FASHION HISTORY LESSON: THE SUBVERSIVE POWER OF TULLE

The fabric has become a catwalk mainstay in the aftermath of the #metoo movement for a reason.

Welcome to Fashion History Lesson, where we will delve deeply into the origins and history of the fashion industry's most significant and ubiquitous businesses, icons, trends, and more.

A frothy tulle skirt embodies Western culture's romanticized vision of femininity better than anything else. The ethereal and transparent properties of this lightweight, thin netting, often linked with bridal attire and ballet costumes, have come to serve as a representation of the contrasts connected with womanhood: fragile yet strong, pure but seductive.

In recent seasons, the romanticized fabric has been a catwalk mainstay, appearing on the Spring 2018 runways of Saint Laurent, Moschino, Alexander McQueen, Oscar de la Renta, Simone Rocha, Preen, and Delpozo, to mention a few. It's especially noticeable this week, with the couture shows in full force in Paris. (Of course, that doesn't include the mountains of tulle displayed practically every season by Molly Goddard and Giambattista Valli, who could potentially sustain the tulle industry on their own.) Tulle clothing's appeal could be a cyclical reaction to sports wear's long-standing market domination, but is it a coincidence that one of the most traditionally feminine materials appears to be making a comeback?

TULLE ESSENTIALS

Historians think that, in the early 1800s, tulle was meticulously woven by hand using procedures comparable to lace manufacture. Tulle (also known as bobbinet) was first made after a clever weaving machine capable of producing the fabric effectively was patented in 1809. Tulle was then used extensively in high-end wedding gowns, evening gowns, and lingerie. Tulle, a once prohibitively expensive and elegant silk textile, became widely available to the general public after the emergence of less expensive synthetic fibers such as nylon, rayon, and polyester.

Tulle became popular in the nineteenth and twentieth century for a variety of reasons. It quickly became one of the most popular materials for evening gowns, especially after Grace Kelly wore a voluminous tulle skirt in the 1954 film "Rear Window." The fabric's lightness allowed for immensely broad skirts that disguised a woman's legs while emphasizing her waist and bust.

Tulle was also used to communicate modesty when shrouded over headgear or a bride's head, and it is still used in this manner today. The tradition of wearing a bridal veil, according to bridal historian Susan Waggoner, stretches back to Ancient times when brides were shrouded to reflect the arrival of a "modest and untouched maiden."

The ubiquitous tutu appearance is credited to Swedish-Italian dancer Marie Taglioni in 1832 for her principal part in the ballet "La Sylphide." Her bell-shaped skirt inspired costume designers to add more and more tulle to heighten the gravity-defying impression of the tutu, which also got much shorter to showcase a dancer's skilled footwork. While the plain white tutu was supposed to reflect the purity and innocence of the female dancers, it's no secret that the increased exposure of the dancers' legs attracted male onlookers.

Despite its attraction, many dancers paid a sad price for the beauty of a tulle tutu. Indoor lighting in the 1800s was limited to candles and the newly refined power of gaslights, which created a hazardous situation for all wearers of voluminous tulle skirts. Ballerinas were especially vulnerable since they were frequently bouncing around flickering stage lights, and countless dancers perished in flames throughout the 1800s.

The bell- or disc-shaped tulle tutu becomes a symbol of beauty and grace, providing a goal to aim for as they grow older. According to dance academics, the romanticized image of a tutu-clad ballerina is still a universal symbol of immaculate femininity: "couth and graceful, yet disciplined and regulated."

TULLE'S OUTRAGEOUS SIDE

Because of these cultural associations, tulle is suitable for usage as a subversive technique to remark on gender stereotypes or to glorify female strength through juxtapositions. While the tutu has traditionally meant discipline, purity, and beauty (for the masculine gaze), wearing a tutu-esque skirt with, say, combat boots and fishnet tights subverts the garment's original connotation and makes a statement against the qualities it has traditionally represented. According to some theorists, embracing the tutu style allows a woman to show her power and independence without abandoning her desire to embrace her "girlish femininity," a transitory attribute that women are advised to give up in order to become respectable marriages and mothers.

Numerous fashion designers have used tulle to question the binary features of Western fashion, like Yohji Yamamoto did with his crimson bustle, which was captured by Nick Knight in 1986. Almost two decades later, Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo raised eyebrows with her "Biker + Ballerina" collection for Spring 2005. The macho features of boxy leather jackets were placed against fluffy pink tutus in this classic collection, likely to comment on the "resources a modern woman needs—speed, toughness, and rigorous self-discipline," as Vogue's Sarah Mower said in her review of the show. Viktor & Rolf's savvy designers also made a statement with tulle for their Spring 2010 Ready-to-Wear collection, which is best renowned for its over-the-top tulle gowns.

Yet fashion designers aren't the only ones who have used tulle to make a statement. No one will ever forget Madonna's "Like a Virgin" bridal gown, which combined a barely-there tulle skirt with lingerie accents. Tulle is also a popular fabric for hyper-feminized drag queen costumes, which use the fabric to underline gender clichés and make fun of the traditional concept of an effeminate woman. The sight of a tulle skirt outside of the bounds of traditional apparel, whether worn by a male or female, might make a statement that one does not conform to societal conventions. When you think about it, how many other clothing have the ability to make such a statement with such little context?

Long before Carrie Bradshaw walked down the streets of New York in her iconic tutu-and-tank appearance for the "Sex and the City" intro, the fashion industry was stealing pieces of the ballet attire. Tulle has recently been used in more daring ways by designers, mixing ballet-inspired styles with sporty elements and male ideas. Giambattista Valli, too, deviated from his customary procession of ultra-feminine evening gowns to reveal light tulle layers fashioned over fitted pants and paired with jackets as part of the brand's 2015 couture collection.

Then there was Maria Grazia Chiuri's debut show as Christian Dior's creative director — the first-ever female one, to boot — in September 2016, which catapulted tulle to the forefront of a new trend of feminist power dressing. Grazia Chiuri, who understood the potential of streetwear to appeal to millennials, mixed sumptuous tulle skirts with the conveniences of sportswear, including those now-ubiquitous t-shirts proclaiming "Dio(r)evolution" and "We Should All Be Feminists." Tulle skirts were not new to the designer, who made them her signature in her previous work at Valentino, but their inclusion in this presentation was a testament to the ability of this fabric to make a statement.

Tulle has made its way into menswear, albeit infrequently, as old gender codes grow less stringent in the fashion world. Walter Van Beirendonck, an unconventional Belgian designer, used tulle in his Spring 2015 menswear show as a "impulse to change the basic construction of menswear," hanging long tulle panels that resembled wedding veils over tailored menswear coats. Kim Jones, who debuted his first collection for the brand in June, recently took over the House of Dior's menswear business. Instead of sticking to his signature luxury streetwear styles, Jones went all-in on romantic fantasy, incorporating several traditional techniques from women's couture into creative perspectives on modern menswear.

Aside from presenting a wonderful, fantastical counterpoint to the athleisure and streetwear outfits that we've seen so much of lately, there are numerous reasons to love tulle. Tulle, once a completely feminine fabric reserved for brides, ballerinas, and affluent couture customers, has helped to spread the message that popular fashion and gender norms are no longer rigid standards that must be followed by all. Tulle can be worn without conveying passivity in its current versions. We could all use a bit extra fun in our wardrobes in today's society; whether or not it contains a feminist message is up to the user.