Fashion Bleak – A/W 2011-12

Image via Wikipedia

So Fashion Week was just held in Copenhagen and I would have otherwise thought it a rather boring and uneventful one compared to previous years, were it not for the activities of some politically astute models.

Did I really use “politically astute” and “model” in the same sentence?

It seems a group of waifs have banded together to demand decent working conditions as Danish Models. They have established a very creatively named association called DaMo (I’ll give you one guess as to what that stands for). Their demands? To be actually paid for swishing their hips back and forth, up and down the runway. And when paid, to earn a decent wage at that. Oh, and in addition, to be allowed to ingest more than 500 calories per day. On their website, we can read that they (loosely translated from Danish) “support diversity and work for happy and healthy models”.

I’ve always suspected that the fashion industry hates women and after the coverage of FW A/W 2o11-12, my suspicions are confirmed. The founder and chairwoman of DaMo has been interviewed about the appalling working conditions of models during fashion week. Even before DaMo’s birth this year, the media has run the litany of stories, interviews and opinion pieces that decry the treatment of Fashion Week employees almost every year that I’ve been in Denmark.

Twice a year, we have been treated to the same basic messages when the air-kissing, raw food-eating, all black-wearing fashionista crowds descend on the Danish capital for four days of catty, bitchy fun:

• The models are not paid much if anything at all (except the “big” names)
• The models are too skinny
• The models are too white 
• The models are too young

Well, it seems like the models are finally fed up (pun intended) and sensing that the cultural-poltical climate is warming to their cause, have decided to  push for a more…humane?…treatment by the titans of the fashion industry.

Who is the “fashion industry” exactly? I’ve always held that I love fashion, but hate the fashion industry. It’s frustrating not to know who to direct my hatred towards. Certainly not the models. They’re just trying to make it in this crazy world like the rest of us. As long as they don’t start getting all uppity just ’cause they’re tall and skinny, I have no beef with them. They’re put under pressure to stay ultra-skinny and it’s not their fault that some designers only want to use young girls so sickly thin, that the only other job they could possibly be qualified for is as an extra on the set of Schindler’s List.

Who is it then – the fashion magazine editors? Hardly. One of the loudest voices speaking out against the ridiculous size of today’s models is Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue. She has explained the limitations placed on her publication, by virtue of the fact that the sample sizes sent by the fashion houses for photo shoots are routinely size 0 (sidebar: how did being a “zero” become a good thing?). The magazine has had to take the unorthodox step of airbrushing models heavier in some cases, in order to combat this.

So is it the fashion houses I should hate? How can I hate them and love their clothes. And shoes. And handbags. Don’t get me started, I’m getting goosebumps! Bottega Veneta clutch *drool*

One cold shower later and back in focus.

Of course I can hate the fashion houses and major labels of this world. It’s quite easy when I look at their advertising. I’m clearly not in the target group of these fashion houses – they don’t use models that look me – so why do I bother buying their products? If they don’t like the looks of me, then they don’t deserve my money. And I don’t need an upscale label in my closet to feel good about myself (though let’s be honest, although not strictly “needed” in that sense, it does contribute a great deal of enjoyment knowing it’s there, but I’ll have to overcome that).

It should be possible to find quality substitutes for most of the trendy styles each season and in most cases, the substitutes will be cheaper than what the worst offenders are sending down the runways and forcing Ms. Shulman’s art director to bulk up the photo spreads to accomodate. Can I live without labels? You know what, people do it every day. Though to be fair, it isn’t just the pricey labels who are at fault here. H&M sends me at least one catalogue or brochure a month, and I have yet to see a woman who looks older than 22, nor are there many women in their spreads who don’t look like living stick figures.  I’ll have to search for alternatives that my conscience can live with. Without having to dress like an old maid.

There is absolutely no justification for continuing to push sickly thin as a desirable body type.  Phillipa Diedrichs, An Australian researcher living in the UK, conducted a study that indicated that the use of emaciated models in advertising had no beneficial effect on women’s likelihood to want to purchase a product. It did, however, have an adverse impact on the self-image of women between the ages of 18-25 – so no economic benefit with a negative social impact. Sounds like a lose-lose to me.

The worst has to be advertisers who deliberately try to make consumers feel bad about themselves just to sell a product. Witness Reebok’s ads for its Easytone shoe line. In the Reetone print ad series, you only see a woman’s backside and the ad implies that by wearing those shoes, a woman can get those legs and butt. Nevermind the fact that the woman is too skinny for my taste. Why the hell is Reebok trying to tell me that I should look like that? I like my big ol’ butt, thank you very much. So does my husband. So screw you, Reebok’s Marketing Director, and your ugly-ass shoes.

I’d actually been wanting a pair of shoes like that to entice me into walking on the days off from running, but after seeing the Reebok ads, I couldn’t bring myself to buy their shoes. So I did put my money where my mouth is this past summer. I walked right into a Sketcher’s shop in San Fran and bought their answer to the Easytones instead, a pair of  Shape Ups. I do enjoy taking long walks in them, especially knowing that I didn’t contribute to a company that believes objectifying women is an acceptable way to sell…sneakers.

Alright people, this post is wrapping up, but not because I’m done with this issue. It’s only because it’s late where I am, and I’ve got to work tomorrow. It is time for a little less conversation and a little more action when it comes to images of women in advertising. “Money talks, bullshit walks” as they say. Probably in a pair of Reeboks.

So in the words of the former Governator of California, “I’ll be back”. And I hope those of you who are as fed up with this as I am will join me.

Above image By Jazzynl (FashionAlbedo) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons, not in any way to be viewed as an endorsement of this blog post.

Related Articles

• http://www.femininebeauty.info/phillippa-diedrichs-fashion-advertising
• Reebok EasyTone Claims Found to Be Exaggerated, Misleading (walletpop.com)
• http://jezebel.com/#!5410315/make-your-boobs-jealous-reeboks-easytone-ad-campaign-is-an-epic-fail