Power&

Fragility

A Project by Lena Korallo

Modelling by Lena KoralloPhotography by Mikhail Nikitin

Z Zegna check shirt, £160Reiss blue trousers, £125TOPMAN burgundy braces £18TOPMAN blue doted bow tie £14Ben de Lisi red shammy - leather shoes, £110Maje Bamboo and leather dark brown bag, £ 90

“I want to empower women. I want

people to be afraid of women I dress.”

Alexander McQueen

Karen Millen blue striped dress, £220Karen Millen white cotton sleeveless shirt, £125Zara Women Collection black embroi-dered high heel shoes, £80H&M wool black hat, &25TOPMAN black bow tie, £14

Masculine Feminity

TAlexander McQueen said that he wants to empow-er women, he wants people to be afraid of women he dresses. He was not the first designer who draw attention to psychological aspect of dressing. Long time before him Yves Saint Laurent said, “I have always believed that fashion was not only to make women beautiful, but also to reassure them, give them confidence.” However they are not designers who start-ed to empower women, but circumstances. Wom-en started to wear men’s dress during the First and Second World Wars. They started to put their husbands’ trousers as were forced to take jobs be-fore considered as men’s job. And this is where the story begins. Men’s job required not just a change of cloth, but a change of mind. Strength, stamina, energy and confidence are the must for men’s job to be done. Therefore collaboration of clothes and cir-cumstances pushed women to change their image.The fair question here is why and how men’s clothes can make a woman stronger. The answer lays on the phycological and associative level. As from the ancient times until the beginning of 20th century women’s and men’s wardrobe was separat-ed and completely different. More than that. Ladies were permitted or were not very welcomed to wear men’s dress. In 1919 Luisa Capetillo, famous Puer-

to Rico’s labor organiser, writer and fighter for women’s rights was arrested for wearing trousers. Therefore men’s dress associates with men’s fea-tures, with challenge and confidence. It is a chain of association which has this special effect - em-powering effect. The presented trend mainly com-prises elements from the men’s suit.Man in a suit first of all associates with intellectual job. It can be any type of work from the middle level manager to the CEO of big company. Inev-itable element of it is making decisions. What it takes to make a decision? You have to focus, be brave, smart and confident, ready to take respon-sibility of your choice. Nowadays women take and succeed in jobs what previously were considered as men’s. World more or less seeks equality. The nature, however has it’s own laws and until now mankind hadn’t succeeded to break them. Wom-en’s mind is different from men, operates and re-acts to particular situations differently. Sometimes they lack the confidence, power and stamina to make decisions and withstand stress. Therefore men’s dress can empower them psychologically. The results of study made by Kate Pine, a professor in the School of Psychology at University of Hert-fordshire, showed that 93% of women believed that the way they dress determines how confident

Paul Smith light blue striped shirt, £ 160Spencer Hart black slim knitted silk tie, £90TOPMAN black smart trousers, £40Limited Edition open toe black shoes, £90Billingham Hadley Pro Black Canvas Camera Bag, £169Oliver Weber earrings and necklace with blue Swarovski crystals, £50

they feel. Therefore elements from men’s ward-robe can have this confidence boosting effect. My observations of connection between wom-en’s life and their wardrobe come from my homeland. I am from Latvia -the post Soviet Union country where the women’s traditionalimage is a very beautiful and feminine. There is somepressure on girls in my homeland. They have to look feminine, beautiful and at the same time they have to work as men to survive Even though people in Latvia step by step adopt de-mocracy and equality. The new generation be-comes more and more open minded. How-ever this process is very slow and the oldconcept of woman is still very strong. There are a lot of unspoken rules applied to woman’s be-haviour what inevitably influence female fash-ion. Therefore this trend’d aim is to change their mind through their clothes. It is not only put

sensitivity, sometimes weakness and emo-tionality, lack of confidence are inevitable elements. All these features make woman a woman, unfortunately in modern day context can be disruptive and can make life complicated. Therefore it is away of becoming stronger and powerful through the dressing as it is a very psychological thing. As you feel very different wearing T-shirt or evening dress. So this trend is a tool to empower women through the sensation of men’s clothes and accessories. In a way it is a catalyst to awake energy and confidence women have deep inside. My idea is different from Alexander Mc-Queen’s empowering concept even though the foundation is the same. It is not about what people think about woman wearing men’s dress. It is about how does she feel about herself. This trend combines pieces from men’s wardrobe and girl’s dress and shoes to create a sharp, sexy, strong image.

ting on men’s dress it isborrowing some of males features through it. Such as power and confidence. O course the argument can be that not all men are confident and strong, but at list the ones in shirts and suits are associ-ated with power and self assurance. In the context of modern world tendency to equality or opposite, stick-ing to tradition this idea can be un-derstood ambiguously. The crucial moment in this concept is that it is nothing to do with feminism or fight for women’s rights. It is not an attemptto prove anything to anyone. It is not about blamingmen and for sure not a foolish comparing to them.It is in a way a hidden compliment to male’s nature strong sides. It is about borrowing the best from men to compensate women’s weak points.It is about deep understanding the true nature of women, its complexity, where vulnerability, fragility and extreme