Clothing is powerful: it can demonstrate social status, an awareness of fashion trends, or membership to a subcultural group (think skaters or goths). When words go unspoken, t-shirts, handbags, even the width of our jeans, do the talking. Clothing has the ability to draw on the overarching cultural dialogue of society to communicate certain messages and ideas. In this way, clothing makes statements about the individual, but also the social world in which she or he lives.

Most of the time, fashion is pretty light-hearted. Trends come and go without much discussion of the meaning behind them, or their influence on society. Once in a while, though, fashion touches upon a serious social problem, and it makes people re-evaluate the role fashion plays in society. In February 2006, discount retail chain Building 19 ran an advertisement in a circular for “wifebeater” t-shirts--white tank tops--and received a massive amount of criticism and bad press. The owner of the Building 19 chain apologized for the use of the term, and stopped circulating the ads, but he told ABC News that one of his own advertising executives advised him that the expression was often used to describe the plain tank tops. While the advertising executive's insensitivity may have been innocuous, it demonstrates the way in which one person's perception can find its way into an advertisement, and into mainstream society's lexicon.

No one can quite agree on the origin of the term 'wifebeater'--it is usually argued that the name arose out of the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando. In the film, the main character, Stanley Kowalski, has an intense dislike for a woman that results in a violent act. The character's rage became imprinted upon the simple white undershirt, which Kowalski wears in the movie, as does the indifference with which he chooses to harm another human being. Still others argue it emerged from and was used by many other films, and was perpetuated by its insertion into the language of fashion. Nowadays, many have dropped the word “wife” from the phrase, referring to the tank tops as “beaters,” or “boybeaters,” as if replacing the target of violence was an improvement.

Despite the inability to pinpoint the exact origin of the term, the meaning is the same whenever the term is used—it is a name of a garment that evokes violence, specifically against women, but anyone in a relationship. Therein lies the problem, say the creators of LiveAWear.org, a new nonprofit organization that created by attorney Paula Rogowsky and Doug Cohen to spread awareness about partner abuse to help make it a thing of the past. For whatever reason, this garment has become imbued with a life all its own, and both agree it shapes the way partner abuse is viewed by mainstream society. By constantly referring to a piece of clothing as a 'wifebeater' or a 'beater' the image of the violent bully becomes reified within society. Ultimately, as Rogowsky points out, it does not acknowledge the pain and suffering many victims of domestic violence experience (or the fact that abuse ends lives--domestic violence is a leading cause of death for women in the United States). The organization, as a result, created the new Liveawear line of clothing to raise awareness. Comprised of t-shirts emblazoned with the message "not a wifebeater," the simple white tank tops are a form of confrontational fashion that the duo hopes will get people's attention, and make a difference.

Even though one in three women in the U.S. will report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, and 3 million children witness this violence, the use of terminology such as “wifebeater” persists. Rogowsky attributes this to people's misunderstanding of the numerous ways in which people are harmed by physical abuse.

“You might not feel the term creates violence, but it has a numbing effect” states Rogowsky, an attorney in New York City who has worked in the criminal court system, and directly with victims of partner abuse for over a decade.

While certainly the use of the term does not serve as singular motivation for violence in the home, its glib usage in the media, and in fashion, contributes to the way in which people view violence in the home: it makes it seem like simply a part of culture.

Rogowsky and Cohen do not agree that violence deserves a permanent place in society. While the fashion community is not always prepared to tackle difficult issues, as Cohen points out, the subject needed to be addressed. Rogowsky states that liveawear was born out of the idea that “if fashion can perpetuate a trend, it can also deconstruct it.” Drawing on her ample experience working with victims of abuse, and Cohen's experience in the healthcare industry, the duo set out to design a line of tank tops that would challenge people's acceptance of the term, but also do it in a way that would be fashionable, so that the message would spread. For Rogowsky, who has spent a decade working with victims of abuse, it was also a way of bridging the gap between the people who access support services for victims of violence, and the rest of the country.

Liveawear, the tag line of which reads “change the message, prevent abuse,” debuted in May of this year and was designed to increase awareness of the persistence of domestic violence. A partnership with the high-end t-shirt company Splendid then propelled liveawear into upscale boutiques such as Lisa Kline in Los Angeles and Intermix boutiques across the country, as well as numerous other stores throughout the U.S. According to Rogowsky, Splendid was eager to do something that would lead to greater awareness of the problem of partner abuse.

Rogowsky and Cohen envision the line expanding rapidly, eventually targeting not only the high-end market, but mainstream retail as well, all in an effort to make sure everyone hears their message against domestic violence. So far Rogowsky and Cohen's plan to spread the word with the liveawear clothing line seems to be working: in March 2006, the new clothing line was featured on MTV University, a cable television station geared towards college students, and it is getting picked up by new retailers each week. While the duo is proud of these achievements, it is clear that they are in this for the long haul.

“Paula and I both see this as an obligation, we have a responsibility,” says Cohen, who went on to state that while it would be great to have a celebrity wearing liveawear, they do not want the line to have its fifteen minutes of fame, and simply fade into the background. With the creation of the liveawear line, the main goal is to keep the message alive as long as it takes to stem the tide of domestic violence. In this way, Rogowsky and Cohen have become agents of change within a seemingly fixed structure of society. Just as one person's style can inspire a macro-level trend, and prompt people to adopt a look, the pair hope that people begin to see the value in individual action. People talk about how everyone can make a difference, but the pair are actually doing this.

As Rogowsky states, “Our vision for liveawear is to get people to see that violence is effecting everyone—every mother, sister, and friend; this is not simply one person's problem, it is everyone's.” -StyleChronicles.com. To purchase Liveawear t-shirts, visit www.liveawear.org . All photos courtesy of Liveawear.org. National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-SAFE.