5 Ways the Fashion Industry Hurts (And Helps) Women

Over the last two weeks, a large swathe of New York City has been engrossed in the commercial pomp that is fashion week, in which design houses show next season’s lines and regale the city with parties. Fashion week is as dazzling and elaborate as any Oscars or Grammy ceremonies, but its length (10 days) and breadth (all across Manhattan, from Lincoln Center to the Lower East Side) ensure it is an even greater spectacle. The line goes that fashion week turns even regular people into insane, appearance-obsessed gossip folks—and having attended enough shows through the years, I can attest to at least myself becoming an unrecognizable nutcase during these times. (Where is my seat? What if I fall trying to reach it? Are the prints I’m wearing properly mismatched? Etc.)

Fashion week is a dichotomy: hundreds of designers put their creative all into what many consider another form of fine art, while at the same time, the industry is reinforcing the country’s worst beauty and labor standards. Beyond the obvious—the normalization of anorexia/starvation, the maintaining of a beauty ideal that is impossible for most of the world, and general rampant conservatism within the industry—the unfair treatment of models has recently come to light with the first models’ union.  Started by progressive ex-model Sara Ziff and supported by big names like designer Diane Furstenberg and supermodel Coco Rocha, the Models Alliance aims to protect young women in the industry who have been subjected to sexual harassment and abuse, unfair working hours and non-commensurate pay. Inspired by Saul Alinsky, Ziff’s organization shows the crux of the fashion industry: that while it’s often viewed as destructive, it can also be more progressive than anyone imagined. There are two sides to every coin, and here, we look at both.

1. Labor

CON: There are serious issues within the fashion industry regarding the treatment of its models, most of whom are not the kinds of marquee names that pull tens of thousands of dollars a day. Another issue is with the manufacturing of said items; despite designer clothing being out of most peoples’ price range, runway looks are sometimes still made in China under working conditions we would abhor. Even Prada, the luxury Italian label that is along with Chanel considered one of the gold-standard fashion houses in the industry and is run by former communist/progressive Miuccia Prada, has moved some of its operations to Asia for cheaper labor... yet it hasn’t adjusted its prices to reflect that.

PRO: On the other hand, by definition haute couture lines must use artisanal laborers, who have often spent their entire lives perfecting the process of tailoring and creating the finest clothing. (In French, the term translates to “high sewing,” and is a method of elevating traditionally women’s work into high art that recalls the craft movement of 1960s and ‘70s feminist artists.) If normal designer clothing is beyond reach for most people, haute couture is a queen’s dream, but it does encourage one thing; its premium pricing values not just the designer or the name, but also the workers who put in their time and skills to be the finest in the world. The sewers are represented by the Federation Francaise de la couture, a consolidated trade union representing laborers within the realm of high French fashion—and all design houses operating within haute couture must abide by its rules. Though haute couture represents only a handful of designers, it is the industry standard to aspire to, and sets the tone for the cascade to the lower high-end. And as more and more home designers offer their handmade wares on sites like Etsy, regular consumers have the ability to own unique yet affordable one-of-a-kinds, and to participate in an alternative, localized economy.