Now more than ever, fashion is under a microscope. What was once an industry that was exclusively about beauty and grandeur is now being forced to come out of its own bubble. And as the new reality sets in, what does the industry need to do to connect with the forever-changed views of this new world?
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Let’s start with the basics of psychology. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs everyone starts at the bottom of the pyramid focusing on physiological needs to survive, we then move on to security and then climb up to developing important relationships. From there humans soon find the need for the feeling of accomplishment and finally, self-actualization. Fashion finds itself sitting prettily on the fourth tier as it undoubtedly satisfies the human need of prestige and recognition. From time immemorial, fashion and clothes have been used as a statement of aspiration. But is that all there is in fashion? A production machinery that caters to materialistic needs and nothing more?
From the time I fell in love with fashion watching FashionTV on one of the obscure channels on television, I knew that it was a world of grandeur only a few are allowed to enter. But there was always a way to be indirectly be a part of it. Buying your first branded clothing was a way for you to feel that power, as if blessed by the gods of fashion when in fact it was the mighty capitalists who knew your weakness. This bubble has been the arena of the fashion juggernauts from Louis Vuitton to Saint Laurent and of course, the fast fashion pioneers like Uniqlo and Zara. The bubble felt like The Cave of Wonders where the season’s runways became the object of all our desires. As much as it has born the most iconic creatives of our time, it has evolved into a capitalist machinery where fast production was the name of the game. You are playing with death if you do not keep up. This high speed chase to the next big thing felt unstoppable until earlier this year when the pandemic began.
“Is this the end of fashion?” was the question on everyone’s mind reflected on many opinion articles on the web. The answer is two-pronged. No, because the big brands can always lean on their brand equity and yes, because for old school brands and even start-up brands, lockdowns and restrictions have proven to be lethal. From up and coming brands like Sies Marjan to old-school ones like Cath Kidston and Esprit, the pandemic was the nail to their proverbial coffin. Creativity will always outlast commerce but this creativity should not only be applied to creating clothes but also to the processes and practices of the business. From questioning its survival fashion quickly progressed to questioning its faulty ecosystem. According to Wen Zhou, CEO of 3.1 Phillip Lim, “Practices have to change. There has to be a sustainable balance in our production. With out company we focus on making less but meaning more”
Suddenly the questions didn’t only come from the insiders, soon the consumers have caught wind and are now questioning what brands actually stand for aside from beautiful clothes. According to McKinsey’s study last June 2020, consumers globally have seen a rapid fall on income and focuses mostly on value and essentials. This has also triggered mindful shopping with the knowledge that whatever they buy should meet their new criterion of sustainability and overall goodness to humanity.
Recent events have progressed the narrative wider from just talking about production practices to representation and ethics. We saw this locally when a local runway production company released a campaign months after the start of the #BlackLivesMatter protests. In their editorial they showed a black model with fashion that is plastered with the statement ‘I Can’t Breathe‘. It felt like a desperate attempt to be relevant and using the movement to gain clicks as opposed to actually supporting it by posting resources and link to redirect the attention tot he actual movement.
Internationally we can look at the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The protests were not only present on the streets but also on social media where we find many a fashion brand posting the same Instagram black tile when the movement was at its peak. Many brands were applauded like Phillip Lim whose New York Flagship store was looted but quickly redirected the narrative back to the protests through an instagram post saying “What happened is unfortunate, but at the end of the day, our losses are restricted to a store filled with product that can be replaced. Please continue to stay focused on what you’re fighting for – equality and racial justice for Black Lives”.
On the other end of the spectrum, unfortunately, narratives are less hopeful. Brands like Anthropologie and Zimmermann were called out after ex-employees spoke out about racism not only inside the company but also store policies that directly addresses customers of color. This call-out culture didn’t leave any stones unturned that even sustainable fashion brands like Reformation and Everlane were called out by ex-employees who called themselves the “Ex-Wives club” with a seven-page expose on Everlane’s Convenient Transparency.
What we learn from this is that it is not enough for brands to produce clothes for commerce’s sake. It is not enough to just have sustainability ingrained in your brand. Performative allyship in all causes can now be easily identified and will be cancelled as soon as they hit that post button. What we need from brands is a revisit on their ethics and values. These moral principles have to be consistent in all issues they stand for. A brand can’t support nature preservation when it looks down on minorities. Consistency and accountability has to be fashion’s new normal where success can be measured not only through numbers but the brand’s overall contribution to humanity.
Many would argue that fashion is a superficial industry and politicizing it feels like a bad joke but if we want to consider fashion as an art form then fashion has to be political because art is political and creativity will always reflect the currency of time. Just look at the first People Power movement where they used yellow pique shirts to express both dissent and unity or Vivienne Westwood’s A/W 2017 menswear collection sending models in torn clothes. “Bad politicians are all the same. They are the ones who always get into power. We want people power and democratic rule” she said to CNN during the show.
The fashion industry is currently at a crossroads. What we do is now magnified a thousand times but fortunately, the truth and essence will quickly reveal itself. Going back to the question, is this the end of fashion? Idealism says yes, it will be the end of the old power structures but we can only confidently answer with a No if we, as a collective fashion industry, are willing to listen and take action sooner than later.