FEMINIST FRIDAY: Rebecca Minkoff Celebrating Women’s Layered Identities In New Campaign

Welcome to another Feminist Friday! That time of the week where we gather around our devices and computers like a digital campfire and check out a handful of videos we are loving right now. These are videos that are feminist, intersectional and inclusive. This week we’re exploring the theme of identity and showcasing campaigns and narratives that seek to dismantle the narrow and binary “rules” set out for women that say we must only choose one.

First up is the new Rebecca Minkoff campaign ‘I Am Many‘ which encapsulates this message really well. This campaign is a rebranding of the luxury label, and seeks to show how the Rebecca Minkoff customer (as well as others) should not be pushed into one single identity.

“Women have really been marketed to to be one thing —be brave, be bold, be ambitious. And I think that as a brand we feel like that’s not authentic, that there’s beauty in exploring and amplifying all the different parts of a woman, all of her dimensions,” said the designer, as reported by AOL.com.

The campaign features a series of 10 one-minute videos where women from all walks of life share their own stories. The designer said she crowd-sourced her models from friends, family and the internet, and initially had over 160 women on their wishlist. They narrowed it down by looking for the voices and stories that have not been heard before and people who are making an impact.

“I think there’s systemic things that we’ve been being messaged to since we were little. It’s your typical stories of just being shown that the princess should marry her prince, or if you’re smart. you’re a nerd. I think as we grow up with this type of messaging, we learn that we should just be one or the other … but who’s to say you can’t choose both? Who’s to say you can’t be both? We should start changing that dialogue — especially with youth — to embrace both … just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re a nerd, just because you’re beautiful doesn’t mean that you’re vapid. I think it’s about changing a lot of those connections that people have put together for so long into something that’s not really about that,” said Rebecca. Watch the trailer below then head to the Rebecca Minkoff website to learn more about the women.

Our second video this week is the trailer for the forthcoming ‘Widows’ movie, starring the badass award-winning actress Viola Davis. As Reuters reports, although the movie is billed as a “heist” film, what it does is actually reinvent the genre most notably with female empowerment.

The film, set in Chicago and starring Oscar winner Viola Davis, follows four women left in debt by their criminal husbands who decide to turn to robbery to get back on their feet. It chronicles their journey from wives who were primarily supported by their husbands but who overcome the trauma from past abuse and neglect to develop creative ways to survive.

Along with Viola Davis, the Steve McQueen-directed flick (’12 Years A Slave’) also stars a multi-ethnic cast including Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo and Elizabeth Debicki rounding out the four main characters.

“It wasn’t any gimmickry heist movie. It was women empowering themselves in their lives and confronting each other and having to work together,” Viola told the press at the Toronto Film Festival where the movie premiered.

“It’s a film about women, about women learning who they are and becoming independent. It’s about empowerment, it’s a film about corruption and racism and violence, and it’s a heist film,” Elizabeth Debicki said.

The director himself said he was inspired to make this film, reminiscing about the British TV series of the same name back in the 1980’s, and how it spoke to him as a young black boy to see four women who were being judged about what they were able to achieve, and judged by their appearance rather than their character. This is why we need more diverse representations of women on screen because it points to the multi-layered and complex identities that we all possess, and that Hollywood has unfortunately done a great job of silencing in favor of tropes and stereotypes. The film comes out on November 16, just in time for the holidays.

Our final video this week comes from Reebok, whose #BeMoreHuman campaign seeks to show the “fitness” identity in a new light, paying attention to the collective movements that are demanding more diversity and intersectionality from advertising and brands.

Going beyond physical aesthetic, the brands seeks to show women “you’re enough no matter who you are or what you look like”. Featuring notable names such as Ariana Grande and Gal Gadot, the campaign also includes Australian Paralympian and powerlifter Kelly Cartwright.

“Be confident in the skin that you’re given because you only get one life and you only get one body, and you’ve got to use it the best you can,” said the athlete. It is a powerful statement to make, and one we are empowered by.


 

 

 

 

 

One thought on “FEMINIST FRIDAY: Rebecca Minkoff Celebrating Women’s Layered Identities In New Campaign

Leave a Reply