This "perspective" spent the better part of the day at the top of the Wapo page. I like the post, but come on...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...try-needs-to-speak-up/?utm_term=.b9220c0b9011
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Not every industry needs to make a public statement with every turn of the news cycle. And few members of the public have been standing by breathlessly wondering: What does Michael Kors think of Charlottesville? What does J. Crew have to say? Still, the fashion industry is anchored by large public companies that carry just as much cultural clout as any athlete or actor. Many fashion brands have built their businesses on the mythic melting pot of the American Dream. Fashion owes an especially large debt to those communities targeted by white supremacists: Designers regularly draw artistic inspiration from communities of color. Some of fashion’s earliest and most influential merchants and editors have been Jewish. And the industry has benefited greatly from the creativity and ingenuity of those who identify as LBGT.
Why wouldn’t fashion speak up? Especially now that fashion has become a stealth weapon for white nationalists. Neo-Nazis have bought into fashion’s ability to camouflage, distract, embolden, reassure, flatter and, quite simply, lie.
In the multitude of images from Charlottesville, the race-baiting protesters are decked out in white polo shirts and khakis. Others are wearing neat jeans, button-down shirts, cargo shorts. They are wearing jeans and striped pullovers that look like they could have come from the sale rack at a local Gap.
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The protesters recognized the power of fashion’s visual language, and they embraced it. More than one young recruit taking his first tentative steps into white nationalism has recounted the delight — and perhaps relief — in finding that these conspirators in hate look so normal. They look like any 20-something or 30-year-old with their short-on-the-sides, long-on-the-top haircuts, their skinny suits, and hoodies and baseball caps.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...try-needs-to-speak-up/?utm_term=.b9220c0b9011
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Not every industry needs to make a public statement with every turn of the news cycle. And few members of the public have been standing by breathlessly wondering: What does Michael Kors think of Charlottesville? What does J. Crew have to say? Still, the fashion industry is anchored by large public companies that carry just as much cultural clout as any athlete or actor. Many fashion brands have built their businesses on the mythic melting pot of the American Dream. Fashion owes an especially large debt to those communities targeted by white supremacists: Designers regularly draw artistic inspiration from communities of color. Some of fashion’s earliest and most influential merchants and editors have been Jewish. And the industry has benefited greatly from the creativity and ingenuity of those who identify as LBGT.
Why wouldn’t fashion speak up? Especially now that fashion has become a stealth weapon for white nationalists. Neo-Nazis have bought into fashion’s ability to camouflage, distract, embolden, reassure, flatter and, quite simply, lie.
In the multitude of images from Charlottesville, the race-baiting protesters are decked out in white polo shirts and khakis. Others are wearing neat jeans, button-down shirts, cargo shorts. They are wearing jeans and striped pullovers that look like they could have come from the sale rack at a local Gap.
...
The protesters recognized the power of fashion’s visual language, and they embraced it. More than one young recruit taking his first tentative steps into white nationalism has recounted the delight — and perhaps relief — in finding that these conspirators in hate look so normal. They look like any 20-something or 30-year-old with their short-on-the-sides, long-on-the-top haircuts, their skinny suits, and hoodies and baseball caps.
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