Blog Post 1
One area Julia Crew spoke about was the influence fashion advertising holds, one of the most important being social media. As an active user of Instagram, I constantly see photographs of outfits and upcoming fashion trends from my favourite brands and designers, and it becomes apparent how much power Instagram holds as this can affect the clothes that I consume and wear. Instagram puts an unbearable pressure on young people to constantly reinvent themselves, which is the fire to unethical consumerism, ultimately driving and increasing apparel sales, enslaving garment workers in foreign countries. But I don’t believe that the consumers are the ultimate problem behind this. Brand CEOs have a duty to lead and change fashion industry to become more ethical and sustainable, in doing this by paying garment workers a living wage, hosting fair and safer working environments.
Within the Better Lives series, I was captured by Julia Crew’s lecture on ‘Power’. This lecture made me reflect on the power I hold as a creative trying to work in the industry and myself as a consumer of fashion. When I think about fashion, I think of self-expression, colour, trends and what I use to look at fashion, I initially think of fashion as being something positive, however, the fashion industry is unethical and unsustainable and this lecture gave me an insight on the power advertising, media and consumers have in changing this.
One topic I think should be discussed more is the effects this can have on mental health. Fashion influencers are often portrayed online as appearing ‘perfect’. There is a continuing pressure to post a version of your best self-online, constantly comparing yourself to others and there isn’t a break within this cycle as new trends form we’re constantly reaching to become something better never feeling fully fulfilled. One statistic I learned from this lecture is that only 8% of an ad’s message is received by the conscious mind whilst the rest is reworked in the subconscious, and we process these images over and over again subconsciously. The way consumers are subjected to constant fashion advertising effects mental and social wellbeing as we are constantly thinking about our next purchase and what will gain attention from people online.
This lecture made me think about the quantity I consume and what brands I chose to follow and purchase from, in order to do my part in building a more sustainable industry, as well as the importance of mental wellbeing and understanding that consuming a large quantity of apparel will not have a positive effect on personal mental health.