BLOG 3 – JOURNALISM PROJECT OUTCOME REFLECTION
BY RADHIKA DATTA
The assignment for journalism was to apply the learned skills of a journalist in a post-truth era to author a feature exploring the Better Lives’ themes of social responsibility, cultural diversity, and sustainability. We were given the opportunity to write it in the tone of any fashion publication we choose to often read for news on the industry. I was particularly excited about this task as I was hoping to have the opportunity to learn how to write from an editorial perspective.
I wanted to talk about the themes of the Better Lives lecture delivered by Julia Crew on Power as I believe it raised pertinent issues regarding the lack of diversity and representation in the industry. What stood out to me was the recital of the statistic, “A CEO earns in 4 days what a Bangladeshi garment worker earns in her entire lifetime.” I wanted to develop my research around this statistic as I felt it was an issue that needed to be brought to light.
I decided to base my feature on the prevalent secrecy of top luxury brands regarding their hidden Indian supply chain. It was a niche topic, but I believed it to be the perfect hook to address the wider picture of lack of transparency and cultural inclusivity.
I had innately accepted that all global luxury labels manufactured their clothes in the respective country’s ateliers, as portrayed on media by the brands themselves. However, reading recent articles by reputed fashion sources, Business of Fashion and The New York Times on how the fashion industry hides where their supply chain is produced came as a shock and made me wonder about the need for secrecy.
Writing this article made me contemplate on how unequally diversity is distributed within the system and represented by the fashion industry. It made me wonder if this came from a deep-seated colonial mindset regarding superiority in race. Is the quality of luxury directly related to the colour of the skin of the people who work hard to produce them? Or is it related to the working conditions in which these clothes are produced? As represented by media, we see a single artisan in a stark white coat working in a clean environment. This leads one to reflect on whether consumers would hold luxury on the same pedestal if they found out it was created in a less than luxurious export house in a third world developing country.
I found writing this particular article very rewarding as it put the Better Lives themes of social responsibility and diversity into perspective and gave me insight into the business side of fashion. It made me realize why the better lives themes need to be inculcated into our industry, especially post-pandemic as we enter a new and hopefully, more ethical era of fashion.
It is difficult to write about a worryingly persistent issue in a neutral tone so that it may generate awareness. I now appreciate the social responsibility behind the paradox of an unbiased opinion a journalist must hold in her writing. People read what they believe, so it is a heavy duty to convey correct information without becoming passionate, something I found challenging during my process of research and writing my feature.