“Vive La Cocotte”: France, Gender, Westwood
Feminism has struggled to reconcile with fashion amidst the patriarchal constructs in which its products are often founded. The “careful, adornment and assimilation of feminine ideals” in fashion seems to insist on objectification, which is at odds with the feminist desire for equal standing. In response, notable feminists like Susan Brownmiller spurned fashion and feminine dress altogether. In her book Femininity (1984), Brownmiller calls femininity “a romantic sentiment, a nostalgic tradition of imposed limitations” and criticizes how “feminine clothing induces the body to strut about in small, restrained yet show-offy ways”. The femininity she describes is limiting and epitomizes the perception of fashion as a means of making women “small and unserious”. It cannot be ignored that what a person wears influences others’ perception of them.
As observed by Professor Kelly Colvin of the University of Massachusetts Boston, “For many years, [clothing] has been a way to communicate one’s positionality on a number of different levels. Women wearing power suits in the 1980s, for example, could signify their adherence to a sort of masculine vision of work and the public sphere, just at the moment when more women were gaining access to white-collar jobs.” Does that mean we women should give up feminine fashion altogether? Not necessarily.
As pointed out by Rebecca Arnold in chapter 10 of Feminist Visual Culture, writing off women’s fashion as another patriarchal construct ignores its value as a tool for dismantling said patriarchy.* Early 20th-century suffragettes, for instance, used color to signify their support for women's voting rights. The runway has also historically been a stage for designers to criticize and subvert traditional notions of gender and sexuality. Vivienne Westwood is a prime example of one of these punkish designers. Westwood is well known for drawing upon historical inspiration to parody and protest societal norms.
Born in Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1941, Westwood was a fashion designer, brand owner, symbol of righteous rebellion and imagination, a founder of the punk movement in Britain, and an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) recipient. She was an empowerer of women’s diverse bodies, an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, and a consumption-conscious eco-sociolist. Crucially, however, she was not a feminist.
20th Century Feminism
“‘I am not a feminist’ [Westwood] once declared, ‘because I do find that it is too closely linked to a Puritan attitude (Bailey).’” Westwood found second-wave feminism, especially with the contributions of writers like Brownmiller, confining and prudish; she commented that she “can’t see how anyone would object to a lady at the height of her beauty, without any clothes whatsoever (Bailey)".
In this way, her radical attitude was far ahead of its time, embracing some of the sexual liberation prominent in current third-wave feminism. This radical attitude towards women was ever-present in her collections and in the historical inspirations she drew upon. A prime example of this, and a personal favorite of mine, is her 1995 Autumn/Winter Collection, “Vive la Cocotte,” inspired by fashions from 17th-century France. Notably, 1990’s France was going through “years of effervescence in the women’s movement”. Long-held frustrations over the lack of female representation boiled over, culminating in the “Parity Movement,” which sought to establish, by law, “a quota for women of 50 percent in formal political representation"(Lépinard).
This movement was a triumph for feminism but also a major disruptor of French Universalism, a widely held belief that “there is a single, abstract version of the ideal citizen, and that citizen has no gender, race, religion, age, sexuality, disability, etc.”(Colvin), an application of blind justice. By applying a gender-specific policy, the French government would have to admit that its political system did not practice universalism to the extent that intervention is unnecessary. Furthermore, as said by Éléonore Lépinard in The Contentious Subject of Feminism: Defining Women in France from the Second Wave to Parity, “ Claims for greater political representation always rest, explicitly or implicitly, on a definition of the group to be represented, in this case, women.” The idea that women had inherent differences from their male counterparts had to be discussed to justify policies targeting them. Women was a word that needed to be defined, both culturally and legally. Given that Westwood was designing her French-inspired collection during this movement, I cannot help but wonder whether she kept this question in mind whilst designing her own vision of femininity.
Historical Inspirations
The title “Vive La Cocette” is French for “Long Live the Courtesan”. The Parisian courtesan in question was Ninon de l’Enclos (1620-1705). Unlike working or middle-class prostitutes, courtesans mixed with the wealthy and powerful. While not fully accepted by high society, famous courtesans heightened their standing within it with cleverness and allure. They were fashionable, beautiful, and unobstructed by the restrictive marriage laws of the time. By contrast, De 'l'Enclos's affairs with men emphasized the woman’s control and passion. She picked and chose her “payeurs”, not the other way around.
De l'Enclos maximized the opportunity her position provided her, using her income to run a vibrant intellectual salon in Paris. Said salon was a hotspot for prominent writers, philosophers, and aristocrats of all genders- including famed Enlightenment writer and philosopher Voltaire. De l’Enclos’s personal contributions to the discourse of her time were numerous and notably included the challenging of masculine norms in intellectual society. Needless to say, De l’Enclos is the historical epitome of a powerful woman. Westwood’s clothing in Vive La Cocotte seeks to translate that power into 17th-century-inspired clothing…with a rebellious twist.
The Show
The show premiered in Paris on March 15, 1995, to “a fashion world that was largely flummoxed by its proposal”. Said proposal was a unique mix of contemporary (90s), punk, and 17th-century fashion. The collection consisted of Harris tweed suits, bustled gowns, and wench dresses adorned with (faux) fur, florals, and tartan. The clothing’s silhouette had the “uniquely feminine sexual charge” for which Vivienne was known (Bailey). The models wore curls and hurluberlus, a 17th-century style in which the hair is tightly curled and gathered around the head in a “cabbage-style” silhouette. Juxtaposing these vintage curls and the chalky Marie-Antoinette-inspired complexions were dramatic brows and lips in punkish shades. The real stars of the show, however, resided beneath the makeup and clothing.
Silhouette
The most notable aspect of the show's clothing was its dramatic silhouettes. Westwood used padding to artificially fill out the model’s curves, often to extremes. For instance, under one ensemble, a model might have worn a wire “cul cage” that, when tied around the waist, would give the illusion of a bountiful behind. While this may sound tame, it was, at the time, a blatant rebellion against the then-beauty standards. As said by fashion journalist Alexander Fury, “Nothing could have been more different to the prevalent minimalism of the mid-1990s…Westwood – typically unorthodox – chose precisely that moment to propose the diametric opposite, ladies (her word) pumped and padded and dressed in complex, curvilinear tailoring”. When dressed in Westwood’s clothes, the models were transformed away from the extreme thinness and minimalism of the 90s into a less restrictive world of Westwood. Notably, that ideal reality did not include corsets. Westwood used only a few corsets when creating the collection, opting instead for the aforementioned padding and wire.
Corsets are historically infamous as symbols of oppression against women and a topic of Browmiller’s rightful criticism. By not using them, Westwood telegraphed that she is not creating a collection that glamorizes the oppression of 17th-century women, but rather one that celebrates female power and beauty through 17th-century styles. The juxtaposition of modern tailoring and 17th-century design weaponizes the models into daring symbols of beauty and physical power in their towering heels and bulked physiques. They are decorated but not denied, like De l’Enclos.
On paper, she might be considered another victim of her time. She is a prostitute and a woman in a patriarchal society. Common sense would dictate that she must be miserable and exploited. Not true. In reality, she chose (and enjoyed) her career, using her wits, fashion sense, and charisma to build her salon and live a fulfilling life. Like Westwood’s models, she wore aspects of a “romantic sentiment, a nostalgic tradition” but was not limited by it.
Conclusion
Neither Westwood nor Brownmiller is incorrect in their beliefs. Fashion can indeed restrict women’s ability to move or be “taken seriously”. But garments can be as freeing as they are binding. If you are a woman reading this, you have likely also struggled to find a balance between these two schools of thought. Personally, I struggled immensely with gendered clothing in my early teens. I remember getting ready for an interview and toiling over whether to wear a hot pink, lacy blouse beneath my blazer.
“I feel like a total ‘Girl-boss’!”
“It's so stereotypical.”
“I look so pretty and confident!”
“No one is going to take me seriously.”
I recently asked Professor Kelly Colvin about a similar topic regarding agency and appearance. Specifically, “How can women express themselves as sexual beings [in appearance] without objectifying themselves?” She responded, “I’m not sure I have an answer for this, but I think it starts with awareness of the norms and history of power. What does it mean to be a powerful woman? How has it historically been represented?”
Colvin's insightful response applies to both questions. My conclusion from all my research and this conversation is that awareness is/was the key to preserving power and authenticity in 17th-century France, the autumn/winter of 1995, and now. I am sure that Westwood and Brownmiller would both agree that “what we wear (individually and collectively) is a huge statement about gender” (Colvin). I encourage you to ask yourself, “What statements do I want to make?”
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