Ellie Misner: Politics and Fashion

Based on our new project we all met at the Design Museum in Shad Thames for the morning, in the afternoon we were allowed to visit a gallery of our choosing; I picked the Saatchi. After narrowing down my political topic choices to 'religion' and 'consumerism' the 'Women in Power' exhibition at the Design Museum was less useful than I hoped it would be. However, It was interesting and showed a great deal about physical appearance and how people use it in political ways. From Royalty to the Suffragettes, each women in their own right dressed how they wanted to be addressed, an idea I will take into this project. Depending on which political topic I choose, this 'first impression' idea is one I will use further. Whether judgment is correct, and if fashion is that shallow.

The Saatchi, extremely luckily had two gallery spaces based entirely on my two final political ideas. The first room on religion and the second on consumerism. This trip helped me narrow down my ideas to finally picking religion as my topic. Although the consumerism had some great pieces, it automatically reminded me of Moschino's recent two shows; the McDonald's lookalike show and the Barbie show. The whole idea's are based on consumerism and gender stereotypes. I knew if I ran with this idea it would end up a less original and exciting project, swaying me towards religion. A particular installment at the Saatchi was of a mechanical set of what I presumed was Muslim women praying (based on the black linen). Given recent news on Charlie Hebdo, I decided this would be an exciting project start point. Hussein Chalayan, a fashion designer who gave an extremely controversial show on Muslim women came to mind as soon as I saw this, but instead of focusing on what the women wore, I hope to focus on the phobic side of religion; Is religion a good thing? And does it cause more harm than good?

The Design Museum