With a clear position: 10 feminist clothing brands
Recently, LARGE BRANDS CLOTHING increasingly begin to show interest in feminism. But long before them, many small brands around the world were not afraid to declare their active position. One example is the Russian art group narvskayadostava, which launched its independent clothing line a year ago. Her co-founder, Lölä Nordic, has chosen ten interesting clothing brands for us, the designers of which touch on the theme of feminism, inspire girls and try to change the world around them.
Pretty ugly
A project created by a team of girls from Vilnius. There are three of them, each with their own creative pseudonym: Justine, Auguste and Just. Justine is responsible for the design, Auguste is the art director who forms the visual and creative strategies, and Just is the responsible producer. They are united by the love of unusual clothes and ironic design. With the help of things, they embody their ideas about beauty, equality, freedom of choice and self-expression.
Their first collection was inspired by the #freethenipples movement - as a result, shirts with embroidered nipples and badges that can be attached to any thing appeared. Pantsuit-two suit, studded with applications in the shape of a grinning mouth with scarlet lips and sparse teeth, a bright pink fur coat made of faux fur with a long nap and pumps of the same material, a pink felt suit, as well as an incredible coat with many voluminous details in the shape of a female breasts - Pretty Ugly not only create things, but also invent characters of a fairy tale invented by them, aspiring to take their place in reality. The name of the brand very accurately describes the aesthetics close to the girls: Pretty Ugly is a place where "what your mothers thought was ugly turned into something incredibly beautiful."
Me and you
Mayan Toledano and Julia Baylis met at a college in New York: their collaboration resulted in the Me and You clothing brand. Toledano and Baylis decided to make comfortable and beautiful things praising friendship, female solidarity and sisterhood, and also to fight stereotypes with the help of photos and activism.
Me and You also agree on interesting collaborations and take on third-party projects: for example, a video for Kotex and a photo session of six LA artists for Paper Magazine, among whom was Arvid Bistrom, is also the work of Mayan and Julia. The Me and You collection mainly includes knitwear and accessories: sweatshirts and t-shirts with prints, cozy pajamas, underwear. The most recognizable models of the brand are, perhaps, panties and pendants with the words “Feminist”, as well as delicate dresses with the “Don't touch” print.
Mademe
The New York brand created by Erin Magee, who worked as product director at Supreme. Mages grieved that the vast majority of major street brands, including Supreme, are targeted at men. Inspired by the aesthetics of the riot grrrls movement and the experience of brands such as X-Girl and Milk Fed, which thundered in the 90s, but by the end of the decade had lost their fuse, Magee launched her own project to correct the status quo.
Today, MadeMe builds its reputation with the help of large and moderately successful collaborations: capsule collections with Stussy, Schott, Vans, as well as with the same legendary X-Girl, invented by Kim Gordon. The models of MadeMe are no less remarkable heroines: in the MadeMe x Schott campaign, rap singer Princess Feminist Princess Nokia appeared, and for the X-Girl collaboration book, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore's daughter, Koko Gordon-Moore.
Coucou suzette
The history of Coucou Suzette began with a small online store on Etsy, where an illustrator, a jeweler and a graduate of Parisian l'École Boulle began selling funny icons based on their drawings. Pretty soon, bright and ironic illustrations migrated from metal pins to socks, underwear, shoes, clothing and household items. Now Coucou Suzette has its own website, collaborations with various brands, and this seems to be just the beginning.
THINX
American brand of linen, designed to protect against menstrual spots and leakage. The brand appeared thanks to the friendship of three friends who decided that progress in the field of feminine hygiene is unpardonably slow. Today, the THINX team has grown and is working in unison to offer women new ways to take care of themselves during their periods.
The scandal with their advertising campaign, which did not suit the New York metro (the administration did not want to miss it, citing that the word "period" might shock children), caused a great resonance in the press - this is how THINX was found all over the world. Advertising, by the way, ultimately agreed. In addition to working on the brand, the team opened the THINX Foundation, which helps women.
Merch junkies
The founder of the brand Merch Junkies Zara Mirkin comes from New Zealand and from childhood loved the rock culture and style of the musicians of the 70s. Having moved to Brooklyn, she became involved in photography and working as a stylist, collecting in her wardrobe vintage items and the battered merch of favorite groups. Soon, Mirkin did start to do the fun-merch of her dreams. For example, she recreated a bomber jacket with an application of "Bowie" on the back, which everyone who saw the film "I am Christina" probably dreamed of.
Thus, a whole collection of things began to take shape using hand embroidery, prints and stripes with the symbols of Kiss, T. Rex, The Runaways and other icons of a bygone era. Then came the linen and T-shirts with the logo of the Hole group, Courtney Love. Things have already flashed in fashion magazines, in particular, for i-D magazine, a photo session dedicated to Merch Junkies was shot by Peter Collins. Mirkin also actively leads the brand's instagram, where he uploads not only his works, but also many rare old photos of musicians and groups that inspire her.
Neon moon
British brand of underwear, which relies on a comfortable cut and comfortable materials, as well as promoting body-positive. Neon Moon doesn’t use Photoshop in its lookbooks and doesn’t try to intentionally hide the features of the model bodies. They also say that all models during shooting are chosen by the model themselves - without imposed instructions from producers and photographers. Neon Moon ensures that their production is ethical, and also creates comfortable working conditions for employees of their garment factory.
Otherwild
If you ever met a T-shirt with print "The Future is Female", you can say that you are already familiar with Otherwild in absentia. The project unites in itself studio, shop, workshop and community of like-minded people: artists, authors, designers. In addition to the most famous model - the aforementioned T-shirt - a variety of no less remarkable things are produced under the brand Otherwild, from knitwear with feminist symbols and prints, such as long-sleeves with the words “Gender is a Drag”, to household items among which you can even find a homemade rug with the inscription "Home sweet homo".
Seams
Russian feminist project, the participants of which are engaged in the production and decoration of clothing. "Shvemy" is an independent sewing cooperative and at the same time an art-activist group. The participants oppose the culture of consumption, therefore they are engaged in including simple repair of clothes.
Once a week, "Shvemy" conduct master classes, inviting everyone to learn how to sew and decorate clothes. The cooperative also creates conceptual things, scenery for performances and theatrical performances, fabric posters and banners for rallies and actions. At the last Triennale of Russian art, "Shvemy" made a performance "12-hour working day", where they reproduced the situation of a real working day at a garment factory with inhuman working conditions.
Wildfang
The creators of the Wildfang brand, Emma McLroy and Julia Parsley, say that they were united by the idea of making a full-fledged clothing brand for tomboys (from the English tomboy - tomboy girl, tomboy). Together they began to develop models of women's clothing with a cut, traditionally considered masculine. Today, the Wildfang collection has almost everything, from shoes and accessories to outerwear. They also have their own proprietary thing, sold out across the expanses of the Internet - a T-shirt with the inscription "Wild Feminist".
For help in the work on the material, the author also thanks the co-founder of narvskayadostava Olya Shapovalova.
