Fashion's dark side- fashion illustration #2

Hi everyone,

This week I am going to be talking about something a little heavier than usual, but I think it is always an important thing to address. This week in class we talked about how the fashion industry has a terrible knack for editing pictures and people's bodies past the point of reality, and how it makes the teenagers of our day feel paled in comparison to these photos. Please see my tab at the top of my blog that says "fashion research paper". It talks about the very same thing I am talking about here- how self esteem is affected when the industry makes something realistic look impossibly perfect. I didn't want to put it all in a post because it is rather lengthy, but I highly encourage you to go look at it when you get the chance. Some of the statistics may surprise you. And also I worked really hard on it when I wrote it last year lol. Also if you haven't seen Dove's Beauty Campaign video, please click here.

Although this is the industry that I hopefully want to get into someday, I don't fully support what they do sometimes. Their definition of beauty is way different than how regular people define it. Unfortunately we cannot change the fashion industry and put new morals into them. If we took away the right to edit photos into unreality like they so often do, that would be infringing on their creative rights, etc. If we said they cannot use stick-thin models anymore, that would make things much more difficult for designers and that shroud of "fantasy" the industry has over it would kind of be lifted. Super skinny models and photoshopped makeup- it's something we are all very used to seeing. It's a mystery, a fantasy almost- seeing all those glamourous models in the fancy clothes and in the beautiful makeup. If they weren't doing what they're doing, it wouldn't be the same industry that we are used to. The industry isn't going to stop what makes them so popular. It's how they sell their product, it's how they get all of their business- by making it look like you can look exactly like the models in the ad if you buy what they are trying to sell. We keep trying to keep up with the Jones' by looking at these models and comparing ourselves to them. We are all so used to it that there is no law or bill that can be passed that will make this thing better. The thing that we can all do to stop this epidemic is just informing our teenagers and our young people and even the kids that these images are fake. Start them off young, don't let them think they need to measure up to how skinny Karlie Kloss is or how flawless another model looks in a picture. Yes, they are pretty in those magazine ads and yes they are fun to look at, but these pictures are not real. Remember that video I linked in this post? You saw how pretty she was even with all that makeup on- she didn't need to be photoshopped. She didn't even look like the same girl after that. The fashion industry has a different way of describing beauty, but the important thing to remember is that everyone is beautiful in their own skin. God made all of us and therefore we are all beautiful. We don't have to conform to a standard that man has created and even sometimes idolizes. You can still look to the industry as a source of inspiration on how to dress, just don't compare yourself to it.

Just because I want to enter this industry doesn't mean I support everything that they believe. I hope that someday with my clothes that I make, a woman can feel confident in her own skin no matter what size or shape or color she is. I just want people to feel beautiful. I want my woman who wears my clothes to be able to know who she is and show it with her style, be 100% confident, and leave the store with her self esteem intact. She is still on trend, she still looks sophisticated and chic but she is staying true to herself. That is what I hope to achieve someday.

So let's start fighting the self esteem fight: let someone know they are beautiful just the way they are. Spread the word! Tell your mom, sister, roommate, friend that they're beautiful. Even the men in your life, let them know that you love them the way they are and they needn't look like someone in a magazine, that you love them for being themselves. If we start now, maybe someday the world's self esteem will be better. Maybe those encouraging words you gave someone will stop them from committing suicide. Maybe those words will change someone's life for the better.

Until next time, vous êtes beaux, tout le monde! (You are beautiful everyone).