Monica Lewinsky Reformation Campaign Uses Fashion for Good

It is greater than *simply* intelligent advertising and marketing.

Reformation, the model you’re keen on for knee-high boots and saucy attire, is encouraging individuals to vote with the assistance of a well-known face. Earlier this week, the sustainable style model launched their new “You’ve Got the Power” campaign starring the one and solely Monica Lewinsky in a contemporary tackle energy dressing.

For individuals who don’t know her, Lewinsky first entered the general public eye in 1995 when it was revealed she had been in a relationship with then-president Bill Clinton. Clinton was impeached and Lewinsky, a younger White Home intern on the time, was dragged by the media. Many years later, we perceive that Clinton and Lewinsky didn’t have a scandalous affair, however quite Lewinsky fell sufferer to a whole misuse of Clinton’s energy. Fortunately, changing attitudes towards mistreated women of the ’90s and early 2000s (assume Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton) have individuals rethinking their remedy of Lewinsky.

And now she’s fronting a significant style marketing campaign, becoming a member of forces with vote.org and Reformation to encourage individuals to vote within the upcoming U.S. presidential election. It’s genius advertising and marketing, however we shouldn’t be *that* shocked — Reformation and Lewinsky’s partnership is simply the newest instance of style being intertwined with politics. And it is smart it will be debuting now.

To be clear, style has performed a job in politics because the early twentieth century when suffragettes, members of an activist group pushing for ladies to have the precise to vote, used clothes as a approach to assist additional their trigger in a shocking approach — leaning into standard gown as a way of “resistance through reversal.” Basically, this meant making an attempt to mix in whereas they did their essential work. Additionally they selected a specific colour scheme, having members put on purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity and inexperienced for hope, per The Guardian.

In newer years, style and popular culture have intersected in various methods to handle political moments, particularly with regards to voting. In 2004 and 2008, whereas George W. Bush was president, a war in Iraq was raging and the U.S. was heading into the a recession, Citizen Change, a political advocacy mission based by P. Diddy, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and 50 Cent launched the “Vote or Die” campaign. Starring celebrities like Paris Hilton donning shirts emblazoned with Vote or Die, adverts ran on standard channels of the time like MTV and BET to encourage younger of us to vote.

And in 2020, after 4 years of Donald Trump, well-known faces like Lizzo, Prabal Gurung, Sophia Bush, and Mandy Moore took to social media with the #RunwayToThePolls problem, sharing movies of themselves strutting in voting ’suits to mail of their absentee ballots. The movies, enjoyable in nature (and A+ for scoping out celeb fashion), additionally served a goal, making voting look like not solely one thing that’s important and accessible, however can be enjoyable to do. (You may gown up! You should purchase enjoyable merch! You may share the expertise with associates!)

It’s no shock that these two initiatives launched once they did, as a result of 2004-2008 and 2020 had been inarguably scary occasions on the planet, and in the US particularly the place residents are confronted with a rise in acts of hatred and racism and the deterioration of human rights. There was rather a lot happening, and that may really feel formidable to individuals who need circumstances to alter however don’t essentially know the way, or don’t assume their voices have a spot on the planet of politics.

A current poll from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics discovered that younger People between 18 and 29 years previous are much less prone to vote in 2024 than they did in 2023. With younger individuals feeling less-inclined to vote as a consequence of disenchantment with the political system, it’s extra important than ever to speak the need to vote by way of the avenues individuals know and reply to — by way of style and celebrities.

Which brings us to the right here and now. When you think about the historical past of Vote or Die and #RunwayToThePolls, it’s no shock that Reformation would enter the political dialog and hyperlink up with Lewinsky — an identifiable and virtually suffragette-like determine — proper now. Regardless of the author and activist having a much-deserved renaissance over the previous a number of years, the timing of this collab issues, as a result of the previous a number of years have been simply plain horrible.

Between the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the enforcement of legal guidelines that directly target and jeopardize the safety of transgender youth, and the nation’s ongoing support of Israel within the Gaza battle, there’s rather a lot at stake with regards to who takes political workplace. And for brand new voters, seeing recognizable faces and types they love encouraging them to vote would possibly simply be the push they should register.

And it serves as a reminder to us right here in Canada, too. Whereas we could typically assume that Canada has all of it discovered in comparison with our souther neighbours, we don’t. Our flesh pressers (some far right politicians excluded) will not be as vocal and forthright as Trump of their misogyny, however that doesn’t imply that they’re any higher or that Canadians aren’t going through equally restrictive legal guidelines. Regardless of entry to abortion being authorized in Canada, access to reproductive health services is a wholly completely different story, and will be extraordinarily troublesome for these in rural and Indigenous communities.

A 2013 study discovered that 18 per cent of ladies in Canada travelled greater than 100 kilometres to entry abortion care, with Indigenous girls being thrice extra prone to journey this distance. In some provinces, like New Brunswick, local clinics no longer operate as a consequence of a scarcity of funding from the federal government, which means individuals must trek to one of many few hospitals within the province that provide the process.

Outdoors of entry to reproductive well being, the current implementation of Bill C-18 (the On-line Information Act), which led to the banning of sharing Canadian information on Meta platforms, can be a menace to democracy and one thing Canadians ought to be involved about.

So, what does all of it imply? Canada isn’t solely within the clear and, much like our American associates, we additionally must assume lengthy and laborious about simply who — and what — we’re placing our votes behind.

Now, greater than ever, it’s important that folks make their voices heard. And if it takes a marketing campaign from a sustainable style model to do it, then depend us in. Plus, Lewinsky appears to be like frickin’ nice, and that’s price celebrating, too.