Being a designer is all about expressing your artistic
ability. Fashion design is all about the art of application of design and aesthesis
or natural beauty of creating to clothing and accessories (Career Bear.com,
2013). To me fashion design is all about the gilts and glamour and not objectifying
women’s bodies of any color. This is what I think Kanas City designer Peggy
Noland did not take into consideration when she was designing this dress. Looking at the dresses you can realize that
theses dresses show the stages of Oprah’s weight over the years. According to
Noland she says that this design “originated as a kind of age old red carpet
question: who are you wearing?” (Gutierrez,
2013), but it can clearly been seen that you are wearing Oprah. I personally feel that this dress is inappropriate
and is offensive to many black women, especially to Oprah. I pretty sure that
Oprah would not like a version of her naked body being worn by others. What if a black designer created a dress objectifying
a white woman’s body, who is a well know figure, how
would people react to that? I also feel that Noland knew what she was doing
when she made this dress and that it would cause a lot of controversy and
uproar in the black community. However, I feel that when some designers make
things they do not realize that how disrespectful their clothing can be at
times. I am not saying what Noland did was wrong because, I know that there are many
t-shirts out that objectify women’s bodies that people wear. However, I wonder if she asked for Oprah's permission to make this dress, but when do designers ask permission to make anything? Furthermore, how can we get
designers to understand how their designs continue to promote sexism and
oppress all women when they make clothing like this? How can we get them
to find ways to express their artistic ability in a non-offensive way?
Observation
Tomorrow
I will be volunteering at the Austin Pregnancy Resource Center, where I would
be helping them restock their baby clothing boutique with donated seasonal clothing.
Here is the link to one article about the dress:
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/18/4632187/kc-designer-peggy-noland-creates.html
Wow, I barely even have words for this. I am confused, disheartened, and upset. I personally find this so very disrespectful in so many ways. I mean like you said, they probably didn't get Oprah's permission to have her naked body exposed on another women, especially a white woman. You pose a good question, I wonder how aware designers are of what they contribute to our culture of oppression. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteComment #2 (Blog 12): The things we do nowadays is surprising. I saw "we" because society and media encourage this type of behavior and action. Extreme circumstances like these are what catches attention, and you can't really blame the designer for catering to the public. However, you're right. I find this really offensive, and don't understand what exactly is the point in doing this. This reminds me of Sophia Bush's boycott against Urban Outfitters for coming out with a shirt that said "Eat Less."
ReplyDeleteI personally found this so disgusting. I don't understand how entertainment, fashion, etc. can draw from the explotation and dehumanization pocs, lgbt community, or any other disadvantaged peoples, and then still be justified. I think this goes straight back to the century old issue of black women not having autonomy over their own body and sexuality.
ReplyDeleteI feel like something like this is viewed as "edgy" when its absolutely ridiculous. Somehow someone managed to take a very successful black woman, two different types of minority that already experiences discrimination and SOMEHOW make everything worse. I'm tired of "edgy" being offensive or disruptive. There are ways to be rebellious and fashion forward and edgy without being a complete idiot.
ReplyDeleteYes this was dehumanizing and objectifying. I can not believe the agency that people feel they have over OTHER peoples bodies. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that she actually made this into a dress. I feel like there would be laws protecting Oprah's rights to keep this from happening... yet there should be laws protecting many people/rights that have yet to be passed.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked by this dress. I cannot believe that someone thought this would be ok. Thanks for sharing as I did not see this news story.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I never heard about this! This is absolutely terrible...The idea alone of a person wearing your body is sickening. This is dehumanizing, objectifying, and I hope Oprah sues the designer of this dress!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for bringing this to everyone's attention - I can't believe I haven't heard about this before!
ReplyDelete