Emily Ratajkowski, Stormy Daniels, and their overt show of fashionable solidarity.
Captured while walking in New York City, the model, writer, and performer was observed wearing a graphic tee adorned with Stormy Daniels' visage (Daniels is a grown-up film actress and director who received $130,000 from Trump to keep secret an affair from the 2016 election). The $95 shirt was designed by cartoonist Robert Crumb. According to the brand Platform, it donates part of its sales to the New York-based domestic violence and sexual assault organization, "Safe Horizon."
Fashion has served as a significant medium for political expression, especially for individuals with a high profile. In 1984, British designer Katherine Hamnett spearheaded the trend for politically charged T-shirts. During a meeting with then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she donned a shirt bearing the phrase "58% don't want Pershing" - an expression borrowed from a poll on the spread of American nuclear missiles in Europe. Hamnett later told the Guardian in 2018 that she wore the top under her jacket until she reached the wall of cameras, only then exposing the message. Thatcher responded by reacting, "Hamnett exclaimed.
Nowadays, statements range from complex to unambiguous. Ratajkowski herself, a veteran of the sartorial advocacy campaign, donned a conspicuous Rage Against the Machine T-shirt boasting a youthful-looking Bernie Sanders in 2020. But in 2017, as she presented a television address on Brexit legislation, the late Queen Elizabeth II (who was well-versed in the symbolism of dress) wore a blue and yellow floral hat that many took to be a silent acknowledgment of the EU flag. At the Cannes Film Festival just this month, speculations arose about whether Cate Blanchett's Haider Ackermann dress was a covert expression of solidarity with Palestine amid the Gaza war. The silk satin haute couture gown was comprised of a dark half and a blush-toned rose half, with a noticeable emerald green interior becoming visible when she opened her garment. An overhead photographer captured a photograph showing the pink in Blanchett's dress looking white against the Promenade de la Croisette's red carpet. Neither Blanchett nor Ackermann (who created the gown in January 2023, well before the October 7 conflicts) released an official statement on the dress.
However, in the digital era, manifestations of support risk outside interventions. On Wednesday, Vanity Fair France apologized after it was disclosed that the publication had deleted a Palestinian pin worn by actor Guy Pearce during a photo shoot. "Given the intense suffering and loss inflicted upon the Palestinian people due to the vindictive rule of Netanyahu, it is regrettable that a reputable magazine like VF tries to delete support I or anyone else may extend," Pearce remarked to CNN through an emailed statement. "Personally, I think it's a shame."
Hamnett finds that the quality of modern protest tees has degraded to "diluted messages." While Ratajkowski's design doesn't have a shocking statement or slogan, there's a certain poetry in her choice of motif. After contending with sexual assault through several incidents, Daniels, whose story was initially dismissed because of her career as a sex worker, refused to yield to a wealthy and powerful man's efforts to suppress her. Similarly, Ratajkowski penned in her 2021 memoir "My Body" about her struggle with enduring multiple instances of sexual assault.
"My status brought me close to affluence and authority while providing me with some autonomy, yet it hasn't resulted in true empowerment," Ratajkowski stated in the introduction to her book. "I've gained that only now, having penned these essays and given voice to what I've pondered and suffered."These "designs"exemplify "protests "
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Emily Ratajkowski and Stormy Daniels have used fashion as a platform for solidarity, with Ratajkowski wearing a Stormy Daniels-themed graphic tee in public. This choice of attire is a continuation of Ratajkowski's history of using fashion to advocate for political causes.
Fashion can be a powerful tool for expressing style and making political statements, as exemplified by Emily Ratajkowski's choice to wear a Stormy Daniels-themed shirt and Stormy Daniels' own refusal to be silenced in the face of power and wealth.
