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| Erdem SS2013 |
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| Erdem SS2013 |
Fashion is a glamorous, extravagant industry filled with
beautiful things, but there are many dark sides to its beauty. Whether you believe
it or not, the fashion design industry in all its power has the ability to make change. People follow trends from season to season; women and girls see fashion ads and models walking the runway and try to be those women. If
Juicy Couture can stay in business by selling bedazzled sweatpants, then there
is proof that fashion marketing can sell just about anything to anyone and still
make millions.
So when I read these 2 articles last week,
13/09/10/naomi-campbell-iman--bethann-hardison-discuss-fashion-racism , it got me thinking; what sort of influence does the fashion industry have on the heavier, heartier topics such as racism?
Both the articles are about racism on the runways.
The first article includes a letter issued by The British
Fashion Council (BCF) to all London designers stating “that all participating designers should
recognize that London is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world and
should consider reflecting this demographic at their shows and
presentations,".
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The second article has
Iman, one of the most famous black supermodels alive, saying “to clarify
this, no one is calling any of these designers racist. The act itself is
racist. There were more black models working in the Seventies than there are in
2013.” When I read Iman’s
comment, I was shocked to hear that there were more black models in the 70’s!
Living in Vancouver, another multi-cultural city, race was not a day to day issue, I just grew up with all sorts of races and that was normal; there was no black or white. So, I have to admit when I see the runway shows I do not compare
how many of the models are black, white, etc. I mostly just look at the clothes
and possibly comment on how thin some of the models are.
But I am not surprised that this is still a
current issue in fashion or anywhere for that matter. It will be interesting to
see how the next season’s runways are impacted by these discussions and if a
change will be made? Why not have every
model of a different race? I would like to see that runway show, but perhaps I
would be drawn to the beauty of all the different women instead of to the
clothes?
What do you think?
-Alex
