For Acne Studios’ Fall 2015 menswear line, the super-sharp Swedish design house showed an array of sweatshirts, sweaters, and scarves declaring statements such as “Radical Feminist,” “Gender Equality,” “Woman Power,” and “Please Call Me Girl.” These garments will run you anywhere between $220 USD (a cotton sweatshirt; a wool scarf) to $650 (a sweater made of wool, cashmere, and nylon).


Somewhere between Karl Lagerfeld’s stunty feminist protest and a genuine declaration of support for gender fluidity (“Please Call Me Girl”? I suppose), a note apparently further signified by quarter-sized dangling earrings. Designer Jonny Johansson told Style.com, “It’s about football, Harris Tweed, jogging—things men like, and being a bit banal about it.”

In the category of “shit men like,” though, is one of them “paying a small fortune to wear a hand-pilled sweater”? What about dropping $220—that’s a couple months’ worth of basic cable and internet in New York City—on a sweatshirt that announces that you are on Team “Gender Equality”? Acne shit is great if you can afford it—the construction is flawless; the fabrics are top notch; the labor practices meet 91% of Fair Wear Foundation standards, so better than most. But like, wouldn’t you be better off finding its equivalent on Zazzle or, perhaps depending on your aesthetics, just Sharpieing that yourself?


But maybe you’re just really into the finest things, and/or got money to blow. Either way, wearing something that says you’re what a feminist looks like does not necessarily make you a feminist, nor does it not make you a feminist. It’s just the is of it. How much would you pay to advertise it to the world that you’re balling the fuck out with the cause?

Contact the author at julianne@jezebel.com .