In recent years, the feminist slogan t-shirt has been more popular than it has in decades and is also a perfect symbol of the defanging number that capitalist girl-power has done on the idea of feminism (again). It has caused me, personally, disproportionate distress over commodification and intent and philosophy and also the general dread I feel when something is culturally played and wack. (The shirt as stand-in for feminism, NOT feminism.)
Feminism on the fashion runway has been a big perpetrator of this issue, particularly when a designer’s motivations for saying “I Am Feminist” on runway t-shirts are unclear. One thing you can say about Christopher Kane, though, the wonderfully creative Scottish designer, is that his motivations are rarely unclear. And since London Fashion Week is the unequivocal best of the four major fashion weeks during fashion month, today he sent through another bang-up collection, this one defined by a recurring motif and the first Feminist T-Shirt I’ve liked since the Ni Santas, Ni Putas, Solo Mujeres sweatshirt: SEXUAL CANNIBALISM in a metal font, with a male preying mantis’s guts strewn across the bottom by its mate’s like so much revenge detritus. Hey, bitches gotta eat. Kane drew it himself, a true male ally.
Kane, the man who notoriously brought us zillion-dollar screenprint tees of gorillas and crocodiles pissed off and baring their teeth, has his own fascination with the animal kingdom, and his entire line has been a celebration of natural instincts and off-kilter sexuality. Continuing this were other cheeky animal sex illustrations, in between lace shifts and ‘80s-reminiscent poufy dresses exaggerated by gigantic gems (and a gem print). But you can bet these are going into waitlist mode imminently.
In other important news: FKA twigs showed up to FROW, served a true look.