Last Friday, the LA-based brand Reformation, best known for its silky, floral dresses, teased an image from a forthcoming workwear collection. The pictures on Instagram featured a woman with her back turned to the camera wearing a black pencil skirt, white shirt and pointy heels in an office overlooking a city skyline. “We’re giving you the power. With some help from a friend,” read the cryptic caption.
Fast forward to Monday and that “friend” was unveiled as Monica Lewinsky. In the images, the writer and activist wears various pieces from the collection, including a cream trouser suit (from £298), a belted leather trench coat (£798) and cherry-red flared midi skirt with a matching sleeveless top (£298).
But there’s more to the campaign than great silhouettes. With the US presidential election only eight months away, Reformation has teamed up with Vote.org, a nonpartisan organisation that helps register people to vote. The Reformation homepage now has a “voting hub”, featuring information on how to vote, and the brand is also donating all of the proceeds from a £78 sweatshirt emblazoned with the words “You’ve Got the Power” to the non-profit.
“Our voice is our power,” Lewinsky said in a statement released by the brand. “It’s pretty simple: Voting is using our voice to be heard and it’s the most defining – and powerful – aspect of democracy. Voting is always important, but the stakes are especially high this year, with voter frustration and apathy threatening to meaningfully impact turnout.”
In the past, many fashion brands have distanced themselves from politics, fearing it would alienate shoppers. But in recent years they’ve had to change tactics to capture the attention of an ever-more politically engaged customer base. A 2020 study by Vogue Business found that more than half of Teen Vogue readers supported campaigns to encourage voting while 61% of readers believe fashion and beauty brands have a duty to address social issues. The next US presidential election will be crucial for young people born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s – with 40.8 million of them now eligible to vote.
For those questioning whether 50-year-old Lewinsky resonates with today’s youth, a quick scroll through the comments section on Reformation’s Instagram page featuring statements such as “Chills. Screaming. Dying” and numerous users calling her “mother” suggest she does. Many reference her TedTalk about online shaming that has racked up more than 21m views.
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Over the next couple of months expect to see more brands engaging with politics but safely focusing on voter apathy rather than on endorsing a specific candidate. During the run-up to the 2020 US election, the luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue set up voting registration at its flagship shop in New York, Ralph Lauren declared election day a company-wide holiday and Crocs released a “Vote” shoe charm. As Paris fashion week gets underway, could we see another “Vote” sweatshirt similar to the one Nicolas Ghesquière sent down the Louis Vuitton spring-summer 2021 catwalk? Or could Lewinsky be a new front-row favourite? Watch this space.