1) Emma Watson

Emma Watson first made famous as Hermoine Granger in the hit film series Harry Potter has since become one of the leading advocates for gender equality. Beginning in 2014 with Watson’s moving speech on gender equality at the U.N. In that same year she was named U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador. She also started the initiative HeForShe, a program dedicated to improving the status of women.

2) Maisie Williams

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams is not just a talented actress, she has also become an incredible entrepreneur. In 2016 she started her own production company, Daisie Chain Productions with Dom Santry and Bill Milner and two years later she launched a social media app with business partner Dom Santry called Daisie. Daisie aims to bring creatives from different industries together and develop a community of artists as a place for collaboration and creation. She hopes that this app might help others to develop their careers.

3) Zendaya

Actress, dancer and singer Zendaya Coleman is not just talented but charitable as well. She is a supporter of the following seven charities; American Heart Association, American Stroke Association, Communities in Schools, Convoy of Hope, DonorsChoose.org, PETA and UNICEF. For the past few years, as a way for fans to celebrate her birthday she has urged them to donate to school children in developing countries and three brothers who lost their parents to AIDS in South Africa (talk about a queen).

4) Yara Shahidi

The Black-ish and Grown-ish star Yara Shahidi has been making quite a difference though education and social activism. During her time at school she began Yara’s Club, a membership program partnered with the Young Women’s Leadership Network that focuses on the YWLN’s vision; empowering youth to defeat poverty through education. Yara has become an activist for feminism, STEM awareness and self-empowerment and has become the face of Science Sleuth Campaign. Yara has been able to achieve many amazing things at such a young age and I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of her in years to come.

5) Amandla Stenberg

Star of The Hate U Give Amandla Stenberg feels that she accidently became an activist, a label she wouldn’t necessarily self-label but she’s honoured that people see her in that way. Through her activism, she hopes to make people feel less alone, rather feel represented. She wants to take advantage of the platform she has been given through acting to speak about topics which may help other queer people of colour.

6) Marsai Martin

Another Black-ish star doing the most is Marsai Martin. After firing her agents who didn’t believe in her dreams and aspirations, she went on to starting her own production company, Genius Productions and producing the newly released film Little, starring Regina Hall, Issa Rae and herself. Martin had been laughed at and treated like a child. Marsai has been able to achieve so much by age fourteen, a true inspiration to all girls out here. She proves that age is just a number and anyone can achieve their dreams if they never give up.

I recently sat down with UCT Fashion Society Chairperson, John Anyetei to discuss his vision for the future, his idea of UCT fashion and how fashion can be used as a tool for breaking down gender and cultural stereotypes.

John is a Post graduate student studying Business Corporate Communications at UCT. He got involved with the UCT fashion society when he was in his second year and became Head of Events in his third year and chairperson in his final year of undergrad. He recognized the lack of a ‘hub’ where people interested in culture could gather, talk and create. So naturally his vision for the UCT Fashion Society was to create that type of space and opportunities for entrepreneurs. He hopes to use the society to propel and elevate other students interested in creating fashion.

His own journey in fashion began out of a need for Afro- Fashion. He searched for a blend of African fashion and modern streetwear but could not find many options in South Africa. He thought if he couldn’t find what he was looking for in any shop, he would make his own. He wore one of his original pieces of clothing to an Afro-punk concert and it was all uphill from there.

“Okay, this seems like something that people are interested in.”

He thought after receiving praise for his clothing. By the end of 2017 he had launched a website and began selling on Instagram, doing fashion shows and the hype has just continued until now. People are grateful towards him for helping them showcase their identity through their clothing. People often feel they should assimilate when it comes to their dressing because African fashion in the past has been seen as very traditional, very overt, challenging to blend that into your every-day but John has found a way to create a perfect balance between African clothing and modern streetwear.

His vision for 2019 is to bring a corporate element to the society because as creatives, they don’t always have the resources to carry out their vision. Instead of being a hobby, he wants this to become a job.

“We want to create, we want to blog, we want to create clothing, we want to do the most but how can we do that in a way that is sustainable and that we can actually make money from it?”

He aims to get partners and sponsors this year to ensure the additional resources to aid students interested in fashion and who want to take it as a career path. Within this year the UCT Fashion Society did a collaboration with McDonalds, holding a pop-up shop at Cavendish Square, Claremont where some of their designers had the opportunity to showcase their clothing.

John has a few interesting observations on women’s fashion at UCT. He says that unlike other universities where girls are carbon copies of one another, UCT women have a reputation for following their own paths and expressing themselves through fashion in a way that is true to them and not anybody else. The fact that most South Africans wore school uniforms growing up, he believes that some of us may have lost our identity being told what to wear and essentially who to be for so long. Other contributing factors would be where one shops, how much money you have to spend and so forth; these things kind of dictate the kind of clothing you can buy.

“Fashion trends often stem from childhood and society, in terms of how they were raised.”

John speaks of how certain societies may be more accepting of types of dress, for example gender neutral clothing and at the same time how people were raised plays a big role in what you as an adult see as acceptable or fashionable.

He says that where he is from, wearing second hand clothes is not exactly acceptable whereas here his friends would ask, if he wanted to go thrift shopping. So different societies deem certain ways of dressing appropriate and not. Another thing to note is what you observe around you. If you see enough people wearing a particular sneaker, it’s most likely that you will feel comfortable/ obligated to buy a pair yourself.

“I don’t believe clothing should be gendered”

By representation, we as a society are able to break down gender stereotypes and social norms. Once enough people believe in a certain cause, it then becomes normalised.

“Once we see enough people problematising the status quo, that becomes the status quo.”

As society evolves, so does fashion. When people are surrounded by other people who are accepting and tolerant of others, they become more comfortable in experimentation. What would usually prevent a guy from wearing something deemed as feminine is fear of backlash from the greater community.

Like art, music and spoken words, fashion is just another way to project what’s on the inside. By creating safe and accepting environments, people are able to express themselves in any way they wish. In high school often students have a bit of a mob mentality of if you don’t dress in a certain way, you’re a reject but perhaps at this point people have stopped caring what others think of them. This is the type of mindset we all need to have; just be yourself and don’t worry about what others think.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, for so many years women have been portrayed as weak and in need of saving through books, films and television. One TV series that has been on everybody’s lips for the past month or so has managed to break down every gender stereotype for women- GAME OF THRONES.

Before you stop reading out of fear that this post contains spoilers, I’ll just mention that I haven’t watched season 8 yet and am currently on season 7 episode 7. About two weeks ago when everybody was buzzing about this and that regarding Game of Thrones I decided perhaps I should check it out, see what the fuss was about. I began watching and once I got through all the nudity and blood it was actually quite enjoyable. Most characters were vile and immoral however, they intrigued me.

But this is not a Game of Thrones review, in this post I wanted to discuss the amazing representation of powerful women. The men in the series may not have noticed it but I’m sure everyone watching at 3am on a Monday morning could tell who was running the show. Yes we all hate Cersei Lannister, she’s a vicious woman but she doesn’t do things out of jealousy for another woman, no everything she does is calculated and planned. She wished to have the iron throne or at least have one of her children sitting on it and that is what she got. She is probably the most intelligent woman in Westeros, she thinks ahead, plans for every possibility. Her methods might be a little inhumane but they were all justified in her mind.

Margaery Tyrell used all her assets to get what she wanted in life, of course that resulted in her demise but we can’t all have a mind like Cersei Lannister. Ellaria Sand got revenge on the Lannisters for the death of her husband while her King did nothing (which also resulted in her death). Yara Greyjoy was a great warrior and didn’t care that no woman had ever ruled the iron islands before her (however she too didn’t have a very happy ending). Wow this blog post isn’t exactly going the way I had hoped with all these deaths however, that’s just Game of Thrones for you.

Moving on to powerful women who are still alive… Brienne of Tarth, the most noble knight in all of Westeros, she fights with honour and protects all she has placed her allegiance to. Arya Stark, what a woman; she survived on her own for years. Training and learning life skills that have helped her achieve many of her goals (and by goals I mean the people she wishes to murder). Arya is often underestimated, she may be small but boy is she fierce.

Last but most certainly not least, Queen Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lady of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, Lady of Dragonstone, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. Damn, I don’t know how Missandei remembers all of that. She was treated like property, sold, raped and so much more but she found a way to rise above. With the help of her dragons, she acquired an army, ships, loyal subjects, former slaves who chose to follow her and gained many allies. These women did not sit around and hide behind men. They took charge and demanded what they felt was rightfully theirs. A true inspiration to women everywhere (you know, minus the killing).  

Through the years women have been portrayed as weak, feeble characters in need of rescue or worse; jealous, vindictive women who would destroy any other woman who posed a threat. And not a threat in terms of strength but rather beauty. We’ve seen it in every Disney princess movie up until recently.

Take Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a start; jealous evil queen attempts to murder Snow White because she wishes to remain the fairest in the land. Snow on the other hand seeks refuge with seven little men and when she is finally captured, the only way to break the spell is if a man comes to save her by giving her a big ole kiss. But the portrayal of patriarchy in films didn’t stop there. It continued with Cinderella needing a man to stand up for her and get her out of a terrible home situation and again with Sleeping Beauty needing to be saved by a true loves kiss from a man and so on and so forth, we know the drill.

Lately however, filmmakers have caught onto this new way of life; where women are taking charge and leading starting with Mulan (1998) she was a brave warrior who unfortunately had to pose as a man in order to help her country in fighting in the war; this was the first time a Disney film portrayed society in the correct light- exposing their lack of respect and unwillingness to work with women. The next great warrior princess took quite some time to reach the screens with Brave (2012). Since then there have been a few notable princesses.  There was Elsa, a strong independent Queen who didn’t wish to harm her sister but rather protect her. Someone who didn’t need a man by her side in order to rule. The first Disney Princess to ever say “You can’t marry a man you just met” (iconic moment) and then there was Moana. The fiercest warrior princess to have been created by Disney. She left home to find the man who messed up the world by accidentally bringing darkness into the sea, in order to restore the world to its former glory. See that, a man messed up and a woman had to clean it up- isn’t that more realistic.

In other Disney films, the power of women has exploded in the most talked about film of the year- Avengers Endgame. Stop reading if you haven’t watched the film but those of you who have, let’s take a moment to appreciate the most iconic moment in Marvel history when the men couldn’t defeat Thanos and all the women band together to destroy him- Wanda, Okoye, Valkyrie, Shuri, Captain Marvel, heck even Pepper Potts. These cinematic moments show us that together we are strongest.

It opposes the old way of women fighting each other and rather shows us the light. That women are strong and can do anything a man can do (sometimes even better) but more importantly that we are better and stronger when fighting together.

“I pray that one day every women may accept and love themselves for who they truly are.”

Loving yourself can be a lot easier said than done. It takes a tremendous amount of strength and perseverance to reach a point of true self-love. It is so easy to convince others how much you love yourself, the difficult part is convincing yourself.

For centuries, women have been led to believe that they are objects for men to possess; their value determined by their physical appearance. However, society’s perception of female beauty has changed throughout the years.

During the Paleolithic era (2.5 million years- 12 000 years ago), the Venus of Willendorf was crafted to symbolise the ideal woman and was a paradigm of fertility. This statue certainly would not be considered beautiful according to society’s perception of beauty today. She is not just curvy but would be considered extremely overweight. During this time period, a typically large body meant that a woman would be capable of taking care of herself in terms of survival as well as being able to bear many children. The voluptuous, healthy body was seen as ideal 25 000 years ago.

A healthy body continued to be the ideal in Ancient Greece. This can be seen through Ancient statues. Women are depicted with large hips, full breasts and a healthy looking stomach. Pythagoras, Ionian Greek philosopher claimed that a woman’s face needed to be two thirds as wide as it is long and both sides need to be symmetrical. Symmetrical faces are still seen as more beautiful in today’s society.

It was only during the Elizabethan era when makeup become an element of beauty. When Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1558, she set off a trend of wearing makeup. The idea that the lighter your skin colour, the more beautiful you are has stemmed from this. Poorer women who worked outdoors developed tans which symbolised their lack of money whereas women who stayed indoors maintained light skins. The lighter your skin the wealthier you were, therefore the more beautiful you were. This type of mindset has been affecting women for the past five centuries. This is still a serious insecurity for women of colour. The idea that you are not beautiful in the eyes of the rest of the world due to the colour of your skin (which is something you’re born with), can greatly affect the way you see yourself and definitely the love you give yourself. Unfortunately, makeup was not the only trend that has affected women to this day.

With the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837, the pale, frail, weak look was all the rage. At this time, makeup was made with incredibly toxic ingredients such as lead, ammonia and mercury which caused women to fall ill making them even more frail. Despite being aware of the possible side effects, some women still chose to wear it. Men were drawn to the frail look and therefore it became the next big trend.

Can you believe it; women choosing to please a man over their own health? I mean, it’s not like much has changed since then. Quite a bit happened during the 20th century, the 1910s and 1920s women were slowly gaining more rights (e.g. the right to vote). The boyish figure became the norm and women began taking ownership over their attire by dressing in short dresses and rocking the short hair; Coco Chanel said it best, “A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.”. And this was the case until the Great Depression when women began adopting male clothing and adjusting them to fit their bodies (in the USA specifically). By the time the 60s rolled around and Twiggy was on every billboard and magazine cover introducing an era of super-modelling, women fell back into the mindset of ‘thinner is better’. However supermodels symbolised unattainable beauty, something to strive towards however nearly impossible to achieve. This caused significant damage to the mindsets of many women so much so that it still affects us 60 years later.

Fast forward to 2019 where apparently being ‘thick’ is the latest trend. Every girl wants a Kardashian-sized butt and thighs for days. Well it’s about darn time curvy women are appreciated again. However this, like every other beauty/body trend is problematic. We shouldn’t be praising a certain body shape be it thick or thin.

Everyone needs to understand that people are built differently and no one figure is better or worse than another. I think it is time for a new era; the era of All Natural where women are able to embrace their natural selves; makeup free, filter free, shame free.

Forever,

Amen

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton