How Far-Right Ideologies Influence Design

“Accessories are what makes or marks a woman,” is a quote by the French fashion designer ‘Coco Chanel’. Not only is it misogynistic, but also coined by one of the most racist, and anti-Semitic fashion designers of the 20th century. Despite this, she is usually portrayed as the woman who struggled through hardship to liberate women from restrictive clothing and to create the ‘little black dress’. Chanel was influenced by minimalism, which factors on simplicity, elegance, and coherence. The “Less is More” mindset causes minimalists to sacrifice for sparseness.

What the majority fails to realize is that it is only ever possible for affluent capitalists, or in other words, “people with money” to really achieve this lifestyle. The overall concept of minimalist fashion, and design may seem sustainable from afar, but is deep-rooted in fascist ideologies, blatant elitism and hierarchical structures. As modernism gained popularity in the 20th century, it promoted uniformity, and conformity. It gave the illusion of a clean world with few imperfections, and enabled a type of orthodox politics. Minimalism is not the only harmful type of fashion and design; the entire industry is detrimental.

“Some of those other countries are, um, Muslim countries and for a fashion magazine like Vogue that poses issues. I’m not sure the culture, the political culture or the fashion culture, is compatible with the values of Vogue. I’m not saying we’d never go to those countries, but we’d have to carefully consider. On an economic level some of them aren’t ready. I certainly don’t think Bangladesh, Nigeria or Pakistan are ready for Vogue.” - Jonathan Newhouse, Chair of Condé Nast International.

The fashion business is lucrative and segregating. Skinny, white bodies are the only things appealing to the eyes of the vast majority involved in this industry. The common misconception that people with different values and cultures aren’t fashionable causes the dehumanization of the third world, however, this divide is incredibly beneficial for wealthy white people as it grants them immense economic power. Until 1988, Vogue Paris featured only white models, and In New York Fashion Week 2009, 82% of models were white. These statistics itself prove that fashion is racist, but this may not come as a surprise because for numerous decades we have observed the lack of diversity in media as a whole.

Louis Vuitton, a fashion house famous for its expensive couture, and luxury goods surprisingly sided with the Nazi occupiers in Paris. The company maintained close relationships with the occupying forces under the control of ‘Gaston Vuitton’, and this consistently aided them. Gaston’s son ‘Henry Vuitton’ was even commemorated for his services to Nazi Germany. Similar to Louis Vuitton, many other so-called designer brands are inherently racist, anti-Semitic, Homophobic, or Sexist; sometimes even all of the above.

We must keep in mind that a piece of clothing is more than simply a structure of meaning; it is also a commodity manufactured by a corporation, and sold on the market for a profit at a significant environmental cost. Moreover, every item produced represents a political value. In the words of Arundhati Roy, “Seeing nothing is as political an act as seeing something.”