Where Are the Women Designers?
In 2024, we're still having this conversation and it's exhausting.
When The Costume Institute at The MET staged the “Women Dressing Women” exhibit last year, it felt timely yet inexcusably late. Here were all these incredibly talented women designers, the majority of which have largely been neglected by history (i.e. Ann Lowe, Marcelle Chaumont, Bonnie Cashin, Henriette Nigri), being recognized in 2023. In 2023?
Still, it was a timely reminder for the executives at Kering, who handpicked a group of exclusively white men for the top creative director roles (the appointment of Sean McGirr at Alexander McQueen was the last nail in the coffin). The fashion industry continues to turn a blind eye to the contributions women have made to the landscape; we are underrepresented in key decision-making roles and the percentages are even more dismal when it comes to Black, Brown, Southeast Asian and Hispanic designers.
Why is that? Well, sexism of course, but we can be specific. On a societal level, women are still largely perceived as caretakers or mothers-to-be, and as someone pointed out in a podcast I recently listened to, gay white men make more convenient hires because they’re not expected to birth children or be stay-at-home parents. This makes sense in the context of fashion houses evolving into growth-obsessed conglomerates without the patience for extended maternity leave. The possibility that some male executives think like this is actually terrifying, yet working mothers still struggle with work-life balance, fueled by a lack of industry support.