So earlier today I read an article on Tumblr criticising the “feminist statement” made at the Chanel PFW SS15 show – as someone who would consider herself a feminist, what immediately irritated me was that this writer had made such a narrow minded comment, she hadn’t realised that she had completely contradicted her initial mission.

It feels like a large group of self-proclaimed, high and mighty feminists think the support of the feminist cause is becoming too “mainstream”. But surely the more people talk about it, the more will become known about it – why does anyone need to deconstruct a high fashion show in order to show what feminism “actually means”.

I’m going to comment on just a few of her imaginative remarks:

Why does it matter that the girls carrying the placards are, according to the writer, “skinny, beautiful and white” (yet there are 11 models of asian and black ethnicity)? As a model of dual ethnicity, reading the bold statements about the current high fashion industry encouraging “unhealthy body obsessions” and their dictation of what women should “look like” made me laugh. I am a healthy size 8, as are most models, and it’s almost impossible for a model over 5’9″ to be less than a size 8 due to measurements which are largely affected by bone shape and position. No one, not even the highest international corporations, can dictate what a woman looks like unless she has a severe complex about her appearance – no one is saying “Go get a nose job” or “Dye your hair brunette” and who would listen to that anyway?

As for Karl Lagerfeld being a misogynist – he is a fashion designer creating clothes for, predominantly, women. He is arrogant, he is honest, he is trying to promote open mindedness. He doesn’t like fat people – just like I’m not a fan of people that don’t appreciate keeping fit. The patronising tone resonates through the article as the writer claims that girls will maybe learn the word “feminism” isn’t scary. Since when are letters on a page or computer screen as terrifying as 8 legged insects or evil clowns?

The writer states at the end that Karl is taking advantage of the fact that “feminism is trendy”. No, it is a cause that more men and women and children are learning about through art and fashion – completely subjective, creative fields from which people can form their own opinion.

I was quite insulted when I read the part where she states that feminism, compared to fashion, is “inclusive, non-discriminatory, and reminds women that they are not defined by their appearance” – I forgot that the majority of high fashion models are from extremely rich backgrounds, that the population ratio of white to none white in the western world (where fashion is shown and watched) doesn’t correlate with the numbers on the catwalk, oh yeh and I forgot that modelling isn’t a job and that I’m not a human being with a personality.

Image credit: Lea Colombo