Eye | H&M Jumpsuit -- When Style & War Collide | Amazon Women | Burqa Bans
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Radical chic? Kurds Say H&M jumpsuits mimic fighter garbLos Angeles Times
AOC has written frequently and is following the dire situation in Kobani, Syri where beleaguered but incredibly brave Kurdish forces — about one-third of them women, says the BBC — are fighting ferociously against ISIS.
Social media broke out in hives yesterday with H&M’s $19.95 khaki jumpsuit drawing comparisons to those worn by these brave women. It doesn’t matter that khaki jumpsuits have been a staple in fashion almost as long as I’ve walked the face of the earth.
We are presently in a fashion cycle of celebrating strong women, warrior goddesses and even feminists. This mood has nothing to do with the Kurdish women fighters — except that we are all inspired beyond our stylish cocoons by their determination, skills at confronting ISIS and courage.
If Karl Lagerfeld, whose never-closed mouth said in 2009 —purporting to be the voice of Coco Chanel said:
I was never a feminist because I was never ugly enough for that.
— can now end his Spring 2015 ready-to-wear show with a ‘feminist demonstration’, it’s clear that the Kaiser knows that his long-expressed views around strong are suddenly out of step with the global movement to empower women. Lagerfeld is on the wrong end of his walking stick, and he knows it. Not even his precious fur ball Choupette can put him on the right side of this subject.
Karl Lagerfeld’s flimflam feminism won’t hurt the real thingThe Guardian
At AOC, we tell women’s stories from fashion to flogging — often finding intersections between the two. An inherent theme of all our channels is the historical, international shakedown of women’s rights for the sake of male advancement and patriarchal power.
Knowing about the H&M fracas, wanting to call out a new book The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, important new research cementing the reality of Amazon women warriors in the ancient world, an update on the Kurdish women fighters AND show a few fashion editorials acknowledging the women as warriors trend, we pulled it all together in one cohesive statement.
This approach is hopefully the thinking person’s answer to the absurd contradictions within life at large. I seriously doubt that H&M was looking to make money off the Kurdish women soldiers. Many women wrote that they found the jumpsuit empowering, and AOC understands that pov.
ISIS Dares Turkey to Save KobaniThe Atlantic
ISIS Advances in Syrian Border Town of Kobani Despite AirstrikesNY Times
On a related matter of the intersection of fashion, politics and religion, Semaa Abdulwali writes for the Guardian, the niqab makes me feel liberated, and no law will stop me from wearing it.The topic of wearing a burqa or niqab was a major topic at AOC several years ago, when France was proposing a burqa ban. The ongoing discussion around the topic of laws banning burqas was probably the most positive exchange ever on AOC.
