When fashion made feminism cool, did it steal its power?

Do we need to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay “We Should All Be Feminists”? If we’re wearing those words on a T-shirt from the Paris runways, doesn’t that automatically communicate, along with our unquestionable sense of style, our awareness of her writings? And if we don’t have 700 dollars to spend on that Dior T, we can find any number of fast-fashion versions at H&M or Forever 21, and even grab a pair of cheap sparkly earrings with the word Feminist dangling from chains just to maximize the statement in an ironic post-millennial way. We dry our dishes with tea towels which ask our dinner guests, “I’m a girl, what’s your superpower?” and further express our allegiance to womenkind by brunching in a “Notorious RBG” sweatshirt, a double helping of cross cultural references there, marrying a deceased gangster rapper with Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Clever, huh? Then we post a selfie of ourselves carrying our favorite “The Future Is Female” tote to the farmers’ market before being blown away by pictures on our Instagram feed of this week’s Viktor & Rolf haute couture show which presented the most meme-worthy frothy tulle dresses, as big as any Disney princess might wear, emblazoned with girl-power phrases from “Get Mean” to “I’m Not Shy, I Just Don’t Like You.”