5 Ways Sex Work Shows Up in Fashion History: May 24, 2024

It’s Day 27 of my Spring Challenge!

As a reminder, this challenge means that either you get an email in your inbox 5 times per week until May 31st (which means I get a set of luxurious, vintage jammies) OR I have to donate $5 to a charity I hate for every week that I miss the goal.

Series #5: 5 Ways Sex Work Shows Up in Fashion History

Okay folks, I’m tired, I’m exhausted, and I want to go to bed, but I refuse to pay a charity I hate any money at all, so let’s see if we can hammer this one out ASAP. Time to let this iced coffee get to work.

I am aware that sex work is a painful topic for many. Please keep yourself and your health first and do not read this if it may hurt you.

There are a million examples of what I call lingeriechic - items that were traditionally considered undergarments (or looked enough like them) that slowly entered the mainstream.

Some of these include the chemise à la reine we discussed in our Marie Antoinette issue, lingerie blouses in the 1910s, lacy and satin slip dresses that entered the zeitgeist in the 90s and then again in the early 2020s, and the trend of g-strings peeking out - popular in the 2000s and then again on the red carpet by Hailey Bieber.

(also on another note, I’m already out of iced coffee)

The world of couture is great at appropriating sex worker culture, while not giving credit to the workers themselves. There’s still a stigma attached to sex work, which luxury fashion houses often want to take advantage of while preventing any benefits from trickling down to the actual workers.

A blatant and famous example of this is Marc Jacobs’ Autumn Winter 2013 collection for Louis Vuitton. Models, including Cara Delevingne, were shown in fur coats and short bobs, revealing silk slips underneath for passing cars - very sex worker-esque.

However, not a single sex worker was actually consulted on this script or brought on board at all, stripping away agency and showing, if possible, an even more romanticized version of sex work than “Pretty Woman” (which I’m sorry for any fans, you can come at me, that movie was just…no).

We don’t even need these specific examples. How many perfume, handbag, and clothing ads have you seen that specifically use sex as a selling point?

And: how would they react if actual sex workers used them?

Today’s Pick: OnlyFans & Dior

In 2022, Dior filed a lawsuit against OnlyFans model Gigi Dior for using their name and damaging Dior's reputation: a "dilution by blurring and dilution by tarnishing".

Sex workers have long been known to take on public names inspired by couture: Sofia Prada and Drew Valentino are just some examples.

Heck, even the popular novella/movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, while not about a sex worker, draws a lot of its irony from a high-class brand being associated with a woman who is essentially trading her youth and beauty (and perhaps some sexual favors) for money and favors from rich men.

This sprinkling of luxury in what is seen as “low-class” work brings about a sense of fun and irreverence, as well as allowing more people to participate in an exclusionary system based on privilege.

The irony of Dior suing Gigi Dior is mind-boggling.

During the 2000s, John Galliano, the Creative Director at Dior, debuted lines that drew from the BDSM world: BDSM brides, sex doll naval officers, and French maid designs prevailed.

Even better (you know, to make things super clear), they walked the runway with a background noise of moans and whips. No, not a song. The actual sounds of moans and whips.

So for Dior to sue Gigi Dior 20 years later for associating their name with sex??? Mind BLOWN.

Oh wait, I get it. The difference is that Gigi Dior isn’t a wealthy sex worker with millions of followers. And of course, this means that her using Dior in her stage name is going to bring Dior’s 75-year legacy tumbling down.

Not going to lie, I understand the power of trademarks but this just made me snort. Talk about “untouchable” luxury.

As we’ve discussed earlier, fashion, sex, and sexuality are often hard to separate. Of course, not all of us dress to attract other people, but there are reasons of comfort, history, and sexuality that have led to clothing being gendered - it almost forces parties to notice that we belong to certain bodies. Fashion is very related to the mind, but not entirely.

Be real: dressing “hot” may be restricted to some nights out - but who has not occasionally gotten a haircut or worn a beautiful outfit to feel more connected to their physicality and their sexual selves?

I read something once that’s never left my mind: “Fashion means putting on your clothes carefully so that someone else rips them off.” I am paraphrasing, but this has made me laugh on multiple occasions.

So when that is in fact a root of the clothes we wear, why do we bar this beauty and this power from the populations that deal with sex the most?

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xoxo,

Simran