Themes Reflections #1

Out of so many lectures, Julia Crew’s presentation about Power was by far the one with the most profound impact on me. Her lecture managed to put an important question up to debate: in whose hands lies the power in the fashion industry?

As a future fashion journalist, I thought media would be the obvious answer but her lecture changed my perspective. It is true that the propaganda today’s media manages to produce is an important game changer, as we were all able to see especially during this pandemic. Media can shape the truth some people may want the population to believe – this way masses can be manipulated as we believe what we are being told. Our lives are so influenced by the media and all its tools that more and more people have begun to suffer from different diseases such as anxiety and depression, trying to match the edited lives of some Instagram influencers.

Another source of power is money and this part made me think how irresponsible we usually are when shopping. I thought it was unfair and heartbreaking that some people are growing billion-dollar empires while others work for them and barely manage to afford a decent life. I finally understood how this industry supports the economy and how we, as buyers, encourage exploitation of employees if we do not begin to ask the right questions and act.

However, after this lecture I began to think that the true power lies in the hands of the consumer. We have the money, we decide what to buy, therefore we are the ones influencing trends, prices and even the whole industry. With the right education, we are the dictators of the way this whole industry is heading to.