Feminism Gets A Hefty Dose Of Femininity At Jonathan Simkhai
Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Designer: Jonathan Simkhai
Date: Saturday, February 10, 2018
Location: Spring Studios
Jewish? Definitely a Jew
Like many designers this season, Jonathan Simkhai was inspired by feminism. But unlike other designers, there were no empty slogans, no protest shenanigans. This was a straightforward runway, where the clothes spoke for themselves. Which, in this case, was the strong, bold woman who continues to fight for equal rights as she lives in the clothes that will serve as her armor.
Opening the show was a glen plaid off-the-shoulder suit with abbreviated leg-of-mutton sleeves, a modern inversion to the Renaissance image of damsel-in-distress as the woman breaks the corporate glass ceiling.
Inversions and plays on silhouettes were key in this collection. Instead of “freeing” women from corsets, tight bodices and bustiers served as that armor. And, ingeniously, he took the tailored pantsuit — the mark of the upwardly mobile man and the feminist woman — made it a rich, lipstick red, and stitched a bustier panel. It was as if the suit reaffirmed that powerful women who engage in femininity are all the more powerful because of it.
Other high notes are the various takes on the boudoir-chic of silky, lacy negligees. Which, in a collection on women’s empowerment, was a bold stance to take: women can embrace their sexuality, revel in it, even, and not lose their power or chance at equality.
Michelle Honig is the style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
