What if women ruled the world?
Dior’s runways both for spring/summer and fall/winter showed us that fashion and feminism can be sisters in love with women power. We are creative protectresses of our world. Like the amazing collaboration of Dior’s artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, with feminist artist Judy Chicago, our outfits collaborate with our soul and she wants us to be a messenger of our truth.
Chiuri’s fashion shows were as much art as a manicured fist for change; fashion is political. Many other designers made statement supporting women’s desire for equality, still and again after thousands of years.
Dress is from We Wear What
Off the runways we walk our mindsets every day and when we do it consciously our style contributes to our confidence and clarity; when we own our truth other women will follow. Fashion empowers. Outfits talk. Judge a woman by her cover.
Goddesses In Summer
For Dior’s summer collection, Chiuri drew her inspiration from classical depictions of goddesses; symbolic for aligning the beauty of body and mind. There was an abundance of flowing fabric and royal gold but also flower power and fringes; the Bohemian intensity of the 70s. The fall/winter show celebrated Boho spirit again with shredded fringe dresses and luxe velvet suiting. Ying and yang came together in the toughening of the female and the softening of the male.
(also see: Fringe galore at Prada, Fendi, and Jason Wu’s Fall/Winter 2020 collections)
Chiuri asserted herself as an unconventional thinker in the 70s, so did I. I embraced both, the androgynous Twiggy style and the wild dresses and quirky harem pants we sewed in my feminist theatre group. Lighthearted feathers and rich jewelry tingled, rattled, and hummed when we swung our hips or strutted in our fierce bare feet or in cowgirl boots, and artful sandals.
Boho Love
“Boho reminds us of ancient and contemporary wild women”
Wearing Boho reminds us of ancient and contemporary wild women and shapes a feeling of community and togetherness; it’s a visual of “make love, not war” and a No to “normal.”
Bohemianism was and still is about much more than just frightening saturated societies; it was a culture immersed in philosophy, spirituality, mythology and rebellion, of artists of all kinds, painters, writers, actors, musicians, dancers and their friends. They typically lead a free, vagabond-ish life, literally and in spirit.
Resurrecting The Hippie
The innocence of hippie love and the passion to broaden minds of the 60s and 70s is worth resurrecting. It was revived in the 90s, when esoteric spirituality was flourishing and boundaries of mainstream reality were pushed. Maybe now, another 30 years later in 2020, we are challenged to do both; to investigate what’s true, individually and global, and to transform our mistakes with a spiritual rebellion.
Boho outfits have a fascinating history and provide endless tales. There is a different Boho shade for every woman; adventurer, gypsy, nature goddess, mystic or sophisticated sensual French saloniere. All are confidently relaxed yet exuberant styles. Swinging fabrics, unusual accessories and multi layered jewelry create a powerful mishmash of elements perfect for fierce midlife women who are done with ageist assumptions.
With Boho We Can Claim Our Power
Boho is a means to claim our power, to sum up our experiences and express our feminine wisdom in our outfits.
What if women ruled the world? What if we start right now to take a social stance against everything from materialism to society’s constraints and support like-minded women, artists and small businesses? Boykott corporations, which destroy the planet? Starting with our daily life and let our outfits call out our message? A Boho dress is not the revolution, but it carries a free spirited vibe that wakes up strength.
Modern Boho for you.
Bohemian designer fashion can be theatrical and fantastic or happy and flower power but it always is light and embracing life. Buy this beauty at my Poshmark store
Cultural tidbits
Henri Murger‘s collection of short stories “Scènes de la Vie de Bohème” published in 1845, was written to glorify and legitimize Bohemia. Murger’s collection formed the basis of Giacomo Puccini‘s opera La bohème (1896).
In England, bohemian in this sense initially was popularized in William Makepeace Thackeray‘s novel, Vanity Fair, published in 1848. Public perceptions of the artfully alternative lifestyles were further molded by George du Maurier‘s best-selling novel of Bohemian culture Trilby (1894).
In Spanish literature, the Bohemian impulse can be seen in Ramón del Valle-Inclán‘s play Luces de Bohemia (Bohemian Lights), published in 1920.
In his song La Bohème, Charles Aznavour described the Bohemian lifestyle in Montmartre. The film Moulin Rouge! (2001) also reflects the Bohemian lifestyle in Montmartre at the turn of the 20th century.
