Post by Laura Alicata

Are we dressing for approval, or are we actually daring to displease? Last week, global pop star and Service95 founder Dua Lipa opened the Manifesto Library at the historic Livraria Lello in Porto, a sanctuary dedicated permanently to banned and censored books. It was a refreshing act of resistance. This cultural awakening overlapped with the late Princess Diana's birthday, the modern era's most iconic example of aesthetic defiance. I’ve just published a new cultural essay on my Substack dissecting what these two forces teach us about the current state of the fashion industry. In the piece, I explore: • The Weapon of Resistance: How fashion, much like literature, was meant to be a tool for defiance rather than a shield to hide behind. • The Compliance of Luxury: How contemporary fashion consumption has pivoted into an elite club where membership is purchased through a ticket to validation. • The Legacy of the Rebel: A look at Princess Diana’s infamous 1994 "Revenge Dress" as a masterclass in challenging an institution. Reading a censored book and dressing in a way that defies public expectation require the exact same currency: the courage to withstand immediate judgment and loudly stand for what we love. You can read the full essay on my Substack (🔗 link below). I’d love to hear your thoughts: Has modern luxury traded radicalism for the comfort of social validation? #FashionJournalism #CultureCritique #DuaLipa #PrincessDiana #SubstackWriter #FashionHistory #LuxuryConsumption