Some Thoughts on Fashion and Sander2/20/2022 As a young philosopher interested in fashion I wrote several articles about philosophy of fashion and philosophy of beauty from 1994 to 1998. I also regularly wrote and translated articles about latest fashion shows. I won't go into details and bore you with the topics of sewing techniques, innovative fabrics, movement of the clothes interwoven with the notions of body, time and culture and what mostly interested me in Issey Miyake, Martin Margiela, Rei Kawakubo etc. But I also always wondered how come that there have been so many gay fashion designers and almost no lesbian fashion designers? The same as I used to dance modern dance in my adolescent and student years and there have been plenty of gay dancers and almost no lesbian dancers. Where these disproportions came from I always wondered? I finally found the answer and it has something to do with what these fields represent in society: they are associated with femininity, beauty, grace, ellegance and style, in short with femme women and we know that femme women are minority in lesbian world as well. And why on earth lesbian(s) can not have a good taste in clothes, design and women? Yeah, we heard before, because it is objectifying and repeating the heterenormativity but is that really so? It seems that this world still can not comprehend that two beautiful feminine women are attracted towards each other. And obviously I am not the only lesbian who noticed and is baffled by the fact that lots of people think that fashion is mainly for straight women and gay men: Where Are All the Lesbians and Queer Women in Fashion? A queer history of Fashion, Queer Women Are Still Fighting for a Seat at High Fashion's Table. But this still doesn't give the answer which is simple: love between women has never been properly acknowledged and encouraged in the men's world. Although women were never appreciated and valued (for their intelligence, character, desire, stamina, power) they were never allowed to be free and independent because of being the bearer of progeny. And that is the fact. If you read for instance Shusterman's Ars erotica through different cultures and time lovemaking is written by and predominantly for men. Namely, I recently read 440 pages on the art of lovemaking through time and the word 'lesbians' have been mentioned only four times and exactly two sentences written about them, which is less then 1% of the contents of the book. Lesbianism was prohibited, discouraged, ignored and overlooked and then you wonder why there are so few lesbians and why there haven't bee more lesbian role models, like gay men have. This fact stems from literally all cultures across the globe and its impact is still shown everywhere and especially in the fields promoting heternormativity. Anyway, this article is dedicated to 78 years old lesbian fashion designer and icon Jill Sander. As I read, Jill was together with her partner Angela Mommsen for nearly 30 years. From November 2017 until May 2018 Jill Sander had her first ever solo-exhibition 'Jil Sander. Present Tense' of her 40 years long fashion designer career in Frankfurt's Museum Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts). Jil Sander launched her first collection in 1973 as a 30 years old woman, creating modern, minimalist clothes that would go on to redefine the working woman's wardrobe. Sander can best be described as fashion’s first feminist and has the strongest claim for empowering women through what they wear. As she said herself: »I never thought of myself as a feminist, but maybe I was, since I was not happy with the way women presented themselves,« the designer said. »I think my work was more about the rapprochement of the sexes and a more androgynous look for men and women. I was looking for more supportive ways to dress myself as a working woman. And since my needs were collective needs in the era of women entering the business world, my work turned out to help them.« The exhibition showcased everything from Sander's expertly tailored coats and dresses to her popular cosmetics line and artistic collaborations, highlighting her lasting impact on what is considered modern in fashion even today. Some other famous lesbian fashion designers I could find are Patricia Field (stylist of TV-shows such as Sex and The City and Younger), Anita Dolce Vita, Jenna Lyons (who used to be 26 years president and executive creative director of J. Crew) and Courtney Crangi (sister of fine jewelry Philip Crangi). Lyons and Crangi were together as a couple from 2012 to 2017.
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