BIAS Issue 5
watch from backstage, and ultimately puts them back in their place in the hierarchy, when Simons is the one who takes the bow. This plays into the beliefs the fashion system has, in which, it is the creative genius who is the architect of the work, and not the couturiers who labored so intensely down to the last minutes before the show begins. In Marxist terms, it becomes intriguing how much the documentary gives not just agency but visibility to the work of the ateliers. Half of the footage of the documentary is the manipulation of cloth to create garments. The human touch of these women and men is displayed in every turn, which brings back the value to their work. Rather than fetishizing the commodity of couture and proclaiming it another victory for the creative genius, Raf Simons, who has barely ever manipulated the garments and had people doing it for him, the documentary brings back the actual creator of the garment to the forefront, and shows how much work is put into a couture gown. In this way, Dior and I manages to visibilize the feminized labor, and truly evidence the hardships of the work. It is also very interesting that, the final words spoken by a premiere in the film are, “for a
first time, couture is beautiful, isn’t it?� [9]. These final words firmly position her as the connoisseur in the world of couture, and Simons and Pietr as inexperienced. They are merely dabbling in couture for the first time, whereas she has been doing it for years. She is the expert, and the creative directors will never match up to her knowledge. It is patronizing even, to position them back to their status as inexperienced. As a final thought on the creation of couture and luxury fashion, it is important to note that, with each passing day, fashion schools are removing the requirements to have technical knowledge and sewing skills. Places, like Parsons and Central Saint Martins, have removed this requirement, as they want their students to concentrate on the creative process and not on the technicalities of fashion. As a traditionally feminized labor, Angela McRobbie has recognized this attitude as a rejection of feminized labor [10]. It is not surprising, then, that the breakout stars of such programs are not women who still deal with the stigma of being seamstresses, but the men who can be lauded creative geniuses. Central Saint Martins has produced Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Hussein Chalayan; all designers whose creative endeavors lead to fashion being regarded as art. Saint Martins also produced Stella McCartney, who is well known for her ap proach to craftsmanship with sustainability; a more traditionally feminized approach. On the other hand, the stand-out Parsons graduates are Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, and Donna Karan. Ford and Jacobs are known for 19