In the past several weeks, I have been following closely the press tour for Marvel’s smash hit, Black Panther. A highly anticipated adaptation of the comic books, Black Panther joyously takes its viewers on an astonishingly creative and moving journey of the protagonist, King T’Challa. The sovereign of the fictional nation of Wakanda, a hidden African country both rich and advanced, T’Challa rules a nation of people who have never been colonized. In terms of both politics and fashion, the lack of colonization is a very important theme. The costumes Ruth E. Carter created for the movie walk in a distinctly Afro-futuristic path in which traditional African fashions meet technological advancement with a colorful, sleek result. The importance of African influences, therefore, traversed beyond the movie and into its promotional strategy. In this post, I would like to discuss the extraordinary meeting between Hollywood sartorial traditions, the culture of superhero franchises, and race politics in the press tour for Black Panther.

In the past decade or so, promotion for Hollywood movies with large budgets (mostly superhero movies) has been characterized in three ways: recognition, location, and fashion. Firstly, the recognition comes with the presence of the leading actors (and sometimes the director, if they’re well known) in both press junkets, premieres, and additional promotions (TV ads, online content, product endorsements). Secondly, the locations of the promotion vary in a rapid pace: the actors are often taken on a whirlwind tour in which they promote the movie in a different city every other day or so for two weeks at the most. They often fly to different continents, adjust to different cultures, and speak different languages (if they are able). This is done in order to localize the promotion of the movie for audiences who are not necessarily attuned to American entertainment. Thirdly, the fashion of the promotional tours follows a strict code: upgraded casualwear for press calls, bespoke couture for premiers. Unsurprisingly, the appearance of actresses is scrutinized much more closely than actors in those occasions. Equally unsurprising is the studio budgeting of stylists and hair/make-up artists specifically for this purpose.

The press tour for Black Panther has been, in many ways, a standard big budget movie press tour, with one notable exception: the importance it placed on fashion, and the close collaboration Marvel Studios had with the fashion world. Far from the traditional gowns and tuxedos, the brief for the Los Angeles world premiere of the movie seemed to be “royal attire.” There were no tiaras or ermine capes in sight; instead, many of the black celebrities in attendance dressed to emulate either their native lands, or African heritage. Several others, including much of the leading cast, chose to wear clothes by Western fashion houses which either reference African cultural influences, or were paired with African-inspired accessories. Lupita Nyong’o, for instance, wore a custom Atelier Versace dress which evoked militaristic themes together with traditional eveningwear, paired with traditional Yoruba hairstyle. Chadwick Boseman wore an Emporio Armani fall 2018 ensemble which paired a flowery heavy-silk double-breasted jacket with pleated pants, pairing gold and black for royalty, and flowers for an untraditional take on the tuxedo jacket.

The meeting between Afro-futurism and Western fashion continued on other occasions as well, during which the leading cast wore ensembles by Givenchy, Calvin Klein, and Balmain, among others. All ensembles had either an African-inspired motif or were paired with African-inspired accessories and/or hairstyles. The meeting between the promotion for Black Panther and the fashion world continued past the premieres into a collaboration between Marvel Studios and New York Fashion Week. In a February 12^th showcase named “Welcome to Wakanda,” ten fashion designers or houses exhibited custom looks designed with Black Panther in mind. The leading cast once again assembled, wearing interesting interpretations of the costumes worn by their characters. Notably, the color story of their clothes was earth tones. Chadwick Boseman even wore a black hoodie, perhaps as a nod to his character’s black superhero suit, perhaps as a salute to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The politicization of the Black Panther press tour, particularly when it comes to combining the semiotics of black power, fashion innovation, and Hollywood image management has been fascinating to observe. This movie, with its all-black leading cast, championing not only black excellence but also African traditions, has already made an indelible cultural impact. It is important to note that major fashion houses have not been known to offer their wares (especially couture runway looks and custom creations) to major black actors perhaps until this decade. That Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, and Lupita Nyong’o have all repeatedly worn couture, sometimes with them specifically in mind, is nothing less than groundbreaking. On a last note, the immediate impact of Black Panther’s sartorial flare has been notable even when it comes to its audience: many black audience members chose to dress up, in order to emulate their cultures and traditions for the opening weekend of the film, both in the United States and in Africa. This is virtually unheard of, even in superhero culture, where audience members often dress to emulate their favorite heroes for screenings. The long-term implications of Black Panther as a cultural marker are still unknown, but they are surely substantial, as can already be seen.

Eisenstein Hester in her article “The Sweatshop Feminists” reflects on how feminism ideologies have been manipulated to support the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism, a subject feminism was meant to challenge. Eisenstein articulates several issues on the general trends of feminist movements with an inclination towards institutionalization and its preconception of identity, culture, and difference. The author supports other feminist concerns about the fall of the original collective emancipatory fight for women rights to employment and independence.

Liberal feminism has played a critical role in legitimizing corporate capitalist ideas and practices which undermine feminist efforts to defend and safeguard the women’s distinct labor needs and interests. Advocacy for women’s professional development, struggle for full integration into capitalist economies, and the push for gender equity in the workplace was in a way meant to justify the elimination of welfare programs and reduction of worker wages by the neoliberal elites. Neoliberalism penetrated the Global South and influenced government policies that allowed Export-Processing Zones (EPZs) to operate as non-governmental organizations where worker welfare movements are prohibited. This development worked to destabilize the radical feminist reforms and struggles as women workers suffered beatings, unpaid overtime, abductions, arbitrary dismissals, intimidation with firearms, verbal abuse, and interrogations. Further, there is the contention that individualization of women has been ingrained in extremely sexualized and consumerist ways.

Eisenstein’s approach is centered on the social-economic sphere that is immensely characterized by gender oppression and the role of wage labor in women’s lives in the 21st century. In this view, I find the author insensitive to the economic causal dynamics, instead, the author bases her argument on culture and identity as the source of distraction to progressive feminism. Well, she has a credible argument that should be addressed in efforts to reinventing feminism and forging an optimistic future laudable move

While I appreciate and support the author’s concerns on how neoliberals have capitalized on women empowerment to achieve their capitalist interests and undermine feminist politics, I think her work should also be critically interrogated on the basis that Eisenstein’s interpretation of co-optation drives some sense that waters down the particular feminist efforts. In my view, the author’s approach sounds more of an anti-globalization activism that draws generalization and unwarranted pessimism. In addition to derailing and driving feminist efforts towards the negative direction, it cuts the hope for a future rejuvenation of feminism.

In my opinion, the progressive feminist politics propagated by Eisenstein are embedded with some flaws. Her argument relies on socialist feminism in reviving and advancing feminism politics. She neglects the internal conflicts and centers her focus on revaluing of care work as a solution to attaining actual feminism goals. Also, she seems to be disciplining feminism from a position of authority that sanctifies past socialist feminists and belittles other liberal feminists. Adopting her position may threaten to cause further fractures among feminists and undermine the hard-won feminist alliances. Moreover, Eisenstein provides the trajectory that progressive political practice should take such as mass awareness and mobilization campaigns, popular education, unionization, cooperatives and coalition building. However, in a neoliberal era, she makes an assumption that such practices will automatically occur following the revival of social feminism as an agent for progressive politics. Therefore, her approach appears biased towards Marxist practices over feminist practices.

Overall, Eisenstein’s assertion on cultural practices that promotes identity and recognition through institutionalized practices on gender mainstreaming and service provision is admissible as feminism progressive strategy. She highlights the need for radicalized efforts and activities such as mass mobilization, education, advocacy, and service provision for purposes of keeping governments checked and accountable for individual acts of empowerment. However, my argument emphasizes on the inclusivity and reflexivity of such efforts. I support more concrete and robust feminist activities that resist neoliberalism and create a world where both men and women are fairly and equitably treated with dignity.

On April 24th, 2013, one of the worst disasters in fashion history happened, the collapse of Rana Plaza. This building housed five garment factories making clothing for globally recognizable fashion brands.

Before this, you may not have thought about where and how your clothes were made and produced. This tragedy shed light on how hard people work to produce clothing you usually wouldn’t think twice about purchasing.

This tragedy finally awakened people to realize the horrific working conditions in developing and third world nations.

We used to wear our clothes for many years, buying staple pieces with longevity that we would be able to hold onto forever. With the introduction of fast fashion, we now want a new wardrobe every year and we want to pay much less for it. Companies like H&M and Mango need to keep their production costs down so that we can pay low retails, for example, $19.95 for a sweater. Western fashion brands expect their factories to rush new orders to meet the latest clothing trends.

These are low-skill jobs, and the industry relies on a low-wage labor force in order to manufacture their designs at the lowest cost possible. So in order to fulfill these orders quickly, factories often disregard safety and human costs. Workers often work long hours without even restroom or lunch breaks. Workplaces such as Rana Plaza often have poor ventilation, and ignore basic safety measures such as clear fire escapes.

Since I work on the production side of the fashion, I can understand negotiating lower prices on fabric and rushing orders to be in stores on time even though I do not work for a fast fashion brand; we work closely with all our factories. However, this does not mean that our factories do not hide certain conditions from our American counterparts who control the quality of the work conditions overseas. When these factories feel the pressure of meeting deadlines in order to make the money from an order, they can often times cut corners and ignore safe work conditions in order to get the job done, all while keeping up the facade of being a safe and law-abiding factory. This kind of deceitfulness is what can ultimately cause conditions to become worse and worse, eventually leading to tragedies such as the collapse of the Rana Plaza.

The essay I chose to discuss is Clothing and Memory by Iris Finkel. Iris and I were in class together for the fall 2016 semester. After reading, Peter Stallybrass’ Worn Worlds, for class, I believe both of us interpreted clothing and memories in the same way.

After her sister’s suicide, Iris discusses how she felt entering her sister’s bedroom. She goes on to say “Reminders everywhere, but none affected me as intensely as her sneakers. She decided she wouldn’t wear them that day. ” (Finkel, 67)

I had the same experience when my grandfather passed away in 2007. After his funeral, my cousins, sisters and I sat around in his room on the floor with blankets, cuddled together. We spent hours laughing and crying while sharing with each other our favorite memories of him, all of us wearing one of his sweatshirts.

Peter Stallybrass wrote in his essay about “Clothes are thus layered with meaning since they have the power to act as memory prompts. Woven into their fabric are traces of past experiences. Stitched into their seams are links to people we have loved and lost. How appropriate that in the technical language of sewing, wrinkles are termed ‘memory’?” (Stallybrass, Worn Worlds).

After the passing of a loved one their clothing and items live on. Iris talks about how she decided to keep the clothes her sister had made. “These were buried deep in the back of her closet, painful reminders of a self she no longer recognized.” (Finkel, 67)

In observing my own grieving process, I realize that some of the things that bring me comfort and peace are articles of clothing worn by those that I have lost. They are unique to them and the clothing that they once wore.

“You see clothes are so much more than material objects to cover our bodies. Woven into their very fabric are histories and associations that enrich our lives. And if we carefully unravel the threads, you discover memories that were otherwise lost.” (Robyn Gibson, The Memory of Clothes)