The Fashion Industry

Posted by Greta Haskell in English 3 - Pahomov - D on Monday, November 10, 2014 at 1:15 pm

“Degrading, disgusting, and demeaning: I'm ashamed of modern women's magazines”, “Teen fashion model Georgina got so thin her organs were failing. But fashion designers still queued up to book her.” Lots of people gag in disgust when hearing news about the fashion industry. Many people think that the industry is only for skinny, rich people who think that beauty is defined by a thin body and long flowing hair. However, is is much more than it seems. Though the fashion industry may be seen in a negative light, it is actually sending many good messages to young women around the world. In the real world, the fashion industry provides freedom and inspiration for young women, and allows them to feel confident about themselves.

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the fashion industry is that everyone is unhealthy and stick thin. In fact, modeling trends change every season and the trend of unhealthy, stick thin models is over. The trend of healthy, “normal” looking models is in and seems to be staying. Though it may have been true before, the industry is moving past scary standards and is starting to promote health to it's models and young women everywhere. In an article from The New York Times, the author talks about being inspired at Madrid Fashion week after hearing news about its models. She says “It has been a lot of fun – and educational and, actually, inspiring – to watch the fallout from Madrid’s decision to ban hyper-skinny models from its formerly much-overlooked Fashion Week.” People around the world are starting to take action and seeing how what they present affects other people. They have realized that women should be seen as beautiful and healthy not sickly and stick thin. The law in Madrid was a big inspiring step to women and the fashion industry because it shows that every woman is beautiful and you don’t have to conform to old beauty standards to be special. The law is bringing out a big body positive vibe in many people.

An even bigger step to promote health and acceptance of all body types was recently in 2014. Many young girls believe that they can not fulfil their dreams of being part of the fashion industry because of their “bigger” size. This year a new trend has arisen, Full Figured Fashion week. The author shares her great experience at the show saying “The guests are more racially diverse—there were plenty of white people, but much of the crowd was African-American and Latino—and they come in every shape and size: short women with slim waists and enormous breasts, tall women with narrow shoulders and thick torsos, round women, pear-shaped women, and a few mesmerized men. The atmosphere is celebratory, rather than cutthroat.” This event really shows that anyone can be accepted in the fashion industry. You don't have to be six feet tall and weigh 115 pounds to fit in. People can be who they want to be and still make it big time in the fashion industry. This kind of event can inspire so many people, especially young girls, to do what they love no matter what they look like.

Many women want to feel empowered and feel good about themselves by doing something like starting their own business. In 2002, 57.4% of all businesses were owned by men, making it truly, a mans world. One big inspiration to women in the business world is a fashion designer named Tory Burch, who started a foundation to help women start their own small businesses. The foundation provides many benefits for women, “Through the Tory Burch Foundation Fund, Accion provides microloans ranging from $500 to $50,000 while the Tory Burch Foundation provides mentoring and entrepreneurial education opportunities.” The Tory Burch foundation is one of many foundations to promote women and business in the fashion industry; others include the Fashion Empowering Women foundation and mentoring from people such as Rachel Ray. When the women get this opportunity they are being believed in and being told they can put what they sat their minds to and this is a great push. This shows that the fashion industry wants to inspire and help women pursue their dreams.

Many people think that the fashion industry is a bad place that is taboo and degrading to women. Those people are the ones that do not see how the fashion industry is really affecting the world. The fashion industry is a place where women can come to be inspired, supported, and accepted. The fashion industry can support women, how they look, and their dreams. If fashion critics stopped to think about it, they would realize that the fashion industry is not just about money and image, but inspiration and confidence as well.

Works Cited:

Warner, Judith. "Fashion Models and Role Models." Opinionator Fashion Models and Role Models Comments. The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2006. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
Widdicombe, Lizzie. "Reinventing Plus-Size Style." The New Yorker. N.p., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.
"How Women In The Fashion Industry Are Designing A Better World."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.
"Fashion Empowering Women (FEW): Non-profit Organization." Fashion Empowering Women (FEW): Non-profit Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.
Black, Renata M. "Designer Rachel Roy On Empowering Women Through Fashion." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Jan. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.

Comments (6)

Kristina Scalia-Jackson

Of course I thought about/ read about the degrading attitude people tend to associate to the fashion industry. But I never really looked deeper and seen the "good" I guess. I also liked how you didn't just make this a paper based on your opinions and things you've heard over the years and the fashion industry has gotten more and more bad press. A counter argument can be that some say it makes women feel the need to show their worth and unless they look like those women on the cover, they don't have worth. You say it's not about the size, but thats how the fashion companies portray themselves.

Stephanie Dyson

I enjoyed reading your paper and I agree with Nashay that it was refreshing. However, how does this make girls feel who are naturally and genetically tall and thin? Do you think this does anything to their perception of themselves? Though I'm glad that an era of unhealthy modeling is coming to an end, I find that more and more girls are being called "little boys" and ugly for their genetically thin frames. I think that, while the industry is moving forward, the see-saw of one-body-type-or-another still needs work.

Alex Colón-Vazquez

I never really thought about how degrading the fashion industry could be, it wasn’t really something I spent a lot of time learning about. But thanks to you now I know! It was really shocking to me to see that about 57 percent of the businesses in the world were owned by men, it really makes you think what women go through in their everyday lives.

Cole Hinton

I really enjoyed reading your paper. I agree with a lot of what you were saying in your paper as well. I also like the examples you used to support your paper as well.

Nashay Day

This paper was refreshing, it was great to read a perspective that was contrary to the popular beliefs that society has about the fashion industry. It was also great that you used examples to support this and not just basing your arguments on assumptions and prior knowledge.

Angelica Owens

I really enjoyed reading your paper. It gave me a more insight as to how diverse fashion shows are. I already was aware that they had some exceptions to the stereotypes of models being super skinny but I didn't know it happened frequently.