Brandy Hellville: and The Cult of Fast Fashion HBO Documentary Places a Popular Teen Brand on the Hotseat

Brandy Hellville: and the Cult of Fast Fashion is a discerning documentary that showcases several complex issues through a clothing brand for young women and Gen Z girls. Brandy Melville sprang onto the scene in the 2010s and, without paid marketing or advertising, used social media to develop a cult following of teenage girls who fell in love with the brand’s affordability and the celebrities who adored the brand. Brandy Melville is wildly popular even with reports of fatphobia, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, copyright infringement, and its controversial one-size-fits-all, sizing practice. The Brandy Melville brand was founded in 1980 by Silvio Marsan and his son Stephan. The father-son team is from Italy, and clothing is the family business. They made up a story about an American girl, Brandy, who is on vacation in Italy and falls in love with an Englishman named Melville. Stephan saw the potential of social media marketing early on. Instead of going the traditional route to advertise, he posted photos of young, skinny white girls with flowing hair wearing tiny clothes in outdoorsy places that went viral. After that, he would send free clothes to young white female influencers and celebrities who would post photos and videos wearing Brandy Melville clothes, which went viral, and…