It is not often enough that fashion makes use of its power to make a point. A legitimate, important, effective point. It uses its shows to tell us that wide-legged trousers are back in, or that the avant-garde is acceptable because the right socialites are Instagramming it.
Chanel is no different. It likes to make headlines. Last season, its brilliant-minded, effervescently eccentric Karl Lagerfeld transformed his runway into a supermarket aisle. This season, he created Boulevard Chanel No.5 and used his setting to create a fashion, and human rights, spectacle.
Some of the worlds most respected supermodels, including Cara Delevingne and Gisele Bundchen, and the more controversial Kendall Jenner, pranced up and down the Parisian-inspired street in their decadent Chanel attire. They surprised onlookers, and the rest of the world, by bringing out placards and chanting feminist mantras.
Slotting nicely into the world of responsibility opened up to Hollywood and fashion by the likes of Emma Watson, Lagerfeld used the opportunity of guaranteed media attention to make a statement. One that is, no pun intended, becoming more and more fashionable. 'He for She' was once more evoked as the catchphrase of the moment, accompanied by 'FREE freedom' and 'Boys should get pregnant too'.
Whether it took a young face such as Emma's to add a credibility of coolness to political campaigns (as Chanel's similarities to Emma's cause suggest), or whether people are becoming braver and more determined in the face of real political threats encroaching our shores, is yet to be determined. But does it really matter?
Fashion has always had a significant influence. Finally, fashion is using it to make a difference.
