Should We Despise The Fashion Industry?
What is the fashion industry really all about?
Some might say, glamour, fame, success, beauty and fortune. Whereas, others may say: animal slaughter, anorexia, slave labour, an industry only geared up for the rich and pretentious citizens.
Henceforth, I am going to analyse from my previous experience working for a fashion rich bitch, documentaries I have recently seen on TV, what I have viewed on social media and to the extent of my own knowledge what the fashion industry is really all about.
One of the most competitive and fast – paced moving industries to work for is no walk in the park. However, if you don’t care for a future family, like the most tasteful, expensive wine, are a flouncy homosexual man, or a cold- blooded hetrosexual female (often lacking in the bedroom department, due to sexual frustration) and have a bit of money on the side – bonus!!! We have all heard/seen a headline somewhere emblazoning that money is essential to start within the fickle world of fashion, along with a 1million studio flat in Shoreditch, a designer wardrobe, a chauffeur driver and that new Gucci handbag we saw in Vogue last month, which we all thought was fuck ugly, right? But little do these people know, you could rent out a double bedroom in Vauxhall for 130.00 a week? In Oxford Street, you can purchase that latest Gucci handbag on a market stall for 30.00? Who needs a chauffeur driver anyway, when you can use Uber, or better still the underground? At least you won’t get stuck in traffic!
So other than that, what else does it take to get into the fashion industry? Talent? NO!
It’s more who you know, than what you know and it’s certainly not a passionate love for animals. If you adore cute little bunny rabbits, are driven by wildlife and got all excited on a trip to the zoo as a child, I wouldn’t even recommend attending London Fashion Week. Those zoo animals you always wanted to go and stroke were possibly skinned alive to make that coat you saw on Roberto Cavalli’s Autumn/Winter catwalk.
Not only animal cruelty occurs, cruelty to humans is a regular circumstance. We all know about ladies in Africa and the Middle East working in sweatshops, considered “lucky” if they leave work with 3.00 for the day, but that’s more than what some get. Taking place a lot in the industry and I am now referring to MEDC’s (more economically developed countries) is “working for nothing” but “gaining experience.” Like the fashionistas who made it to the top, most commonly through Mummy and Daddy, myself and all the other aspiring industry creatives have to pay our way through life too. London Fashion Week is a perfect example of hypocriticism; increasing their prices every year to avoid an audience full of students, but by all means go and intern with them for a week, but you won’t get paid a penny. So, you don’t mind students working for you for nothing, but don’t sit in the audience and see our designs, because you might steal them! Where is the logic in that!?
What types of jobs are there in the fashion industry? I could literally talk forever about all the different positions fashion offers. Fashion editor, model, stylist, photographer, art director, set designer, blogger, buyer, visual merchandiser, fashion journalist, public relations, fashion designer, graphic designer, it goes on and on! Which ones should you avoid? Modelling would be one to steer clear of, unless you have your feet placed firmly on the ground, have a steel heart and a thick skin (so you can’t feel a thing.)
If you want to find out more about anonymous models confessing to their industry, read here: https://www.indy100.com/article/models-are-making-anonymous-confessions-about-their-industry–bydqzxaQ0g
So girls who think they have what it takes to become the next Kate Moss, you might want to read on, because even Kate Moss whose made it onto at least 30 front covers of Vogue and in only one year was rumoured to have earned 9million, hates her job. A lot of the public blame this industry for the rise of anorexia in the UK and USA particularly. Why do these already pretty, innocent, young, fresh – faced girls get told to lose weight, or worse; go under the knife? There’s no need for any of that now when we have Photoshop to make it all better! By better I mean making models look like human mannequins, stiff and expressionless. But it’s better than changing their bodies physically, personally I would rather someone made me thinner on Photoshop, than having to go through pain and self harm to lose some pounds.
You could be thinking by now, why does someone who seemingly despises the fashion industry to this extent, is aiming to pursue a career further into it?
Well, good things are happening to change the fashion industry. For example, in France upcoming models are being weighed before any sort of work/contract signing. This is to ensure girls aren’t below average weight and if thought to be forcing themselves through starvation, they’re told to come back when the weight is put on, as opposed to being the reverse opposite. The industry is filled with feminist women who advertise all they can on how women should be treated via the use of social media and how to make it noticeable to the public. I can only hope this spreads to other European countries. Although, it maybe how I made it sound, but I don’t hate animals at all. There are some I will refuse to eat and it’s an arguable factor to which I can see both sides of the story. If the animal was already dead, surely it’s okay to make it into Cavalli’s next catwalk, or a pair of shoes? As a matter of fact, most people I’ve met who either work in the fashion industry, or are aspiring to are vegans. We have to remember that fashion isn’t always cruel, for some it’s a hobby, which turns into a career pathway which wasn’t handed to them on a plate by rich parents. There are some down to earth, genuine people out there. Although money is useful in most cases, take a look at Alexander McQueen, from Stratford to Savile Row, a poor, sexually abused child who grew up on council digs in a dingy, high rise flat, with no money in his pocket made it to his fame and fortune – eventually. Hard work…yes. But not all positions in fashion are cruel.
Fashion isn’t something we can ignore anyway, regardless of whether we want to or not, it’s all around us. It’s advertised EVERYWHERE, billboards, buses, social media, your wardrobe and even to an extent of your crappy school uniform. I hope by reading this blog, it’s opened your eyes and made you think about the pros and cons of working in fashion.
But also to think twice!
