Week 5

Today's discussion revolved mainly around two articles directly and indirectly addressing feminism and the role of the image of women in design. The first piece we read and discussed was about Helene Gordon-Lazareff, original creator of the fashion magazine ELLE.

http://ipjblog.com/lapressemagazine/files/2008/05/logo-elle.jpg

According to the article, Helen used to say that women who understand how men look at them will spend all their life "sipping champagne on sunny terraces." The issues surrounding her magazine and those like it include female emancipation, the image of women in a designed piece, content and style, ground-breaking technology (she brought colored photography to the States in her magazine), and Modernism (Swiss). Helen made high-fashion accessible with humour and fun, she herself being extremely confident, especially for 1945. Her upbringing contributed to this - she was very well off and was treated as royalty. Her style of communication was "flirty"; she had a natural charm.

http://ipjblog.com/lapressemagazine/files/2008/05/helene2.jpg

Known as the "tsarina" by her staff, she was adored and respected by all. However, though she rose to prominent power, some of Helen's ideas seemed very non-feminist. During the second World War, women had been brought into the workforce as an emergency more to help with the war effort, and here feminism got a good boost, though it had started much earlier with women's voting rights and such. Helen, however, didn't think women should be fighting for feminism, as she thought they already had a good position in society. She surrounded herself with men "who extolled femininity as defined by men in love with women." It is no surprise, then, that the fashion spreads of her magazine were "upbeat, friendly, youthful, and seductive."

"How to attract and please a man was the driving force behind most of the articles. Keeping house, cooking, sewing, knitting, shopping, and taking care of children were celebrated. And though French people love to argue about politics, the magazine dodged the topic...the coverlines and headlines often asked provocative questions, about everything from abortion to adultery--but the answers were always deeply conservative." - Veronique Vienne

 Her art director, Peter Knapp, helped create the cutting-edge design that seemed quite avant-garde, and she ensured that the men who worked for the magazine were, like Knapp, "a fan of the opposite sex," that they looked at women more than at women's clothing, and would give her magazine the "imprint of a straight man's sensibility." Helene Gordon-Lazareff didn't like anything trivial, cute, or fussy.

http://www.retromag.com/gallery/regular/27233_31495.jpg

http://www.retromag.com/gallery/regular/22151_32261.jpg

It is interesting to note that because of the enormous male interest in the ELLE magazine, French men became fashion connoisseurs, a trend which can still be seen today.

http://www.retromag.com/gallery/regular/22150_32259.jpg

Sadly, the ELLE magazine has strayed far from what it's designer intended. It's current message is not what what it was created to portray. In the words of Frank Horvat, "...most fashion magazines today, including ELLE, are too clever. They give readers the impression that they are not good enough..." This is exactly what Helene did NOT want. In her naturally self-confident way, she felt and conveyed that nothing was impossible. "She sincerely believed that women were equal, if not superior, to men. That's why she wasn't much a of a feminist. She never understood why women wanted to fight for something they already had," said Knapp.

The second article we discussed much more briefly. It covered the topic of related subjects from the perspective of the comic strip 'Dagwood.' According to the author, it is interesting to note that Blondie, the wife and mother in the ongoing story of Dagwood, is of no particular interest to the reader - not because she's a slacker, but because she's so perfect. The interesting character is the father, who is lazy, a bit unintelligent, and childish.  Is this a result of feminism? The downplaying of the male role in the family? It could easily be argued. If so, that sort of feminism is very anti-Biblical.