Leading with Empathy Toward the Fashion Industry,

A Monet painting goes for hundreds of thousands of dollars and will proudly grace a collector’s wall as a work of art that will continue to be appreciated throughout the ages.  Unfortunately, those in the artistic world of fashion know that their field is quite the opposite. While I know that we have museums enshrining our past styles that help tell our human story, a Victorian gown is not typical wall décor for most people. Your art comprised of many hours of tedious stitching and alterations has become transient and new creations are expected each season. Working with canvases that are not flat, predictable, or re-sizeable, while factoring in countless combinations of physical contours and making a design that is versatile enough to be conformed to fit them all is no small undertaking. My clothed self thanks you! 

When you were a child full of wonder and unbiased creativity? I am going to guess that you "borrowed" clothes from your parent’s or siblings’ closets. Possibly you turned t-shirts into dresses with scarfs for belts and clunked around in oversized heels? Accessorized with anything that appealed to your sense of style, maybe embellishing with glittery stickers? Do you still allow yourself to feel that sense of adventure and fun when you create?  When you grew up, were you consulted with when your friends were trying out new clothing combinations? Did you feeling like you were following a calling to contribute to enriching the aesthetics of human life and the celebration of beauty?  How amazing does it feel to see a glowing smile from a client wearing your design and know they feel confident and beautiful? I hope you have realized that feeling is priceless and cannot be measured on a profit spreadsheet.

My acknowledgment of your creative gifs is sincere and am aware that in order to have fun with fabric when you grow up you’ll have to go through the world of business. There, the playful expression gets super serious and if you want to be successful you must not only create something that can attract attention, but also be partially psychic to predict how to balance consumer demand with supply that requires quite a lot of raw resources and human stitchin’ power. Even if you have something worthwhile you still need to compete with everyone else trying to get attention for their lines and will likely rely on marketing strategies that have proven effective that your peers also utilize. Like any business, you take the risk that you’ll be able to stay profitable, while also being able to fairly compensate all your employees and I’m sure hoping to make a profit and receive positive reviews. I am not arguing how formidable a feat it would be to grow a successful fashion line.

 My intent in writing this is simple, I desire peace. I doubt I need to inform you that your industry has many critics with many complaints creating conflict, which certainly does not contribute to peace.  This is likely because they were shared with bravado-boosted blaming (I’m recovering from this habit) which does not inspire caring or consideration.  So this is me initiating something new; a compassionate conversation. So instead of starting a catfight with judgments, condemnation, and insults, what if we decided to center our attention on what we have in common, shared human values like freedom and expression? And if we both sincerely give a sh!t about both of our shared human values and are willing to give consideration for one another’s perspectives, concerns, and challenges; I know we could collaborate and re-create peaceful and posh ways to be fabulous with fashion that’s agreeable to all.

I can only guess at your challenges and concerns unless someone from this large industry would be willing to converse with me. Although I am very well aware of all of my concerns, there's definitely more than one, I hope you'll take the time to really hear them, and know I would like to do the same for you.

It has got to be hard and I bet you often feel daunted figuring out how to make a dress that will aesthetically accentuate such a diverse range of body types. I guess that is why when they are pictured on runways and in magazines we usually see your fashions on models who are at least 5’8 and a size 2 or less. I heard someone explain that their less curvy bodies represent that more predictable, flatter canvas.  I get it, I mean working with a mutable canvas adds another creative obstacle.  

Have you considered that your artwork is not just a service of contributing art; it is also a service of clothing humanity? And it is illegal for us to be naked, so we do rely on your service unless we can make our own clothes. I can’t because I don’t sew, I safety pin, which ironically is not very safe. Contribution motivates most of us because its an avenue to be seen for our uniqueness and joyfully tingly when we contribute something meaningful to the collective. Imaging fashion as a service to fellow humans for me would include consideration for our unique body sizes with the kind of support that shows people of a variety of lengths and widths wearing your pieces on people. Then we could actually guess what they may actually look like on someone who looks like us, a big help as a consumer. I am simply applying practical logic here to include all women’s needs. This would make it much easier for most women to consider your clothes because only a small percentage of women have a fashion model’s physique.

Are you aware that just seeing a picture of a model has been found to be a common and very effective trigger for instigating insecurity in young girls and women of all ages? They are so often a size that is rare and often unachievable without compromising health and their airbrushed images that grace the magazines erase humanness, honesty, and connection, in my opinion.  On top of that, I also heard a model giving a TED talk share that she believes the most insecure women were likely models!  Can you even imagine just how much self-worth is compromised and triggered by this model/fashion trend?!? There are so many huge conflicts in this world, we just don’t need this, it’s really, really depressing to me, which means sometimes it is expressed as rage! So many women are not feeling secure in themselves because they’re comparing themselves to unrealistic standards and becoming like slaves to their physicality. While models’ bodies are talked about as if they were car parts ( I actually read that in a blog) without human feelings.  And while I appreciate the joy of dressing, I believe our styles got nothing on the beauty of our souls. I think this has repercussions beyond what you can imagine and I think it seriously impairs what is integral to the healing of our planet; the healing and uniting of women across the globe.  What I see is comparison, cruel critiquing, competition, and so much separation.  To me, it seems your industry along with all the beauty-related industries, take advantage of our insecurities as a marketing strategy just to get us to buy more products. 

 I also see advertising that tries to convey that their brand adds value to a human being. A request is that we all consider how much blood was spilled to try and end inequality based on the superficialness of skin color and how we now ruthlessly judge the clothes that cover our skin!! SO SAD!!!  

Would you like to contribute to the world in a way that encourages people to love and accept themselves and be healthy and properly nourished?  Do you agree that a planet of miraculous creation/evolution deserves to have the diversity of its beauty celebrated?? 

And please know that I am aware that because of what is called an American obesity epidemic you also have the challenge of accommodating a consumer base that is literally expanding. While I am all for everyone accepting and embracing their bodies, I am equally concerned that we consider how those larger sizes are decreasing our quality of life. Just as I am worried about the demand for models to maintain such slim figures and how that affects their quality of life. In a world of infinite possibilities and ideas, there is a solution to this, that will meet everyone’s values for fun, expression, creativity, health, happiness, and well-being.  

Being able to supply stores in every state, maybe multiple countries, multiply that by each new piece for the new fall collection.. how will all that get done? Considering the development of such large global clothing companies means that many in your industry are trying to provide enough products for millions!  Using blinders aimed at profit, a common business model,  I can appreciate the cost-effectiveness of the decision to turn to third-world countries to find factories to make those clothes. Although I would have a hard time believing you don’t know how those contractors treat their employees and the ridiculous wages they are paid. Sometimes I wish the 1st world would wake up as the 3rd world, then maybe we would really give a sh!t about shared human values for health, safety, equality, and freedom for everyone! This World offers infinite possibilities, I know it is possible to have newly crafted wearable creations for all seasons and still respect a human’s life and contribution.  Are you willing to strategize?? Pretty please!!!!  

We are creating new clothes at such a mind-boggling rate and then just a year later the “fashion police” tell us they are not cool anymore. Where does the material come from and where does it go? Every new design means mass raw material as crops of fiber and unless they are grown organically poisonous pesticides are poured into our Earth so that we can have more and more and more clothes!! I am terrified about this cost to our planet and I choose to honor Mother Earth by rocking out what she has already graciously given and encouraging others to do the same. We are so innovative and creative, the possibilities are endless! Just one idea would be to reuse fabric from unwanted clothes and re-create them into something new.  Are you aware of how stuffed our closets already are? The excess of donated clothes not wanted here is often sent to 3rd world countries to be both a part of a second-hand clothing trade and what clogs their drains and overfills their makeshift landfills. The documentary “Dead White Men’s Clothes,” explores this issue specifically in Ghana and the name is an expression that assumes someone would have to die to have so much to give away. You can visit documentary photographer Muntaka Chasant’s website to see striking photos of the exploding problems in his home in Accra, Ghana. www.muntaka.com

However most of those people are not dead, they just have way more than they need and are trying to keep up with trends. And what will future generations do when the soil is too poisoned to provide and the landfills overflowing?? Do you want to care with me so that they have the ability to play with fabric and create their own styles too?  

A friend of mine worked for several years in New York during fashion week helping to construct sets and tear them down. And every year he saw perfectly good material used as backdrops, and wood with so much more to give just was pitched for the garbage! Thankfully he knows how to rock our resources and dumpster-dived what the divas discarded.  Sorry I called “you” a diva, it fit the alliteration so well, and isn’t the definition of a diva kind of like someone who thinks they are so much more important than others? So then the cost of their convenience and expression could likely be expected to be paid by the planet that 8 billion people share?

Would you be willing to rock out your own unimaginably genius nature and discover new exciting ways to revere our home planet that sustains you, so you can continue to have a life to get dressed for??

I appreciate all you have contributed.. so many ideas and options for us to use in our expression, and I ask that you remember that you don’t own it, expression. For some getting dressed isn’t about being accepted, or conforming to what is sold as cool, it’s a fun and functional way to contribute to the lives they are leading. I wanna pretty much be in my play clothes at all times, always ready to climb a tree.  Our physical expression can also be a way to send a message about what we like or to show that we identify with a particular subculture where we feel belonging.  Often those subcultures create their own style and it gets noticed, copied, and mass-produced for people who may never get to appreciate the inspiration that birthed it. Years ago when the kind of pants I used to only see when I went to raves were being sold at major department stores, I felt annoyed and disappointed because they didn’t even know they were created that way so you could dance and appear to be floating. Too often I see fashions that evolved out of a subculture in a country with no shared heritage, that only has its self-created niches’ of like-minded to feel connected, that they belong somewhere. When you get inspired by our styles and use our ideas for your new line, you are basically taking away our signal to connect with kindred and making light of something that is special to a group.

Okay one more concern… the sizes, what is up with the sizes, is it part of your plot to drive us mad?? All men need to know are two numbers and they can buy pants.  Just a suggestion, couldn’t we have pants with height, waist, and hip measurements, maybe an inseam?? I want my sisters to spend less time trying on clothes and more time enjoying their lives in them!  

Thank you for following your passion, falling in love with texture, dreaming about patterns and fantasizing about new silhouettes, and encouraging enjoyment of the endless possibilities fashion offers.

Let’s have a conversation?!?!