Australian designer Lewis Beilharz hit the headlines recently when a model waved a Palestinian flag during his New York Fashion Week show.
But what got the fashion-focused crowd buzzing was the collection itself, the clothes serving as an ode to Palestine and a comment on the continuing violence in Gaza and the West Bank. While waving the flag, model Abdul Almo was also wearing a jacket with Palestine written across it.
The small brand may have put itself on the map with this viral moment, but with so much of the attention on Almo rather than Beilharz, the designer who has a long history of support for Palestine, the moment arguably backfired. What it did do was start a conversation and shine a light on the issue.
Beilharz is not the first, nor will be the last, person to use fashion to make a noise about a particular event or topic. In 1984, the British designer Katherine Hamnett met the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wearing a T-shirt protesting against nuclear weapons. With a T-shirt down almost to her knees, Hamnett's outfit declared that “58% Don't Want Pershing”, highlighting the number of Britons who opposed the weapons. Eight decades earlier, Suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote dressed in all-white – because this made them easier to see in crowds.
In 2019, model Ayesha Tan-Jones walked the runway for Gucci, displaying a collection partly inspired by straitjackets. Tan-Jones showed her displeasure at this by writing “mental health is not fashion” on her palms.
There have been numerous protests against fur, leather and even cashmere on and around the runway, notably by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or Peta. In February, it stormed the Fendi show in Milan, with a sign saying “Animals Are Not Clothing.” Fendi began as a fur and leather company. A couple of weeks earlier, Peta invaded the Coach show during New York Fashion Week, with signs that read “Coach: Let Cows Live.”
In 2021, the climate action group Extinction Rebellion managed to crash numerous shows during Fashion Week, including Louis Vuitton, where protesters unfurled banners with the words “Overconsumption = Extinction.” The same week, it also interrupted the Christian Dior show with a banner reading: “We Are All Fashion Victims.” Interestingly, given designer Maria Grazia Chiuri's fondness for making political and social statements with her collections, many in the audience were left wondering if this, too, was just part of the show.
In 2019, French comedian Marie S'Infiltre – real name Marie Benoliel – clambered on to the Chanel runway, dressed in a dog-tooth coat and black hat.
She managed to walk a fair distance before being stopped by the American-Palestinian model Gigi Hadid, who led her away. It was deemed to be a publicity stunt rather than a protest.
