LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Fashion Industry

The concept of inclusivity when inculcated on a personal level can make any group feel worthy and loved, imagine the power inclusivity on a larger perhaps more premium level hold, potentially impacting several muted groups to come out in the open with pride. Fashion being counter-intuitive on assuring a somewhat grand welcome of the LGBTQ community to be a part of the field of fashion is gaining momentum of a social reform. Post the breath of fresh air the news of decriminalization of this community brought marked as an important landmark enabling us to embrace homosexuality. Fashion through its loud expression has been seen dismantling otherwise eschewed flaws of the society by adopting a comprehensive approach to fashion and its conception. Such an inception of the marginalized community of the queer into the glamorous world of fashion has rather taken a form of global domination which is a revolution, passive yet powerful in nature, brimming with new ideas to break the gender binary and to delve out of the conventional. The reason of spewing hate on the LGBTQ community is received through comments about them being ‘unnatural’, what a lot of people do not know is that queer disposition is not a contemporary construct but has existed in our mythology since time immemorial. Pushing forward from the archaic era of barbaric treatment inflicted upon a section people who did not fit into the customary societal construct to now being not just acknowledged but also taken as a source of inspiration by designers to reflect the beauty of the community in their creations. Some of the times in the past that will be commemorated for celebrating diversity has been illuminated by celebrities like Prateik Babbar and Ranveer Singh for deconstructing the gender binary by walking down the ramp donned in ‘men’s’ skirts and vibrant hues with the motive to unleash the gender veil. In The Lakme Fashion Week, designer Sohaya Misra invited men dressed in frills, bold makeup and plunging necklines while had women sporting body hair, appareled androgynously with minimum makeup aiming to portray forms of unconditional expression regardless gender boundaries. “My brand is gender-neutral. I don’t design gender-specific pieces. It epitomises the basic principle that style is an individualistic and artistic reflection of who we are from within and by fearlessly breaking stereotypes”. Another Indian Fashion designer Mohisha Jaisingh proudly had Anjali Lama a transgender saunter down the runway for her label. Ashish Gupta a renowned designer, had models attired in outfits with slogans like ‘love sees no colour’. Indian brands like Bloni and Huemn are also being well received for endorsing gender fluid apparel and pushing forward creative thinking and sabotaging conservative conception that feeds of ostracising subordinate communities. Even on social media platforms queers like Nikita Dragun, Jeffree Star and James Charles are being applauded and admired for being gender-benders, allowing them a free space on the internet to break the stereotypes whilst we truly accept them for their sexuality.

It is although observed, that brands signalling support for the LGBTQ community is mostly reserved during the Pride month. It needs to noted that support in the purest sense stems from more than a month of rainbow banners and social media posts. It has been investigated that the brands that feature prominently during Pride month for supporting the community, do it to essentially monetize on it. Their ads will highlight “pride” merch or offer pride month discounts without actually working for the community. The concept of marketing the rainbow by capitalising the pride flag and queer identity with minimum effort is what is called Rainbow Washing. It is problematic since reduces the aim to amplifying queer voices and raising awareness to mere brand deals and ‘pride’ sponsorships for a month. This results in watering down the community’s resilience against oppression and also leads to rainbow- capitalism that ridicules the generations of trials and tribulations the community has fought for in order to be heard and seen. To delve further into the threatening layers of the concept of rainbow washing and rainbow-capitalism, LGBTQ people are overtly calling out disingenuous Pride merchandise designed by creators aiming to capitalise “Pride” by calling the designs ‘brightly-coloured locusts’. The pride collection many brands come out with in the month has very little to do with taste with respect to the potential the symbol of rainbow can inspire. The LGBTQ community has called pride designs like a rainbow coloured suit as ugly and queer language like ‘Gaytorade’ or ‘Love is Love’ as distasteful. Moreover, it doesn’t sit right with them since they feel violated with regard to their language been used by companies as an allyship for their own gain without even putting in the effort to understand or invest in the community. The rainbow symbol and the language the community has been using to feel loved and respected has a deeper meaning is being reduced to something for the purpose to sell. Companies tend to forget that queer aesthetics are reserved for the community to feel safe inside considering the alienation they face outside, and slapping these symbols and slogans on a T-shirt trying to seem relatable reflects in the light of minimising the perpetual marginalisation of the LGBTQ community.

In order to be a real and effective ally, printing slogans like “yaaaas queen” or “love wins” will not make anyone a true supporter. Fashion houses instead of creating designs which reflects hardly any style through putting the rainbow colours on clothes, they should note that those clothes are not something that attracts the community. In order to be inclusive and to attempt encouraging cross fashion they have heels and pumps with varied sizes that enables people with larger “manly” feet can wear. They can design dresses with broader shoulders making it easy for people with masculine shoulders to be able to live their fashion dreams. They can release a design encompassing dazzling, glittery and colourful patterns conveying a message that the community should not feed into their apprehensions regarding being shunned for dressing up boldly and experience the liberty to clad themselves up in clothes they only ever imagined to wear in public. It should be understood that waving the rainbow flag is a matter of true honour and pride which should only be deserved by people once they fully believe in the community’s rights on doing meaningful structural work. They should whole-heartedly get involved in the ground work that goes into lifting a century long muted group. Participating in movements, donations, campaigns as well as raising voices when there is a law which goes against the freedom of the community and lastly, not shying away from bringing some change for the betterment of the queer people given the massive influence premium fashion houses have on people and media. Brands must purport the community through an adequate form of representation where marketing and advertising for inclusivity goes on all year round. Tinder has been known to build a working environment that is more inclusive all year round along with companies like Jagermeister support the community through campaigns to assist lesbian bars. Balenciaga donates 15% of the sales from its Pride collection to The Trevor Project which works for preventing suicides in young queer people of the world. Versace has come up with a unisex line where a part of the sales will be donated to the Born This Way organisation. Vans is donating 200000$ to four organisations, GLSEN, Casa 1, Where Love is Illegal and Tokyo Rainbow Pride, which all support the LGBTQ+ community. Savage X Fenty, a lingerie brand founded by Rihanna has an inclusive and gender-neutral sizing range from XXS to XXXXL and along with that donates sales to organisations like GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). A lot of brands including P&G advertise the Visibility Project partnered with GLAAD that supports the community and not just did they receive immense appreciation but this also resulted in a boost in their public reputation since they were perceived to be more inclusive and sustainable. It is an absolute unquestioned the steps the society has taken to extend acceptance. Work needs to be done in order to strengthen the acceptance and portray a richer sense of belief in the queer community. Rainbow flags on the streets may be comforting for some but rainbow-washing is only detrimental to the community. The symbolic power the representation holds must be honoured by a real commitment to induce affirmative policies for queer people by promising inclusivity by brands to be ensured instinctively all year round. The community must be assured that the acceptance and love is coming from a place of true respect and not just shamming form of a celebration because the sands have shifted. The LGBTQ community deserves love in the purest sense exhibiting their honour and marking a tribute to commemorate their oppression from the society and community’s buoyancy to history long persecution must not be minimized to capitalism.

References: