Blogger Shannon Bradley-Colleary recently posted on Change.org a petition asking Francesca Bellettini, CEO at Yves Saint Laurent, to stop using images depicting malnourished models and girls with a dangerously low BMI in their adverts.
Thousands of people signed the petition, while a few attacked her, highlighting how there are naturally thin girls out there. Yet, whichever side you take (yes, the woman in the YSL advert is a malnourished model/ no, it's a naturally thin young woman/a brutally photoshopped image), it's obvious that supporting images of uber-thin models only puts pressure on women in general and in particular on very young girls. Bradley-Colleary's petition was posted only a few weeks ago, so it's not part of Tansy E. Hoskins's volume Stitched Up: The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion (Counterfire), but the "fashion and size" theme is one of the many points tackled by its author.
Divided in ten chapters the volume analyses the dangers and evils lying behind the glitzy façade of the industry, fashion is indeed a universe made of contrasting forces - it is suspended between grandeur and exploitation, glamour and enslavement.
Stitched Up opens with a key chapter in which the author, after reminding readers how Stefan Persson, the owner of H&M, bought a whole village in Hampshire in 2009, moves onto analysing the damaging acquisition tactics carried out by large conglomerates such as LVMH (Louis Vuitton/Moët Hennessy) and Kering. The result of the mergers and acquisition strategy launched by these groups is essentially one - they have sacrificed creativity to profit, de-skilling processes and imposing their own definition of luxury that makes sure wealthy people get richer and poor ones get even more dispossessed.
The author also explores the impact of the fashion industry on workers and new forms of slavery in apparel sweatshops that ended up causing human disasters such as the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and ecological emergencies ranging from water pollution and toxic pesticide plants releasing their deadly products into the atmosphere to exotic animals being slaughtered to produce exclusive bags.
Body image, models pushed to starve and the lack of diversity in fashion prompts the author to talk about exploitation and colonialism as well. The latter is actually another key topic considering the current tribal chic/ethnic trends. Hoskins reminds us that the history of fashion is rife with co-option and appropriation of traditional motifs, symbols, and patterns: from Dior's 2009 shoes with a heel shaped like an African Fertility Goddess to Rodarte's A/W 2012 collection being criticised by aboriginal law professor and member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Megan David for using the sacred art works of Australia's indigenous people, while the case of the Navajo Nation filing a lawsuit in New Mexico against Urban Outfitters for trademark infringement, false advertising, and violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (over Urban Outfitters' products "Navajo Hipster Panty" and "Navajo Hip Flask") remains open.
There are a few elements and topics that should have been investigated a bit more in depth: the author should have indeed looked at sweatshops located nearer us as well, especially in Eastern Europe and Italy and at the luxury fashion houses tendering work to them.
While the media chapter also makes some interesting points (why does a fashion innovator such as Prada buy trend forecasts from Stylesight?), it would have been intriguing to expand the investigation on certain themes including the conflict of interest at higher levels (example: the partner of Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani - Vogue Italia/L'Uomo Vogue art director Luca Stoppini - directs an advertising company and takes care of the campaigns of quite a few fashion houses and brands appearing on Condé Nast magazines...) and the truth behind some of the collaborations with high profile bloggers (do such collaborations bring money or do they only bring media revenue for a relatively short time?). Hopefully Hoskins will expand some of these points in another book.
In the last three chapters of Stitched Up, the author suggests solutions to radically reform and revolutionise fashion, reminding readers that something must be done at the top of the pyramid, establishing for example collectively owned factories. Changing the shopping habits of consumers doesn't indeed bring any tangible benefits for people being used by the system in the same way as supposedly "ethical" ventures/collections/brands allegedly helping Africa actually end up exploiting it.
Yet, while fashion has gone quite, it is not an irreversible process. Only time will tell if we will surrender and let fashion transform us or revolt and therefore transform fashion. In the meantime, Stitched Up will hopefully manage to change the perspectives of those ones who are still excusing the industry for its many crimes.
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