Does the Fashion Industry ENJOY Controversy?

Let’s just say that over the years, the fashion industry hasn’t been short of controversies. Whether it has been reports of constant body shaming, lack of inclusivity or racism, brands have always found a way to offend society. But sadly because of this, and because of the lack of change in attitudes, it has now become normal for us to expect controversy and be offended.

You would think in the time of large campaigns such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, that the industry would take note and start respecting and representing both models and the wider public who take fashion as an extension of their own identity. However, this is most definitely still not the case – and probably won’t be in blog posts I write in years to come.

London Fashion Week 2019 occurred between the 15th and 19th February. I would have gone, but I knew I’d only come out disappointed – and evidently, this would have been the case. On day three of the event, highly controversial fashion house Burberry showcased a hoodie with strings tied together in the shape of a noose. The item was subject to thousands of complaints with the public stating that it evokes memories of lynching during slavery and suicide. When I first saw this, I was outraged as to have deeply offensive this was. Did they even consider how this could affect people who have either campaigned for, witnessed, or have gone through these traumatic events themselves? No, they didn’t. It was almost like a glorification of suicide and lynching which was then used as ‘fashion’. It most definitely is not.

Burberry’s apology was rather questionable. According to The Guardian, Marco Gobetti, the chief executive of the FTSE company said that Burberry was “deeply sorry for the distress” and that the hoodie had been removed from the collection. Riccardo Tisci, Burberry’s Creative Director said: “while the design was inspired by a nautical theme, I realize that it was insensitive”. Even that statement, right there, suggests that the company only felt it was wrong when the public spoke out, otherwise, they would have stood by their design.

Analysing the situation and the various statements of apology, it’s almost as if the fashion industry enjoys controversy. Like media coverage means more to them than what the public thinks of their brand and more importantly, how they are affected by it.

Racism in the Fashion Industry

Burberry’s ‘noose hoodie’ may have been the latest, racial controversy, however, even in the last year, racism within the fashion industry itself has escalated. In February 2018, Gucci showcased a balaclava jumper, called the ‘balaclava knit’, on the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week. The garment was black and featured a cut-out mouth and red lips. The jumper, when pulled over the wearer’s lips, resembled blackface. In another incident in December 2018, Prada faced backlash for their ‘Pradamalia line’ which depicted monkey-like caricatures with black faces and large red lips.

Blackface typically refers to someone with white skin, who paints themselves in order to appear darker. The practice was first used in the 19th century to mock black people. White actors, commonly known as minstrel performers would paint their faces with black make-up, draw on extreme red lips and wear woolly wigs.

Since the start of the backlash, both Gucci and Prada have issued apologies and removed these products from their collections, vowing to gain a better understanding of diversity. On Twitter, Gucci said: “Gucci deeply apologizes for the offence caused”. They then went on, in my opinion, to make an extremely hypocritical statement. They said: “We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld”. Similarly, in a statement, Prada said that the products depict: “imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface”. They then went on to make, in my opinion, the same insincere statement: “Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone, and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery”.

Source: Twitter

Now it can be argued that if both brands truly believed that diversity should be upheld and that all racist imagery should never be used, then why would they make products depicting a practice with such a terrible history? Again, the possible motivation could be their enjoyment of controversy as it gives them more media coverage. Also, what makes the situation worse is that they do not provide straight forward apologies, but defend their actions in the process.

The Anastacia Dress Controversy

There is one particular story which caught my attention and initially alerted me to the extreme outward racism within the fashion industry. During Sao Paulo Fashion Week in 2012, designer Adriana Degreas showcased a dress depicting the Brazilian slave Anastacia with an iron girdle across her mouth.

According to the story, as posted by US Slave blogger Ron, Delminda, the daughter of the royal family of Galanga, was brought to Brazil in 1740 as a slave. Upon arrival, Delmida was raped by a white man and sold at the harbour to slave owner, Joaquina Pompeu. Following this, Delminda then gave birth to Anastacia who was alleged to be the first black girl born with blue eyes in Brazil. According to some versions of the story, Anastacia was then sent away from her mother. However, this is still subject to speculation. However, many storytellers agree that the owner’s son, Joaquin Antonio because infatuated with Anastacia and due to other women’s jealousy of her beauty, he made her wear a slave mask. However, she refused his advances, and as punishment, he raped her and ordered her to wear the iron mask for the rest of her life. It is said that the iron from the mask eventually became poisonous and Anastacia sadly died.

Now, to the average person, this tale is terrifying, absurd and entirely wrong to glorify in the name of fashion. Can you imagine being so entirely suppressed and made to wear an extremely uncomfortable garment for the rest of your life? In my opinion fashion designers who use experiences like this for the purpose of creating a ‘shock factor’ or gaining media coverage from backlash, are disrespecting not only the female movement around the globe but the credibility of the fashion industry as well.

I hope that the future will bring a new attitude to the fashion industry. One that is inclusive, and instead of having media coverage at the forefront of its mind, thinks firstly about the models and the people it is actually supposed to respect and represent.

#FashionIndustry #Racism #Suicide #Change #MediaCoverage