents actively working through fashion, photography and editorial design in breaking gender norms. For example, Sam Nowell acts as a change agent through his up-cycling design, in which he thrifts pieces of garments to later repurpose them into beautiful garments. Tomas Gunnarsson works as a change agent through his critical approach to commercial photography, where he
breaks the mainstream gender norms when depicting people. Sara Kaaman works as a change agent through using undisciplined design to highlight queer lives and challenge the traditional editorial design in commercial high-end fashion and lifestyle magazines. Finally, Rewrite is a zine that pays homage to these change agents, adding a voice to the discussion.
6.0 References
Ahlgren, M., 2017. Reflections - Portraits By Women. Bachelor. Beckmans designhögskola.
Bates, J., 2020. DIY Japanese Bookbinding Tutorial | 4-Hole | Sea Lemon. [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-r6c_trSxY> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Butet-Roch, L., 2017. The Evolution Of Fashion Photography. [online] The New York Times. Available at:
<https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/charting-the-evolution-of-fashion-photography/?sea rchResultPosition=6> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
Cain, A., 2017. How The White Cube Came To Dominate The Art World. [online] Artsy. Available at:
<https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-white-cube-dominate-art> [Accessed 28 May 2020].
Choudhary, A., 2017. What Is Fashion Photography? | LCCA. [online] Lcca.org.uk. Available at:
<https://www.lcca.org.uk/blog/fashion/what-is-fashion-photography/> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
Crane, D., 2000. CLASS, GENDER, AND IDENTITY IN CLOTHING. Chicago and London: The University Of Chicago Press, pp.1-25.
Dunne, A. and Raby, F., 2020. Dunne & Raby. [online] Dunneandraby.co.uk. Available at:
<http://dunneandraby.co.uk/content/bydandr/13/0> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
European Institute for Gender Equality. 2020. Gender Norms. [online] Available at:
<https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1194> [Accessed 28 May 2020].
Falagara, A., 2014. Norm Critical design - what is it?. ADA, pp.1- 6.
Girlslikeusmagazine.com. n.d. Girls Like Us. [online] Available at:
<https://www.girlslikeusmagazine.com/about/> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Gunnarsson, T., 2020. Genusfotografen. [online] Genusfotografen.se. Available at:
<http://www.genusfotografen.se/> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Hanaholquist.com. n.d. Hana Holquist. [online] Available at: <https://hanaholquist.com/>
[Accessed 4 June 2020].
Hooks, B., 2014. The Oppositional Gaze Black Female Spectators. In: B. Hooks, ed., Black Looks:
Race and Representation. Routledge, pp.115-131.
Hoskins, T., 2014. Stitched Up, The Anti-Capitalist Book Of Fashion. London: PlutoPress, pp.33-50.
Ida Klamborn. 2020. IDA KLAMBORN. [online] Available at: <https://www.idaklamborn.se/>
[Accessed 4 June 2020].
Jonas, G., 2020. Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed For Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead At 88. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at:
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fict ion-is-dead-at-88.html> [Accessed 29 May 2020].
Kaaman, S., n.d. Sara Kaaman. [online] Sara Kaaman. Available at:
<http://www.sarakaaman.com/> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Kaiser, A. and Stephany, R., 2018. Glossary Of Undisciplined Design. [online]
A-z.undisciplined.info. Available at: <https://a-z.undisciplined.info/> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
Kroeber Le Guin, U. (1976). Is Gender Necessary? Redux. S.N., 1, PP. 8-16.
Pressman, L., 2020. Fashion Color Trend Report New York Autumn/Winter 2020. [online] PANTONE.
Available at:
<https://www.pantone.com/color-intelligence/fashion-color-trend-report/new-york-autumn-wint er-2020-2021> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
R. Grzanka, P., 2018. The Structural and Political Dimensions of Intersectional Oppression. In: P.
R. Grzanka, ed., INTERSECTIONALITY A FOUNDATIONS AND FRONTIERS READER. New York: Routledge, pp.16 - 22.
Samnowell.com. n.d. Sam Nowell. [online] Available at: <https://www.samnowell.com/> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Simmons, A., 2020. Explainer: What Does The 'Male Gaze' Mean, And What About A Female Gaze?.
[online] The Conversation. Available at:
<https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-fema le-gaze-52486> [Accessed 2 June 2020].
Sleek-mag.com. n.d. Sleek Magazine. [online] Available at: <https://www.sleek-mag.com/>
[Accessed 4 June 2020].
The Bindery. 2020. What Is A Zine? — The Bindery. [online] Available at:
<https://www.binderymke.com/what-is-a-zine> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
Women Photograph. 2019. Women Photograph Data. [online] Available at:
<https://www.womenphotograph.com/data> [Accessed 4 June 2020].
Zheng, S., 2015. Glossary Of Terms - Gender Statistics Wiki. [online] Unstats.un.org. Available at:
<https://unstats.un.org/unsd/genderstatmanual/Glossary.ashx> [Accessed 29 May 2020].
7.0Appendix
Interviews with females having fashion as a passionate interest.
Screenshots of the zine featuring Sam Nowell
Screenshots of the zine featuring Tomas Gunnarsson
Screenshots of the zine featuring Sara Kaaman
Screenshots of the zine featuring Ida Klamborn
Screenshots of the zine featuring Hana Holquist
