Celebrating great fashion moments

Every year, there are defining moments in fashion. This year had a few of those. Some transcended borders and became global conversations. But the most understated, underrated fashion determinant this year has been feminism.

This has not been as prevalent on the runways as it has been with the people who define fashion the most — the consumers. It has been documented in the business of natural hair, where Naturalistas turned the ship in their favour, captaining their way to natural shores which led to a 20 per cent revenue drop in the world of relaxers. Now that is power.

The local Naturalista community experiences it too. An ever growing force, it has women undertaking manufacturing of hair care products. Angolan Naturalista and Victoria Secret model Maria Borges did her big bhop just before fashion’s biggest televised event.

The 19-year-old made a strong case for diversity as a woman of colour. She underlined the fact that beauty is not defined by cascading hair. The Truth About Fashion 2015, a documentary produced by women, delves into fast fashion and the high price it costs governments and citizens in India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh and also showed the dark side of fashion especially for women.

 Women’s voices were affirmed when plus-sized model Tess Holliday was covered by People. Tess allowed millions of women to embrace their plus sized fabulousity. Plus sized Kenyan women are making their presence felt. With shows and pageants, they are beginning to tell a different narrative about what it means to be beautiful.

UGLY SIDE

The influence of women in fashion has been double edged. Women are key consumers and give feedback making them the best of fashion activists. Fashion is also one of the most female dominated industries.

Yet the brush of feminism has been largely missed. Fashion employs millions of women but as labourers, not executives and, decision makers. Wardrobes are filled with outfits whose process is rarely ever weighed.

Body shaming and “slut” shaming reared its ugly head in 2015. There are, it would seem, imaginary boxes women are required to fit. Violating them earns punishment. Interestingly both fashion and feminism meet where they advocate for freedom of choice, self-expression and individuality.

This year brought lots of publicity to the Met Gala, fashion’s most spectacular event of the year. It cemented sheer nudes as the most popular red carpet trend ever. In turn, it highlighted the absence of imagination on Kenyan red carpets. I fervently hope many red carpet events will reduce come 2016, but I am not entirely optimistic.

That being said, Lupita Nyong’o chose to be a risk-taker. Safe and sweet in 2014, this was Lupita’s trial-and-error year making her even more relatable. It eliminated the sacrilege that came with critiquing her.

Red carpets may have been generously uninspiring but not weddings. It has been a phenomenal year from Annabel Onyango and Marek’s stunning black and white wedding, Janet Mbugua and Eddie Ndichu to Vanessa Kiuna. Kenyan women have shown a willingness to be playful, interesting and unpredictable with weddings gowns.

The Global Enterprise Summit was a blessing for the fashion industry. It revealed just how little money is currently being generated by the fashion industry down to how heavily the government has invested in textiles. It underscored the huge gap between reality and glamour. However, the global industry is currently grappling with the business of fashion and how to make both money and one-of-a-kind creations.

One man who cannot possibly be fretting about that has to be Kanye West.  The rapper’s 2015/2016 collection may as well have been called Straight To Comments Section. It caused an international uproar providing fodder for countless social media memes. Kanye West made the world speechless. Once we stopped gawping the conversation started. Ideally out-of-the-box fashion interests mostly insiders.

This year is the year fashion rose dramatically in the Kenyan psyche. There is now greater awareness of image, style, trends and fashion.