Celebrating women: Influential female fashion designers

#fashion #women #designers #influence #femaledesigner #fashiondesign #chanel #dvf #anneklein #womenshistorymonth

This women’s history month, it’s important to remember some of the incredible female designers who helped pave the way for today’s styles. Female fashion designers have had opportunities to push their feet down in the fashion world by re-inventing silhouettes and changed the focus from women’s clothing from ‘looking nice’ to functionality. Although at the time, these loose-fitting outfits paired with trousers might not have been the norm, these incredible women noticed that fashion needed to change. Beth Dincuff, a fashion historian, and professor at Parsons School of Design said “Who better to design for women than women? No amount of design training or business acumen can replace the experience living in the body you are designing for.” (Dincuff, via TZR)

Coco Chanel

One of the most influential female fashion designers is none other than the iconic Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel. For 60 years, Chanel completely changed the fashion for women, following less-restrictive patterns which were popular at the time, and instead focused on creating functional outfits for women to wear day-to-day. Chanel took huge inspiration from men’s clothing during the war to create new silhouettes for women including the Chanel suit, the little black dress, turtlenecks, and trousers. Without Chanel, some of these designs might not have reached the level of popularity and had such a lasting impact.

For more on Chanel, take a look at my first blog post!

Diane von Furstenburg

Upon the creation of the ‘wrap dress’ in the early 1970s, von Furstenburg’s famous design reached unimaginable levels of popularity. Today, many members of the public eye, including royalty and actors, wear the dress as often as businesswomen and academics. The original design followed a feminine yet functional design, with long-sleeves, silk jersey material dress featuring a fitted top and skirt that wrapped around the body to tie at the waist. Due to this dress rising in popularity around the 1970s, it came around the second wave of feminism where women were focusing on fighting against gender norms. As the dress wasn’t fitted and tight throughout, it allowed for more movement, thus creating a more androgynous illusion which is huge popular today.

Anne Klein

Creator of fashion company Anne Klein & Co. in 1968, Klein decided to create ‘chic, comfortable, uncomplicated fashion that fits well and is wearable from season to season’ (Feitelberg, Blazio-Licorish via WWD) By the mid-1970s, Klein alerted the concept of America sportswear/athleisure into what is now known as designer rtw. Klein was another who focused on staples, similarly to Chanel, with perfectly fitting items instead of contemporary designs. After her death in 1974, her legacy was followed by the amazing designer Dona Karan, creator of DKNY. Karan followed a “seven easy pieces” approach, meaning you had seven items that were completely interchangeable and perfect from season to season, much like Klein.

These three women are a very small percentage of the incredible and creative female fashion designers we all know and love. The list could continue with huge names such as Rei Kawakubo, Mary Quant, Madeleine Vionnet, and Ann Lowe to name a few, who have each changed the trajectory of the fashion world in their own unique ways. All women should be celebrated for their creations, big or small, in all aspects of the world. Happy women’s history month!