fashionmarketing

Disability: life is not a cover page

/ Leave a Comment

Are magazine covers the means to make a change?

Put disability on a cover page, and the life of disabled people improves. But from fashion magazines’ glossy covers to real life, does anything change for those with disabilities? Is accessibility something they arrange when setting up locations, workplaces, or events?

Inclusivity in fashion

British Vogue is one of the most committed magazines on “Reframing Fashion.”

“We want to carry this on and for people to see Vogue is taking that step… We’re not perfect, but we have to create this welcoming space.”
Edward Ennigful – European editorial director of Vogue.

Indeed, considering the positive comments on covers featuring disabled models, it seems change is real and tangible.

Our experience on disability

Our viewpoint is a little different. We understand that a diverse representation may help people broaden their views. But we aren’t satisfied with it. Specifically, we would exchange cover pages with real accessibility on a daily basis to shops, events, locations and so on.

Allow us to explain. I, myself, Ro, writing this post, am a wheelchair user. A few weeks ago, Cri and I attended Milano Design Week. Apart from very few exceptions, most places weren’t accessible. Indeed, we had to exclude some venues a priori. In many other places, I had to stand up and climb one to three steps. Cri had to lift the wheelchair, carry it inside, and then I could sit again.

Thank goodness, I can do that. But what about those who cannot? Those who use electric wheelchairs?

Disability and real accessibility in fashion

Of course, it works the same in fashion showrooms. In the fashion industry, people love to discuss inclusion and diversity on social media, advertising or cover pages, but they do the opposite in everyday life.

I had a disgraceful experience with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana a few years ago. “Because of Covid”, so they said, I couldn’t access an event they organized. The invitation was for one person, but being in a wheelchair, I needed plus one to help me. They said no. But Camera Moda proudly has a Diversity and Inclusion section! What do they not understand about disability? (You can read the full story here).

What’s the message? Disability is the subject of the cover pages, but please, don’t show up at events? Please, don’t go shopping? Don’t visit a museum or take a train?

What are we talking about showing disability on cover pages? Marketing? That’s what it is. In fact, diversity and inclusion are some of those magnificent fashion bullshit the industry loves!
Just don’t show up in real life!

Disability: life is not a cover page Read More »

Who wore who? Who cares!

/ Leave a Comment

Met Gala, the celebrities’ circus

‘Who wore who’ is the question we avoid these days. Specifically, we have considerable misgivings about the Met Gala as we can’t see the glamour or elegance. Indeed, this annual gathering of celebrities organised by Vogue looks more like a circus.

The Met Gala is a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City, which marks the opening of the Institute’s annual fashion exhibition. Known as the “fashion’s biggest night,” it aims to represent the fashion universe.

The theme of the 2023 edition was “in honour of Karl.” Lagerfeld, of course. Though every year faces its own controversy, the event went out of hand.

Met Gala & Who wore what

We see two main issues:
First, people expect to see a representation of fashion, style, and glamour. Just, we haven’t seen any of that. Although we can pick out a few nice outfits every year, choosing the best-dressed, the whole thing is gross, excessive. And it feels sad to see fashion depicted like that. Moreover, we are surprised because even the actors that usually have an elegant posture, lose it at the gala.

Second, brands pay celebrities to wear their clothes because, by doing so, they influence the masses to purchase their products. But this contributes to sustaining a toxic culture, pushing people to compare themselves to an unattainable lifestyle.
How do celebrities choose one brand or the other? Who writes the highest figure cheque; that’s the one they pick. Forget any style choice!
Most importantly, the “celebrity cost” is absorbed in the retail price of clothing, shoes, and handbags. Therefore, it will be borne by those who purchase branded garments. The irony is that people sustain the lifestyle of their idols, who can afford to pay for luxury clothes even without brands’ contribution.

In short, celebs pay to attend the gala while getting paid by brands to wear their clothes. It’s a celebrities’ circus!

But why are people supporting this? That is the point!
Who wore who? Who cares!

Who wore who? Who cares! Read More »

May 1st contradictions

/ Leave a Comment

Has the fashion industry changed for the better?

May 1st – International Workers’ Day brings up contradictions in the fashion industry. Indeed, we cannot celebrate without considering the hypocrisy that brands, companies that own them, and final customers put in place.

Today’s public holiday aims to honour working people and raise awareness of their rights. But the race to the lowest prices sought by company owners and consumers makes it impossible to imagine healthy production chains. Indeed, wages are so low that many people cannot afford a decent life and not even cover their basic needs.

Ten years after Rana Plaza, the fashion industry hasn’t changed its patterns and workers’ conditions haven’t improved. In fact, we went from fast to ultra-fast fashion. If we purchase a dress for 20 euros, can we expect manufacturers to observe workers’ rights? Do people believe in fairy tales, or is it hypocritical behaviour?

Rana Plaza

On April 24th, 2013, a building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, taking away 1,138 garment workers, 80% of whom were women, and injuring more than 2,500. Near the bodies extracted from the rubble, the labels of major Western brands were found: Prada, Versace, Gucci, Moncler, Benetton, Primark, Walmart, Bonmarché, Zara, H&M, Mango and others.

Uyghurs

We wrote about Uyghurs’ forced labour here. Now we quote Public Eye, a Switzerland NGO:
“Today’s hippest teen-fashion brand is growing rapidly – and its internet-based recipe for success is top secret. Still, Chinese researchers working on behalf of Public Eye managed to visit some of Shein’s suppliers in Guangzhou, where conditions of production violate numerous state labour laws. Our trip inside the ultra-fast fashion leader also takes us to the European logistics centre in Belgium, where precarious working conditions are also a daily occurrence.”

According to an OECD summit in Paris, this search for lower prices has led some brands to turn to ever less demanding areas. They even maintain orders in countries in crisis, such as Burma, where unionised workers have become prime targets of the military junta behind the recent coup.

Made in “Chitaly”

What happens in Italy is no different. In order to keep their higher profit margins, brands commission productions to Chinese laboratories, asking for the lowest price. So the dream of “Made in Italy” is kept alive, at least for those with no sense of quality. Forget minimum wage!

Prices negotiated downward and overconsumption

To understand what the industry learned after Rana Plaza and the social consciousness developed, we just need to analyse the facts. Low-cost collections rotate faster and faster, and companies force prices downward at the manufacturer’s cost. This acceleration from fast fashion to ultra-fast fashion explains everything.

Marketing and social washing

Social washing is social greenwashing: a manipulative tool in the hands of marketing. In fact, campaigns showing brands being socially responsible multiply. Most of the time, there is no evidence supporting the information. And perhaps what happens, in reality, is quite the opposite.

After the pandemic, working conditions have got worse. So the race for the lowest prices brings up all the contradictions of our economic system on May 1st. How can people expect labourers’ rights honoured while purchasing fast or ultra-fast fashion? And how can a world that needs modern-day slavery talk about workers’ rights?

May 1st contradictions Read More »

What happened to plus-size models?

/ Leave a Comment

Inclusion and diversity or just marketing

What happened to plus-size models? We asked each other during the Milano Fashion Week 2023. But New York and London, too! They disappeared from the scene. Almost completely gone! Suggesting the recent novelty smelled so much of marketing.

Plus-size representation in fashion

However, our comment was not because we believe it made sense to represent different body shapes in a fashion show. That is for two reasons:
First, a defilè aims to show the dress, highlighting the details. Not the woman who wears it. Indeed, we believe “anonymous” models accomplish this task much better than supermodels because famous ones catch attention, while the dress becomes of secondary importance. Representation of all sizes has to be in the shops, where people must find different options suitable for their body shape. For instance, in our boutique’s selection, plus sizes never had problems finding beautiful clothes.
Second, it’s one thing to teach self-acceptance, we are unique individuals, so we should cherish our differences. But it’s another thing saying to young girls it’s good to be extremely overweight. Because it is not, but for a matter of health, not to fit in a standard, of course!

Plus-size models

So, apart from Dolce & Gabbana among the tops, no plus-sizes on the catwalks! Therefore, what can we argue? Was it a genuine interest in inclusion and diversity? Or was the fashion industry in a state of impasse and needed to jump on a popular trend?
The smell of marketing seems clear.

Plus-size models were just a gimmick, an advertising stunt to spread the buzz and make people talk about fashion brands. In fact, in most cases, these women were dressed without any sense of style.

Just like we did, many comments about the latest fashion shows wondered what happened to plus-size models! The message of inclusion and diversity, which apparently, provided a sense of liberation from cultural standards, was fake! Just marketing.

One of the most glorious fashion bullshit!

What happened to plus-size models? Read More »