All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go        
Nicole Gall
John Galliano’s GITMO-esque attires both impress and appal at Fashion Week

Fashion is a fickle friend, with trends transforming more often than the cyclical shift of the seasons.  Evidence of this fact can be found in the back of countless closets, where relics of once-fashionable trends find their dusty home.  But what if ‘fashion victim’ was actually in vogue? Before you strap on your stirrup-leggings, take a peek at the very different meaning this term took on during this year’s Fashion Week in Paris, France. 

In his 2008 Men’s Fall/Winter runway show, British fashion designer John Galliano gave a shocking new meaning to the term ‘fashion victim.’ 

Galliano stated that his inspiration for the collection came from the ‘Frost Fairs’ of Tudor England, when the Thames would freeze over and citizens from every social standing would celebrate on its iced-over surface.  But his ‘Frost Fair’ fashion hardly held true to a Winterlude-like festival.  The show’s initially decadent interpretation of society quickly descended into a graphic depiction of human suffering, with models wearing nooses around necks, bags over heads, and bearing bloodied and bandaged head and chest wounds.  The message of humiliation took on one final façade when Harlequin-style jokers ended the parade of pestilence. 

Considering the current political climate, this type of ‘torture couture’ was certainly a touchy take on a theme for presenting Fall threads – the confrontational connection between Galliano’s runway and ghastly images of Guantanamo has caused both praise and protestation.   

Kathleen McDermott, who teaches fashion history at the Rhode Island School of Design, has praised Galliano for intelligently incorporating political issues into his art.  McDermott viewed Galliano’s show “as a profound effort to use a bully pulpit to deal with issues that you ordinarily wouldn't think of as fashion issues.”  Supporting the active role of art in influencing socio-political issues, McDermott commends the runway guru as “a guy who makes beautiful, beautiful, beautiful things but there is a very strong edge.” 

However, hot-headed bloggers have refused to accept Galliano’s Abu-Ghraib-esque runway show as ‘haute.’  Using strong words to refute the possibility of a progressive ‘strong edge’ for the fashion show, bloggers expressed feelings of provocation, exploitation, and downright disgust.  Believing that Galliano’s primary motivation was his own gainful employment as opposed to human rights awareness, bloggers are concerned that viewing torture victims on the catwalk will take away from the real suffering that present day human rights abuses cause. 

But Galliano is not the first to bring images of human suffering to the foreground; art has often acted as a social commentary, presenting social themes from unique angles.  An example from the year 1525 can be seen in Italian Mannerist painter Il Sodoma’s St. Sebastian.  The degree of suffering that is expressed in the eyes of the struggling Saint has the ability to evoke awareness of religious persecution even today. 

Galliano’s runway show would not be the first time that Guantanamo’s grisly business has seeped into pop culture.  The human rights abuses that have occurred at the ominous detention camp have inspired an anthology of poetry, several stage productions, Patti Smith’s dirge Without Chains, which was inspired by the wrongfully accused ex-detainee Murat Kurnaz. On top of this, two novels have been published, countless movies, and a hip-hop concert in Washington. 

But are artists’ pseudo-socially conscious statements helpful or harmful when it comes to spreading human rights awareness in society? 

Galliano’s pageant-like runway show is an example of the way in which art sensationalizes reality; through plot twists, catchy tempos, or coveted textiles.  Some argue that such hyperbolic artworks may cause society to become desensitized to the true horror of ongoing human rights abuses. 

It is the individual viewer who must make an effort not to lose themselves in the dreaming eyes of St. Sebastian, allowing the beauty of the art form to transcend the alarming human rights abuses of its context.  Civil society must decide whether a politically charged artwork is helpful in spreading human rights awareness, or is just a pop culture faux-pas.  

No matter how ‘haute’ the artist’s edgy work, the hype that it receives should not overbear the best interests of current human rights issues.