Blog 4 – Peer review
For peer review, I chose one of our peers’ work about foundation and diversity. I thought I should also talk about other themes, since I have been focusing on fashion sustainability throughout the better lives unit.
This fashion feature is written by Adrienne Van Der Merwe. It first talks about how tricky it can be to find an accurate shade that fits our skin tone, especially for darker skin tones. At the same time, it points out how this has become an embedded issue in the beauty and fashion industry. Then she talks about the first thing she realized when she started working as a makeup artist is the lack of diversity in foundation colours available. It also contains an example “Fenty Effect” and a few quotes of powerful people from makeup industry.
In my opinion, it is no news that makeup brands often do not offer customers enough range of foundation colours. Even though we can see an improvement now, but it is still not enough. I love that the feature raises the idea and calls out that makeup companies are cashing in on the diversity ‘trend’. The quote from Armanda Tounghui is indeed correct and very relevant, it says that some companies are just throwing shades out just so they can say the are ‘diverse’. I also appreciate the personal touch of her own experience and thoughts as a makeup artist, it gives me a deeper understanding from professional’s angle. It is also extremely interesting idea to put the quote from Bari where she said that if a group of aliens landed on earth and went to one fashion show and then left, that would be the only type of person they would think existed or mattered. The author then asks, “who would be represented and seen in the situation and if not anyone, then why and how do we fix it?” It is provocative and somehow effective to find the connection between the alien example and diversity.
As a person of colour, I am glad that people in the fashion industry are being more aware of the topic of diversity. From my point of view, I know it is impossible to change the industry in a blink of an eye, therefore, what we need to do now is continue the discussion and hope for the best.