Forever feral: wearing “pussy” with pride

The fashion brand Forever Feral highlights feminist issues as well as the topic of ethical fashion with outstanding colours, timeless designs and a bit of humour. To learn more about their particular concept I met one of the two women  behind the brand.

When people think of political activism, the first thing that comes to their mind is demonstrations, drawn-out articles and twitter-threads.
I want to have a further look at the different forms activism can take and the different purposes it can serve. Therefore I decided to interview the women who created a feminist fashion brand.

For our interview I am meeting Naoise Nic Gearailt in a port city near Dublin on a cloudy December’s day. She greets me with a hot chocolate and a warm smile. Her friend and colleague Stephanie McDermott is currently in New York, so I’m only meeting half of the duo behind the brand.

Naoise, why did you get interested in fashion and when did this interest start?

I always had an interest in fashion but it wasn’t until I went to college that I realized I could make objects with a purpose and with engaging concepts.

Design seemed a better fit for those reasons. It’s enjoyable to make work for people to engage in.

How did the idea to start your own fashion brand emerge?

It is funny how it started. Steph, myself and a few friends used to joke about how people use the word “feral”. If you look at these stereotypes more closely, the feminist issues are always seen as really negative: older woman being involuntarily solo. But then if you look at the male equivalent of the “bachelor” you can see it being used as a really liberating, positive thing.

In this context we used to jokingly call ourselves “spinster society”, just to use terms like this in a more empowering and humorous way.

When did Steph and you meet?

We met at an art portfolio preparation course seven years ago. It was a great experience for both of us because it was really disciplined. It made decision making easier because we both had learned the same method of criticism when coming up with new ideas.

When you actually started this brand: What were the main struggles to turn your idea of this project into reality?

We didn’t have that many big struggles. When starting out it was not a money-driven thing at all but more about us wanting to say something with clothing and jewellery and to be able to connect people in a humorous way.
We started with looking for a place to sell it and having our Instagram. We now have a website which we are constantly updating.

We became aware that some people are very hesitant to buy from an unknown company, so for us our main focus is looking at the marketing online, better quality photography and overall quality products.

And how did you actually manage to hold the production to this high ethical standard?

It was definitely difficult to begin a company with a small budget and strive for high quality products but it just feels a lot better doing so and having the manufacturing process very transperent.

I think people have a huge misconception of thinking that you are not able to afford such high quality clothing when you don’t have a lot of money. For us it’s about high quality products that are going to last and with our brand we are trying to offer pieces that don’t necessarily have a trend based around them.

Your brand defines itself through the specific overlapping of feminism and fashion. How exactly does that appear in the products?

We have certain ideas about how feminism should be portrayed  with fashion. We like to display it in a humorous way but also a way that’s empowering and engaging for any gender. There are a couple of high street brands that are cashing in on the current women’s liberation movement with t-shirts of empowerment but they fail to keep their manufacturing standards high and often it’s women that are suffering in those factories so for me that’s incredibly hypocritical and not what the women’s movement is about.

We like to make pieces that can engage in such movements and that will actually get people to think aboutwomen’s right. In our collaboration with the repeal project* we created a neclace that anyone can wear and show solidarity with.

In your “Designs for live” interview about Irish Lgbt-designers you used the phrase “parody of fashion” in connection with your brand. What exactly do you mean by that?

There are elements of our brand that have a parody-like feature to them because our main focus is matching humour with politics.For example we use crude words like “Pussy” in our jewellery so that people wearing it can take ownership of it by laughing about it.

But at the same time we are looking up to some brilliant designers, would love to be amongst them or attend the New York Fashion Week. So in that context the term “parody” would be a bit strange and “humour paired with serious topics” is probably more fitting.

What are your goals for the future of the brand?

Currently we are more interested in the clothing aspect but we are also starting to make jewellery in silver and gold.
We are currently focused on the quality of our website between the stock and photos so in the years coming we’d like to have a fully functioning website. In five to ten years we might have our own store.

We hope to continue to spread our message of empowerment and humour with an added element of Pussy Power.

 

You can find Forever Feral at their Instagram “foreverferalclothing”.

*The collaboration involved has to do with the repeal project, which takes a stand against the 8th amendment of the constitution of Ireland, which prohibits terminations of a pregnancy. Later in the year 2018 there will be a referendum about the eligibility of the amendment and therefore the foundation for the future abortion rights in Ireland will be laid.