Matthew Simon

The historical notion of Europe's culture as a site of influence and superiority contributed to the fashion industries inclination to centre whiteness, itself a holdover from the cultural shift of scientific racism embodied in 'anthropological, scientific and medical journals'1 to commodity racism, where whiteness and the west, by its definition, became exemplary of modernity (and superiority) through its production and consumption of goods. The link between European fashion's dominance and supremacism sees itself strengthened by this mode of consumption.

To investigate such legacy, it is critical to examine contemporary examples within European media. Acting as the first in a series of case studies is Japanese lifestyle company Muji's 2014 Nature, Naturally campaign, which provides a modern example of minimalism and its relationship with whiteness in a literal and sociological sense.

This advertising piece was conceptualised outside of the west, complicating the imagery whilst highlighting whiteness's regular use within fashion media to emphasise simplicity and purity. The campaign video features a group of Icelandic women of differing ages wearing white garments from Muji's clothing range. The models and their surroundings bear no relation to the Japanese company's history or culture. However, ideas surrounding race, virtue, and even hygiene become explored through the model's garments contrasting their environment. This contrast emphasises the garments' cleanliness, and due to historical connections, cleanliness has become 'associated explicitly with civility, high class, and whiteness.'2 The campaign allows Muji to transgress the potential for ghettoisation as a Japanese company. Although in turn, it became reliant on the west's legitimisation to achieve this transcendence, further linking whiteness with minimalism or simplicity. While reinforcing the idea that minimalist reduction cannot exist on a non-white body.

An image that invokes similar tropes to the Muji Campaign can be found within the May 1997 issue of Vogue Italia, dubbed 'The White Issue.' It features an editorial titled 'Diverse Forme Di Bianco' by photographer Mark Borthwick. Starring late British model Stella Tennant on her hands and knees wearing a garment from Comme des Garçons 1997 'Dress Meets Body, Body Meets Dress' collection. Similarly to the Muji campaign, any reference to the designer's heritage or broader Japanese culture is absent.

However, Borthwick emphasises Kawakubo's intentions for both Comme des Garçons and the garment in the photograph. With the image working to disrupt Japan's presence and the 'essentialised Japanese identity'. Although, both the model and the garment's whiteness are again used to achieve this. Whilst also reiterating minimalist fashion's association with the historically fashionable body, that of a white, thin, affluent woman. In placing what has since become a landmark collection by the designer on a white model against a white background rendered in black and white, the Western fashion industry's hegemonic standards see themselves reiterated by Borthwick.

The second case study, taken from an editorial titled, The Cult of Personality, initially featured in a 1997 issue of American Vogue. Featuring a subheading that reads The Purist, the chosen example showcases the proposed fashionable body and its use in fashion imagery. Model Christina Kruse is photographed wearing Jil Sander, a designer synonymous with minimalist fashion. The whiteness of both Kruse and the garments worn (described as a 'second-skin' cashmere pullover paired with slim, cuffed cotton pants) and the accompanying subheading make for a compelling image.

The lightness of the model's skin tone and hair see themselves accentuated by an almost translucent garment. Within the emerging characteristics of 1990s minimalism, similar garments were ubiquitous. The garment's description as 'second-skin' is noteworthy not because of it's proximity to the body but for it's presentation as an idealised version of white skin, available in only one shade, the garment highlights Sander and the magazines' target or idealised consumer.

The garment’s ability to act as a stand-in for the model's skin in its seemingly undyed state emphasises the almost overwhelming use of white in the image. Architect and Historian Mark Wigley wrote in his 1995 book 'White Walls, Designer Dresses' that 'the image of white walls is a very particular fantasy. It is the mark of a certain desire, the seemingly innocuous calling card of an unspoken obsession.'3 Applying this thinking to the image in question, the styling, composition, and model allude to an obsession—specifically, an 'obsession' with communicating the fashion industry's idea of minimalism with it’s by then firmly placed association with whiteness as the most desirable form of beauty or taste.

1 McClintock, A., 1995. Imperial Leather. New York: Routledge. P.33.

2 Berthold, 2010. Tidy Whiteness: A Genealogy of Race, Purity, and Hygiene. Ethics and the Environment, [online] 15(1), p.3. Available at: [Accessed 28 March 2021].

3 Wigley, M., 2002. White Walls, Designer Dresses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p.XV.