It took a while for the message to get across. The actress Gillian Anderson asked her friend, designer Gabriela Hearst, to design a gown for her to wear at the Golden Globes in January of this year, to which she agreed. There was some back and forth between Anderson’s stylist and Hearst’s team, but the concept was vague — until Anderson sent a long Whatsapp voice note directly to Hearst and then the penny dropped.
“I get this Whatsapp with this gorgeous voice telling me the concept: ‘it’s going to have yonis,’ another word for vulvas. So I answer back, ‘you want a vagina dress? Let’s do it! I think we need more of them in the world. I’m all for it, but what’s most important is that we have to do it in a beautiful way,’” Hearst recalled at the WWD x FN x Beauty Inc 50 Women in Power conference in New York City.
“I did ovaries in a sweater, so I felt confident to tackle women’s genitalia, and it looks like flowers in my mind. It was all embroidered in New York. Each flower took 3.5 hours to make. I was a little nervous about it because it’s a thin line, but she’s an example of sex positivity and she commands it and she’s an incredible talent that I shouldn’t have been nervous as all. She carried on and it reached everywhere. I got a Whatsapp from everywhere in the world. The vagina dress. I’ll be known for the vagina dress.”
Gillian Anderson at the 81st Golden Globe Awards.
Gilber Flores/Golden Globes
This is just one example of the message of women’s empowerment that lies at the heart of Hearst’s namesake brand, launched in 2015. Inspired by her mother, who competed in rodeos in rural Uruguay and always challenged the status of what a woman should be, as well as myriad historical figures, Hearst ensures that women’s empowerment is reflected in all her collections.
“I have a true love for women and the biggest compliment I get is when a woman says to me, ‘I had this meeting and I felt so good in your suit,’” she said. “It’s the most empowering part to me. There’s an armor for this woman of action.”
Each collection, for example, is inspired by a particular woman, from Surrealist artist Leonora Harrington to pioneering Irish artist, architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray. Most recently, she has been studying Marija Gimbutas, a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist.
“They come to me and I study them and I’m fascinated and they all have these correlations of they see a path and they go for it,” explained Hearst. “Marija Gimbutas confronted the whole archaeological establishment on what the thought process was at the time. They’re out-of-the-box thinkers. I like to call them ‘witches’ in quotes but they’re really women in power.”
Women’s empowerment, as well as Hearst’s passion for sustainability, impacts the way her clothes are made. She often taps communities in her native Uruguay, as well as Bolivia, for projects.
“It’s not only important, it’s needed in the world we live in today,” said Hearst. “I work with Manos del Uruguay, which translates to Hands of Uruguay. It’s over 50 years old. It’s an organization that empowers women in my country by having them stay in the location because there’s a migration that happens from rural to urban, and the quality of life doesn’t really improve, so by empowering women in their locations you empower community.”
In Bolivia, she collaborates with Madres y Artesanas, and while it is no easy task to ship the clothes to Paris, where she is showing this season, the women’s personal stories mean it is important to do so for Hearst. “When you hear the stories that a lot of these women were victims of domestic abuse and the moment they start earning more money than their partners then the abuse stops. Again, this is women in power, so we have to do it. It’s essential that any brand in the world needs to understand that we need to employ others because there’s a reality that we’re all living.”
Often, they are invited to her shows. “I invite everyone that inspires me.”
Hearst has also voiced her support for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the next president of the United States, stating that “for me to not speak out as being a mother and a woman, it feels not right.”
Asked if the fact that she empowers women has become a selling point of her brand, Hearst responded: “I always believe people come to you because of the desirability….if you can weave in the values, your good intentions then even better because this empowers, and I truly believe that’s the difference between a product looking good and feeling good — the ingredients that you use and the hands that did it.”
