this past year, my brain has been focused on fashion more than it ever has been. when i'm in school mode, i'm thinking about fashion and business at all times. Even if the class is 2d design or applied creative thinking...i'm thinking of my major and how these classes will benefit me in the long run. When I get home from school/wherever, I spend a lot of time reading my blog roll containing hundreds of fashion and design blogs to give me my daily fix. It's my 'therapy' for the day. It's where I can let my mind wander and get fed creatively.
It's something that I love, and it's something that flows into other aspects of the world that I've learned to recognize. Without loving fashion, I would have never understood my new found love for interior design/decorating, and other interests such as graphic design, packaging design, etc. It all flows into each other once you keep your eyes open and recognize the fact that you're a visual person. It's all relative. The more I learn that, the more I get nervous that I'm putting myself in a box with simply studying a fashion related major.
With that said, I know that what you study in school doesn't necessarily mean you have to get a job in that field. Luckily, fashion is in the same realm as anything else I'd ever want to have a career in so I think it'll be fine. But, spending so much time on one thing naturally leads you to realizing the bad. The fashion industry is so messed up in so many ways and as I approach figuring out where I want to go career wise, i'm mentally weeding out what I want to be around and what I don't want to be around.
The more I read about the issue with "plus sizes" (um, anything above a size 6 is considered plus size in the fashion industry. Which is clearly absurd) in the industry, the more it makes me question my involvement in it. The more I question it, the more I have to remind myself that there are so many different ways of working in fashion. I want to sell, market, promote, buy, etc. everything that has to do with fashion but I want no part in selling this crazy idea that a size zero supermodel is what women should want to be, or should HAVE to be. It's ridiculous. Selling an idea is all about marketing, it's the main concept. Selling a false idea that gives women yet another reason to feel misplaced and judged? Fuck that.
It's a constant fear in the back of my head that I'll somehow get a job in the industry, working for one of these shitbags (ahem, they're usually men.) that tell women that they're disgusting because they're over a size 6. I want to do everything in my power to steer clear from that because HOW is that RIGHT? It's not. The whole world basically knows it, except the majority of the industry that i want to someday work for. That scares me. I'm over a size 6, and you know what, i'm okay with it. Of course everyone hates themselves at times, but I'm a pretty confident girl. I want to work for a company that does everything in their power to help women feel confident and beautiful and not rejected and ostracized because they can't fit into a dress made for a 9 year old boy.
I feel that the fashion world is becoming more realistic but not by much. Their idea of realistic is hiring 'plus size supermodels' that are NORMAL sized. So that's promoting that these women are fat, when they're not. It's really horrible. Watch this to see what I mean.
My point is, those in the fashion industry need to really come together to realize that fooling the consumer into buying an outfit is the way of the game. That's the idea. But, fooling the consumer into hating themselves or doubting themselves is just wrong. The men in the fashion world? It goes without saying but they will never know what it's like to be a woman, or to wear women's clothing. So let's stop letting them have all the control (thats NEVER going to happen). It just sucks because fashion should be based on clothing an individual while helping them identify their own personal style. Why are we letting men's standards also control the one thing that women should have to themselves? With that said, there are men in the industry & men designers who are fantastic at emphasizing women's bodies. Oscar De La Renta, Zac Posen, Phillip Lim, Valentino, etc. The list goes on and on.
It's a huge debate and there are good points on both sides. Models should be thin because clothing looks best on someone tiny. There should be tiny models because there are tiny women and that's okay. There should be medium, average models because there are obviously medium sized women. There should be larger models for the larger sized women. Personally, showing a size 20+ model all the time would be pushing it because that's not healthy. Healthy women should be shown. That means not too thin and not too fat. There is a happy medium, don't you think? No one is one size. However, it's tough to design clothing for millions of different sized women. It's easier to design for a rail thin woman. It's probably easier to make more money if you make the effort to design for a wider (no pun intended) audience, more women will purchase your designs because they can fit into them. Women over size six have money too, ya know. They want to spend just as much as a size 0 does. Design for them. Simple as that.
So who knows what the right answer is. It just makes me think about where I want to head when I get a job, and what I want to promote. After reading an article and seeing a couple YouTube videos about Crystal Renn (a fav of mine. but so is Lara Stone & Freja Beha! All shapes & sizes) and other "plus sized" women in the media right now, it just made me sick. I hope this isn't even an issue anymore but it will be. There are plenty of companies out there that are realistic with not only their sizing but their pricing and who they are targeting. I suppose it's just the debate within high fashion. Bleh.
Discuss amongst yaselvez.
